BSOD VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT + memory_corruption

[R3ign]

Hi everyone,

I'm not sure if im in the correct place - I have been having the above BSOD's for about 2 months now on and off. It always seems to happen when I play a game.

I've preformed the following tests:checked each individual ram stick (4gb corsair vengence DDR3 1600MHZ) with Memtest 86.

Ran checkdisk

Re-installed my graphics drivers

Scanned for malware / Viruses - all clean


everything has passed the tests - I'm not sure weather to keep testing the ram or take the system apart.


Any advice would be greatly appreciated

(I've attached a link to the minidumps HERE)


thanks in advance!

 

[Frick]

What's the error code? Bluescreenview is a simple program to use for checking up bsods.

 

[RCoon]

Vista Driver? What exactly are you using a Vista driver for?

 

[R3ign]

What's the error code? Bluescreenview is a simple program to use for checking up bsods.

this is the latest error code:

UGCHECK_STR: 0x4E_99

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

PROCESS_NAME: System

CURRENT_IRQL: 2

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from fffff80004b18a4c to fffff80004a89bc0


thanks for the link i'll check it out

 

[R3ign]

Vista Driver? What exactly are you using a Vista driver for?

I have no clue what so ever!
cant stand VISTA and certainly wouldn't use a vista driver

 

[RCoon]

this is the latest error code:

UGCHECK_STR: 0x4E_99

CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

PROCESS_NAME: System

CURRENT_IRQL: 2

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER: from fffff80004b18a4c to fffff80004a89bc0


thanks for the link i'll check it out

Clear your CMOS. I've seen that solve a 0x4E before. Usually 4E pertains to memory or hardware failure.

 

[R3ign]

Clear your CMOS. I've seen that solve a 0x4E before. Usually 4E pertains to memory or hardware failure.

ah I didnt think of that - I'll do that when I finish work - thanks!

I've done some more digging and found this driver to be a possible cause? ntoskrnl.exe

 

[RCoon]

ah I didnt think of that - I'll do that when I finish work - thanks!

I've done some more digging and found this driver to be a possible cause? ntoskrnl.exe

If ntoskrnl is corrupt and causing the BSOD, you'll need to run a windows repair/reinstall windows.

 

[R3ign]

If ntoskrnl is corrupt and causing the BSOD, you'll need to run a windows repair/reinstall windows.

it looks more like ntoskrnl.exe is causing the problem - but not sure why it would cause memory corruption - I'll have another go at it tonight and let you know if it works

thanks again for the help guys !

 

[Frick]

it looks more like ntoskrnl.exe is causing the problem - but not sure why it would cause memory corruption - I'll have another go at it tonight and let you know if it works

thanks again for the help guys !

Or it's the other way round, or just something that requires a reinstall/repair.

 

[P4-630]

Some time ago I had an ntoskrnl.exe error, I bought new memory and RMA'd and they told me it was faulty, I did run memtest myself but did not find anything.
Got new memory and the problem was solved.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/bsod-with-memory-upgrade.199591/

 

[R3ign]

Some time ago I had an ntoskrnl.exe error, I bought new memory and RMA'd and they told me it was faulty, I did run memtest myself but did not find anything.
Got new memory and the problem was solved.

http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/threads/bsod-with-memory-upgrade.199591/

That's interesting - so everything is working fine now ?

 

[P4-630]

That's interesting - so everything is working fine now ?

Yes everything working fine now

You could try running your system with 1 ram stick at a time , and see if you can pick out the stick that causes a bsod, I'm not 100% sure if this is the same problem as mine, but you could at least try it.

 

[R3ign]

Yes everything working fine now

You could try running your system with 1 ram stick at a time , and see if you can pick out the stick that causes a bsod, I'm not 100% sure if this is the same problem as mine, but you could at least try it.

Yeah I did that yesterday but ran 3 passes of memtest per stick - no errors

I could try them whilst playing a game and see if it happens.


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I also get another error when playing BF4 - windows says I'm low on memory and wants to revert to windows basic (disable aero) I've changed my graphics settings all the way down to Low (thinking it was a GPU problem) and it still happens

any thoughts ?

 

[RCoon]

I also get another error when playing BF4 - windows says I'm low on memory and wants to revert to windows basic (disable aero) I've changed my graphics settings all the way down to Low (thinking it was a GPU problem) and it still happens

any thoughts ?

So you've reseated all your RAM? On boot, or in BIOS, does it tell you how much memory you have installed?
Check your VRAM usage in GPU-Z and check RAM usage in task manager. Sounds like one or more sticks are not being recognised by windows.

 

[R3ign]

So you've reseated all your RAM? On boot, or in BIOS, does it tell you how much memory you have installed?
Check your VRAM usage in GPU-Z and check RAM usage in task manager. Sounds like one or more sticks are not being recognised by windows.

