BSoD for a few weeks, more frequent to the point of unusable.. still dont know whats the issue

[CatPlayer]

THe most common errors are:

whea_uncorrectable_error
irql_not_less_or_equal

and some errors about kernel which I cant remember as of now.

I havent been able to identify whats causing them as of yet, these errors seem to be mostly related to driver issues. I ran driver verifier and after restart it found some error on my wireless adapter's drivers so I tried updating it, and still got the bluescreens so I just removed the drivers and disconnected the adapter.. they still happened. Ran driver verifier again didn't get any errors from verifier but I still got the bluescreens.

Ran memtest for 3 hours (5 passes, almost 6) no errors..

Ran chkdsk, it detected an error, then ran chkdsk /f and it seemed to fix the issue since I ran chkdsk normally again and it didnt find the error.

Ran Windows' memory diagnostics.

Ran 3rd party programs to scan my hard drive.. no errors.

At this point I was certain it might be related to the motherboard or the PSU.

Asked a PC gaming enthusiast friend and he told me to run Prime95. Doesn't really matter which type of test I ran, the program would sttop test or even crash (more often with blend) with the error: rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4.

I told my friend about this, he thinks its the PSU, so here are my specs (pretty shitty specs since in my country, venezuela, we cant afford luxuries, had this PC since 2010):

CPU: Intel Core 2 duo E8600 3.20 Ghz
GPU: nVidia 9600GT 2GB
RAM: 2GB DDR3 1333 (One stick broke so Im running on 2GB, was planning to get 8GBs by october).
MOBO: P43Twins1600
PSU: Omega 1200ATX (1200W apparently?..)
OS: Windows 10 x64 (I did reinstall the windows aswell)

So after my friend told me it was the PSU I decided to research about this PSU I have. Apparently its a crappy, generic brand PSU that says to output 1200w but can barely do 500. At the time I bought this PSU I was pretty ignorant about them, didn't know about this. High quality products here are rare so you see pretty low quality shit here from china that you wouldn't see in a 1st world country.

The BSoDs have been happening for a few weeks as I said before and got far more frequent 2 days ago. I can't seem to reproduce the BSoD, it seems to happen at random (though it has never happened during games so I guess theres that upside) be it idle or being used normally (like browsing). About a week ago I turned off and on the switch behind the PSU and it made a mini explosion, (I guess a short circuit) what happened is that the PC wouldnt turn off after the bluescreen (didnt restart as it said it'd) and pressing the power button wasnt working either, so I pressed the switches and I thought I had killed my PC for sure this time... It wouldn't turn on but it was connected to a regulator so I removed the power cord from the regulator and plugged the cord directly to the wall an it worked! It was a miracle! but the bluescreens still happened (they were happening as frequently as before though).

So.. I came here to ask if you also think its the PSU and if there are any more tests I can do to further prove that it is causing this problem. I mean. it may be pretty evident that it is the PSU but I just need to be *secure* that it is the PSU because if I replace and I still get the bluescreens Ill be fucked for a few months without a desktop PC, I wrote this from my laptop.

 

[Colif]

Have you run a program like Driver Booster to see if any new drivers you have missed. Can you update bios?

Whea errors can be anything really, hardware or software

the fact you aren't freezing could mean its not PSU. but then PSU supplies everything else with power so there is that... it may just not be supplying enough juice. Have you run any software like HWINFO to see what its voltages are like.

Download and run this: http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed
it will look at error logs and maybe point out a driver that is causing some of the errors.

Copy/paste results in here

 

[CatPlayer]

I ran a program, driver max, it detected a bunch of new drivers but I went for the adapter's only because I didnt know how good it was at detecting hardware compatibility with my system.

Anyways, about whocrashed I ran it and the last 10 dumps it reported (out of the 23) were all saying that it may be related to a driver issue they can't identify at the time or a hardware problem. Now I connected the adapter back again and it isnt detecting any wifi connections.. idk whats wrong with it, also, the driver I was using wasnt the manufacturer's actual drivers but rather a driver windows found in the internet by MediaTek, I believe their WiFi drivers work similarly to realtek as in they work with many systems. I didn't use the manufacturer's drivers because there isnt a windows 10 version for it, I believe it was last updated for win 7, so really long ago.

So, as I dont have internet connection for now on the desktop with the problems Ill see if I can take a pic of whocrashed and what it says and upload them here.

The adapter is an Encore 802.11n N150 Model: ENUWI-N3.

whocrashed pics here: http://imgur.com/a/VnqrD

Any more suggestions?...

 

[CatPlayer]

Update: I tried running driver verifier again.. but this time with all the driver's that are installed in windows, before this I ran it to only verify the 3rd party drivers like nvidias and such.

After restarting and while booting I got a bluescreen, yay! Driver verifier detected a problem with clipsp.sys I don't know what it is but as I read through googling its a file that was implemented in windows 10 and some people fixed it disabling windows defender.

