New build - Blue screen errors

mossy464

Hi guys,

Completed my first build the other day. Now im getting blue screen errors almost every time I turn on the system.

The system boots into windows 7 64 bit and as it is loading updates the blue screen error appears. System service exception is the error but I have had others as well like bad pool header.

I have also got blue screen errors after being able to log in. Last nite I logged in and was able to work away and now today when I turn it on it keeps giving me BSOD before even allowing me to log in.

I have checked all connections on the motherboard, I switched the ram to the second set of DIMM slots but still getting these errors. I have also installed all drivers that came with the mobo and also loaded the optimal default motheboard settings but no joy.

Heres the spec of my pc.

4GB-Kit OCZ DDR3 PC3-10666 Gold Low Voltage

AMD Athlon II X3 440 "Boxed" 95W, Sockel AM3

be quiet! Pure Power 350 Watt / BQT L7

MSI 760GM-E51, Sockel AM3, mATX, PCIe

Samsung SH-D163C SATA schwarz

Samsung SpinPoint F3 1000GB, SATA II (HD105SI)

Any ideas?

Curry Addict

check connections to your hdd. BSOD is usually software related so after checking your hdd connections, id consider a reformat hdd and reload everything.

mossy464

I have checked all connections and everything is fine. I reformatted once as well but still getting these errors.

Im got in to the pc now and so far so good, I got in last night though as welll and when I turned on the pc this morning I had BSOD again. Its really strange.

Can you see anything compatibility issues with the hardware I have?

The cpu and mobo are 64 bit compatible.

Curry Addict

bsod can be caused by a lot of things. to help narrow it down check the following.

check case temperature and airflow, make sure your fans are all blowing the right way, to ensure proper air flow in your case.
check how hot your HDD is to touch.
check your core temps.
check your voltages in the bios.
run the system with minimum s/w loaded to avoid conflicts.
check for internal vibration and particularly your HDD is secure.
check your mobo is secure and properly mounted.
check all your fans are operational and not being blocked by other components.
check your psu is installed correctly and the fan is clear and working.
check in device manager that all your drivers are loaded and happy.

Solitaire

Also go into the BIOS and make sure the RAM is running at its correct timings, at the correct voltage, which is 1.65V in this case, not 1.5V!

mossy464

Ok thanks, I will check all those things and report back.

One other thing, I put my hard drive from my old xp pc into my new system to get files off it but theres a problem with permissions. I given myself full control of the drive but still all folders, it says I dont have permission. Is there any easy way of me accessing these files on the new machine. Even when I give myself full access to a folder, i try to play an mp3 and it gives me an error.

mossy464

Also, can I use a program like cpu-z in windows to get the info like cpu temp and ram timings. Couldnt find the voltage in the bios.

Solitaire

It would probably be hidden amongst the overclocking options and/or somewhere near or in Memory Settings or DRAM Timings. And it might be called "DRAM Voltage" and be set to "Auto" so keep your eyes open; its most certainly in there somewhere!

mossy464

I found dram voltage in the bios and it is set to auto and on the right of that it says min 1.5v, max 2.42v.

I have checked in cpu-z and its running at 1.5v.

However, in the bios I dont seem to be able to change it, its unselectable or 'greyed out'.

yoyo

mossy464 wrote: »

Ok thanks, I will check all those things and report back.

One other thing, I put my hard drive from my old xp pc into my new system to get files off it but theres a problem with permissions. I given myself full control of the drive but still all folders, it says I dont have permission. Is there any easy way of me accessing these files on the new machine. Even when I give myself full access to a folder, i try to play an mp3 and it gives me an error.

You need to also take ownership of the drive and inherit the permissions, this changes your xp user owner into your new one, click security tab on hard drive>Advanced and under owner click edit and take ownership there

Nick

Solitaire

Grey number usually means "default" in BIOS, with white as "safe" and red as "danger". Try putting the cursor over the value then using the +/- keys as opposed to trying to type or using arrow keys, BIOS can be very picky like that

Curry Addict

i guess uve tried this but u probably need to unselect auto in order to ungrey it

if u are running cpuz go to the "about" tab and press the save report button. save this file to your desktop. i contains all the system info u will need, temps and voltages etc. i wouldnt make any judgement based on the voltages displayed. the voltages displayed in the bios would be more reliable. they are usually under the heading "hardware monitor" but the are there somewhere!

mossy464

I was able to change the dram voltage in the bios. It was either change to 1.63 or 1.67 so I went with 1.63.

