Windows 10 BSOD - Almost Hourly

coojames

New Member
My PC keeps getting a BSOD almost hourly all day long. I have tried going through minidumps, etc... on my own, but I don't know enough to figure out what is causing my problem. I have attached the SYSTEMREPORT zip file plus a Bugcheck Analysis I generated with WinDbg using a recent minidump.

One thing I have suspected is possibly the graphics card driver, but I have booted into safe mode and used DDU (display driver uninstaller) and also AMD's clean uninstall utility and then re-installed what I believe to be the most recent version of the driver and continue to have this problem.

I have also run "sfc /scannow" and it did not find any problems.

I have also run "dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth" and it said the restore operation completed successfully.

Any help would really be appreciated!
 

Attachments

  • bugcheck.txt
    8.1 KB · Views: 483
  • SYSTEMREPORT.zip
    2.5 MB · Views: 411
Last edited:
Hi coojames,
just going through your dumps now, whilst you wait can you:

Undo any recent changes such as new hardware, driver or application.

Check for malware:
Malwarebytes (free)

Check Device manager for yellow question marks

Check the Event log for possible clues

Check that your bios is the latest

I'll post back shortly
 
Code:
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck EF, {ffffe000ddbc5840, 0, 0, 0}

ETW minidump data unavailable
Probably caused by : ntkrnlmp.exe ( nt!PspCatchCriticalBreak+a4 )

Followup:     MachineOwner
Hi,
as your probably aware Bugcheck EF means a critical system process died and the dump file is being rather vague as to the actual cause. However after looking through your dump files you do have one or two possible suspects.

Did you know your running RAM from two different manufacturers? Whilst this isn't always a huge problem especially if the timings are the same I would still remove one set and see if it helps any.

I found drivers relating to 'Hardlock' and Aladdin Security systems? If you check the support site you can see driver support seems to have stopped at Vista
Hardlock Downloads
See if removing this application helps with the bsod.

If the bsod continues then run the verifier
In order to run the verifer you will also need a recovery disk/USB. This is just in case the verifier causes a blue screen loop on start up. If it does you can then use the recovery disk/usb to boot into the recovery console, enable safe mode and then turn the verifier off. Hopefully by that point the culprit will have been caught and written on the dump file.
Here's a guide on the verifier and it's uses:
Driver Verifier - BSOD related - Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7 & Vista - Windows Crashes, BSOD, and Hangs Help and Support

Windows 10 looks like it needs updating too. Have you considered trying the Anniversary update?
How to get the Windows 10 Anniversary Update

Post any dumps you might get from the verifier. Any problems post back.
 
Code:
*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck EF, {ffffe000ddbc5840, 0, 0, 0}

ETW minidump data unavailable
Probably caused by : ntkrnlmp.exe ( nt!PspCatchCriticalBreak+a4 )

Followup:     MachineOwner
Hi,
as your probably aware Bugcheck EF means a critical system process died and the dump file is being rather vague as to the actual cause. However after looking through your dump files you do have one or two possible suspects.

Did you know your running RAM from two different manufacturers? Whilst this isn't always a huge problem especially if the timings are the same I would still remove one set and see if it helps any.

I found drivers relating to 'Hardlock' and Aladdin Security systems? If you check the support site you can see driver support seems to have stopped at Vista
Hardlock Downloads
See if removing this application helps with the bsod.

If the bsod continues then run the verifier
In order to run the verifer you will also need a recovery disk/USB. This is just in case the verifier causes a blue screen loop on start up. If it does you can then use the recovery disk/usb to boot into the recovery console, enable safe mode and then turn the verifier off. Hopefully by that point the culprit will have been caught and written on the dump file.
Here's a guide on the verifier and it's uses:
Driver Verifier - BSOD related - Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7 & Vista - Windows Crashes, BSOD, and Hangs Help and Support

Windows 10 looks like it needs updating too. Have you considered trying the Anniversary update?
How to get the Windows 10 Anniversary Update

Post any dumps you might get from the verifier. Any problems post back.


Kemical, thank you for your help! This PC is one that I am accessing remotely. I set it up for a customer, but they are having this issue continuously. The reason I mention that is because I don't currently have physical access to the machine so I haven't been able to remove the RAM from the different manufacturer, however, this BSOD issue is a recent problem, and the computer has been running for over a year without issues using that RAM.

I checked Device Manager and did not find any yellow checkmarks. I uninstalled the software that installed the 'Hardlock'/Aladdin Security Systems drivers (KepServerEX) as I no longer need it. I also found the hardware devices in Device Manager and uninstalled them from there as well checking the box that said "Remove the drivers that go with this hardware".

I have not been able to run malwarebytes yet, but I can later today. I also can't currently make any BIOS changes because of my remote connection.

I am attaching the last 200 or so events from the event log to see if that helps you at all.

I didn't realize I wasn't on the Anniversary Update. I'll also get that taken care of ASAP.

Thanks!
 

Attachments

  • Events.zip
    44.7 KB · Views: 299
Hi,
much thanks for the Event logs as they proved to be very interesting. Your System logs basically show that the machine is relatively healthy. The application logs show that the system protection was prone to stopping and starting although not in time with the bsod's sadly. Other than that I couldn't see anything to specifically tie in with a bsod unfortunately.

One driver has me puzzled however:

athw8x.sys Mon Apr 27 03:56:12 2015: Atheros Wireless LAN Driver. Is this something third party because your system support has no mention of Atheros drivers:
Product Support | Dell US

You have some Realtek network drivers too and these do seem to belong. Can you go through your support page and use it to update your drivers, particularly:
Chipset (you want both downloads)
SATA or Serial ATA
Network
Bluetooth

By the way, your Bios is the latest version so no need to update.
 
Hi,
much thanks for the Event logs as they proved to be very interesting. Your System logs basically show that the machine is relatively healthy. The application logs show that the system protection was prone to stopping and starting although not in time with the bsod's sadly. Other than that I couldn't see anything to specifically tie in with a bsod unfortunately.

One driver has me puzzled however:

athw8x.sys Mon Apr 27 03:56:12 2015: Atheros Wireless LAN Driver. Is this something third party because your system support has no mention of Atheros drivers:
Product Support | Dell US

You have some Realtek network drivers too and these do seem to belong. Can you go through your support page and use it to update your drivers, particularly:
Chipset (you want both downloads)
SATA or Serial ATA
Network
Bluetooth

By the way, your Bios is the latest version so no need to update.

Thank you kemical, I will get Windows updated to the anniversary update and then make sure those support page drivers are all up to date as well.

I am not sure what the Atheros Wireless LAN Driver is either. I know that we installed a third-party NIC card, but I don't believe it has any wireless.
 
I am not sure what the Atheros Wireless LAN Driver is either. I know that we installed a third-party NIC card, but I don't believe it has any wireless.

Can you remember which card it was?
 
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