This is a new PC build that took the power supply and hard drives from my previous PC.
Hardware in the system right now:
Motherboard: GigaByte GA-P67A-UD4-B3
Memory: Corsair Vengeance 16 gig kit (4x4gb) ddr3-1600
CPU: Intel i5 2500k
PS: Corsair GS700
Video: GigaByte 6850 OC
Case: Coolermaster CM Storm Scout
Sound: Create X-FI Titanium HD
Hard drives: 1 WD Black 500gb, 1 Hitachi 500Gb, 1 WD Blue 500Gb
Here's the story...
I bought the motherboard, processor, case, and Corsair XMS3 ram from Microcenter. I put everything together and threw the old hard drives in (not formatting and reinstalling windows yet as I've had success with this in the past). Everything was fine for about 20 minutes and the blue screens started happening. They were mostly System Service Exceptions with a couple Memory Management thrown in. All of them only listed NTOSKRNL in the minidumps.
While it seemed like it was memory related, I still did due diligence and went into safe mode, removed all drivers I could, used Driver Sweeper, and then rebooted to try installing drivers. Still no go. I ran MemTest86+ and Windows Memory Diagnostic and neither found errors. So I did a complete format and reinstalled Windows 7 x64 Ultimate. After the fresh install, I was still getting blue screens, even with minimal drivers installed. Chipset was first, followed by video and sound. It did it on the sound driver install, so I removed them and removed my sound card. I also took the video card out and used my known good card that I replaced, a 4890. Still getting blue screens, same as before, with only NTOSKRNL showing up.
I then took 1 stick of ram out which left 4 gig of ram and was able to use Windows for an extended period of time with no blue screens. I swapped sticks and did it again and was again able to use Windows without blue screens. I had a hunch it might either be the motherboard or the ram not liking dual channel mode together (even though they were a matched pair).
So, I took the motherboard and ram back to Microcenter. I exchanged the motherboard for the last one in stock and traded the memory in for the Corsair Vengeance listed above. I was told that the XMS3 memory might not work right with the I5 at 1600mhz. I would live with 1333mhz, but it was $30 for the 8gig of XMS3 or $70 for 16 gig of the Vengeance. (Got to love Holidays sales).
I installed the motherboard and memory, used the XMP Profile1 straight away, and booted into Windows. Completed all my driver installs, downloaded BF3 and was able to play just fine with my sound card and 6850 video card installed. Windows has been stable and running fine for the last week in this configuration.
Last night I came home and booted the PC and used it for about 2 hours. I was putting Tomato USB on my router and had installed the TFTP Client through the Windows add and remove features. I ended up not needing it, so I never rebooted when it asked me too when it was done installing. I had not installed anything else prior to this. I rebooted so I could test the Wake On Lan from my cell phone. The PC started as expected but while starting it said that it needed to install updates, rebooted, installed more updates, and then went into Windows. Just after the desktop loaded, I started getting the blue screens again. This time it was System Service Exceptions and Bad Pool Header, IRQL Not Less than or Equal, and Page Fault in Non-Paged Area.
The drivers listed in these range from cdrom, msfs, and a couple others I can't remember right now. I rebooted into safe mode to try to remove that TFTP Client thinking that has something to do with it. To my surprise, it wasn't listed as being installed and then also blue screened while in safe mode. Sometimes it blue screens right away, other times it takes a minute or two, but it blue screens in both regular and safe mode this time.
Being that the blue screens are all over the place, my hunch is either hard drive, memory, or motherboard at this point and not software. Since the system has been stable for a week of heavy usage (lots of BF3, lots of sitting on all day), I had a hunch it was either a memory stick going bad or hard drive. I first ran spin rite on level 2. It passed with no errors. So I ran MemTest86+ all night long. It completed 4 passes with no errors.
Finding that, I rebooted the PC and let it go into windows and did a system restore to the latest restore point and left for work. From work (where I am at right now) I connected back to the PC via Remote Desktop and it was still alive. So I poked around and now I can't get into the event viewer and it appears that the .Net Framework has been corrupted. I poked around some more and decided to do a repair on .Net 4. That completed and I opened the Add/Remove features from windows and .Net 3.5 is no longer marked as installed, and neither is the TFTP Client (which I expected since I did the system restore). I installed .Net 3.5 and it asked to reboot, which I did. I waited a few minutes and connected back to it and that lasted all of about 30 seconds and my connection dropped. My wife confirmed it was sitting at a blue screen.
My plan tonight is to try to run HCI Designs memtest as well as MemTest86+ and Windows Memory diagnostic. It seems less likely it's the hard drive since it was fine in the old PC and never gave me any trouble. With the errors being all over the place, I have a suspicion that it's a bad ram stick. Is there a reliable way to test memory? MemTest86+ didn't find any errors this time, nor before I exchanged the MB and ram the last time. I've never had it not find bad memory when I was in fact dealing with bad memory, but in google searches I'm finding other people that say it can happen.
Any other ideas/things to try? I'm open to just about anything. I'm pretty sure after I find the problem I'm going to be reformatting again too. I've seen bad memory corrupt windows installations, so I think I'd rather be safe than sorry here.
Thanks for any help.
Aaron
p.s. sorry this is so long, I wanted to give all the info I had. I also posted this in the Corsair forum and will update this post if I get anything from there.
