The Juggernaut Has Fallen (Continuous BSODs, can't boot)

[BenKenobi]

Specs

Windows Vista (sp1)
intel e6600 (was slightly overclocked, but brought back to default this afternoon)
evga geforce 8800gtx
4gb corsair
Enuf psu power not that important tbh imo
evga 780i

Well this morning before I had to leave I was browsing the forums and I got my first BSOD on this machine. I didn't record the first message because it was the first BSOD i've ever had and figured it was just a minor glitch. I had to leave to so I just turned it off. When I came home I turned it on and tried to start windows normally. BSOD on startup. It said MEMORY_MANAGEMENT and all the regular BSOD crap. The stop code was

***STOP: 0x0000007E (0xC0000005, 0x88A28878, 0x80803950, 0x8080364c)

I think the above is rather trivial since I've had about 8 of these BSOD (since they happen anytime I try to start up or very close after) and the characters always are different.

At this point I tried to start in safe mode, but it didn't get far before it BSOD. This time it was a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA error.

All the errors up to this point have been one of the two (memory management or page fault error).

After that, I reset everything to default in my bios. The memory and cpu had been overclocked slightly for the past year or so. This helped somewhat, because after I did that I did successfully get into safe mode. But it just crashed about 2 minutes later. I then tried to get into safe mode with networking and it gave me this windows activiation crap where it said I could not enter the safe mode until I entered regular startup mode so it could activate itself. Well I restarted and tried to enter regular windows mode and it did get into desktop for about a minute which gave it enough time to activate and then it BSOD'd.

At one point I got a BSOD where it said I should try to boot from my windows disk and go to the repair option in the boot disk. I tried to do that, and it began to search for errors to repair, but before it found anything it BSOD.

I did some research on these BSOD codes and it seems like they are memory related. I am going to try to find one stick of ram where perhaps the thing doesnt crash within minutes of the desktop, and if that works I guess we'll know one of the sticks is bad.

But apart from that, i don't know what else I can do, because it's obviously hardware related. I hate hardware...

Thanks in advance

[Duke{CLR}]

Although I don't know too much about this I would try this.

1 Reset the CMOS with the jumper to get to defaults.
2 Look for anything loose especially the memory sticks.
3. Try rebooting with one stick memory to see if its a bad stick.

[Trooper110]

Try different sticks to make sure it's not a specific stick of RAM. The Page fault could be an issue with the page file. You might want to try either increasing or decreasing the size of the page file if you can get to it before a BSoD. This has helped in the past where for whatever reason Windows didn't like the current and/or default size of the page file. Other than those two things, I can't think of anything off the top of my head other than a bad DIMM, and I don't think that that would cause an error like that.

[BenKenobi]

Although I don't know too much about this I would try this.

1 Reset the CMOS with the jumper to get to defaults.
2 Look for anything loose especially the memory sticks.
3. Try rebooting with one stick memory to see if its a bad stick.

Does step one just mean removing the battery

[Duke{CLR}]

When I had to do it I had to use the jumper to clear it. Are you still using the 680i?

NM I see you have the 780i

[WalkinTarget]

Yea, pop the battery out and then back in after hitting the power button with the PC disconnected from the wall outlet. You don't want it to power up, but you DO want the switch to discharge and allow the PC to attempt to power cycle.

Then pop the battery back in and go from there. Sounds like your RAM or possibly PSU are going south. Hopefully you have 2 sticks to test the RAM theory and just boot with only one stick in the PC.

Enuf psu power not that important tbh

I snicker when I read these comments, and we then find out the guy has a Raidmax 600w unit pumping out at max 325w. What brand, bubba ??

[Duke{CLR}]

The CMOS jumper settings are on page 23 of your manual. When I did mine I used the jumper and left the battery in there.

[WalkinTarget]

Eight BSODs ?? Yikes ... I haven't had one in Vista outside of the initial install when I weent to quad and left it redetect all of the new hardware .. the infamous screen from below ...

http://www.wtslair.com/projectquad/core2what.jpg

You have got something that decided to migrate south for the winter my friend.

*WT imagines Ben scrambling frantically to find his manual that is somewhere stuffed under a box of comic books and console games*

[BenKenobi]

Thanks for that info duke ill do it asap

Let me find the brand and info walkin...

[Duke{CLR}]

I had an issue once when I changed my memory timings and voltages other then that mine has been stable. Something is definitely strange there BenKenobi.

[BenKenobi]

Newegg.com - FSP Group FX700-GLN ATX12V V2.2/EPS12V 700W Power Supply 100 - 240 V CSA, IEC, UL, CE, TUV - Power Supplies

Found it. It's FSP group PSU. I got it because I got a previous FSP group psu for my first PC. Plz don't be mad cuz I didn't get like Zalman or Antec or something more popular lol

Duke I also had some problems when I was overclocking my processor, I actually got BSOD's until I changed the defaulted timings that the motherboard liked 5 5 5 18 to the preferred one of the memory 5 5 5 12. But I overclocked a looong time ago so I don't see why this would be a problem with that all randomly. However it does seem ominous that I could at least get into desktop when I reset the default settings. I'm guessing bad RAM because since its not running as fast it can remain stable a little longer.

[WalkinTarget]

DOH !!! I have the 600w version of that PSU .. scratch that, we know that isn't bad Its a freakin' beast of a PSU.

OK, back to RAM being bad ... can you boot to a floppy (not a given these days) and run Memtest ?? Or run Memtest from a bootable CD ?

RAM timings are a very touchy thing, depending on the hardware involved. I've seen some rigs that would not POST (!!!) unless the RAM timings and voltages matches specs exactly.

OCZ was infamous a few years back for selling RAM that required 2.0v to boot, and guys were using it in boards that defaulted to 1.8, so you had a catch-22 in that the PC wouldn't allow you to even boot to manually bump your RAM voltage from 1.8 to 2.0 to deal with the OCZ RAM.
You then needed to buy some generic RAM, or borow from a friend and boot the PC, set your timings manually, then power off andswap back to the OCZ sticks.

[Duke{CLR}]

I had an issue when I reset one time and I had forgot the voltage bump on the memory. It would not boot because of this so I had the reset the CMOS. If the voltage weren't bumped when you rest you BIOS you could have this issue. resetting the CMOS would ensure stock settings.

Then try one stick to see if it works if it doesn't then try the other one. You could also try filling the black slots with two sticks instead of the blue ones. The idea is to see if you have a bad one.

[Duke{CLR}]

RAM timings are a very touchy thing, depending on the hardware involved. I've seen some rigs that would not POST (!!!) unless the RAM timings and voltages matches specs exactly.

OCZ was infamous a few years back for selling RAM that required 2.0v to boot, and guys were using it in boards that defaulted to 1.8, so you had a catch-22 in that the PC wouldn't allow you to even boot to manually bump your RAM voltage from 1.8 to 2.0 to deal with the OCZ RAM.
sticks.

This is the exact problem I had caused myself.

[mapes]

If all that doesn't work do try increasing or decreasing the page file size. I've seen the page file get so fragmented that windows had problems. granted it was on XP though.