Blue Screens and Program Crashes

[Mimic 3307]

Ever since I've gotten this computer, I've been riddled with Blue Screens and Program Crashes. I have a few theories as to the cause of these issues, and I don't know if it's a combination of these theories or just one in specific. I am now under the impression that the BSODs and Program Crashes are being caused by the same issue, as they both seem to occur randomly.

Before I reinstalled Windows, I was plagued by BSODs from MEMORY_MANAGEMENT. After reinstalling Windows, I have not received a single BSOD from MEMORY_MANAGEMENT (which indicates that it was a driver issue). Instead, I have gotten two BSODs recently (both within 2 days (yesterday and today)), and they are from NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM and BAD_POOL_CALLER respectively. I can post dumps of these two BSODs, and they can be found at the bottom of this post.

My theories are as follows:

Theory 1:

My RAM is bad, and needs to be replaced.

NOTE: I've already ran memtest86+, and it didn't indicate any errors with my RAM. I haven't, however, ran it for the recommended three hours. Instead, I ran it for one and a half hours.

Theory 2:

My CPU is running at extremely high temperatures (85 Celsius) due to the liquid cooling system that was supplied with the computer not being fully functional.

Theory 3:

Drivers are conflicting causing these issues.

I'm hoping somebody here is experienced with reading Blue Screen dumps, and could tell me the issue(s) at hand here, so I can fix them before I go off to college.

DUMPS:

NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM

BAD_POOL_CALLER

[ctark 1983]

what core do you have? 85 celsius isn't overly hot for some cores... though for others it could be quite hot.

if I had to take a guess I would say Ram, that is the most common issue.

try taking one module out at a time, run it for x amount of time, and repeat with the other sticks.... x amount being long enough that the problem could happen again (say you BSOD every 6 hours, leave it on for 18-24+)

Doubt it's drivers, but make sure everything is to date, usually not too hard to do, go to your mobo's website, vid card's site, sound card..... thats usually all you need to worry about, maybe mouse / keyboard if they arn't generic.

[Mimic 3307]

what core do you have? 85 celsius isn't overly hot for some cores... though for others it could be quite hot.

if I had to take a guess I would say Ram, that is the most common issue.

try taking one module out at a time, run it for x amount of time, and repeat with the other sticks.... x amount being long enough that the problem could happen again (say you BSOD every 6 hours, leave it on for 18-24+)

Doubt it's drivers, but make sure everything is to date, usually not too hard to do, go to your mobo's website, vid card's site, sound card..... thats usually all you need to worry about, maybe mouse / keyboard if they arn't generic.

I have an Intel Core i5-2500K running at 3.3GHz.

I have pretty much weeded out it being a driver issue, as described by reinstalling Windows. If it's a certain RAM stick, I'd rather replace the entire set than use the off-brand RAM that came with the system.

As for the mouse and/or keyboard, I have cycled through three keyboards and two mice throughout the summer, and there hasn't been a difference. I have always used generic keyboards because they don't really effect how well you play in any game (unless it's keyboard intensive). As for the mouse, I've used a SteelSeries XAI and a Razer Imperator.

I can also easily say that it isn't a problem with my graphics card, as I've replaced it (upgraded) and have still been having these issues.

[ctark 1983]

seems like you kinda know what your doing, but I would make sure it's not the ram, if you have a differant set try swapping them out for a day or two.

Also have you looked at the hard drive.. i know alot of problems can be caused by a faulty HDD.. I had one go a couple months after buying it, got it replaced no problems since, but every now and again I would BSOD, and couldn't figure out why...

And what I mean by the video card is make sure the drivers are up to date (usually they are but make sure) goto nvidia / ATI's site to get newest drivers for your card.

[Mimic 3307]

seems like you kinda know what your doing, but I would make sure it's not the ram, if you have a differant set try swapping them out for a day or two.

Also have you looked at the hard drive.. i know alot of problems can be caused by a faulty HDD.. I had one go a couple months after buying it, got it replaced no problems since, but every now and again I would BSOD, and couldn't figure out why...

And what I mean by the video card is make sure the drivers are up to date (usually they are but make sure) goto nvidia / ATI's site to get newest drivers for your card.

All of my drivers are up to date. I've also had a theory that it's my hard drive; however, to my knowledge, there's really no test to perform that would indicate it being a hard drive issue (besides replacing it temporarily). At the moment, I do not have an extra set of RAM that could run my operating system (4x 128MB), so I'm pretty much making all of my RAM assumptions based on the memory test performed.

[ElectronicDrug 7496]

(4x 128MB)

Seriously?

What mobo do you have? Take out everything plugged in (video cards, wifi adapters, everything you can) strip it to the bare essentials, and see if it still does it.

[Mimic 3307]

Seriously?

What mobo do you have? Take out everything plugged in (video cards, wifi adapters, everything you can) strip it to the bare essentials, and see if it still does it.

Those are my extra RAM sticks. I currently have/am using 4x 2GB.

My motherboard is a ASUS P8P67LE.

[ElectronicDrug 7496]

Those are my extra RAM sticks. I currently have/am using 4x 2GB.

My motherboard is a ASUS P8P67LE.

That makes much more sense.

Try the above. Also, Do you know if your system drive is plugged into one of the intel ports or the marvell ports?

Any BIOS overclocking?