Will try this, any suggestion by you guys?

Edit: Tried disabling windows defender, no BS thus far but it hasnt been long since I turned the PC on anyways.

Also ran H/W Monitor, I dont really know what is a good and bad voltage, Im pretty newb to wattage and PSUs. So I took some screenshots so u guys can see by yourself. (I do know the temps are good though..)

http://imgur.com/a/yXMoi

Also here are the whocrashed reports about the bluescreens from clipsp.sys in case you want to look at them.. dont think they help too much though, http://i.imgur.com/kV6aAXV.png

 

[Colif]

You should run another firewall/anti virus program then, as Defender will re enable itself if you don't have another AV/Firewall. Not saying defender sux, its just its the 1st lvl of defence for someone who doesn't run AV/Firewall

You might want to get a second opinion on your voltages, the 3.3 and 5 volt are lower than they should be but not bad as the score you got for the 12 volt, it is so far below what it should be I am amazed your pc is on

+12V
Nominal value: 12.00V
Allowed voltage variation: +/-5%, 11.40V - 12.60V
Preferred voltage variation: +/3%, 11.64V - 12.36V
Allowed ripple: <120mV
Preferred ripple: <80mV
Info: The +12V rail is the main power rail in modern computers. Modern computers draw 70%-95% of their power from the +12V rail, and the power available at +12V should make up at least 80% of the total wattage, preferably 90% in enthusiast units.
It powers:
CPU
Graphics card
Main motherboard chipsets
Hard drive motors
Optical drive motor
Most fans
Water cooling pumps
PCIe cards
Most PCI cards

Your value: 7.206 volts

Can you download and run Speccy: https://www.piriform.com/speccy/download.
In the left hand side column, select motherboard. Screen shot or type the 12 volt score you are getting.

Sometimes monitors are wrong too so can you look at the voltages your bios is reporting?

I realise this is an old pc but you still deserve better power. I highly doubt its supplying you anywhere near 1200 watts and even if it were, its got no efficiency rating so half if not more of that power is just leaking away.

I think your friend is right, you should look for one of the models showing on T3 of this: http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2547993/psu-tier-list.html as you don't need anything above them and they will supply what they say they will on the box. Your system wouldn't need 1200 watts even if the current psu supplied it, probably 500 max.

It may not fix the whea errors but computer will not be starved of power anymore. Its worth paying more for PSU as everything in pc relies on it.

Most whea errors you had are pointing at hal.dll. This is the hardware allocation layer, so its not a driver issue I don't think. Outside the fake realtek drivers.

 

[CatPlayer]

Pic of speccy and hwmonitor running at same time: http://i.imgur.com/uIUyDHt.png

They show about the same numbers but I believe they're wrong since the HW Monitor in the BIOS is showing stable numbers (shitty shot from phone: http://i.imgur.com/C4u9D0E.png)

It may be estable right now but I don't want to run on problems with it and probably risk my whole rig so I may get a bronze certified 500w one sometime in the near future.

So.. what should I do to further troubleshoot this bluescreen?

Edit: Just realized I havent got a bluescreen since I deactivated windows defender in the comments above. will keep informed anyways.

 

[Colif]

Good to see voltages were wrong. It was so far wrong pc shouldn't have been on.

Do option one >> Configure Dump File Settings in Start-up and Recovery
and then under it, do this: Have Windows Create a Small Memory Dump (Minidump) on BSOD
On this page: http://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/5560-bsod-minidump-configure-create-windows-10-a.html

then go to C/Windows/Minidump and copy that file to another part of pc, and then upload it to a cloud server and share the link here, we can get more info off the file than we can from screen shots. Some one will look at the file and tell us what cause is, as its a hardware problem of some kind.

Can you update your bios? it could be outdated and causing the errors by not replying to requests made by hardware.

 

[CatPlayer]

Apparently there are newer versions of BIOS, yes, I checked the manufacturer's page and it tells me to use instant flash if I have windows 10 but I dont have instant flash option in my BIOS (very outdated I suppose lol)

Manufacturer page: http://www.asrock.com/mb/Intel/P43Twins1600/?cat=Download&os=BIOS

My current version seems to be 1.60 and the latest is 3.10. THey say they don't recommend updating the BIOS so I don't know about this.. should I do it? and what program should I use to make my USB bootable for this type of thing? What do I do if Im using window 10 and my BIOS has no instant flash or internet flash option?

Anyways, about the dump files, my PC has been making dump files all this time. Here they are: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=779D1FA2394C86A0!641&authkey=!AJSana8L2OzqWeg&ithint=folder%2cdmp

Edit(!): Still havent got any bluescreens since I disabled windows defender.

 

[Colif]

You only 8 versions behind, they jumped a few numbers along way. I would contact asrock and see what they suggest, I think best move would be to do it in stages so update to one that supports the flash option and then use it to get to last bios they created. But there is no sign on web to show which BIOS the first stop would be.

