Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

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viking33
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Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

Post by viking33 »

The past week to ten days, I have been plagued by BSODs, coming at differnet times and with different error codes. I have tried to track them down by looking at the various suggested fixes for each of them. Some saying it was memory problems, some HD problems, some malware or viruses. The ones that occured at startup, seem to have abated but now occur at random times during usage. When I reboot, once or twice they seem to disappear for that session and I think I have the problem solved but then, Bang, there they are again with a different error and code?
I've been through the usual tests such as memory, HD chkdsk, SFC, System Restore, malware, and virus checks and more but still it persists! I even restored a C: drive complete image. Same, same!
I haven't yet opened the box to see about reseating mempry sticks and fans and blocked air flow but suppoed that's next on the list.
If the errors were consistant, it would be earier to pin down the problem but no luck there.
Any ideas beside chucking the whole thing out the window? :groan:
BOB
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Rudi
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Re: Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

Post by Rudi »

That's nasty!!
Every time I see/hear of a BSOD I think of the Win98 - Bill Gates demo. :crazy:

I cannot be much help here Bob, but if there is any chance that you have not seen this article, maybe something in it can help...
Regards,
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viking33
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Re: Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

Post by viking33 »

Rudi wrote:That's nasty!!
Every time I see/hear of a BSOD I think of the Win98 - Bill Gates demo. :crazy:

I cannot be much help here Bob, but if there is any chance that you have not seen this article, maybe something in it can help...
Thanks, Rudi. I think I have been through just about all of those steps mentioned, ( some a couple of times) except number 9, which is the opening the box and reseating cables and cards. etc. I have no fears of doing that but for the hassle of getting at the tower and keepimg the cat out of there!
I never seem to get the easy troubles? :hairout:
BOB
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Jay Freedman
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Re: Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

Post by Jay Freedman »

viking33 wrote:
Rudi wrote:That's nasty!!
Every time I see/hear of a BSOD I think of the Win98 - Bill Gates demo. :crazy:

I cannot be much help here Bob, but if there is any chance that you have not seen this article, maybe something in it can help...
Thanks, Rudi. I think I have been through just about all of those steps mentioned, ( some a couple of times) except number 9, which is the opening the box and reseating cables and cards. etc. I have no fears of doing that but for the hassle of getting at the tower and keepimg the cat out of there!
I never seem to get the easy troubles? :hairout:
It can definitely be worth reseating everything, because thermal cycling can cause connectors to loosen. While you're in there, clean out any dust, cat hair, and stray kittens, as they can cause overheating.

I had one old tower that failed a lot, and it turned out to be a power supply going bad. Fortunately, it's not expensive to replace.

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viking33
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Re: Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

Post by viking33 »

Jay Freedman wrote:
viking33 wrote:
Rudi wrote:That's nasty!!
Every time I see/hear of a BSOD I think of the Win98 - Bill Gates demo. :crazy:

I cannot be much help here Bob, but if there is any chance that you have not seen this article, maybe something in it can help...
Thanks, Rudi. I think I have been through just about all of those steps mentioned, ( some a couple of times) except number 9, which is the opening the box and reseating cables and cards. etc. I have no fears of doing that but for the hassle of getting at the tower and keepimg the cat out of there!
I never seem to get the easy troubles? :hairout:
It can definitely be worth reseating everything, because thermal cycling can cause connectors to loosen. While you're in there, clean out any dust, cat hair, and stray kittens, as they can cause overheating.

I had one old tower that failed a lot, and it turned out to be a power supply going bad. Fortunately, it's not expensive to replace.
Thanks, Jay. Will do as soon as the cat decides to get off there. Dog could care less!
BOB
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viking33
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Re: Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

Post by viking33 »

Finally got the cat to get off her perch on the tower. Did suffer her scratch on my wrist in doing so.
Opened things up. Fans were running but lots of dust bunnies around. Re-seated all memory sticks and plug in cards and connectors. Vacuumed things out and put covers back. Told the cat she was free to return. Dog looked at me as if I was crazy.
So far, so good but time will tell if anything was corrected, since the BSODs were so erratic and unpredictable.
BOB
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Rudi
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Re: Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

Post by Rudi »

Holding thumbs. Cheers.
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BobH
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Re: Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

Post by BobH »

Fingers crossed.
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viking33
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Re: Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

Post by viking33 »

Continuing the saga.
Went to start up this morning.......NOTHING! No LEDs, no HD activity, Nada!
Opened the box, disconnected the PS, tested the connector output. No voltage on any of the buses. Power Supply blown. Luckily the local Staples had a new 600 watt unit in stock. Buzzed up there,bought the new PS and installed it. with all confidence. This time the fans worked and I got some LED flashing but no boot. Couldn't even get into the BIOS! It just started and lasted a few seconds, then turned off, repeating this cycle again and again.
Back in the case. I again re-seated plugs and cards, and all. Nope! By this time, my desk looked like a used electronics shop. In desperation, I studied the Motherboard manual and noticed this MB had memory status LEDs but were kind of buried between the card slots. The four LEDs were two green, one amber and one red. By chance, I had a spare memory stick and replaced the one that was showing red. Up came the screen and boot was good!
All this took most of the day but I took a break for dinner and a little wine.

So far, so good today. I'll have to see if this was the root cause of all these BSODs but I'm happy to be back on line once more. Sheesh! :thumbup:
BOB
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Re: Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

Post by BobH »

Sounds like you got it sorted.

A bad power supply can cause all kinds of grief. I wonder if yours failed and zapped the memory. If so, there is some remote possibility (I think) that it might have damaged more than one memory card. I have no experience in electronics or training in things electrical, but I have had unstable results when mixing memory cards. It's sort of like the advice that you see about batteries in electronic devices: Never replace just one; replace them all. Never mix batteries from different manufacturers. That's probably an old wives' tale but I follow the dicta.

Fingers still crossed. :crossfingers:
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Rudi
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Re: Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

Post by Rudi »

You may want to revisit (or at least keep your eye on) the orange LED on the MB. Orange is one colour short of RED :groan:

All in all, a hearty congrats for your persistence and ingenuity. You beat the sucker!!!! :grin:
Also, TX for the detailed account of your saga...and the feedback. It will definitely be helpful for others with this type of issue!
Regards,
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viking33
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Re: Erratic types of BSOD in Win 7.

Post by viking33 »

Thanks Rudi and BobH.
The memory stick I replaced was identical to the old one, so I have no doubts about it. (doesn't everyone have an extra memory stick?) :grin:
That old saw about batteries doesn't fly with me. EE 101 disputes it too.
The orange\amber LED light is also gone. I have a "green board" now.

At any rate, things look good as I write this, but you better believe that I'm keeping a sharp eye on every little hiccup I spot! Don't really care to go through that one again. :thankyou:
BOB
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