Solitaire

Very surprised at the lack of fine tuning :eek: Seeing as its an AMD CPU you can go for 1.67V safely, 1.63 should keep it stable... maybe

mossy464

Solitaire wrote: »

Very surprised at the lack of fine tuning :eek: Seeing as its an AMD CPU you can go for 1.67V safely, 1.63 should keep it stable... maybe

Thanks for the reply. Do you think the dram voltage could have caused the blue screens?

They seem to only happen when i first turn on the pc during the day. Im working away on it fine right now.

Solitaire

Did you check the timings in CPU-z? I'd be interested to see what they are...

Memory instability tends to cause crashes during or just after startup. If it survives that it might run for quite a while before finally resetting, but there could be other random crashes and glitches while the system's up, so even if it wasn't the cause it still needed fixing

mossy464

Would these be the timings?

DIMM #				1
	SMBus address		0x52
	Memory type		DDR3
	Module format		UDIMM
	Manufacturer (ID)	OCZ (7F7F7F7FB0000000)
	Size			2048 MBytes
	Max bandwidth		PC3-10700H (667 MHz)
	Part number		OCZ3G1333LV2G     
	Number of banks		8
	Nominal Voltage		1.50 Volts
	EPP			no
	XMP			no
JEDEC timings table		CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency
	JEDEC #1		5.0-5-5-12-19 @ 370 MHz
	JEDEC #2		6.0-6-6-14-22 @ 444 MHz
	JEDEC #3		7.0-7-7-16-26 @ 518 MHz
	JEDEC #4		8.0-8-8-18-30 @ 592 MHz
	JEDEC #5		9.0-9-9-20-33 @ 666 MHz

DIMM #				2
	SMBus address		0x53
	Memory type		DDR3
	Module format		UDIMM
	Manufacturer (ID)	OCZ (7F7F7F7FB0000000)
	Size			2048 MBytes
	Max bandwidth		PC3-10700H (667 MHz)
	Part number		OCZ3G1333LV2G     
	Number of banks		8
	Nominal Voltage		1.50 Volts
	EPP			no
	XMP			no
JEDEC timings table		CL-tRCD-tRP-tRAS-tRC @ frequency
	JEDEC #1		5.0-5-5-12-19 @ 370 MHz
	JEDEC #2		6.0-6-6-14-22 @ 444 MHz
	JEDEC #3		7.0-7-7-16-26 @ 518 MHz
	JEDEC #4		8.0-8-8-18-30 @ 592 MHz
	JEDEC #5		9.0-9-9-20-33 @ 666 MHz

Solitaire

Nope, they're the JEDEC standard compliance timings, I think you need the page before in CPU-z for the detected ones... I think

deconduo

I'd run memtest as well. OCZ make pretty unreliable RAM so I wouldn't be surprised if thats the cause of your bluescreens.

http://www.memtest.org/

mossy464

Turned on the pc this morning before work and lone behold got blue screen just after I logged in.

I'll post the proper memory timings later.

mossy464

Iv attached the whole cpu-z txt file just to avoid confusion.

Also, this may be coincidence but when I turn off the pc and flick the switch on the psu off and back on and turn on the pc again, I dont get blue screen.

phoenix833

I was getting BSOD crashes on my own new build PC and I too was using OCZ RAM.
I'd advise you to run memtest like a previous poster said but remember to test each stick individually as only one might be at fault. Run it for at least 7 passes, this may take 3 or more hours, and if theres no error by then its ok.

One stick of mine has over 12000 errors after 20% of pass 1!!:eek: PC appears to be running fine now.

Sending RAM back for refund and going to get a more reliable brand. Hope this helps.

mossy464

phoenix833 wrote: »

I was getting BSOD crashes on my own new build PC and I too was using OCZ RAM.
I'd advise you to run memtest like a previous poster said but remember to test each stick individually as only one might be at fault. Run it for at least 7 passes, this may take 3 or more hours, and if theres no error by then its ok.

One stick of mine has over 12000 errors after 20% of pass 1!!:eek: PC appears to be running fine now.

Sending RAM back for refund and going to get a more reliable brand. Hope this helps.

Thanks for the advice. I'll give memtest a go over the weekend. Didn't realise it would take that long to test it.

phoenix833

I may as well give you the instructions to run memtest just in case you need them:

1.Download memtest from the site and save as a compressed (zip) file.

2.Find the file in its saved location and click extract all components, you should be left with a readme file and another file with a .iso tag.

