Windows 7 Need Help. New Computer Build w/ Windows 7

jonno14821

New Member
First,

Here are my computer specs.

i7-920

GIGABYTE GA-X58A-UD3R LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

SAPPHIRE 100297L Radeon HD 5830 1GB 256-bit GDDR5 PCI Express 2.1 x16 HDCP Ready CrossFireX Support Video Card w/ ATI Eyefinity Technology

OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ600MXSP 600W ATX12V V2.2 / EPS12V SLI Certified CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Modular Active PFC Power Supply compatible with core i7

G.SKILL Ripjaws Series 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL8T-6GBRM

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31500341AS 1.5TB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5" Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive

Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit 1-Pack for System Builders - OEM

These are all new components that I am using to build a fresh new computer with a fresh windows 7 install. Here is my problem. I hook everything up, and try to install windows. Once it installs and reboots to finalize the installation, I get a BSOD with a BAD_POOL_HEADER message. If I try to re-install windows, the same error message pops up at the same installation point each time.

My first troubleshooting activity was to test the RAM. So I removed two sticks which left me with one stick of ram (2GB). When I tried to reinstall windows it worked! Problem solved right? Bad RAM! Once windows installed and I was able to get to the windows desktop I turned off the computer and I reinstalled all 3 sticks of RAM. Windows recognized all 6 gigs as did the mem post during boot. Then the computer was very flaky. I ran into several more BSODs including once when ejecting a CD, and putting a thumb drive into a USB port. That night I ran memtest86+ from a bootable USB. Memtest ran overnight and found 0 errors. So now I'm kind of clueless.

I've heard there are driver issues with Windows 7 so I began updating drivers. After I reboot my computer after installing new drivers sometimes windows fails to boot and asks me to repair my windows install which takes a while. I've run video stress tests with zero problems, but at the same time, I'll play an MP3 on windows media player and the computer will shut down unexpectedly.

Please help!
 
Should have posted this in the OP.

There are two versions of my Gigabyte MOBO. I have version 2.0 which seems like it is pretty new because there is only the original bios version available for it. So I know I have the current (as in only) bios.
 
Hi and welcome.

Please navigate to C:\Windows\Minidump

Copy the files in there to any other folder. Then zip the files. Attach the zip to a post using the paperclip above where you type, in advanced mode reply. We shall have a look for you.
 
After tweaking some QPI voltages from some other forums that I've read, I decided to start over with a clean install of windows to see if I could install windows with all 3 sticks of RAM installed. I couldn't. So obviously I have now lost all of the "minidumps" that I had before.

Tonight I'll try to reinstall windows with one stick of RAM and try to induce some failures by you know playing an MP3 or something. My question is will that "minidump" contain the BSODs that I received during install when I try to install with all 3 sticks of memory installed?
 
That's a common occurance about finding success while removing some sticks of RAM during install. I wouldn't worry about RAM being defective, yet at least.

What I can recommend is that you keep all Gigabyte utilities off the machine. They can cause problems by introducing certain drivers like gdrv.sys to the system. So, only install the latest drivers and no apps/utilities from Gigabyte.

The bsod crash dumps only contain the info for each particular crash when they happen. Each time, a new one is created.
 
I don't think I've installed any Gigabyte "utilities". But I have had to manually install some drivers from the Gigabyte CD to get things to work. For example, my network port didn't work after I installed windows, so I installed the network drivers from the Gigabyte CD. Then once I had internet up and running I downloaded the latest video drivers from the net for my video card.

One other thing that I didn't post on the original post. I'm using a 6 year old Plextor DVD-RW drive for my optical drive. It is hooked into a PATA slot on the MOBO. I've already disconnected it from the system and used a new external USB dvd drive to try to install windows from and I had the same issues.
 
View attachment alt mini.zip

OK, update.

I reinstalled Windows 7 with only one stick of RAM installed. It loaded up perfectly. Once in Windows I updated some drivers, turned off my machine and installed my other two sticks of RAM. Once I started the computer up, my RAM posted fine, and Windows recognizes the full 6GB.

