Windows 7 Frequent BSOD even after replacing mobo and CPU

Nomad of Norad

Extraordinary Member
Joined
Jan 9, 2009
One week ago, my machine spontaneously started misbehaving, after having no problems for more than a year and a half. I was using a MSI K9A2 Neo motherboard, AMD Phenom II X4 920 CPU, with a fairly beefy power supply and lots of ram. I am on Win7 Ultimate 64 bit. I have progressed through multiple betas, the RC, and eventually purchased the full release version. I started out using an ASUS EN6200LE PCI-E display card, but about 6 months ago replaced it with a GeForce GT240 1GB DDR3 PCI-E 2.0 display card, and it ran without a hitch for months. I switched because I spend a lot of time on places like Second Life, and someone I knew on there recommended this card. The SL viewer programs complain the card isn't good enough, but it runs great.

Well, last Wednesday, I logged into SL, and was there only a few moments when the viewer suddenly disappeared out from under me. Just, BOOM! Gone. I logged back in, was in there a few minutes, and the whole computer display suddenly went dark. I thought it was the screensaver inixplicably switching in.... but no amount of mouse waggling would bring it out. Unfortunately, the ones who put my machine together goofed up and failed to connect the drive-activity light, so I couldn't look to see if there was activity.... but after several moments of no response, I finally powered the machine off and back on.

Fairly soon I got errors at startup, before the OS had loaded, with the mobo claiming there was a failed overclock attempt. After multiple restarts, I could not get this error to go away. And no, I did not attempt any kind of adjustments to the CPU.

I also started getting more and more bluescreens, at startup, during operation, during windows repair at startup... sometimes the sort where it states it had detected a problem activity and shut the machine off to protect it.

I described the problem to an acquantance who used to teach computer repair and used to run a computer repair place. He suggested it was likely a problem with the mobo, perhaps the capacitors going bad. The next day, I bought the machine to him and... he couldn't find any sign of bad capacitors. On the other hand, he could not get it to display anything on the monitor there, and couldn't hear any POST beeps, but the machine was clearly turning on (the fans were coming on, and stuff).

Anyway, long story short, I rushed out and got a replacement mobo, there were only 2 makes on hand at CompUSA that would support the old AM2+ CPUs, so I grabbed the ASUS M2N68-AM PLUS mobo, brought it back, and we switched it out, transferred the CPU over.... and at powerup it popped up a warning that this CPU was not supported. He was like "That's nonsense, it should support all CPUs of this family or none of them. The CPU must be bad." He figured the CPU had gotten damaged enough that it was misreporting itself to the mobo. He HAD noticed that the CPU fan was all gummed up and wasn't turning very well, or at all (I'm not sure which it was), so it seemed likely the thing had overheated and croaked.

On the other hand, upon placing the new mobo in, he noticed there was NO speaker inside the machine.... so, nothing that would have produced the POST beeps. He grabbed one from another machine and installed it. Then we saw the error about the CPU not being supported, and he decided it was probably knackered. He also states that often, if the CPU is bad, it takes the mobo with it, so to be on the safe side he usually replaced both. oO

Anyway, I ordered another of the exact same CPU (AMD Phenom II X4 920, remember), but it didn't arrive until Monday. He has been out of town this week, so I haven't been able to get back to him... however, when I inserted the new CPU into the mobo, it gave the exact same this-CPU-is-not-supported message, telling me to go to their website and look up the list of supported CPUs. I finally did, and discovered that, in fact, this exact CPU was not supported.

I was trying to find out a source for another mobo that could take the place of this one and let me use all the existing componants (ram, display, CPU, etc)... but finally just said, "Oh screw it!" and grabbed a different CPU that WAS on the supported list for that mobo, because I was going totally stir crazy watching the time slip away from me without the machine to be back up and running, so I grabbed an AMD Athlon X2 7850 Black Edition Dual Core Processor AD785ZWCJ2BGH, brought it home and installed it.

First power up, it claimed failed overcloaking, even tho all I did was insert the CPU, my guess it was complaining because it saw the CPU response had changed... but I restarted it again, leting the BIOS go to default, and it didn't claim that again.

