Previously Working System Freezing/BSOD

[UnknownUser1022]

Hello all! So I'm having a bit of an issue with my PC. Everything has worked fine since it was built about 6 months ago. A couple days ago I randomly got a BSOD while playing Skyrim. System then proceeded to freeze while doing even simple things like web browsing sometimes freezing before windows could log in. It also does not boot everytime now having a black screen.

The BSODs come randomly but the freezing is pretty consistent.

Now on to components.

i5-6500
MSI Z170 SLI
HyperX DDR4 2133 2x4gb
Seasonic X-850w
EVGA GTX 980ti SC+
Be Quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3
Samsung 840 Evo
PNY 240gb SSD
PNY 240gb SSD

All of this is running on Windows 10 64bit Pro.

I have attempted swapping the RAM for some other sticks and thought it solved the problem but the problem showed again. I should note the DRAM light on the motherboard stays lit when the PC will not boot.

 

[Lutfij]

1| Have you made sure your motherboard BIOS is up to date?
2| Are you sure your drivers are all up to date?
3| Does the issue crop up when you're BIOS? If so then it's a PSU or memory issue.
4| Run memtest86 for at least 10 passes per stick per slot and if any errors come around, it's the ram's.
5| You forgot to mention your OS.

 

[UnknownUser1022]

@lutfij

1. BIOS is updated for the Mobo. Not sure on the GPU.
2. Drivers are all up to date.
3. Haven't experienced the issue in the BIOS but I haven't been in it very long so could be coincidental.
4. I will attempt to run memtest and see what happens.
5. OS added.

 

[Lutfij]

Try reflashing the BIOS with the latest version and then make sure your ram frequency and timings are keyed in manually. If they are X.M.P capable, then you should enable the profiles. Since you have two sticks of ram, how are they populated on your motherboard?

 

[UnknownUser1022]

Sticks are in slots 2 and 4 per msi guidelines.

 

[Lutfij]

Hmmm, you may also want to see if the reflash takes care of the ram LED issue. After your memtest86 comes inclusive you may want to take a look at the rams or the board since the LED indicator being lit up randomly may indicate that the board is faulty(provided memtest comes out with no issues).

 

[UnknownUser1022]

Yea I ran the memtest and it came up with no faults for any RAM in the system.

 

[Lutfij]

10 passes?!?!

 

[johnbl]

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170A-SLI.html#down-driver&Win10 64
I would make sure you have installed the driver updates, particularly the realtek audio update dated 10/25/2016
(bugs in the motherboard audio driver often cause "freezing" bugs in the graphics driver)

otherwise, you might provide the actual memory dump files from
c:\windows\minidump directory. There are just a huge number of bugcheck codes, each with their own error codes.

 

[UnknownUser1022]

10 passes?!?!

Definitely not. Didn't realize what I was going when I first ran it lol. Gonna have to run it over night. Trying to make sure all my drivers and whatnot are 100 percent updated.

 

[UnknownUser1022]

https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170A-SLI.html#down-driver&Win10 64
I would make sure you have installed the driver updates, particularly the realtek audio update dated 10/25/2016
(bugs in the motherboard audio driver often cause "freezing" bugs in the graphics driver)

otherwise, you might provide the actual memory dump files from
c:\windows\minidump directory. There are just a huge number of bugcheck codes, each with their own error codes.

There are 4 .DMP files in the minidump directory. Is there a recommended file hosting site so I can link them? I have no clue how to open them let alone read one.

 

[Lutfij]

Dropbox or Microsoft's One Drive.

 

[UnknownUser1022]

Dropbox or Microsoft's One Drive.

https://1drv.ms/f/s!AlwbVYhDiifggY4NuI3Fdg-UPaSyYQ

I think I did that right.

 

[johnbl]

most likely the corrupted kernel is unrelated to this bugcheck.
It is more likely do to a driver bug in one of the many OEM drivers. You are running the release version of windows 10 with the generic drivers but most motherboard vendors did not release fixed drivers until after windows 10 shipped.
you need to go to https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170A-SLI.html#down-driver&Win10 64
and install the updated drivers. (one of the old drivers is overwriting the memory space of a second driver. This will cause the second driver to crash the system.
most likely just updating the drivers from the above link will fix this problem.
--------
first bugcheck show memory corruption
it looks like windows kernel have been modified (6 errors)
looks like a malware/hack attempt on the kernel.

the system bugchecked because your storage controller driver tried to use a bad memory address (address was 40)

try this:
start cmd.exe as an admin (windows key+x, they A) then run
dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
(this will fix malware attacks on a storage driver)
Malwarebytes scan can remove the attacking program.(if you have one)


this would fix the core windows files on disk.
I will look and see if I can figure out what modified the windows kernel.