I started getting BSODs when I plugged in a USB bluetooth dongle. I realized I never enabled mouse/keyboard USB support on the MOBO so after I crashed I logged into the BIOS and enabled it. Once I started Win 7 again I was able to plug the USB dongle without a crash.

My only other two BSODs tonight are due to installing and updating Symantec AntiVirus Win64. I"ve attached my minidumps for your review.
 
It's the Symantec causing bsod issues. I'd tell you that anyhow and it was my thought before even opening the crash dump. Then when I did open them, I'm presented with this:

Code:
CUSTOMER_CRASH_COUNT:  1

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID:  VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

BUGCHECK_STR:  0x3B

PROCESS_NAME:  LUALL.EXE

CURRENT_IRQL:  0

LAST_CONTROL_TRANSFER:  from 0000000000000000 to fffff80002ac3105

So, you want to remove Norton/Symantec with the special tool found here. Probably best to use it in safe mode:

AV Uninstallers - Windows 7 Forums

I recommend MSE because it uses minimal resources and never causes bsod under any circumstances.

----

You'll want to update this Intel storage driver.

Code:
iaStorV  iaStorV.sys  Wed Apr 08 12:57:17 2009

You can let Intel's website scan for the latest driver(s) or you can visit your motherboard manufacturer's site.

Intel
 
OK, I updated the Intel driver no sweat.

After I posted my last response, but before I read your answer, I uninstalled the anti virus program via windows uninstall in the control panel. I then had another BSOD while downloading a game from the internet. It wont let me attach it because it is 0kB.

Anyway, I tried using your link to find an uninstall program and the only one that says Symantec won't work for Win 7.

I really hate this OS.

Is there a file that I can manually go find to delete?
 
OK,
Things getting worse.

I downloaded and ran this program to uninstall norton.
Norton Antivirus Removal Tool 2009 Uninstall & Completely Remove Norton Antivirus

It seemed to work OK.

I then went back to downloading the same game I've been trying to download and it crashed in the same spot. This time without a BSOD. However, now i cannot boot into windows unless I'm in safe mode. I've gotten a few BSODs when I try to boot into windows without safe mode. I"ve attached them.View attachment dump.zip
 
Windows 7 is by far the greatest, quickest and most reliable OS that Microsoft has ever made. I'm telling you as an enthusiast and I have absolutely nothing to gain by that. Norton/Symantec is the product you should be at odds with, heh heh. Once things are straightened out, you'll begin to see what I mean.

There are a few different Symantec uninstallers on the page I linked to. The one you want is for Norton/Symantec. This will remove all traces of anything Norton, which is what you want. Here is a direct link to the file. Best if used in safe mode:

ftp://ftp.symantec.com/public/english_us_canada/removal_tools/Norton_Removal_Tool.exe
 
Alright, I just reviewed the latest crash dump. You're having issues with the hard drive, as it's showing a NTFS 0x24 error. This could have actually been brought on by Norton/Symantec. I'm not sure how, but I have definitely seen it before.

In safe mode + networking, open a command prompt. Then copy and paste this command to it and hit enter.

Code:
chkdsk /r
If you have hard drive partitions other than C:, then also run the command for them too. Here's an example of D:

Code:
chkdsk /r D:
----

This driver is still present and actually is responsible for controlling the hard drive(s). Figured I'd mention as it doesn't seem to be updated yet:

Code:
iaStorV  iaStorV.sys  Wed Apr 08 12:57:17 2009
 
Last edited:
Ok, let me give you an update first before I address your recommendation.

Basically, I can't start the computer in anything but safe mode. If I try to start in Safemode plus network I get a BSOD. If I try to start in Safemode plus command prompt I get a BSOD. Having said that, one of the BSOD's title was like USB DRIVER ERROR or something.

