Windows 10 Multiple BSOD's Windows 10

[Damianp]

I upgraded to Windows 10 from Windows 7 a few months ago and all was well until a few weeks ago. I started getting frequent Store Exception Errors and hard drive errors. I ran chkdsk /scan and it found 228kb of bad sectors which hasn't gone up since running it. I tried changing the power settings - specifically I've turned off fast start-up, and turned off the PCI Express Link State Power Management after looking up a few of the errors in my event log. Tonight it has crashed twice already and I'm not sure what else to do. I've attached my log file created with the W7F tool. Many thanks in advance.

p.s. I've also removed Comodo Firewall because a few errors seemed to be related to that - no different though

 

[kemical]

Hi Damian,
I checked your zip file and no dump file is present. This could be that your machine isn't configured to produce them. Please check your settings and change if need be to this:
Open the run application.
Type sysdm.cpl in the run box and click ok.
Look across the top of the system properties box for 'Advanced' and click that.
Look for 'Startup and Recovery' near the bottom and click 'settings'.
Near the bottom you'll see a drop down menu under the heading 'write debugging information'.
In the drop down menu choose ' small memory dump (256KB)'
Under 'small dump directory' make sure it says %SystemRoot%\Minidump.
Click ok and your good to go.

You will have wait until the machine bsods again before you'll see a dump file produced. Another thing which stop the creation of dump files is having no pagefile or one thats below 200mb.

 

[Damianp]

Thanks Kemical, I'd already made those changes to the Startup and Recovery options - I'm not sure why it's not creating a dump file. I've set my initial page file size to above 201 MB - should that work now?

 

[kemical]

Yes as long as those parameters are set you should be fine although some HDD issues can stop dump file creation too. Try running Seatools to check your drive:
SeaTools | Seagate

 

[Damianp]

Thanks again kemical. Sorry I forgot to mention I've already checked with seatools and the s.m.a.r.t scan was fine. I've also updated my bios driver after reading your advice to other users with similar problems. I'll post again if/when I get another bsod and get the minidump.

 

[kemical]

Sounds good Damien.. Hope all goes well and if the issues return post back.

 

[Damianp]

I've just had another BSOD - unexpected store exception again. Before this happened I noticed that my laptop kept stalling for a few seconds and...

event id 153 - The IO operation at logical block address 0x18738f8 for Disk 0 (PDO name: \Device\0000002e) was retried.
and
event id 129 - Reset to device, \Device\RaidPort0, was issued.

...keep popping up at the times of the stalls.

Anyway, the minidump worked this time. This is driving me mad!

 

[kemical]

*******************************************************************************
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*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck 154, {ffffe000a3734000, ffffd0009aba67d0, 0, 0}

Probably caused by : ntkrnlmp.exe ( nt!SMKM_STORE<SM_TRAITS>::SmStUnhandledExceptionFilter+22 )

Followup: MachineOwner

Hi,
the above bugcheck relates to a store issue although it's unclear what's causing it. It could be a driver or corruption which is at fault although I have sneaking suspicion it's down to the age of the machine and the drivers your running.

Now with laptops the drivers are almost exclusively supplied by the manufacturer and after checking your support page I notice that they only carry drivers for Windows 7. The support page also carries this message:

Product not tested for Windows 10 upgrade
Dell is not testing or developing Windows 10 drivers for this product. If you choose to upgrade, some features, applications, and connected devices may not work as expected.

Link Removed

Link Removed

You could try repairing whatever has gone wrong but if these scans don't work then your options might well be limited.

Find command prompt in the start menu, right click on it and run as admin. Type:
sfc /scannow
Press enter and await results.

Once the above scan has finished and in the same command prompt type:
dism /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth
Press enter and await results (longer this time)

Ordinarily I'd say update the drivers but as you know you cannot. You could try, if the above scans don't work and the issue continues, run the driver verifier. Run the scans first and then post back with the results.

If the bsod continues then run the driver verifier although before you do you'll need to create a recovery disk or usb in case you get a bsod on start up. You'll need to use the recovery disk/usb to boot into safe mode to turn the verifier off.
How do I fix a Blue Screen in Windows using Driver Verifier?

 

[Damianp]

Thanks once again kemical. I've completed both those scans - the first says Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations. The second says - The restore operation completed successfully. The operation completed successfully.

I'll see how it goes and post back if I have any more errors.

Would it help if I tried a clean install of Windows 10? It's weird that it was fine for the first 6 weeks or so and then started crashing. Also I've still got the disk for Windows 7 - can I go back to that if all else fails?

 

[kemical]

Hi Damien,
I'm really hoping these scans will work because i doubt a clean install would be the answer because of the driver situation. The other thing you could also do is remove any old apps relating to Dell. I noticed you had a Acceleration app from Dell dated 2009, anything like that I'd remove.
Now regarding your Windows 7 licence. I'm really sorry but once you upgrade to Windows 10 then you have 31 days to decide whether you want to keep it or go back. As you've had win 10 installed a couple of months then chances are you cannot go back to win 7. (I hate breaking this news to users and really feel Microsoft should have made this a lot clearer).
If you do get another bsod please post the dump file.

 

[Damianp]

Thanks kemical. Yes - I also think Microsoft should have made it a lot clearer that you can't revert to your old operating system after 31 days. I certainly wasn't aware of that. The annoying thing is, is that win10 was great for the first few months - the crashes only started happening recently.

