Blue screen

[sglass]

Built a new system about 3 weeks ago and started to get the blue screen of death.

My system....
Asus M4A785TD-V EVO mother board
Amd BE 965
4 gigs Corsir ram 1600
640 gig WD Black
Sapphire HD5870
Antec 750w PSU
Win 7

Havent installed anything new for a week ish when the blue screen started to pop up. Been trying to read all whats on the blue screen but doesnt stay up long enough, something about windows has detected an error and has to shut down and think I caught memory dump in there also. Cant print screen so have been trying to get a pic from my camera quick enough.

Any suggestions till I get a pic of the blue screen to add to my post?

 

[MadAdmiral]

You could just write down the error code. That's the only important part about BSODs. You can also disable automatic restarts with the BSOD (google it).

BSODs are almost always caused by improper RAM settings or bad sticks of RAM. Go to the RAM manufacturer's website and look up the settings for your exact model of RAM (1600 mhz Corsair isn't exactly descriptive. I can think of at least 3 sets that could fall into that name). Write down the exact timings, voltages, and speed the RAM should be running at. Then go to memtest.org and download MemTest86+. Burn the ISO file to a CD. Reboot the machine and enter BIOS. Manually set the RAM specs to those you got from the manufacturer. Then set the computer to boot from the optical drive first. Then restart. Let this run overnight or through at least 7 passes.

 

[sglass]

Ok narrowed it down a bit, seem to happen when I download from the internet. Reinstalled windows last night and was downloading steam when it did it the first time and when downloading patch 1.41 for BF2.

Will look for the error code on the BSOD.

 

[mosox]

Do a system restore.

 

[MadAdmiral]

BSODs are almost never caused by software problems. I doubt that whatever you were doing when it first happened caused the problem. It was likely to be an existing problem that surfaced when you tried to do an intensive task that isn't commonly done.

 

[sglass]

BSODs are almost never caused by software problems. I doubt that whatever you were doing when it first happened caused the problem. It was likely to be an existing problem that surfaced when you tried to do an intensive task that isn't commonly done.

Now this Ram thing you spoke about. Does it make sence I built 2 exact same computers one for me and one for my wife. Same MB,ram everything and hers is having no problems at all. Could the timing voltage and speed be set diffrent if both are exactly the same. Meaning can one MB be picking one set of ram up diffrently from the factory?

Also did a memory diagnotic through win7 all pass.

 

[MadAdmiral]

It could have happened. Sticks are slightly different, so one board could automatically detect different settings for "identical" sticks. Also, the problem might not have surfaced on the other computer because the uses may be different.

The memory diagnostic in Windows is not that great. Run MemTest86+ to make sure the RAM is alright.

 

[sglass]

So memtest returned with errors so returned ram and so far so good "crosses fingers". Thanx everyone : )