Also, you should know that my motherboard has like 10 SATA ports controlled by like 3 different chipsets. Because of this review...
Gigabyte GA-X58A-UD3R Motherboard Review | bit-tech.net
This is quite frankly a silly number of SATA ports for anything other than a file server to have, and it caused a major problem during our tests – the Windows 7 installer froze with the hard disk and optical drive hooked up to the Southbridge-powered SATA ports.

The only way we could solve this curious problem was to install Windows 7 with the drives connected to the Gigabyte SATA2 controller, after which we returned them to the Southbridge-powered ports.
I have my HDD hooked up to one of the Gigabyte SATA ports not one on the intel chipset. So my intel driver may be out of date, but it shouldn't be factoring into this. Unless the drivers are competing somehow. Anyway, I tried to update the intel driver, but I guess I updated the wrong thing.

So about your recommendation...
I booted up in safe mode and then pulled up a command prompt, ran chkdsk /r and rebooted. Chk dsk is currently running. I'll post the results when it is finished.
 
Cool. Ya, safe mode + networking was only suggested so you can get to this page and copy the command. Safe mode alone is fine to run the command like you're doing

Keep us posted for sure and we'll keep on chipping away at the problem(s). Good luck!
 
Well the bad news is I had to let Check Disk run overnight because it took too long so I don't know exactly what it found or what it did. The good news is when I woke up in the morning the computer was up and running in windows 7 in normal mode.

I'll try to fart around with that intel driver tonight, and try to run that norton anti virus remover program and then try to download the same game that was giving me problems.
 
OK...Update of the day.

I got home and booted up Windows. First I went to the Intel site to try to get driver updates. It didn't find one that I needed for the HDD, only for my network card, so I installed it. Then I used your Norton killer program to wipe the anti-virus program off of my computer. Then I tried to download the game again. Link Removed - Invalid URL

It causes my computer to crash at about the same point in the download every time. After my computer crashes I have to reboot about 5 times before windows will load without crashing.

Attached are the two dumps that were created today, even though I've seen about 5 BSODs.

Question, when do we start pointing the finger at hardware? I think I need to RMA my motherboard and HDD.

View attachment dump.zip
 
I wouldn't think there is a hardware problem based on the types of crash dumps seen vs. not seen.

Very much, I still believe there to be a Norton/Symantec issue. One driver of theirs would tell me that. In this case, they're all still present and active:

Code:
SRTSP64  SRTSP64.SYS  Mon Aug 10 23:30:48 2009
EX64     EX64.SYS     Sat Aug 22 01:42:03 2009
ENG64    ENG64.SYS    Sat Aug 22 01:35:47 2009
SYMEVENT64x86 SYMEVENT64x86.SYS Wed Jun 24 16:19:12 2009
SRTSPX64 SRTSPX64.SYS Mon Aug 10 23:31:44 2009
(I could have missed one or two.)

At this point, I could suggest deleting them all listed then reboot. They're at C:\Windows\System32\drivers

You could look at them in date order to see if there are any similar. Look at properties and if Norton/Symantec, delete.

Use CCleaner to clean unnecessary files from the hard drive, then use it to clean the registry.

Reboot.

-----

A much better approach would be to clean install Windows, since you're not running like a year old setup with all important programs installed after that much a period of time. New computer, new fresh install Windows I say.
 
new fresh install Windows I say

Ha. Good, that's what I wanted to try next anyway. I'm also not sure that I've got the Bios exactly how it should be. Sometimes when my computer crashes, I'll load up my bios and a warning will pop up saying my computer crashed because of overclocking. The only timing and voltage settings that I've messed with are to type in RAM timings that came with the RAM.

Anyway, I'll reinstall windows and see if I can get anything else going.
 
OK.

Fresh install of Win 7. Never touched Norton Anti Virus. Many BSODs regardless and other crashes that didn't give me a BSOD. I've installed all of the drivers from my MOBO disk, plus MSE anti virus, plus google chrome, plus video drivers from ATI. Thats it.

I pretty much get a BSOD every time I plug anything into a USB port. Printer, Monitor webcam, anything.

One BSOD managed to give me a dump. It is attached.

View attachment 071310-29608-01.zip
 
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