suddenly BSOD during startup when not in safe mode

my computer was running fine then yesterday i suddenly got shut down and anytime i turned it back on i would get a BSOD after a few seconds unless i went to safe mode

its a page_fault_in_nonpaged_area 0x00000050

the only thing different is i downloaded borderlands from steam, played for about 8 hours, then got the xpacks running, then 10 mins later it shut itself down on its own

currently system restore only had 2 options for 8am when i downloaded borderlands, 1 said critical system update adn the other was direct x 9

im not good with computer hardware so if u need any more info tell me, but heres some system stuff

System Info
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU 960 @ 3.20GHz
RAM: 8 GB
OS: Windows 7 64-bit
Gfx Card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 460
Motherboard: MSI (Micro Star) MS-7522 (X58 Pro-E)

Hi Lunaras, please go to C:Windows/Minidump and post the contents. If nothing is in the folder you'll need to configure your system to produce said dmp files. Open Control panel and hit system and security then System and then look on the left hand side for Advanced system settings. Click that and then hit advanced along the top of the resulting box. Look near the bottom for start up and recovery and hit settings. Click that and in the next box you'll see a drop down menu near the bottom. Make sure that small memory dump is the default setting and your done. Next time you bsod please send the results which you'll find in the minidump folder.

071612-25718-01.dmp


when i did this and started it up normally WD smartware had problems, I had heard WD was crap because of how much needless space it took up, but could it possibly be the problem?

on a side note if that isnt anything important, i had been searching around the site and found that the page_fault thing was often associated with RAM. A while back i had 3 2GB sticks of ram then bought and installed a 4gb stick, and it started displaying as me only having 8GB, i just assumed one of the 2GB sticks wasnt compatible now that i had the 4GB, but never actually took it out. should i do that or take the 4GB out? this was like 2+ months ago so not recent and didnt think about it till i read RAM might be the problem

Hi,
thanks for posting the dmp file. The dmp file was created because of a 'Page_Fault_in_Nonpaged_Area' this means that your PC asked for a page of memory in order to continue, and the page was not available. Windows was unable to continue with the processes it was running, and crashed with what is commonly known as the Blue Screen of Death (BSOD).

Your memory needs testing a stick at a time. Use this app here: Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

As to your different sized sticks of RAM. A golden rule is to always put the largest or fastest stick in the slot closest to the CPU. Once you've tested try this set up and see how things are. (as long as the sticks are good of course).

thank you, are there by chance any more in depth guides to how to download and use that program? I know the terms ISO and source code but having just lots of links thrown at me at once with no real instruction is leaving me with a bigger headache than the BSOD

Hi,

no problem..

Go to the link I gave you for Memtest and then scroll down the page until you see the link arrowed in this screenshot:



Download the file and then unzip it using something like 7Zip: 7-Zip Then you'll need to mount the iso file onto a CD/DVD. I use this app as it's free and great at it's job: https://www.ashampoo.com/en/usd/pin/...rning-Studio-6

Now not wanting to complicate things but if you would prefer to use a thumbdrive or flashdrive then there are download links for that too. In fact just down from the one arrowed is a link for an 'auto installer for a flash/thumb drive'.

Whichever you choose once ready you'll need to boot into your bios and change the boot order to boot from either disk or thumbdrive and not HDD.

I'd run the test on each stick for about an hour or so although usually if they are bad it'll come up pretty much straight away. Not always though.. There are exceptions so keep it running like I said for around an hour.

Any problems post back.

found out 1 of my friends used to work in geek squad so he told me how to work it, he also said just to try them all one by one to see if only one brought up the BSOD. few hours later, they all caused the BSOD and memtest went for like 8+ passes each saying no problems

is there any other thing that could be a problem or is it like they r all busted?

Hmm... It could be that the slot is suspect... Is your motherboard running the latest bios? Also are you sure you have the correct settings enabled in the bios for your particular RAM?

i dont know how to check that

Lunaras follow the instructions found in this thread: How to ask for help with a BSOD problem and then post the results. It's from there I'll be able to help you much further...