 

[UnknownUser1022]

most likely the corrupted kernel is unrelated to this bugcheck.
It is more likely do to a driver bug in one of the many OEM drivers. You are running the release version of windows 10 with the generic drivers but most motherboard vendors did not release fixed drivers until after windows 10 shipped.
you need to go to https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170A-SLI.html#down-driver&Win10 64
and install the updated drivers. (one of the old drivers is overwriting the memory space of a second driver. This will cause the second driver to crash the system.
most likely just updating the drivers from the above link will fix this problem.
--------
first bugcheck show memory corruption
it looks like windows kernel have been modified (6 errors)
looks like a malware/hack attempt on the kernel.

the system bugchecked because your storage controller driver tried to use a bad memory address (address was 40)

try this:
start cmd.exe as an admin (windows key+x, they A) then run
dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
(this will fix malware attacks on a storage driver)
Malwarebytes scan can remove the attacking program.(if you have one)


this would fix the core windows files on disk.
I will look and see if I can figure out what modified the windows kernel.

Alright so then you are recommending I just start at the top of the list and install all the drivers listed on that page? I was using the MSI live update tool to update my drivers. Maybe that is what caused the problem.

 

[Lutfij]

You should always update your drivers manually after cross checking your current versions. MSI's live update has been known to dispatch a working board with even the wrong BIOS updates.

 

[UnknownUser1022]

You should always update your drivers manually after cross checking your current versions. MSI's live update has been known to dispatch a working board with even the wrong BIOS updates.

Good to know! I can build beautiful computers but when it comes to things like this I am completely lost!

 

[Lutfij]

Try out Johnbl's suggestion and get back to us. In the interim period if that doesn't work let memtest run overnight.

 

[UnknownUser1022]

most likely the corrupted kernel is unrelated to this bugcheck.
It is more likely do to a driver bug in one of the many OEM drivers. You are running the release version of windows 10 with the generic drivers but most motherboard vendors did not release fixed drivers until after windows 10 shipped.
you need to go to https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170A-SLI.html#down-driver&Win10 64
and install the updated drivers. (one of the old drivers is overwriting the memory space of a second driver. This will cause the second driver to crash the system.
most likely just updating the drivers from the above link will fix this problem.
--------
first bugcheck show memory corruption
it looks like windows kernel have been modified (6 errors)
looks like a malware/hack attempt on the kernel.

the system bugchecked because your storage controller driver tried to use a bad memory address (address was 40)

try this:
start cmd.exe as an admin (windows key+x, they A) then run
dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
(this will fix malware attacks on a storage driver)
Malwarebytes scan can remove the attacking program.(if you have one)


this would fix the core windows files on disk.
I will look and see if I can figure out what modified the windows kernel.

Ok so I had all drivers updated Bios was reflashed to the most recent version. Windows had all it updates. PC was still freezing and crashing.

Ran Memtest86 overnight and came up with 0 errors.

Decided screw it I am going to wipe my drives reinstall windows and go from there. Created a new boot media so I had a newer version of Windows 10. Installed it everything was running fantastic. Then I tried to run Skyrim. Played for about 5 minutes blackscreened and closed and then came back with the windows desktop. Started it again this time is blackscreened and my PC restarted itself and went through the whole start up boot cycle.

Now I am thinking the GPU might be the issue. I tested the 12v rail on the PSU I have and it is putting out a stable 12.16v so I am fairly confident the PSU is not causing an issue at this point. Decided to stress the GPU by running the Heaven Benchmark. At about frame 20/26 I started getting stuttering with major FPs drops from 160 all the way down to 9. Then the computer locked up and I got a BSOD saying IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and the VGA indicator lit up on my motherboard. Restarted the PC ran it again. This time it made it about 5 frames and did the same thing.

It seems this BSOD is a driver crashing but I cannot figure out why the driver is crashing when I have every driver updated to the most recent drivers and the most recent windows install with updates installed.

Is my GPU the culprit? Could it be causing the video driver to crash locking up the system?

 

[johnbl]

you should provide a updated memory dump file. the old versions showed a corrupted windows kernel.

most likely the corrupted kernel is unrelated to this bugcheck.
It is more likely do to a driver bug in one of the many OEM drivers. You are running the release version of windows 10 with the generic drivers but most motherboard vendors did not release fixed drivers until after windows 10 shipped.
you need to go to https://www.msi.com/Motherboard/support/Z170A-SLI.html#down-driver&Win10 64
and install the updated drivers. (one of the old drivers is overwriting the memory space of a second driver. This will cause the second driver to crash the system.
most likely just updating the drivers from the above link will fix this problem.
--------
first bugcheck show memory corruption
it looks like windows kernel have been modified (6 errors)
looks like a malware/hack attempt on the kernel.

the system bugchecked because your storage controller driver tried to use a bad memory address (address was 40)

try this:
start cmd.exe as an admin (windows key+x, they A) then run
dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
(this will fix malware attacks on a storage driver)
Malwarebytes scan can remove the attacking program.(if you have one)


this would fix the core windows files on disk.
I will look and see if I can figure out what modified the windows kernel.