I'm currently making a recovery disk before trying the driver verifier. I'll get back to you with the results. Thanks again for your help.

 

[kemical]

Ok Damien although I wouldn't try the verifier unless you actually bsod again.

 

[Damianp]

No worries I won't run it yet.

I've been looking through my drivers to try and weed out the old ones like the accelerometer one you mentioned.

I've found..

HECIx64 Intel(R) Management En Kernel 17/09/2009 20:54:16
iaStorV Intel RAID Controller Kernel 11/04/2011 19:48:16
nusb3xhc Renesas Electronics US Kernel 30/09/2010 05:00:03
nusb3hub Renesas Electronics US Kernel 30/09/2010 05:00:03
rixdpcie rixdpcie Kernel 04/07/2009 11:27:00
risdpcie risdpcie Kernel 01/07/2009 10:31:57
rimspci rimspci Kernel 02/07/2009 00:54:49
SiSRaid4 SiSRaid4 Kernel 01/10/2008 22:56:04
SiSRaid2 SiSRaid2 Kernel 24/09/2008 19:28:20
STHDA IDT High Definition Au Kernel 29/06/2009 18:52:05
SynTP Synaptics TouchPad Dri Kernel 24/08/2009 18:37:05
TurboB Turbo Boost UI Monitor Kernel 02/11/2009 20:47:34

Are these all safe to remove/update? How do I go about removing/updating them?

 

[Damianp]

Damn. Just had another BSOD, a new one this time - Critical Structure Corruption.

I've just been thinking and my crashes may have started when I installed an old game in compatibility mode a few weeks ago. The crashes may have started soon after that. I've just uninstalled it just in case.

Hope the new minidump helps.

 

[kemical]

*******************************************************************************
*                                                                             *
*                        Bugcheck Analysis                                    *
*                                                                             *
*******************************************************************************

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck 109, {a3a01f5912db3575, b3b72bdf655bef32, 6, 18}

Probably caused by : Unknown_Image ( ANALYSIS_INCONCLUSIVE )

Followup: MachineOwner

Hi,
This bugcheck can be caused by several things such as a driver affecting kernel data, a developer issue or a hardware issue possibly RAM.(As you had HDD trouble this also might be linked?)
So in regard to your drivers, I took a look at the versions on your support page and they are later versions than the ones currently running. Try updating the main drivers such as audio, chipset, card reader, and so on.
Link Removed
I would create a system restore point before you start.

When you ran the chkdsk above did you also repair the bad sectors? If not follow the guide below and either run the correct command line or tick the correct box, depending on which method you choose:
Link Removed

If the bsod continues then you'll need to test your RAM. Windows does have a memory testing app but it can miss errors and the best app for the job is Memtest86.
If you open the link below you'll see you can run Memtest86 in two ways. You can either burn it to disk or install it onto a USB drive it's entirely up to you. You'll then need to enter the bios to change the boot order so you can boot from either the Disk or USB stick you have Memtest86 on.
You must test for at least 12 hours unless it becomes obvious there is a problem straight away (you'll see errors outlined in red.
Memtest86+ - Advanced Memory Diagnostic Tool

Finally, what was the game you uninstalled?

Post any new dump files.

 

[Damianp]

Hello again kemical,

I hadn't set chkdsk to repair the errors which was stupid of me! I've just ran chkdsk /f /r C: which took about three hours. It would make sense if this was the problem as the first few months of Win10 were BSOD free. I'm planning to replace the hard drive with an SSD - just waiting for Black Friday so I'm not bothered if the HDD is on it's way out.

I will also update all the main drivers from the Dell website and also run the memtest86 if I get any more problems. I'd already done the memtest that is part of windows but that didn't show any errors.

The game I uninstalled was Morrowind - I had to install in it compatibility mode for it to work, and I think my crashes started soon after that.

Thanks once again for your help, I'll get back to you if I have any more crashes.

 

[kemical]

Hi,
the only thing about getting a new SSD and performing a clean install is your driver situation. See how you get on updating them and if they install ok then you might be fine.

 

[Damianp]

Hi kemical,

I'm pleased to report I've not had any more BSOD's all day after repairing the bad sectors and updating my drivers. That's the longest I've been without a crash for weeks. There are still a few alerts in the administrative events viewer which I am working through one by one, but my laptop definitely seems to be running a lot better. I can't believe I didn't follow up the bad sectors - I actually thought it'd automatically repair them when it had found them. I've got a few days to make sure it's ok before deciding whether to spend money on an SSD for it. I'll post back in a few days when I'm sure it's sorted.

Thanks so much for you help, Damian

 

[kemical]

Hi Damien,
thanks for updating your thread and yes that's great news! Let me know on what you decide..

 

[Damianp]

Hello again kemical,

looks like I spoke too soon! My laptop has just crashed twice in quick succession. Could the problem be related to overheating? It seems to occur when the laptop has been on for quite a while. When it has crashed, it won't boot up immediately - I have to wait a few minutes before it will boot again. How can I go about investigating this as the cause?

I'll run the memtest overnight to exclude that as well.

If this is likely, I'll strip it down and clean it out, it's probably full of dust.

I've attached the latest dump files.