Tracking down the cause of blue screens.

[avelle]

So I posted this in the Windows 7 thread a week or so ago and got some good info but still having difficulty identifying what is causing my blue screens. My best guess is it's driver related. The thing that's throwing me off is I'm getting varying stop codes. I don't know if that's normal or what but according to a dump file analyzer I checked out, I'm getting the following problems:

On Sat 5/23/2009 7:24:50 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe
Bugcheck code: 0xA (0xFFFFFA80204176D0, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFF8000298083F)
Error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Likely the culprit is another driver on your system which cannot be identified.



On Sat 5/23/2009 1:46:59 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe
Bugcheck code: 0xA (0xFFFFFA3E062D19E8, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFF8000291F83F)
Error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Likely the culprit is another driver on your system which cannot be identified.



On Fri 5/22/2009 9:53:14 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe
Bugcheck code: 0xA (0xC8, 0x2, 0x1, 0xFFFFF8000296986F)
Error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Likely the culprit is another driver on your system which cannot be identified.



On Thu 5/21/2009 2:57:59 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: nvlddmkm.sys
Bugcheck code: 0x3B (0xC0000005, 0xFFFFF800028DFF44, 0xFFFFF880085EE1D0, 0x0)
Error: SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\nvlddmkm.sys
product: NVIDIA Compatible Windows Vista Kernel Mode Driver, Version 182.50
company: NVIDIA Corporation
description: NVIDIA Compatible Windows Vista Kernel Mode Driver, Version 182.50



On Wed 5/20/2009 6:24:07 PM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe
Bugcheck code: 0xA (0xFFFFFA7606EB1658, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFF8000297D83F)
Error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Likely the culprit is another driver on your system which cannot be identified.



On Wed 5/20/2009 2:09:43 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe
Bugcheck code: 0x1A (0x411, 0xFFFFF68000045C48, 0xCEB0000016202824, 0xFFFF568000045C49)
Error: MEMORY_MANAGEMENT
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Likely the culprit is another driver on your system which cannot be identified.



On Mon 5/18/2009 8:17:48 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: ntfs.sys
Bugcheck code: 0x24 (0x1904FB, 0xFFFFF880031AF608, 0xFFFFF880031AEE60, 0xFFFFF8800129F816)
Error: NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\ntfs.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT File System Driver
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Likely the culprit is another driver on your system which cannot be identified.



On Sun 5/10/2009 8:06:07 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: dxgmms1.sys
Bugcheck code: 0x50 (0xFFFFFA8008800000, 0x0, 0xFFFFF800028BDE20, 0x2)
Error: PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\dxgmms1.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: DirectX Graphics MMS
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Likely the culprit is another driver on your system which cannot be identified.



On Sun 5/10/2009 4:16:03 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: ntfs.sys
Bugcheck code: 0x24 (0x1904FB, 0xFFFFF88006E86168, 0xFFFFF88006E859C0, 0xFFFFF800028AAE51)
Error: NTFS_FILE_SYSTEM
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\ntfs.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT File System Driver
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Likely the culprit is another driver on your system which cannot be identified.



On Sat 5/9/2009 9:56:49 AM your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe
Bugcheck code: 0xA (0xFFFFFA0004A893C0, 0x2, 0x0, 0xFFFFF8000298183F)
Error: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: NT Kernel & System
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Likely the culprit is another driver on your system which cannot be identified.

Is there something I can use to analyze the dump files better and try to see what's causing this?

[Cephius]

Have you tried reinstalling your video card drivers, or downgrading to a different version?

Also Windows 7 isn't even in a retail build yet... it's gonna be hard to find supported drivers at this stage in the OS's lifespan. IMHO, you shouldn't be using a RC as your main operating system. But that's neither here nor there.

I'm guessing it's the nvidia drivers because you have the nvlddmkm.sys and the DirectX process coming up there, so I'd definitely wipe out your drivers (Driver Sweeper is a good program for doing this) and put it new ones. Maybe google around for which version is best under Windows 7 for your graphics card.

I know that ntoskrnl.exe is a target of many viruses as well, have you run any virus/spyware scans?

[Solefald]

Ordinarily, many different stop messages means it's probably either a virus or bad memory/other hardware. Although, Windows 7 should be pretty secure against viruses. You didn't turn off UAC did you?

Run the built-in Memory Diagnostic (type it into your start menu) and see if it reports anything. If it doesn't I would just reformat and try again

[avelle]

It's hard to believe I'd have a virus already as one of the first things I did was install and configure noscript. I do have XP as on a different partition so while I'm using Win7 a lot, I guess it's not technically my main OS. I am actually trying to use it as such though! I've also actually been suspicious of my memory as I purchased new memory at the same time I installed Windows 7, so no idea if I got bad sticks or not. Though when I'm in XP I haven't had any problems so far. I'll run a virus check and memory diagnostic as well as reinstall drivers though I've tried several different Windows 7 nvidia drivers and seem to be having the same issue with each.

[Surealistic]

its nvidia drivers, try running the straight up vista drivers, worked fine for me so far

[avelle]

its nvidia drivers, try running the straight up vista drivers, worked fine for me so far

I'll try that too! Thanks.

[Kinesis]

yea blue screens are a pita

[Cheerios]

Like other people have said, nvlddmkm.sys and dxgmms1.sys are video card related issues. If you're still getting the ntfs and ntoskrnl.exe errors afterwards and nothing else, you're gonna have to reinstall Windows 7.

[Narse]

I had very similar error messages myself on and off for about a year on my system before I figured out what it was. For me, the RAM I had was not compatible with my motherboard fully. Any time I would run more than one stick of RAM at a time I would get issues. The RAM itself works fine in a 2nd computer. If possible I would either try to run on one stick, or run a memory test and see if you get errors. Possibly change the manufacturer of your RAM. What MB do you have, and what RAM do you have?

[avelle]

Well I ran the memory diagnostic and no problems there. And I'm happy to say it's been 3 days since I've blue screened. I'm running Vista 64bit video card drivers, though I think FFXI still runs like dog shit on Windows 7 with an 8800 despite supposedly using the "good" vista drivers designed to fix problems. But so far so good! Appreciate all the help guys.

[avelle]

Well, the blue screens are back. Twice today so far. So going to give in and just reformat this drive and reinstall XP like initially planned to refresh my machine. FFXI ran like shit on Windows 7 with my 8800 anyways despite trying all sorts of Vista/Win7 drivers so that alone is enough to make me give in. Thanks for the help guys. :3

[Haiko]

whoa i think i got the same problem as you do...i just got blue screen the first time 2 weeks ago and its been happening more often now...was planning to return it to best buy since i still have that service plan in effect.