They also need to show you how to flash it in first place.

Do you have anti virus apart from defender? I would run one, and maybe do a scan. Defender may have been trying to stop something else. Try malwarebytes as well.

 

[CatPlayer]

I doubt its a virus.. as I said on my earlier posts I also reinstalled windows and I still got the bluescreens. (Complete format, thats why the .dmp files dont date wayyyy back). But Ill try it anyways because why not! What 3rd party AV do you recommend? I thought I was fine this whole time with windows defender and malwarebytes. I'll scan with malwarebytes while you answer.

 

[Colif]

bitdefender free

its good enough, I use Bitdefender total security, its not free though. it protects against 99% of current threats so I like the protection it offers. It may slow down your pc though

 

[Colif]

That Prime95 error means your CPU isn't getting enough power.

I missed that until now.. not that you needed telling to get a PSU again.

 

[CatPlayer]

Malwarebytes didn't detect anything, bitdefender requires internet connection to install, which my desktop currently doesnt have because for some reason the adapter has decided it doesn't want to work properly, Ill see if I can get an IT guy to fix my ethernet cable soon.

So are we 100% sure it's the PSU thats causing the blue screens due to lack of power? I may get a new PSU by october along the RAM, we'll see. Probably a 500w bronze as I said before.

 

[Colif]

no, not 100% as I can't read the logs myself. If I had more time I would try to work them out but I don't have that time right now. I will send link to someone I know who can read them, but I think he not here now.

Motherboards hard to test, they sort of the last step as everything else can be tested. CPU can be tested using prime and with this: https://downloadcenter.intel.com/download/19792/Intel-Processor-Diagnostic-Tool

WHEA errors can be any hardware, including USB devices.

 

[CatPlayer]

btw what did you need the .dmp files for? Can you get more info out of them than the info given by whocrashed or similar programs?

Edit: Nvm you just answere that haha.

 

[CatPlayer]

Alright thanks for helping me on my issue. I guess I'll wait for your friend to check the files and tell me whats going on, Ill run the intel diagnostic and keep you updated.

Ill also tell you if I get any more bluescreens, which I still havent got since I disabled windows defender, weird right?

 

[CatPlayer]

Ran the intel diagnostic, I got a pass with no error! Not even the temperatures were bad, they were 30 degrees below expected.

 

[Colif]

where are you? if you near me its easy to do as its autumn here... expect my CPU at 30 is below the tempt it expects too. DUMP files can identify the cause much easier than who crashed, provided you have software that can read them. Who crashed said half your errors caused by windows sys files, when most of time they just asked to do stuff they shouldn't.

 

[CatPlayer]

Hehe, Im pretty sure Im no where near you Venezuela is just below the ecuator, in South America, it's exactly to the right of Colombia. It's pretty hot in here but I have AC so there's that. So because we're next to the ecuator here we don't have seasons, there only really is a rain season for 6 months and a dry season for another 6 months. Thanks for the info, that's good to know.

 

[Colif]

We have areas in the tropics too, but I am not in them... Australia here

 

[CatPlayer]

Update: Still not bluescreens after disabled windows defender.

 

[CatPlayer]

Update: Still not one darn bluescreen! who would've thought! lol

 

[Colif]

it seems its fixed then

 

[CatPlayer]

Hey, since I last said I had no bluescreens I got 4 bluescreens, one of them was the common whea_uncorrectable_error but now I got a new different error I had not seen before. It said driver_overran_stack_buffer. I'll upload the 4 new minidump files so u guys can check them. I gotta say though they're far, far, far less frequent now so Im glad about that. The new errors from driver_overran_stack_buffer are from today though. both bluescreens.

Here are the new files: https://onedrive.live.com/redir?resid=C17F4526F9331B09!1957&authkey=!AM0hPCvJ5-4TnAM&ithint=folder%2c

Would appreciate if someone would look at them.

1 one of the bluescreen I got happened while I was playing and the other while browsing.

Edit: I just got another bluescreen while browsing, kmode_exception_not_handled, I don't think you need another .dmp file but in case its of any help my drivers ARE updated. I used Driver Booster 3 to update everything around the time I deactivated windows defender.

 

[Colif]

I said its fixed... why are you back

Driver_Overran_stack_Buffer

follow this:

start cmd.exe as an admin, then run
verifier.exe /standard /all
reboot
if verifier finds a bad driver it will bugcheck and produce a memory .dmp file that names the driver you should update.

use bluescreenview.exe or whocrashed.exe to get the driver name.
when done testing turn off verifier with the comand:
verifier.exe /reset

you can also put your memory dmp file on a server like microsoft one drive and post a link.

http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/id-2837623/windows-driver-overran-stack-buffer.html

I will send this link to johnbl since he knows more about logs than I do.

its likely a driver we haven't thought of