Windows 7 Any idea why my Windows 7 keeps crashing, randomly, kernel-power?

Invertalon

New Member
Joined
Jan 21, 2010
Hello,

I have been scanning the internet for a while now trying to solve my W7 crashing issue... I have updated all my drivers, BIOS, and whatever else I possibly could. I don't know what to do from here.

It crashes at random times, with no rhyme or reason. It does it every few days, or every few hours depending on what I do... Which is usually have AIM, Itunes, Photoshop, and Firefox going. I get the Blue screen with a memory dump prior to it shutting down and rebooting.

For example, nothing was running but Itunes and Windows Defender right now, and it crashed. Here are the errors it shows...


Critical Error: Kernel Power - Event ID 41 - Task (63)

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

- System

- Provider


[ Name] Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power


[ Guid] {331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}



EventID 41


Version 2


Level 1


Task 63


Opcode 0


Keywords 0x8000000000000002

- TimeCreated


[ SystemTime] 2010-01-22T02:39:55.108018600Z



EventRecordID 26893


Correlation

- Execution


[ ProcessID] 4


[ ThreadID] 8



Channel System


Computer Steven-PC

- Security


[ UserID] S-1-5-18

- EventData

BugcheckCode 26

BugcheckParameter1 0x41284

BugcheckParameter2 0x2558001

BugcheckParameter3 0x2add

BugcheckParameter4 0xfffff70001080000

SleepInProgress false

PowerButtonTimestamp 0



This is the same error and crash I get, routinely. I noticed many others have this same issue, and curious if Windows is working on getting this figured out? It is getting old. My computer was perfectly stable on XP, overclocked, etc... I am running completely stock, with no adjustments anywhere.

Running Windows 7 64x Professional - Nvidea 8800GT - Intel E6750 Core 2 Duo - Gigabyte GA-P35-DS3L (R2) - 8GB Mushkin 1066 Ram

I have tried updating audio drivers, video drivers, monitor drivers, HD drivers, motherboard versions, printer drivers, everything and anything. Nothing seems to work.

So help me out here guys...

Thanks
 
Perhaps, if you could, zip and attach, maybe your two most recent .dmp files I could take a look and see if anything more specific is mentioned in them.
 
Attached are my last two dump files...

Thanks for the help.
 

Attachments

  • Dump Files.zip
    58.6 KB · Views: 415
This is gonna sound a little strange, but try disabling windows defender for a while and see if that makes any difference. If not you're probably going to need to do some memory diagnostics. If as you say, you're not overclocking, and you have made sure that system temps are well within acceptable parameters. The memory dumps themselves were not individually definitive
from the first one
IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (a)
An attempt was made to access a pageable (or completely invalid) address at an
interrupt request level (IRQL) that is too high. This is usually caused by drivers using improper addresses.
If a kernel debugger is available get the stack backtrace.
Arguments:
Arg1: fffffa80337eaabb, memory referenced
Arg2: 0000000000000002, IRQL
Arg3: 0000000000000000, bitfield :
bit 0 : value 0 = read operation, 1 = write operation
bit 3 : value 0 = not an execute operation, 1 = execute operation (only on chips which support this level of status)
Arg4: fffff80002ca4065, address which referenced memory
CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT
BUGCHECK_STR: 0xA
PROCESS_NAME: MsMpEng.exe
from the second one
BugCheck DE, {2, fffff8a01063fae0, fffff8a00c63fae1, 5d77a8c0}
Probably caused by : ntkrnlmp.exe ( nt! ?? ::FNODOBFM::`string'+2d2e0 )
POOL_CORRUPTION_IN_FILE_AREA (de)
A driver corrupted pool memory used for holding pages destined for disk.
This was discovered by the memory manager when dereferencing the file.
Arguments:
Arg1: 0000000000000002
Arg2: fffff8a01063fae0
Arg3: fffff8a00c63fae1
Arg4: 000000005d77a8c0
CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT: 1
DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT
BUGCHECK_STR: 0xDE
PROCESS_NAME: MsMpEng.exe
After checking a lot of information on the net with even more information from the debug files then I provided above, it seems that as in a lot of these cases the actual problems can come from anything from heat, to bad memory, to leaking capacitors on the MoBo, to conflicting software causing problems with device drivers. I don't know if it was just coincedence that Defender happened to be doing its' thing when these two blue screens happened or if there is another antivirus / malware program competing with it and causing this issue. Sorry I couldn't be more help.
 
Interesting... I will try disabling defender and see how everything turns out. I will report back to you tomorrow with any new dumps, if any. But it seems like Defender acts strange on my computer... And it almost always locks up when I try to use it. So this could be the reason, I will give it a try.

Thanks
 
I've been having a similar problem since I installed Win 7 Home Premium 32 bit back in October. For no apparent reason, the screen will go black and the computer reboots itself. This was happening completely randomly, and I was getting completely sick of it and ready to ditch Windows 7. However, after much trial and error and reading of these forums, I do seem to have improved on the situation and the last crash of this type I had was 7th January.

The first thing I did was to find some redundant sound drivers in Device Manager and get rid of them. This helped a little bit. I installed all the latest drivers for everything that I could find, but there was no improvement. I then bought new memory, which made no difference. Windows Event Viewer didn't give me much of a clue as I am not knowledgeable enough to understand what it was saying, but in the end I downloaded BlueScreenView which gave me a better idea of what was causing the crashes.

