Ok, I've been getting LOTS of blue screens of death (BSOD) recently...
When I first bought my computer I had problems with video card drivers causing BSODs on startup. I fixed that by rolling back my drivers.
I had a hard drive die (it was really old) and installed a new 160GB WD S-ATA drive to replace it.
At first, I just got blank blue screens of death in Half Life 2 and Counter Strike Source at random intervals. I fiddled with video card drivers and managed to get HL2 to a playable state. I still got the odd blank BSOD though.
Now, I get BSODs (not blank) in just windows at random intervals... AND I'm also having odd program crashes (Sygate, my firewall and Firefox) which have NEVER crashed before on me.
I have also begun to experience random crashes when I run linux on my machine.
These problems seem to be getting WORSE. I need help NOW.. PLEASE lend me your knowledge and you'll make someone very happy.
System Setup:
AMD Athlon 2200+
Asus A7V880
ATI Radeon 9500 Non-Pro
2x 256Mb Samsung ddr400 RAM
120 GB WD IDE HDD
160 GB WD S-ATA HDD
380W Antec TruePower PSU
Antec Sonata Case w/ 120MM fan in back
2 Most Frequent BSODs:
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA
AND Problems with win32k.sys
Drivers are up to date (been fiddling with ATI drivers though)
Startup list is clean
SP2 installed
Relatively clean install of windows (month ago?)
Possible Culprits:
- RAM Problems
This is my hunch (PAGE fault rings a bell), but I don't know how I can check what's wrong. I figure that programs are reaching a bad address in the RAM then getting in a big bitch about it... I can't figure out why it would get worse over time though... I get lots of errors in HL2 and CSS about bad memory "memory cannot be read" and I'm now getting those errors in windows. NOTE: I know *nothing* about RAM timings. (If you could teach me i'd be thankful)
- Graphics Problems
This is possible because I have definetly been having some issues with my GPU before... However mostly it is an atimtag.sys crash.. Although.. I do get LOTS of random BLANK Blue Screens Of Death in Half Life 2 and Counter Strike Source.
- Heat Problems
Doubt it, my CPU temp is fine and the crashes seem a bit random to be.
However, the fact that stuff has been getting worse over time makes me wonder whether it is heat related (dust build up etc..)
There is some dust in my cast but not enough to clog up the fans... (my case has a front filter (even though air comes in holes in the side of the case)
- PSU Problems
I've never had PSU problems before so I don't know the symptoms of PSU problems..
However, I *did* recently install a new 160GB WD S-ATA drive and I wasn't having any trouble before.
HELP!
When I first bought my computer I had problems with video card drivers causing BSODs on startup. I fixed that by rolling back my drivers.
I had a hard drive die (it was really old) and installed a new 160GB WD S-ATA drive to replace it.
At first, I just got blank blue screens of death in Half Life 2 and Counter Strike Source at random intervals. I fiddled with video card drivers and managed to get HL2 to a playable state. I still got the odd blank BSOD though.
Now, I get BSODs (not blank) in just windows at random intervals... AND I'm also having odd program crashes (Sygate, my firewall and Firefox) which have NEVER crashed before on me.
I have also begun to experience random crashes when I run linux on my machine.
These problems seem to be getting WORSE. I need help NOW.. PLEASE lend me your knowledge and you'll make someone very happy.
System Setup:
AMD Athlon 2200+
Asus A7V880
ATI Radeon 9500 Non-Pro
2x 256Mb Samsung ddr400 RAM
120 GB WD IDE HDD
160 GB WD S-ATA HDD
380W Antec TruePower PSU
Antec Sonata Case w/ 120MM fan in back
2 Most Frequent BSODs:
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA
AND Problems with win32k.sys
Drivers are up to date (been fiddling with ATI drivers though)
Startup list is clean
SP2 installed
Relatively clean install of windows (month ago?)
Possible Culprits:
- RAM Problems
This is my hunch (PAGE fault rings a bell), but I don't know how I can check what's wrong. I figure that programs are reaching a bad address in the RAM then getting in a big bitch about it... I can't figure out why it would get worse over time though... I get lots of errors in HL2 and CSS about bad memory "memory cannot be read" and I'm now getting those errors in windows. NOTE: I know *nothing* about RAM timings. (If you could teach me i'd be thankful)
- Graphics Problems
This is possible because I have definetly been having some issues with my GPU before... However mostly it is an atimtag.sys crash.. Although.. I do get LOTS of random BLANK Blue Screens Of Death in Half Life 2 and Counter Strike Source.
- Heat Problems
Doubt it, my CPU temp is fine and the crashes seem a bit random to be.
However, the fact that stuff has been getting worse over time makes me wonder whether it is heat related (dust build up etc..)
There is some dust in my cast but not enough to clog up the fans... (my case has a front filter (even though air comes in holes in the side of the case)
- PSU Problems
I've never had PSU problems before so I don't know the symptoms of PSU problems..
However, I *did* recently install a new 160GB WD S-ATA drive and I wasn't having any trouble before.
HELP!