Windows then wanted to do its restore, but after multiple attempts at it, it couldn't complete it. So I reinstalled Win7, and spent the next few hours reinstalling various software packages.... got back onto SL, and onto one of the OpenSim virtual worlds I spend a lot of time on, and was on there a number of hours without technical issues. I even got an account on another OpenSim world and hung out there awhile.

I then powered down and went to bed. Before it completed shutdown, it did some Windows updates and stuff.

Today, I turned the machine back on... walked away... came back to find that Windows had locked up on startup. It was stuck at the splash screen where it shows the colored dots coming together to form the Windows 7 logo. I powered it off and back on, and it locked up again at a different point in the startup. And then at one point it bluescreened.

And now it bluescreens frequently. Sometimes during repair, sometimes when I have been logged into SL for a few moments. Sometimes just went websurfing. Sometimes the sort where it states it saw something bad happening and shut the things off to protect it.

This is driving me bananas. It is now clear there was probably nothing wrong with the previous mobo or CPU. I have attached several minidumps in a zip file. Windows has done some more updates since these earlier today, but it is still giving some problems. I really hope someone can help me here.

Addendum: have added the info from msinfo32.
 

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Hey there. I didn't read everything, so apologies in advance.

Here's what's needed to be done:

1) Update your Hauppage TV Tuner driver from the manufacturer's website. This is tool old for Windows 7:

emOEM64 emOEM64.sys Fri Aug 03 22:01:09 2007

Hauppauge Computer Works : Support

2) Install from my link to update this old, problematic driver:

ASACPI ASACPI.sys Sun Mar 27 22:30:36 2005

Link Removed - Invalid URL

3) Not talking video here. Talking NVIDIA nForce chipset drivers. Change the dropdown at the link for the suitable driver package for your board to update this old driver:

nvm62x64 nvm62x64.sys Fri Oct 17 17:01:06 2008
nvstor nvstor.sys Wed May 20 02:45:37 2009

Link Removed - Invalid URL

4) This driver is too old for Windows 7:

emBDA64 emBDA64.sys Fri Aug 03 22:01:35 2007

It belongs to something at the following link. Whatever it's for in your system, update it to latest (touch panel?):

Link Removed due to 404 Error

5) If issues persist after the above and a reboot, then uninstall Avast! in safe mode with this tool:

AV Uninstallers - Windows 7 Forums

Reboot to normal mode and install MSE.

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Enjoy and good luck. Welcome to the site as well. :)
 
Well, I updated some of the drivers, including reinstalling the video nvidia driver.... but now the machine BSODs even before Windows can get launched.... and seemed for a bit to be caught in a loop of BSOD, restart, BSOD, restart.... and now it just goes "A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer." and also "Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates..." when I try to let Windows repair itself.

Technical information:

*** STOP: 0x0000007E (0xFFFFFFFFC0000005, 0xFFFFF8000C0CDE90,0xFFFFF880027D43F8, 0xFFFFF880027D3C50)
 
Please use safe mode + networking to post any new crash dumps and we can take things from there. Once all the driver fixes have been applied successfully, and bsod still happen, then that means you have defective RAM. We can then begin to test for that instead.

One thing at a time. :)
 
Well, managed to get it to boot, despite more bluescreens... and here are some more minidumps zipped.
 

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Avast! is still installed and not replace with MSE, yet.

The NVIDIA chipset drivers have not been updated.

Drivers in steps 1 & 4 have not been updated.


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In addition, type systeminfo in a command prompt then press enter. It will tell you which Realtek lan you have. If it's 8111, use the following link to update:

RTL8111

If anything else, search the left side of the link for your number:

Rt64win7 Rt64win7.sys Thu Feb 26 04:04:13 2009

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This driver needs updating very much as well, for your USB camera:

SNCAMD SNCAMD.SYS Thu Jan 25 05:48:38 2007

Visit the manufacturer's site to obtain the latest driver to install.

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All Arcsoft software must be uninstalled too, to remove this old driver:

Afc Afc.sys Wed Jul 12 01:48:20 2006

Please take care of these things and post a new crash dump after doing so, if necessary. If you run into any issues while trying to update, please tell us of them so we can help with that.
 
