New AMD build, XP SP3, various BSODs

[JedMeister]

Hi all,

I've just built a new system as follows:

- AMD X2 5200+ (skt AM2)

- Gigabyte GA-MA78GM-S2H mobo (AMD 780G/AMD SB700 chipset)

- SAMSUNG RAM 1024MB DDR2 800MHZ - 2GB (2x!GB) - in slots 1 & 2

- Seagate 250GB SATA2

I created a XP Home CD using nLite, with SP3 slipstreamed and a couple of addons (I have used these same addons many, many times before although not with SP3 and not using the latest version of nLite). I tested it extensively with VMware and all seemed to be working fine.

When installing on the real hardware, at some point during or soon after install it did a BSOD (not sure as I left it unattended and came back to the BSOD). I remembered reading about problems with SP3 with AMD systems but decided to just reinstall and watch it this time (I didn't note the BSOD).

Reformatted and install went fine this time, but after installing some apps (inc IE7) it did another BSOD. Restarted fine kept looking installing stuff and later another BSOD. There seems to be no real rhyme or reason to the BSODs but perhaps more likely when IE7 contacting internet??? (only a guess really)

Here is a list of the BSODs so far (in order from the first one I wrote down - none have a file mentioned and many do not even note an error)

STOP 0x0000000A (0x00000000, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x805226E8) IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

STOP 0x0000000A (0x00000010, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x805229AF) IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

STOP 0x000000FC (0x9F9F1D50, 0x5A9C0963, 0x9F9F1C10, 0x00000001)

STOP 0x000000E6 (0x0000000F, 0x00000000, 0x00000000, 0x00000000) Illegal DMA operation (driver being verified) - this one may not be relevant because I did a driver verify thing that some forum post I read suggested (I didn't read it properly and thought it was going to help me much more than it did).

STOP 0x0000000A (0x00000000, 0x00000002, 0x00000001, 0x805226E8) IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

STOP 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0x80633CAB, 0xA1F55BD4, 0x00000000)

STOP 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0x806338FA, 0xA1FAD31C, 0x00000000)

Its not the Stop 7E that people seem to be getting on AMD systems with SP3 but I used the reg fix anyway (just in case).

I'm about to go to bed and test RAM while I sleep, just thought I post here to see what you guys reckon.

Cheers

[Ven]

http://www.updatexp.com/stop-messages.html

* A Stop 0xA message might occur after installing a faulty device driver, system service, or firmware. If a Stop message lists a driver by name, disable, remove, or roll back the driver to correct the problem. If disabling or removing drivers resolves the issues, contact the manufacturer about a possible update. Using updated software is especially important for multimedia applications, antivirus scanners, and CD mastering tools.

* A Stop 0xA message might also be due to failing or defective hardware. If a Stop message points to a category of devices (video or disk adapters, for example), try removing or replacing the hardware to determine if it is causing the problem.

* If you encounter a Stop 0xA message while upgrading to Windows XPl, the problem might be due to an incompatible driver, system service, virus scanner, or backup. To avoid problems while upgrading, simplify your hardware configuration and remove all third-party device drivers and system services (including virus scanners) prior to running setup. After you have successfully installed Windows XP, contact the hardware manufacturer to obtain compatible updates.

hope this helps.

[EvveLover]

you have AMD X2 5200+ (skt AM2)

you culd use Win XP Pro x64 or have both 32/64windows

do you have the nLite settings ? post them

Edited June 1, 2008 by EvveLover

[JedMeister]

Looks like my post got moved!?! Not really sure why cause even though I used nLite, I was fairly sure that that wasn't the problem (as I said I tested extensively within VMware - I know that doesn't make it 100% but still...). Also I didn't integrate any drivers or anything like that, and from my googling it seemed most likely a hardware issue. Oh well.

Just for everyone's info, looks like the problem is RAM. I ran MemTest (the one that runs inside Windows) and had errors even before I went to bed last night. I pulled out one stick and ran again, got errors straight away. Swapped with the other stick and let it run overnight. No errors this morning. I think I'll burn the proper MemTest86+ CD and test some more on the stick that looks good but I reckon thats it.

