Windows 8 Windows 8 Fresh Install BSOD problem

Hi,

it sounds like your HDD is in need of it's firmware updating and there is an urgent update posted on the Dell web site. I also notice that your bios needs updating too. Please visit the page found here and install the available updates:

Link Removed

Thank you for the speedy reply, I am going to do that right away, I just updated the bios 2 days ago from A03 to A04, I saw that they released A05.

For the mSATA hdd I was searching for any firmware update but only found the one that I am currently using.

L.E.: ( did not want to double post).

Installed both updates, the optional one for the mSATA drive and the A05 bios update.

Should I try to run verifier and check if any BSOD's occur or should I stick to normal usage and did the basic stuff that caused them to appear ?


UPDATE:

2 hours no BSOD so far... usually the problem appears overnight if I let the system idle, I usually find it with "Send error report" restarted in desktop...

Will come with an update later on !

Ok, please post any new dmp files too..

Just recovered from an BSOD ( 0x0000001e ) this time.
I have attached the dump !
Seems like bios and mSATA firmware update did not fix the problem

EDIT: Another BSOD, uploaded the second dump also !

Thank you once again for your help.


EDIT2: Yet another one ocurred, I have attached the third dump.

EDIT3: Another blue screen did not upload the file because there will be to many for you to download, this one was KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED 0x0000001e

EDIT4: Another one, this one is IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL
Attached the dump...

It's killing me !

EDIT5: I keep receiving blue screens, I will wait for you to get online. I don't want to spam the forum with endless number of dmp files, just waiting for your advice.

I'm checking them now... I'll Post back in a few minutes

Can you do something for me? Please run a chkdsk. Right click on computer (C drive) choose properties, Tools and then check now. It may say it doesn't need to run but run it anyway. If it still freezes at around 27% then this may be your issue. Reading dmp files it isn't always obvious whats causing the issue and I'm starting to get a hunch that it's a hardware issue. As it's only 2 months old I imagine the warranty is still good so it might be worth talking to Dell.
Anyway please post the results of your chkdsk and any other dmp files you may have and we'll go from there.

Hello,

Scanning the disk from right click > properties and sfc /scannow work like a charm, no delays no errors.
I had the problem when using chkdsk /r, it used to freeze at 27%, tried that also right now, everything went smooth, no delays, no errors.

I have attached 2 more dumps.

One thing I noticed, each time I get KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED BSOD, my nVIDIA graphics card is nowhere to be found, restart does not bring it back, the only way to get it back is power off and power back on.
I don't know if it's related but imagined to let you know.

Dell support is like talking to myself....

kemical said:

Unfortunately I need more information on which driver is causing the bsod. Please run the driver verifier and then post the dmp file. This web page tells you how. (if you can remove any other dmp files so they don't get mixed up with the verifier one):
http://www.reviversoft.com/blog/2013/09/using-driver-verifier-to-fix-a-blue-screen-of-death/

Also I notice you said you ran memtest86 but for how long? It might be worth running it again but for a few hours this time as it's perfectly feasible to have a faulty stick in a new machine.

I'm not seeing if anything is related to your card disapearing in the dmp file. All I'm seeing is that a system driver caused the exception or bsod so we need to dig deeper hence the verifier. Also it might be handy if you took a look at the sticky here:
Link Removed and post me the results. Thanks.

Click to expand...

I have posted all the things using w7f as requested, and also the html from RAMMon in the first post, the only thing I forgot to do is the CPU-Z screenshots:

Link Removed

If needed I will re-run the w7f test and upload the files again.
I have also uploaded the CPU-Z html output and also a new dmp file, I will remove all the dmp files and proceed with verifier.

Memtest ran for about 3 ~ 4 hours, it ran until I got "*** Pass complete, no errors. press ESC to exit ***"

Please let me know if you need anything else.


UPDATE: Just noticed that I did the cpu-z test after recovering from BSOD and the nvida adapter is not listed, please let me know if I need to re-run the test after the nvidia adapter is back available!