What is MSE? oO I'm guessing it's some kind of MicroSoft produced anti-virus, just because it has "MS" in it... but...

addendum:

Well, 1 and 4.... I have a folder now with a bunch of driver-related files, but no kind of "click this to install it" doohicky. Item 1 is, I think, related to an HDTV USB receiver I have, item 4 I don't really know what it's related to, since I don't have any touch-screens or such here. Either way, I'm not sure how to install or uninstall those. I'm guessing item 4 is something Windows 7 itself installed when it saw what devices I had attached. Oo Maybe it's related to my four-way printer/scanner, Epson Stylus CX7000F, but that's just a wild guess.

As for the output of sysinfo, for Network Card(s): it just says "[01]: NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller," followed by the IP addresses and stuff, no model number or anything like that.

Also, I don't see anything with Arcsoft in the name when I go to Control Panel > Programs > Programs and Features, nor does anything seem to be named Arcsoft when I go to Start > All Programs. What am I looking for and where?

BTW, the webcam is the Hue HD Webcam, from Link Removed due to 404 Error I actually tried installing from the original driver CD, and it seemed to install.... but then one of the times I launched the program that displays to me the output from the webcam... it bluescreened (!!!) and restarted the machine. That was right before all that bluescreen-reboot-bluescreen-reboot song and dance started that last time. Would the Windows repair process have wiped that stuff again? I didn't tell it to revert things when I let it restore, though.
 
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Adding a fresh copy of the msinfo32 output.

Addendum: Ah, found MSE and installed it, its updating itself now.
 

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Install this: NVIDIA DRIVERS 15.49 WHQL

To update the drivers without the .exe to click, right click on the device in device manager. Update driver software. Browse my computer. Let me pick. Have disk. Browse. Now find and double click on the .inf in the extracted folder, made from the updated driver download. Hit next, hit ok and then it will install.

Post new crashes after these steps from this post if needed....so we can see where you're at with things.
 
Well, in Devices and Printers, I right click PCTV 800e, and go to Properties, and then the Hardware tab, then click the Properties button there, go to the Drivers tab... and every button except Driver Details is grayed out. I cannot select Update Driver... on that. And under the General tab it tells me This device is working properly. oO

As for the other thing... looking at the PDF on that page you sent me to, I'm guessing it must be webcam related, which I guess narrows it down to the unidentified USB20 Camera. I'm taking a stab at it by downloading PCCAM_120308 over on the right, but it's a large file apparently.
 
Well, in Devices and Printers, I right click PCTV 800e, and go to Properties, and then the Hardware tab, then click the Properties button there, go to the Drivers tab... and every button except Driver Details is grayed out. I cannot select Update Driver... on that. And under the General tab it tells me This device is working properly.

Don't select properties. Right click then immediately choose "Update driver software"...then continue following what I've said above.
 
When I right-click PCTV 800e, all I see is Sound settings, Create shortcut, Troubleshoot, and Properties. There is no Update driver software. Am I missing something?

This is in Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers
 
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When I right-click PCTV 800e, all I see is Sound settings, Create shortcut, Troubleshoot, and Properties. There is no Update driver software. Am I missing something?

This is in Control Panel > Hardware and Sound > Devices and Printers

This is the latest driver available for that, from 3/25/2008 - it still is too old, but may actually be alright and in any case, will be much better than what you have.

Download from my link and extract. Then copy emBDA64.sys, emPRP64.sys and emOEM64.sys from the extracted folder and overwrite the ones at C:\Windows\System32\drivers by pasting there. When it asks to move and replace, choose yes.

Reboot.

Link Removed due to 404 Error

Otherwise, I recommend replacing the hardware with something more modern...or disconnecting it from the system until all issues are sorted out.
 
There isn't an emPRP64.sys in the archive, there is an emPRP64.ax though. I copied that one over, and it did so without asking me if I wanted to overwrite something. Should I rename it to emPRP64.sys now, or leave it as emPRP64.ax there?

In any event, I disconnected the device.
 
Yeah, it won't harm anything by being in the driver folder but no need for it to be there. You can delete the .ax file that you copied to there.

Have the bsods calmed down from happening any?
 
Apparently, you've had this Windows installed on the previous motherboard. The Realtek lan driver is for that board and not the new one. You should delete this file from C:\Windows\System32\drivers also and then reboot again:

Rt64win7.sys

Also delete Afc.sys there before the reboot.
 
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