I was getting BSOD and freezeups/slow downs on my Vista machine and did the easiest (but most expensive fix) - I upgraded by doing a new build.
Windows 7 x64
Intel i5-750 Lynnfield on a Gigabyte P55A-UD4P mobo
8 GB (4x2GB) Corsair DDR3 1600
OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD for the system drive
2 - 1TB WD Green (1 EAD and 1 EAR - my bad on the EAR, as I had to do a 7-8 jumper to get it aligned)
Asus ATI EAH5780 1 GB videocard
Corsair 750W PSU
Software Loaded:
NIS 2010 (Norton - I know, most people think it's crap)
Various software: Quickbooks, Adobe PS CS4, Foxit, WinRAR, TeraCopy, VLC player, etc.
I ran Windows Update and updated all the drivers I could (curiously, the Gigabyte Motherboard DVD would not run under W7...) including chipset, Realtek, IDE, USB, etc. I DID NOT flash the BIOS - I figured it was the latest since it was so new).
I followed some "tweak" recommendations for the SSD and Windows 7:
Disabled defrag, superfetch and prefetch, drive indexing on the SSD (some of these W7 does auto)
Reduced the Page File size, moved some folders off the SSD (like "My Music", etc.)
I also tried to set up the drives as AHCI instead of IDE even though I won't do a RAID (I have a Windows Home Server for backup and storage); however, I didn't do it initially, and I made a regedit change and then changed the BIOS to the AHCI. I couldn't get that to ever boot so I changed back to IDE.
The BSODs started randomly, maybe after the AHCI but maybe before. Various problems:
PFN_LIST_CORRUPT
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA
REFERENCE_BY_POINTER
SESSION3_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
I am running the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool now (it takes forever - actually I think IT HAS FROZEN too!) and I have the memtest86++ disk to test afterwards. If that is OK, I read to go into the System logs in Event Viewer and use chkdsk /f/v.
Is there something else to do? I'm not sure how to look at a minidump (that's what I feel like doing to my PC right now).
Thanks in advance for your help. I really don't want to do a re-install unless I know it's not a hardware issue!
Windows 7 x64
Intel i5-750 Lynnfield on a Gigabyte P55A-UD4P mobo
8 GB (4x2GB) Corsair DDR3 1600
OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD for the system drive
2 - 1TB WD Green (1 EAD and 1 EAR - my bad on the EAR, as I had to do a 7-8 jumper to get it aligned)
Asus ATI EAH5780 1 GB videocard
Corsair 750W PSU
Software Loaded:
NIS 2010 (Norton - I know, most people think it's crap)
Various software: Quickbooks, Adobe PS CS4, Foxit, WinRAR, TeraCopy, VLC player, etc.
I ran Windows Update and updated all the drivers I could (curiously, the Gigabyte Motherboard DVD would not run under W7...) including chipset, Realtek, IDE, USB, etc. I DID NOT flash the BIOS - I figured it was the latest since it was so new).
I followed some "tweak" recommendations for the SSD and Windows 7:
Disabled defrag, superfetch and prefetch, drive indexing on the SSD (some of these W7 does auto)
Reduced the Page File size, moved some folders off the SSD (like "My Music", etc.)
I also tried to set up the drives as AHCI instead of IDE even though I won't do a RAID (I have a Windows Home Server for backup and storage); however, I didn't do it initially, and I made a regedit change and then changed the BIOS to the AHCI. I couldn't get that to ever boot so I changed back to IDE.
The BSODs started randomly, maybe after the AHCI but maybe before. Various problems:
PFN_LIST_CORRUPT
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA
REFERENCE_BY_POINTER
SESSION3_INITIALIZATION_FAILED
I am running the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool now (it takes forever - actually I think IT HAS FROZEN too!) and I have the memtest86++ disk to test afterwards. If that is OK, I read to go into the System logs in Event Viewer and use chkdsk /f/v.
Is there something else to do? I'm not sure how to look at a minidump (that's what I feel like doing to my PC right now).
Thanks in advance for your help. I really don't want to do a re-install unless I know it's not a hardware issue!
