Question Windows 10 BSOD reproducable in Vegas 14/15

[Marvelosity]

Specs:
Motherboard: Gigabyte Z370 HD3
CPU: Intel i5-8600K 3.6 GHz
GPU: EVGA GTX 1060 6GB SSC
RAM: Corsair - Vengeance LPX 16 GB (2 x 8 GB) DDR4-2133
Windows 10 (current version) installed on a Mushkin - Reactor 256 GB SSD

BSoD first appeared a few days ago during rendering in Vegas 14. I uninstalled a recent update and it seemed to fix it. Later returned when I upgraded to Vegas 15 a couple days later. Spent 2 days trying to test things myself and resetting my PC and reinstalling Windows, but it seems it wants to continue to plague me. I'm first thought the CPU went bad since Vegas uses it all, but stress tests seemed to prove otherwise. Now I'm guessing Motherboard or RAM?

MEMORY DMP: https://www.dropbox.com/s/g9694hc5isd5h5v/MEMORY.DMP?dl=0

 

[Darkbreeze]

Do you have the MOST recent motherboard BIOS version installed? Have you done a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers?

By "current version" do you mean version 1903 that was released yesterday?

If you have not updated to the May 2019 spring update version 1903, I would do THAT first, by going to the following link, clicking on update and following the instructions.

There are a few programs on my system that have not worked properly since the 1809 update, that do now. All three systems that I've updated to 1903 are also booting faster and are more responsive in Windows, so it's worth a shot.

After that, I'd check your BIOS version and update as necessary, and then do a clean install of the Nvidia drivers using the Display driver uninstaller if you haven't already.

Here are the first steps to take when trying to solve these kinds of hardware problems. If you have already tried these steps, all of them, exactly as outlined, we can move along to more advanced solutions.​

If there are any you have NOT done, it would be advisable to do so if for no other reason than to be able to say you've already done it and eliminate that possibility.



First,

make sure your motherboard has the MOST recent BIOS version installed. If it does not, then update. This solves a high number of issues even in cases where the release that is newer than yours makes no mention of improving graphics card or other hardware compatibility. They do not list every change they have made when they post a new BIOS release.


Second,

go to the product page for your motherboard on the manufacturer website. Download and install the latest driver versions for the chipset, storage controllers, audio and network adapters. Do not skip installing a newer driver just because you think it is not relevant to the problem you are having. The drivers for one device can often affect ALL other devices and a questionable driver release can cause instability in the OS itself. They don't release new drivers just for fun. If there is a new driver release for a component, there is a good reason for it. The same goes for BIOS updates.


IF you have other hardware installed or attached to the system that are not a part of the systems covered by the motherboard drivers, then go to the support page for THAT component and check to see if there are newer drivers available for that as well. If there are, install them.


Third,

Make sure your memory is running at the correct advertised speed in the BIOS. This may require that you set the memory to run at the XMP profile settings. Also, make sure you have the memory installed in the correct slots and that they are running in dual channel which you can check by installing CPU-Z and checking the Memory tab. For all modern motherboards that are dual channel memory architectures, from the last ten years at least, if you have two sticks installed they should be in the A2 (Called DDR4_1 on some boards) or B2 (Called DDR4_2 on some boards) which are ALWAYS the SECOND and FOURTH slots over from the CPU socket, counting TOWARDS the edge of the motherboard EXCEPT on boards that only have two memory slots total. In that case, if you have two modules it's not rocket science, but if you have only one, then install it in the A1 or DDR4_1 slot.


The last thing we want to look at,


for now anyhow, is the graphics card drivers. Regardless of whether you "already installed the newest drivers" for your graphics card or not, it is OFTEN a good idea to do a CLEAN install of the graphics card drivers. Just installing over the old drivers OR trying to use what Nvidia and AMD consider a clean install is not good enough and does not usually give the same result as using the Display Driver Uninstaller utility. This has a very high success rate and is always worth a shot.


