Windows 8 Crashing Suddenly

[LOLZpersonok]

I have an HP Envy M6 that is about 7 months old and has Windows 8 on it. Just today, I was playing The Sims 3 and the game kept crashing about every 15 minutes or so. So, I decided to restart the laptop. Before that, everything was fine and dandy. So, the laptop restarts (but takes an unusually long time to do so) and everything goes to hell. First, the desktop app restarts several times, then I get the first of 4 BSoDs. The first one is a MEMORY_MANAGEMENT error. The second and third ones are BAD_POOL_HEADER errors and the final one is a MEMORY_MANAGEMENT error.

Right now, I'm in safe mode and so far I've had no problems. I tried to run the SFC /SCANNOW command in CMD from the regular mode in Windows but that crashed it, so I'm running it now in safe mode and nothing bad has happened yet. I also ran CHKDSK and deleted several recent programs here as well. Can someone please help me or at least tell me what's going on? Everything was perfectly fine and normal yesterday. Now, today this is happening, right out of the blue.

Note: When each crash occurred, I was running a virus scan with Avast! Free 8.0. I installed Avast! Free when I first got the machine in January of 2013.

 

[montosaurous]

I haven't used Windows 8 in several months, but when I did I had Avast on it for a short amount of time. Avast caused constant crashing so I'd advise not to use it unless things have changed. Actually got me switched over to AVG, which I find to be much better.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

I haven't used Windows 8 in several months, but when I did I had Avast on it for a short amount of time. Avast caused constant crashing so I'd advise not to use it unless things have changed. Actually got me switched over to AVG, which I find to be much better.

It might be Avast but I'm not sure. After I did all that stuff yesterday I was able to run both a quick scan and a full scan without problems. Then, to further test it, I also defragmented the hard drive. I further tested by watching an HD YouTube video for about 20 minutes and nothing happened still...I don't know for sure yet, but the problem may have been resolved. It still hasn't crashed today.

 

[montosaurous]

If it happens again, I might try replacing Avast.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

If it happens again, I might try replacing Avast.

It has happened again. I got three blue screens today. The first one garbled up the screen so I couldn't even make out what the words were saying. The second one was a totally different error - it was a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION. From what I found it seems to be directly related to bad memory. The third one was the same MEMORY_MANAGEMENT error.

So, I did the built-in diagnostic utility from HP, and this is what I found:

It's the memory, but I can't test which module it is because for some odd reason I can no longer find the special screws I had to open the thing up. What should I do? This laptop works fine right now, as I'm typing this.

 

[montosaurous]

Huh, I guess it is your RAM not Avast. You could replace the RAM I guess, or RMA the laptop.

 

[LOLZpersonok]

Huh, I guess it is your RAM not Avast. You could replace the RAM I guess, or RMA the laptop.

What do you mean by "RMA" the laptop?

 

[montosaurous]

Basically means you return it for a new one or get it fixed. Would be less of a hassle just to buy new RAM, but more expensive depending on the quantity. How much do you have now?

 

[LOLZpersonok]

Basically means you return it for a new one or get it fixed. Would be less of a hassle just to buy new RAM, but more expensive depending on the quantity. How much do you have now?

I see now. I never intended on replacing it or sending it in for repair, it's just too easy to replace RAM in a laptop. I have already looked at prices for the RAM. Right now I have 8GB and I was planning on upgrading to 16GB, but seeing that it is $100+ for that I think I will just stick to getting two replacement modules that will total to 8GB.

 

[montosaurous]

Unless you're doing anything crazy with it, I doubt you'd need 16GB anyways.