[cluberti]

Well, it may or may not be nLite. All of your bugcheck codes are IRQL errors, meaning they aren't random (and as such your RAM is probably fine, and not the culprit). You've likely got a driver on there that's causing it - any chance to get a look at one of the .dmp files in the \WINDOWS directory?

[Tasslehoff]

I had IRQL errors as well with one of my overly fried memory sticks a few months ago. I didn't get the BSODS until I swapped the memory sticks around after realising all my RVM installs were going haywire in VMWare and large file copies were getting different md5 hashes , sure enough memtested and got near instant errors.

Edited June 3, 2008 by Tasslehoff

[RJARRRPCGP]

Could be the power supply or processor. (less common)

[JedMeister]

Thanks for all your input guys. Sorry I haven't been back sooner to let you know how its been going.

I definately had a bad stick of RAM, MemTest86+ v2.01 CD verified it. But after I removed the bad RAM I still ended up getting one more BSOD as follows:

STOP 0x000000FE (0x00000005, 0x849320E0, 0x10024397, 0x89088F90) BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER

That would suggest that Ven

...A Stop 0xA message might occur after installing a faulty device driver...

and cluberti

...You've likely got a driver on there that's causing it...

were on the right track that it was a driver issue (for at least some of the BSODs). Not really sure where it got introduced because as I said I didn't integrate any drivers, only SP3 (which I guess probably includes some updated drivers) and a couple of control panel addons and a couple of apps (like firefox, ccleaner, etc). Perhaps it was as simple as a driver that got corrupted or something.

I solved the problem by installing from the original SP1 CD* (exact same source I used for nLite), and running SP3 on it after install (again the exact same package from my USB HDD). All the same hardware and software packages, same updates from MS update, etc. I can only assume that it happened during the nLite process or maybe even CD burning. I would've liked to have actually diagnosed the problem a little more specifically but I didn't have the luxury of the time (it was my PC and the guy who it belonged to was hanging for it). Although the clean install and setup took a long time I figured it was the best chance of success. That attitude now seems vindicated.

@cluberti - When you say all my bugcheck codes are IRQL errors, do you mean even the ones that didn't specify thats what they were? Are you suggesting that perhaps none of the BSOD were related to the RAM and that was purely coincidental? Unfortunately I reformatted the drive when I reinstalled so I didn't get any of the dumps. Pity cause it still would've been good to know what actually caused it and get some idea of how the problem was introduced. I will keep that in mind for future reference.

Thanks again guys - case closed!

* - for the record it was actually my 10yo son that reinstalled it for me, I was really busy and had to go out for a couple of hours. I only gave him minimal instructions, really only to do with partitioning, the rest he figured out for himself. Did me proud!!

[edit] I have just noticed that my CD/DVD drive is playing up, when I put a disc in, it spins up but in My Computer it says that its got 0 bytes and 0 bytes free space. If I double click its empty (even though I know its not - if I put it in my old PC it works fine). Hmmm strange, perhaps it was a burning error that caused the BSODs? But surely the check that Windows does as it copies the files from CD to HDD would pick up on corrupted driver files?

Edited June 4, 2008 by JedMeister

[cluberti]

@cluberti - When you say all my bugcheck codes are IRQL errors, do you mean even the ones that didn't specify thats what they were? Are you suggesting that perhaps none of the BSOD were related to the RAM and that was purely coincidental? Unfortunately I reformatted the drive when I reinstalled so I didn't get any of the dumps. Pity cause it still would've been good to know what actually caused it and get some idea of how the problem was introduced. I will keep that in mind for future reference.

That is my personal opinion on what I debugged, yes. I don't think the bad RAM caused the BSODs, but it would have caused some eventually. However, most bad RAM problems end up in lots of random memory corruption BSODs, not IRQL level issues like this. Those do happen, but they're *really* rare - it's almost always a driver in this case.

Glad you found the bad RAM stick before it got ya though .

[JedMeister]

Thanks for your input cluberti, learn something new everyday!

And thanks everyone else for your input too! MSFN rocks!