UPDATE2: I ran a shut-down on my system to try and get the nVIDIA gpu up active again, and windows failed to load on first try, I had to do a hard reset ( using the power button pressed ) and power on again to manage to boot.

This seems to occur since the A05 bios update, in the past if BSOD occurred, power-off and power-on would have been enough to get the nvidia card back up.

Compared the CPU-Z output as well as the values from inside the app, nothing changed with nVIDIA up so I assume an update on the images is not necessary.

-----------------------------------

UPDATE3: Configured and running verifier as I write this message, as soon as BSOD will trigger I will post the dmp files.

First BSOD dmp using verifier is attached ...

I'll look at it now but tell me the vm-ware software your using. Did you have it installed on each os or have you only installed it on win 8?

I don't think vm-ware is the main issue, this happens with both vm-ware uninstalled with fresh install, or using virtual box on both windows 7/8/8.1
I think I re-installed the OS more than 15 times over the past month.

One thing I noticed on windows 8 is that as it auto-updates itself more blue-screens tend to appear.
Or maybe it's just because the first day after re-install I just keep restarting the system for driver installs and never doing actually anything to stress the system.

That's what I needed to know (about the vmware) the only reason i ask is because it's appeared twice in dmp files but might simply be a red herring. The further I've delved into what is causing the issue has shown me that to discover the true culprit is going to take some real detective work and to be honest is getting beyond my capability. I truly hate to do this as I dislike having to pass the issue on but you need some real expert advice. Please visit the forum found here:
http://www.sysnative.com/forums/forum.php
This is the place where we go to when we need to pick up some tips and read their excellent guides. Once again I apologise for not being able to help you further but would dearly love to know what the hell is causing that issue.

Edit:

I've just thought that if your hardrive was playing up before the firmware was updated then any os installed on it would be playing up too. It might and I mean might be worth re-installing one more time now that the drive is working fine.
Just a thought...

I will try tonight to do a fresh install, maybe it helps.
One thing I wanted to ask, the factory dvd with windows 8 that came with the system is an UEFI disk, when inserted and booted from, it does not recognize the hard drive, I have to manually insert the drivers from an usb disk, just to make sure I am doing things right and this is the correct thing to do.

I am using the SATA drivers from dell.com website in order to be able to see the drives/format and install.

Thank you so much for your time spent here with me.

As soon as I will get any reply from you I will proceed on re-installing my system.

I did a little googling and it does sound like you may have to install drivers at the start of the install. I used to have to this with an old RAID set up a few years ago so I know it's normal practice.
Read through the page i found though as it might offer some insights?
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To be honest I hope we manage to get this sorted between us as I much prefer to see the job done no matter how long it takes.. At least you have another avenue to try if we are not successful this time around.

The odd thing is that they provided me a disk with windows 8 made for my system that does not recognize the system...
That is what I was doing, loading the driver before the installation.

I will give it a go and post here with results.
verifier is still running and no BSOD since the last dmp post.

I think dell is aware of the problem since they released 2 bios updates in less than 3 days an they keep avoiding me, they keep saying that my service tag number does not have support.

As I posted above it's not that unusual to have to install a SATA driver before install. I'll await your next post and hopefully some good news.

Fresh install...

Installed chipset : rebooted
Installed: RST drivers rebooted
Installed Wifi + bluetooth drivers rebooted
Installed Intel Video Card rebooted > BSOD

The BSOD occurred prior to showing the windows 8 start things

Absolutely nothing else installed, I have attached the dmp...

Not installing anything else except vm-ware mean-time, all my work is saved in a virtual machine and I need access, I don't think that would affect in any way.

Waiting for any reply from you.

Another one, updated the attachment.

So judging from what you say in the previous post we might be looking at an issue with the Intel GPU either hardware or software related. The dmp file above can be caused by corrupt drivers so could the driver be at fault?
I also found your post in the Dell Alienware community and didn't realise you had been getting bsod's from the first day you bought the machine. Personally I'd have sent it back and got Dell to send one that works. I'm almost sure this is a hardware related issue and I would return the machine under warranty.

What happens if you remove the intel gpu driver? Does the bsod stop? If so you might have found the culprit or pretty damn close..