If you live anywhere near Kansas City I'll lend you some RAM to test with

[Mimic 3307]

That makes much more sense.

Try the above. Also, Do you know if your system drive is plugged into one of the intel ports or the marvell ports?

Any BIOS overclocking?

If you live anywhere near Kansas City I'll lend you some RAM to test with

Haha, I live nowhere close to Kansas City unfortunately. I'm from/live in Green Bay, WI.

As far as I know, I have undone any overclocking done by the manufacturer (ibuypower).

And no, I don't know if my system drive is plugged into an intel port, or a marvell port. How would I tell?

[BLiNDBoi 930]

Mimic if your still running into this issue, try 1 ram stick at a time. Sometimes its just one semi-bad stick that could cause BSODs.

[ElectronicDrug 7496]

Haha, I live nowhere close to Kansas City unfortunately. I'm from/live in Green Bay, WI.

As far as I know, I have undone any overclocking done by the manufacturer (ibuypower).

And no, I don't know if my system drive is plugged into an intel port, or a marvell port. How would I tell?

http://puu.sh/3fxy

I doubt it's your sata ports, but I have seen controllers cause issiues in the past (although usually its JMICRON ports that cause issues)

More often it's something plugged in like a pcie wireless card, video card, it could even be a usb device. I've seen things like that cause BSODs all the time.

And if you're wondering, I worked as an IT Manager up until 2 months ago.

[Mimic 3307]

http://puu.sh/3fxy

I doubt it's your sata ports, but I have seen controllers cause issiues in the past (although usually its JMICRON ports that cause issues)

More often it's something plugged in like a pcie wireless card, video card, it could even be a usb device. I've seen things like that cause BSODs all the time.

And if you're wondering, I worked as an IT Manager up until 2 months ago.

Intel 3GB/s.

[dogtown 10]

i had the same issue. getting MEMORY_MANAGEMENT error. i was running asus a8v-e m/o and 4 1gb ocz mem sticks. i would get crashes with win xp, win 7, and ubuntu. so i knew it wasnt a driver issue.

tried one stick at a time, found 1 stick was causing the issues. sent away to ocz and they sent me back a new stick.

didnt have any issues after that.

[Mimic 3307]

The issue with testing the RAM sticks one at a time is that it happens sporadically that it would take upwards of 2 to 3 days to test them.

Could I get the same results by removing one at a time?

[ctark 1983]

The issue with testing the RAM sticks one at a time is that it happens sporadically that it would take upwards of 2 to 3 days to test them.

Could I get the same results by removing one at a time?

Assuming it's only one stick that is bad then yes.

Also it could be one memory slot that is bad (less likely though)

Take one stick out at a time, test for a couple days then try with a differant one ect.... if you still have the problems after all the tests then you might have to try differant slots.....

[Mimic 3307]

Assuming it's only one stick that is bad then yes.

Also it could be one memory slot that is bad (less likely though)

Take one stick out at a time, test for a couple days then try with a differant one ect.... if you still have the problems after all the tests then you might have to try different slots.....

Alright, so my plan is as follows for the RAM:

When I get the next BSOD, I'm going to remove one RAM stick at a time, and see if I get a blue screen. If I don't after time "x", I'll reinstall that stick, and move on to the next.

[Mimic 3307]

So, I didn't get a BSOD, but I tried taking out a RAM stick.

It seems like this one was the one causing the issues. I just got done playing 5+ maps on BFBC2 without a crash (which would happen normally).

[Freekiller #3 342]

85 celcius is going to kill your cpu, btw..

[Mimic 3307]

85 celcius is going to kill your cpu, btw..

That's what I plan on fixing next.

[Spell 331]

85 celcius is going to kill your cpu, btw..

Actually It will not. True it's not ideal, but Intel cpu's generally handle 90+ without any major issues. Once it tops 100, you have a major issue.

Fixing the water cooling shouldn't be too hard. Though if it had shitty setup to begin with, it can be. Do you have a full loop, or just a cpu loop?. Full loops are a pita to fix in comparison to single cpu loops.

Also, if you don't mind spending like 70$, you can get a (true not true water cooling, but it works) HB-70. Works better than the HB-50.

Though I recommend testing your loop and seeing what is at fault. Sometimes it is just connection, other times its stagnant water that just sits in your reservoir.

[dogtown 10]

85 celcius is going to kill your cpu, btw..

older Intel CPUs such as the Celeron operated at 80+ on regular load.

on a side note, 85 celcius with liquid cooling is emberassing. get that fixed.

[Mimic 3307]

older Intel CPUs such as the Celeron operated at 80+ on regular load.

on a side note, 85 celcius with liquid cooling is emberassing. get that fixed.

Either my cooling system is malfunctioning (pump isn't working), or the sensor is broken.

[Todden.Puffer 0]

Well im hitting 81~ Celsius with water cooling.

Though i need to replace the thermal grease i think,its been like 2 years.

[BLiNDBoi 930]

Most newer CPUs have a thermal sensor or shutdown that is on or near 100°C. You can be at the higher temperature without issue, although it is not suggested for very very long term. My i7 920 overclocked around 3.6GHz with 1800MHz memory will run around 80 to 90°C with my aftermarket heatsink under full load. I have yet to put my cpu on 100%, most of the time its peaks near 50-60% and thats running a shit ton of things.

Prime95 is my only method