Tech support request

[El Karacho1647545492]

Less of a troubleshooting request, more of a "which thing do I replace now?" request.

 

Short of it is, somehow my homebuilt PC got signed up for Windows Insider preview. I did this on an older PC but it was a different windows license and I have no idea why it switched on, but it did and I now hate my life. Oh well, that's the situation I guess.

 

So since the 2nd to last preview build, I've been getting BSODs whenever I try to DL a large file, or play a game, or move lots of files from one drive to another. Referenced error is almost always KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED or PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA.

 

Evidently these are usually indicative of a bad memory stick. I had a pair of sticks in the machine, one had gone bad and been removed long before these issues arose, so I removed the 2nd stick and put in a brand new pair. Issues still occur with same frequency.

 

So I try to roll back Windows versions; it won't let me.

 

So I download developer toolkit and run the debugger and whenever a dump file exists, it almost always includes a reference to "Page 200 not present in the dump file. Type ".hh dbgerr004" for details" and references ntkrnlmp.exe as the problematic process.

 

I've updated and rolled back my BIOS version, I've swapped HDDs (found some bad blocks on an internal storage-only HDD), switched OS from one SSD to another, and I'm pretty much down to a few solutions:

 

1) File level backup and wipe everything, start over with a fresh copy of Win10 and just go for Pro this time, mostly for RDP. Perhaps worth noting that my version of Win10 was a free upgrade from Win7 Home.

 

2) New mobo, possible that memory error is on the mobo side and that's causing everything to go wrong.

 

3) New mobo, M.2 SSD for OS, and new copy of Windows 10.

 

Specs:

FX8350 w/h80i cooler (<1yr old)

ASRock 970 Performance (1-2yrs old)

2x Corsair 8GB RAM (new)

Crucial 256GB SSD (Win10 Home currently on this, 2-3 yrs old)

OCZ 128GB SSD (used for Project Cars, other resource-heavy games, 2-3 yrs old)

WD 2TB HDD (media/Steam HDD, new)

EVGA GTX970 Superclocked edition (1yr old)

OCZ 750W PSU (2-3 yrs old)

 

I've searched the internet and there are many tips but I've followed them all with no resolution.

[justinwebb]

Do you have a spare hard drive you can install a fresh windows on to just see if you can reproduce the issue? I normally do a fresh install once a year sometimes less just to keep things in perfect working order. I'm guessing its something borked in windows

[El Karacho1647545492]

Do you have a spare hard drive you can install a fresh windows on to just see if you can reproduce the issue? I normally do a fresh install once a year sometimes less just to keep things in perfect working order. I'm guessing its something borked in windows

 

I actually did a fresh Windows 7 install from physical media on the OCZ SSD, which worked well enough but I knew having 2 OS was going to cause issues so I uninstalled it after running Unigine Valley on it to stress it a bit.

 

Unfortunately since my Win10 version was a direct upgrade from Win7, there's no product key. And if I understand correctly, Win10 doesn't even use traditional product keys anymore.

 

I, too, had reached the conclusion that Windows was messed up, since these issues only started arising once I noticed I was signed up on Insider.

 

Follow up question: if I buy and install a physical media copy of Win10Pro, will I still be signed up with Insider if I use my same Microsoft account associated with that OS?

[BIGGU]

Unsure on your last question, just came here to post you can get OEM keys of Win 10 from Kinguin.com for $28.

[ShowHBK]

I know this sounds crazy... but what USB devices do you have plugged in?

 

I ask because your system is LITERALLY identical to mine part for part (with the exception of the PSU) and when I was getting the same BSOD errors it was because I had a USB Hard Drive plugged into my front port. Crazy I know... But I fixed the error by unplugging all but my Boot HD from the system and then rebuild my boot order, Re-flash the BIOS, and BOOM! she worked with all the drives plugged in.

 

In the fallout, I was able to figure out that my system was having errors because some of my drives were not wiped correctly (or fully) and trace amounts of Windows 10 were still on my old drives from when they were boot drives.

 

Hope this helps, keep us posted

[El Karacho1647545492]

I know this sounds crazy... but what USB devices do you have plugged in?

 

I ask because your system is LITERALLY identical to mine part for part (with the exception of the PSU) and when I was getting the same BSOD errors it was because I had a USB Hard Drive plugged into my front port. Crazy I know... But I fixed the error by unplugging all but my Boot HD from the system and then rebuild my boot order, Re-flash the BIOS, and BOOM! she worked with all the drives plugged in.

 

In the fallout, I was able to figure out that my system was having errors because some of my drives were not wiped correctly (or fully) and trace amounts of Windows 10 were still on my old drives from when they were boot drives.

 

Hope this helps, keep us posted

 

I'm glad I'm not a unique and beautiful snowflake!

 

I do have a 2TB WD MyBook plugged in for backups. I also had a 1.5TB old Buffalo drive for double redundant backups that I found some bad blocks on. I wiped that and put it in storage.

 

When I first started troubleshooting these issues I did remove all USB devices except keyboard/mouse connections and that didn't really help.

 

However, I did somewhat recently move the whole thing from one tower to a new one, maybe my boot order got messed up in that process.

 

So what seemed to work for you was remove all non-OS hard drive connections, flash BIOS, reconfig boot order, and it stopped the BSODs?

[ShowHBK]

I'm glad I'm not a unique and beautiful snowflake!

 

I do have a 2TB WD MyBook plugged in for backups. I also had a 1.5TB old Buffalo drive for double redundant backups that I found some bad blocks on. I wiped that and put it in storage.

 

When I first started troubleshooting these issues I did remove all USB devices except keyboard/mouse connections and that didn't really help.

 

However, I did somewhat recently move the whole thing from one tower to a new one, maybe my boot order got messed up in that process.