3.double click the .iso file and it should open up in your cd burning software(roxio and nero work best i think)

4.Put in a blank CD and burn the file to the CD. This should only take a few minutes.

5.Switch off your PC and remove one RAM module.

6.Restart your PC with the disc in the drive and keep hitting F12 to bring up the boot menu.

7.Select boot from CD drive when the dialog box comes up on screen.

Memtest should start scanning immediately. As I said before leave it running for a good while unless of course errors come up on the screen then just turn if off and repeat steps 5-7 with the other stick of RAM.

Oh and my RAM is the exact same as yours so maybe its a bad lot?:(

mossy464

Thanks for that. I'll give it a go.

mossy464

Ran memtest today for 7 passes on one module. No errors.

Currently running it on the second module and so far no errors, on third pass right now. Will post results later.

Was expecting errors to show up right away on the second module as I tested each module seperately earlier by booting windows and i got a blue screen with the second module.

Solitaire

What timings is MemTest using? They can be different to what you've set for general use

mossy464

Solitaire wrote: »

What timings is MemTest using? They can be different to what you've set for general use

I have no idea. I just threw in the cd and let it run.

How do i check what timings its using?

Solitaire

It shows them on-screen

mossy464

Not sure if this is it. but:

Memory : 1791M 3856 MB/s

Solitaire

Nope I think it was in the top corner but its been a while since I had to use it

mossy464

The first thing in the top corner is about the CPU.

Below it says

L1 Cache: 64K 49184MB/s
L2 Cache: 512K 15874MB/s
L3 Cache: None

Solitaire

Its up there somewhere along with the speed of the DIMMs :o

mossy464

This then maybe:

Settings: RAM  :  666MHz (DDR1333) / CAS : 9-9-9-20 / DDR3 (64 Bits)

Solitaire

That's it

mossy464

Solitaire wrote: »

That's it

Finally

Do those timings look ok?

Its currently on pass 7 of the second module (the one i think is faulty), still no errors though

Solitaire

Yep

But that means something else is causing the BSODs

Did you ever update/reinstall your chipset drivers?

mossy464

I installed all the drivers that came with the mobo.

Is there a chance it could still be the ram, because a lot of the BSOD errors were memory errors.

Solitaire

They could also be caused by the hard drive, which is usually a result of a driver conflict or buggy HDD.

Are you sure the memory is running at 1333MHZ 9-9-9-20 in the BIOS?

mossy464

Yup, from what I can see in the bios its running at 1333MHz.

Solitaire

Gah!

Run CHKDSK, see if there's a bad sector or file format errors. In My Computer right-click your OS partition (C:\), select Properties > Tools > Error-Checking and let CHKDSK run on the next startup. So long as you have an hour or two to spare

Otherwise try installing the latest chipset drivers for your mobo from the manufacturer's website.

mossy464

Will do, Im not sure if I mentioned this already but I actually got a BSOD before I actually had windows installed.

It was the first time I turned on the new build and inserted the windows cd. It was extracting or copying files and a blue screen occured.

May be of some significance. I'll try running chkdsk anyway.

Thanks.

Solitaire

Hmm... try running MemTest again, also try resetting CMOS, then flashing the latest BIOS to your mobo, CMOS reset again and restore your memory timings.

Has it been BSODing much since you sorted the memory?

mossy464

Its doing it pretty much every day when i turn on the pc for the first time.

Atm I have just one of the modules in, so i'll see if I get BSOD tomorrow when I turn it on and if I dont then im pretty sure its the other module.

Solitaire

Hmm... some kind of cold-boot issue? BIOS update might be worth the hassle...

mossy464

Ya i had thought about that but it looked like a bit of hassle. At this stage though i dont have a choice. i'll see what happens when i turn it on tomorrow and go from there.

deconduo

Cold boot issues could means theres the possibility the PSU is the problem. Also is there any chance you could copy the dump logs from the BSOD?

mossy464

Well turned on the pc this morning and no blue screen. I'll see if i get any over the next few days and if not I can put it down to the ram.

mossy464

Well another few blue screens and restart issues in the past few days so guess it is not the ram. Is there any way to test the PSU without just replacing it with a new one?

Curry Addict

u need to narrow down the problem, bsod can be a lot of things. no point going from one component to another just yet and lots of suggestions made already.

mossy464

I downloaded bluescreen view and for the last blue screen error the dump shows nearly all .sys files. Driver problems.

Iv attached a html report showing all the bsods, not sure if there is anything you can tell from that.