If you have had both Nvidia and AMD cards installed at any point on that operating system then you will want to run the DDU twice. Once for the old card drivers (ie, Nvidia or AMD) and again for the currently installed graphics card drivers (ie, AMD or Nvidia). So if you had an Nvidia card at some point in the past, run it first for Nvidia and then after that is complete, run it again for AMD if you currently have an AMD card installed.


Here are the full instructions on running the Display driver uninstaller and CLEAN installing new drivers.

Graphics card CLEAN install tutorial using the DDU​

 

[Marvelosity]

I followed through with everything, and the graphics card clean install that seemed to do it for a bit, but it crashed again after a while with a different error on the Blue Screen. Before it was errors with IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL with the files watchdog.sys or ntoskrnl.exe. Now it was win32kbase.sys.

Here's the updated MEMORY.DMP: https://www.dropbox.com/s/1yfhnczxoonl4xy/MEMORY.DMP?dl=0

 

[Darkbreeze]

When was the last time you did a CLEAN install of the Windows operating system? And by that I don't mean an update, sidegrade, in place upgrade, RE-install (Over the existing installation) or restore/refresh. Clean. As in, deleting all existing partitions (Including the hidden system partitions) and install from scratch to the drive, allowing Windows to create the required partitions and do any necessary formatting?

If it has been more than a year, then I'd recommend, much of a PITA as it is, that you try that. BUT, before you do, I would like to know what the EXACT model of your power supply is?

 

[Marvelosity]

Sorry, I forgot to add that. The PSU is a Corsair - TXM Gold 550 W.

I have attempted reinstalling WIndows, but never thought of deleting all partitions, so I'm willing to try that.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So then what you want to do is download the latest ISO from MS, located here:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/software-download/windows10

by clicking on "Download tool". And then, follow the instructions located here, exactly as outlined.

How To - Windows 10 clean install tutorial

If you are looking for the Windows 11 Clean install tutorial, you can find that here: Windows 11 Clean install tutorial (Click here) Otherwise, welcome to the Windows 10 Clean install tutorial This tutorial is intended to help you, step by step, to perform a clean install of Windows...

forums.tomshardware.com

 

[Marvelosity]

Well, unfortunately, that didn't solve it. I assume that means it's a hardware error of some sort then.

 

[Darkbreeze]

Is this a legitimately licensed copy of Vegas, or a somewhat "shady" installation?

 

[Marvelosity]

It's legitimate. I bought it from the recent Humble Bundle.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So, AFTER you did a clean install of windows, did you THEN, go and download these drivers and install them:

Realtek audio driver: http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Driver/mb_driver_audio_realtek_8586.zip

Intel chipset driver: http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Driver/mb_driver_chipset_intel_10.1.17986.8131.zip

LAN/Network driver: http://download.gigabyte.us/FileList/Driver/mb_driver_lan_intel_23.5.zip

And do you have the MOST recent motherboard BIOS version installed? Version F12, located here:

https://www.gigabyte.com/us/Motherboard/Z370-HD3-rev-10#support-dl-bios


And did you also, AGAIN, do a clean install of the Nvidia drivers? Because ALL of those things except the BIOS update NEED to be done after a clean Windows install, and the BIOS update, while not a requirement, would be a VERY good idea. In fact, if you have an older version OR if you have a newer graphics card or storage device, it's practically a necessity.

 

[Marvelosity]

I had installed the drivers and re-updated the bios, but I hadn't done a clean install of Nvidia. After doing that, I'm afraid the crash still remains. On top of that, Windows Explorer has decided to close itself every few seconds.

 

[Darkbreeze]

So Windows explorer is crashing itself? That's, problematic.

First, let's go into device manager and see if there are any devices remarked with an apostrophe or question mark next to them.

Then, download SSD Life (Or any SSD health utility if you prefer a different one) and check the health of the SSD and Smart parameter results. For more in depth testing, you can download Seatools for Windows or WD Lifeguard tools and run the short/quick DST (Drive self test) and the Long/Generic test.