Yeah i have - all showing up in the BIOS 16GB and in windows 16GB

RAM usage in the game normally maxes at 8GB leaving enough left over (running 64bit exe)

Vram - i have not checked that out - but i cant imagine it maxing out on low @ 1920 X 1080 - but will check

 

[Aquinus]

it looks more like ntoskrnl.exe is causing the problem - but not sure why it would cause memory corruption - I'll have another go at it tonight and let you know if it works

thanks again for the help guys !

Do you know what ntoskrnl.exe is? That's the Windows kernel. That is the first thing to start when you boot your machine. If the kernel is unhappy and it's not corrupted, you have an unstable system with respect to hardware.

Whenever you get a BSOD and you don't know what's causing it, the first thing you do is set everything to stock and see if it still happens because more often than not this kind of instability is due to an unstable overclock on some component, be it memory, the CPU, cache, the PCH, anything on the PCI-E root complex (like GPUs, ethernet, or RAID cards), take your pick, but you need to rule out any overclock as the problem first. I feel this needs to be said because you said nothing about resetting everything to stock and your specs say your chip is at 4.5Ghz.

 

[R3ign]

Do you know what ntoskrnl.exe is? That's the Windows kernel. That is the first thing to start when you boot your machine. If the kernel is unhappy and it's not corrupted, you have an unstable system with respect to hardware.

Whenever you get a BSOD and you don't know what's causing it, the first thing you do is set everything to stock and see if it still happens because more often than not this kind of instability is due to an unstable overclock on some component, be it memory, the CPU, cache, the PCH, anything on the PCI-E root complex (like GPUs, ethernet, or RAID cards), take your pick, but you need to rule out any overclock as the problem first. I feel this needs to be said because you said nothing about resetting everything to stock and your specs say your chip is at 4.5Ghz.

Opps! that's the one thing i have not done (i will take your advice and reset my overclock)

However it's taken a good part of a year to become unstable - is this normal with overclocking ? because when I first overclocked it I stress tested it under various programs including Intel's burn test. It passed all tests.
It would also explain why my RAM has no faults.

 

[Aquinus]

Opps! that's the one thing i have not done (i will take your advice and reset my overclock)

However it's taken a good part of a year to become unstable - is this normal with overclocking ? because when I first overclocked it I stress tested it under various programs including Intel's burn test. It passed all tests.
It would also explain why my RAM has no faults.

Just because it's stable under full load doesn't mean it is stable when it switches C-States. I currently have this issue where my machine will BSOD rarely when the CPU comes out of a low power C-state. It just happens to do something when switching frequency and voltages that causes it to become unstable enough though I can run P95 all day long without an issue. It's definitely voltage related for me and dropping the VCCSA too low will cause similar issues. Overclocking with offsets will sometimes cause this to happen. Offsets are nice because the voltage on the offset is applied to the VID which allows the voltage to change according to the VID as load and clock speed changes.

As I've said, a lot of things can impact an overclock's stability so you should rule it out at least for now just so it's one (big) thing you won't have to consider if you continue to have problems.

 

[R3ign]

Just because it's stable under full load doesn't mean it is stable when it switches C-States. I currently have this issue where my machine will BSOD rarely when the CPU comes out of a low power C-state. It just happens to do something when switching frequency and voltages that causes it to become unstable enough though I can run P95 all day long without an issue. It's definitely voltage related for me and dropping the VCCSA too low will cause similar issues. Overclocking with offsets will sometimes cause this to happen. Offsets are nice because the voltage on the offset is applied to the VID which allows the voltage to change according to the VID as load and clock speed changes.

As I've said, a lot of things can impact an overclock's stability so you should rule it out at least for now just so it's one (big) thing you won't have to consider if you continue to have problems.

I've reset the clocks back to default - and as you suggested it works like a dream. Just need to tweak the OC at some point in the near future. my voltage was at 1.2V maybe it was too low.
thanks again everyone for the input and a big thanks to Aquinus for pointing out my stupidity

I'll create another thread about the OC later on

 

[Deleted member 67555]

4.2ghz...
I settled at 4.2ghz and the memory at 1866mhz...not a single issue for over a year....I can run 4.5ghz and 2.4ghz but its only stable 99.9999% of the time and that's to much of a risk when it doesn't matter cause my GFX doesn't do it anymore...
but anyways try 4.2ghz...

 

[R3ign]

4.2ghz...
I settled at 4.2ghz and the memory at 1866mhz...not a single issue for over a year....I can run 4.5ghz and 2.4ghz but its only stable 99.9999% of the time and that's to much of a risk when it doesn't matter cause my GFX doesn't do it anymore...
but anyways try 4.2ghz...

cheers! i'll leave it at stock for a week or so - and then begin testing after that.