Ok so I had all drivers updated Bios was reflashed to the most recent version. Windows had all it updates. PC was still freezing and crashing.

Ran Memtest86 overnight and came up with 0 errors.

Decided screw it I am going to wipe my drives reinstall windows and go from there. Created a new boot media so I had a newer version of Windows 10. Installed it everything was running fantastic. Then I tried to run Skyrim. Played for about 5 minutes blackscreened and closed and then came back with the windows desktop. Started it again this time is blackscreened and my PC restarted itself and went through the whole start up boot cycle.

Now I am thinking the GPU might be the issue. I tested the 12v rail on the PSU I have and it is putting out a stable 12.16v so I am fairly confident the PSU is not causing an issue at this point. Decided to stress the GPU by running the Heaven Benchmark. At about frame 20/26 I started getting stuttering with major FPs drops from 160 all the way down to 9. Then the computer locked up and I got a BSOD saying IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and the VGA indicator lit up on my motherboard. Restarted the PC ran it again. This time it made it about 5 frames and did the same thing.

It seems this BSOD is a driver crashing but I cannot figure out why the driver is crashing when I have every driver updated to the most recent drivers and the most recent windows install with updates installed.

Is my GPU the culprit? Could it be causing the video driver to crash locking up the system?

 

[UnknownUser1022]

Will do I will get one once I get home from work.

 

[UnknownUser1022]

you should provide a updated memory dump file. the old versions showed a corrupted windows kernel.

DMPs

Here is the link for the two DMPs from last night while running Heaven Benchmark. Thanks again for all the help!

 

[johnbl]

you might also look at this driver and if you can get a update or if you need it.
\SystemRoot\System32\drivers\wdcsam64.sys Fri Oct 9 13:31:13 2015
(just a guess because of previous versions with bugs)
http://www.carrona.org/drivers/driver.php?id=wdcsam64.sys
(look for a update in the link above)
------
A driver has corrupted system PTEs.
Set HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\Memory Management\TrackPtes
to a DWORD 3 value and reboot. If the same bugcheck occurs again the stack trace will
identify the offending driver.

----------------
something modified the nt kernel functions:

STACK_COMMAND: kb

CHKIMG_EXTENSION: !chkimg -lo 50 -d !nt
fffff802d9b56387-fffff802d9b56388 2 bytes - nt!MiCopyDataPageToImagePage+6b7
[ 80 fa:00 ab ]
fffff802d9b563fe-fffff802d9b563ff 2 bytes - nt!MiCopyDataPageToImagePage+72e (+0x77)
[ 80 fa:00 ab ]
fffff802d9b608f7-fffff802d9b608f8 2 bytes - nt!MiUnlinkPageFromList+4e7 (+0xa4f9)
[ 80 fa:00 ab ]
fffff802d9b8904d-fffff802d9b8904e 2 bytes - nt!MiPurgeZeroList+6d (+0x28756)
[ 80 fa:00 ab ]
fffff802d9c1d9c7-fffff802d9c1d9c8 2 bytes - nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+48e37 (+0x9497a)
[ 80 f6:00 f5 ]
10 errors : !nt (fffff802d9b56387-fffff802d9c1d9c8)

then when the functions were used the system crashed.

 

[UnknownUser1022]

So just so I make sure I'm understanding a driver on my computer is causing the corruption? And then when the system tries to call on those functions it crashes because they are corrupt?

New update: PC will not even boot anymore. Fans spin up DRAM error light stays lit. Attempts to cycle through all the checks and gets stuck on DRAM light. No boot to windows.

Tried a second PSU thinking that could be a problem. No joy. PC just keeps cycling. I find it odd I got no errors from memtest86 but now I'm getting a constant DRAM error and no boot.

 

[johnbl]

The dism.exe command should have repaired the kernel on the disk. If it was modified in memory it would be a driver making the changes. Generally the kernel is a target of attack by malware viruses and rookits. Random ram failures do not target specific functions. Windows loads drivers in different ram locations on each boot. A simple ram problem would corrupt different drivers on each boot.

Not sure what to make of the failure to boot. Guess, I would reset the bios to defaults, reseat the ram and run memtest to confirm the ram timings.

So just so I make sure I'm understanding a driver on my computer is causing the corruption? And then when the system tries to call on those functions it crashes because they are corrupt?

New update: PC will not even boot anymore. Fans spin up DRAM error light stays lit. Attempts to cycle through all the checks and gets stuck on DRAM light. No boot to windows.

Tried a second PSU thinking that could be a problem. No joy. PC just keeps cycling. I find it odd I got no errors from memtest86 but now I'm getting a constant DRAM error and no boot.