I have two types of crash, the 'black screen/reboot' type and the traditional BSOD, which sometimes occurs when I am using my TV card, but that doesn't worry me too much as I don't use it a lot; the one that was really bothering me was the frequent 'black screen/reboot' crash. BlueScreen View always tells me that it was caused by an Unexpected Kernel Mode Trap and involves atikmdag.sys. A lot of searching showed that atikmdag.sys causes a lot of problems in Vista and Win7 for many people, and there seems to be no definitive answer. Anyway, I tried disabling Aero and this helped a bit with a few less crashes. After a while I noticed BlueScreenView occasionally named a driver called snp2sxp.sys, which it said was my USB2 camera driver. I had been keeping my webcam plugged in, but after I saw this I disabled the driver and unplugged the camera, and since doing this I haven't had any more problems. Until, that is, I switched Aero back on and the crashes restarted. Disabled Aero again, and everything has been OK since 7th January (fingers crossed!).

I'm relieved that the random reboots seem to have stopped, but I still don't fully trust my system, and I would love to get Aero on again, but I don't want to risk it at the moment. I don't know if my experience might be of any help to anyone. Hope so.

My specs are:

Asrock ALive SATA2 GLAN motherboard
AMD64 x 2 6000+
Radeon Sapphire 4670 512Mb
2GB DDR2
Win Home Premium 32 bit
AVG ver 9.0
Windows 7 firewall
 
Thank you for your input... I will give that a try next.

I ran Prime 95 Stress Test for several (5) hours and no problems detected... UNTIL at the very end, I started itunes just for giggles and it ended up showing some failure along the way.

I then ran the extended memory test through windows and it gave back no memory errors.

Windows defender did not stop my issue by disabling it.

So next up, I will try disabling Aero and see how that goes for me, and get the blue screen viewer.

Thanks everyone, I will get back to you.
 
Results:

It found their were currupt files but unable to fix them. I attached the CBS Log.



Also, I did get blue screen viewer, but little idea on what to look for... If somebody could lead me in the right direction I would appreciate it!
 

Attachments

  • CBS Log.zip
    520.9 KB · Views: 1,124
Invertalon:
The check disc that Drew is referring to, means that you need to type chkdsk C: /R at the command prompt. You should get a message something to the effect that the volume is in use and cannot be locked and that check disc will run at next reboot. When you reboot you should see the progress as all 5 steps that Drew mentioned are completed. I believe that will remain visible until you close it. It's important that you don't interrupt it and let it complete, it will take quite a while. If it finds anything of consequence I believe you will find a chkdsk log file in the root of C:\ Also I was just wondering what you are using in addition to Windows Defender as an antivirus solution and whether or not you have added one recently and if perhaps there are remnants of an old antivirus software still on your computer
 
Ok sounds good, I will run that tonight.

As far as antivirus, only running Microsoft Security Essentials. Which by the way, can never finish a full scan before I get the BSOD. Nothing else.
 
OK, thanks for that info, since MSE has only been available for a month or two can you tell us what you were running before that and how you removed it?
 
I may have tried Avast right when I installed windows, but it did not work correctly so I uninstalled it via add/remove programs before getting MSE. Maybe I should remove all security software completely and see if that stops the crashing?

Usually, the main triggers of this crash have been Itunes (which in a few minutes into playing music the sound will distort like crazy and become inaudible), Defender running a scan and MSE ruinning a scan. It usually will not happen without anything going on. Games run fine, Photoshop and my other editing programs, etc...
 
I thought that when MSE was installed the Windows Defender was automatically disabled, maybe someone else here might know the answer for sure, but I thought that MSE took over everything. You might also want to run the avast uninstall utility from avast check here avast! Uninstall Utility
if you can't read the language use the tool in the top right corner to select yours.

EDIT: It's important to note that most of the major players in the antivirus market make their own respective removal tools as often is the case that the add/remove programs technique may often leave remnants that may cause problems later
 
Last edited:
Thanks Drew:
I was certain that it was unnecessary, but I thought that MSE went so far as to actually disable it. And boy do I know that competeing AVs can cause a host of problems, even, as I was mentioning some leftover components that aren't successfully and completely uninstalled. I know and often use a bunch of antimalware, but I don't allow any to run as resident. Just good ole MSE and Windows firewall.
Thanks again
Randy
 
I must have uninstalled Avast via the program, as there are no files at all on the computer. I can't find any hints of it anywhere. I was more-so guessing before on my uninstall through add/remove.

I tried reinstalling MSE and ran a complete scan, however, it locked up around 30% or so and did not move from there. Computer was not locked, only the program. I started it around five thirty and it still was not done three hours later...

So I don't know what caused that, but anyway.

When I try to run the chkdsk C: /R it starts but goes away. It never asks to do at next reboot or anything.
 
MSE is going to start a full scan at 2AM tonight... See if I get the BSOD or not...

I did run the CHKDSK a few days ago and it was completed, but it said there was errors it could not fix. I posted the results attached in this thread a page back or so.

Thanks!
 
A little update...

Decided to swap memory sticks around and remove half of them, and it turns out my problem was in the memory after all. Took out two sticks and have not had a BSOD since, and now I can overclock again. Before, it would not allow me to do ANY changes and boot.

Funny thing is, this was our second replacement pair of this ram. I wonder if the motherboard memory ports going bad? Is that possible or is the ram just that bad?

This was the mushkin enhanced ram, blackline... I was running 4x2GB sticks.

Well for now, it looks to be healed. Thanks for the help everyone. Sorry I didn't do this earlier, but I swear I did and still had the issue.
 
Back
Top Bottom