If you have other drives BESIDES the Mushkin SSD attached to the system, disconnect them, even if they are USB drives, to see if that influences things at all especially the Windows explorer self crashing.

Next, this:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us...em-files/bc609315-da1f-4775-812c-695b60477a93

If nothing throws a flag from any of that, then I'd try pulling one memory module, leaving one module in the A2 (DDR4_1 on some boards) and try it. Then try the other module if the problem remains.

Also, just to verify, make sure that you DO have the memory modules installed in the A2 and B2 (DDR4_1 and DDR4_2 on some boards, but the same physical location on all consumer dual channel boards which is the second and fourth slots over from the CPU socket)

If that fails to find a problem then install both memory modules back in the board and download and run Memtest86 as follows.

Memtest86


Go to the Passmark software website and download the USB Memtest86 free version. You can do the optical disk version too if for some reason you cannot use a bootable USB flash drive.

Create bootable media using the downloaded Memtest86 (NOT Memtest86+, that is a different, older version and is outdated). Once you have done that, go into your BIOS and configure the system to boot to the USB drive that contains the Memtest86 USB media or the optical drive if using that option.


Click here to download Memtest86 USB package

Create a bootable USB Flash drive:

1. Download the Windows MemTest86 USB image.

2. Right click on the downloaded file and select the "Extract to Here" option. This places the USB image and imaging tool into the current folder.

3. Run the included imageUSB tool, it should already have the image file selected and you just need to choose which connected USB drive to turn into a bootable drive. Note that this will erase all data on the drive.


No memory should ever fail to pass Memtest86 when it is at the default configuration that the system sets it at when you start out or do a clear CMOS by removing the CMOS battery for five minutes.

Best method for testing memory is to first run four passes of Memtest86, all 11 tests, WITH the memory at the default configuration. This should be done BEFORE setting the memory to the XMP profile settings. The paid version has 13 tests but the free version only has tests 1-10 and test 13. So run full passes of all 11 tests. Be sure to download the latest version of Memtest86. Memtest86+ has not been updated in MANY years. It is NO-WISE as good as regular Memtest86 from Passmark software.

If there are ANY errors, at all, then the memory configuration is not stable. Bumping the DRAM voltage up slightly may resolve that OR you may need to make adjustments to the primary timings. There are very few secondary or tertiary timings that should be altered. I can tell you about those if you are trying to tighten your memory timings.

If you cannot pass Memtest86 with the memory at the XMP configuration settings then I would recommend restoring the memory to the default JEDEC SPD of 1333/2133mhz (Depending on your platform and memory type) with everything left on the auto/default configuration and running Memtest86 over again. If it completes the four full passes without error you can try again with the XMP settings but first try bumping the DRAM voltage up once again by whatever small increment the motherboard will allow you to increase it by. If it passes, great, move on to the Prime95 testing.

If it still fails, try once again bumping the voltage if you are still within the maximum allowable voltage for your memory type and test again. If it still fails, you are likely going to need more advanced help with configuring your primary timings and should return the memory to the default configuration until you can sort it out.

If the memory will not pass Memtest86 for four passes when it IS at the stock default non-XMP configuration, even after a minor bump in voltage, then there is likely something physically wrong with one or more of the memory modules and I'd recommend running Memtest on each individual module, separately, to determine which module is causing the issue. If you find a single module that is faulty you should contact the seller or the memory manufacturer and have them replace the memory as a SET. Memory comes matched for a reason as I made clear earlier and if you let them replace only one module rather than the entire set you are back to using unmatched memory which is an open door for problems with incompatible memory.

Be aware that you SHOULD run Memtest86 to test the memory at the default, non-XMP or custom profile settings BEFORE ever making any changes to the memory configuration so that you will know if the problem is a setting or is a physical problem with the memory.