 

So what seemed to work for you was remove all non-OS hard drive connections, flash BIOS, reconfig boot order, and it stopped the BSODs?

 

Here is what solved my problems.

 

*re-seat all my RAM sticks. I run four 4GB sticks of RAM, two at 1866 and the other two are clocked down from 19200 to match the slower pair. (Running a Memtest is never a bad idea)

* I installed updated USB drivers and all Motherboard drivers (chipset, audio, etc.)

*I backed up all my files to an external NAS, went ahead and formated all my drives (with the exception of my boot SSD) then transferred all essential files back to their respective drives.

 

After I did everything to ensure it was not my Motherboard freaking out, I was able to get my BoSD to go away for good. When I analyzed things afterword I found that since I had used my data drives as boot drives in other systems I had trace amounts of Windows files on them which was causing conflicts with my system. I suspected RAM issues as well, but my data showed it was system files. Maybe try running your system off 1 stick of RAM just to run tests? One bad stick could spoil the bunch, ya know?

[El Karacho1647545492]

Here is what solved my problems.

 

*re-seat all my RAM sticks. I run four 4GB sticks of RAM, two at 1866 and the other two are clocked down from 19200 to match the slower pair. (Running a Memtest is never a bad idea)

* I installed updated USB drivers and all Motherboard drivers (chipset, audio, etc.)

*I backed up all my files to an external NAS, went ahead and formated all my drives (with the exception of my boot SSD) then transferred all essential files back to their respective drives.

 

After I did everything to ensure it was not my Motherboard freaking out, I was able to get my BoSD to go away for good. When I analyzed things afterword I found that since I had used my data drives as boot drives in other systems I had trace amounts of Windows files on them which was causing conflicts with my system. I suspected RAM issues as well, but my data showed it was system files. Maybe try running your system off 1 stick of RAM just to run tests? One bad stick could spoil the bunch, ya know?

 

Thanks for the step by step! Will run down the process and see what I can find out.

[87GT]

I've had that BSOD before and it was a bad RAM stick. You can either pull out one at a time like suggested above or run memtest86 in dos. You can make a bootable cd to rule out USB issues.

[mrhobbz]

Seems like everytime I've seen pagefault issues it's been a 50/50 toss up of either system files getting f'd or bad memory. I'd definitely start with a memtest since its the least time intensive (aside from letting it actually run)

 

If you end up needing a new board/test board, I literally have 3 AMD AM3+ boards sitting here doing nothing that i'd be willing to mail to you for cost of shipping

[El Karacho1647545492]

Seems like everytime I've seen pagefault issues it's been a 50/50 toss up of either system files getting f'd or bad memory. I'd definitely start with a memtest since its the least time intensive (aside from letting it actually run)

 

If you end up needing a new board/test board, I literally have 3 AMD AM3+ boards sitting here doing nothing that i'd be willing to mail to you for cost of shipping

 

I might take you up on that either way just to have a backup board in case this one shits the bed.

 

I did replace the RAM sticks recently so it shouldn't be that, but I did finally unmount and/or format all the hard drives other than OS one and tried to restore a good version of Windows, which may or may not have worked. Started getting the other common BSOD I've seen, IRQL_NOT_LESS_EQUAL.

 

I'm gonna run memtest86 when I get home, if it reveals bad memory I'm pretty sure it's an issue with the sticks getting seated properly or possibly an issue on the mobo itself. I've used several known good sticks of RAM throughout this process and still had the errors, but we'll see.

 

So far it's looking like a borked version of windows.

[El Karacho1647545492]

Update: never ran memtest, got busy with hockey and fiancee stuff, but I now know I can force a BSOD with a Steam download and a few Chrome tabs open. Happens almost on command.

 

I think I'll have the opportunity to run memtest today, hopefully that reveals something.

[87GT]

Haven't seen IRQL_NOT_LESS_EQUAL in a long time. I used to have this BSOD on Win2000 and XP days. Seen it happen when transferring large files over my network from one PC to another PC. I replaced my network card (a PCI one) and that fixed it. Maybe you want to try a different network card or a new motherboard?

[mrhobbz]

Haven't seen IRQL_NOT_LESS_EQUAL in a long time. I used to have this BSOD on Win2000 and XP days. Seen it happen when transferring large files over my network from one PC to another PC. I replaced my network card (a PCI one) and that fixed it. Maybe you want to try a different network card or a new motherboard?

 

IRQL's, that one in particular are extremely common with bad memory

[El Karacho1647545492]

Haven't seen IRQL_NOT_LESS_EQUAL in a long time. I used to have this BSOD on Win2000 and XP days. Seen it happen when transferring large files over my network from one PC to another PC. I replaced my network card (a PCI one) and that fixed it. Maybe you want to try a different network card or a new motherboard?

 

IRQL's, that one in particular are extremely common with bad memory

 

Ran memtest a couple times yesterday. memory passed, which is good because I bought it < 1month ago.

 

Does that necessarily mean there is NO memory-related issues, or just that the issues do not lie with the RAM sticks themselves? I'm still not convinced there's nothing wrong with my mobo, so as 87GT said it could be that.

 

I have noticed the BSODs when transferring and/or downloading large/numerous files. Happens when I move files from OS SSD to external HD, or from internal HDD to external HD.

 

Honestly the mobo is newer so I'm hoping it's not that, but I'm going to try showhbk's method of resetting the BIOS and sorta rebuilding from nothing next. fingers crossed.

[mrhobbz]

Ran memtest a couple times yesterday. memory passed, which is good because I bought it < 1month ago.

 

Does that necessarily mean there is NO memory-related issues, or just that the issues do not lie with the RAM sticks themselves? I'm still not convinced there's nothing wrong with my mobo, so as 87GT said it could be that.

 

I have noticed the BSODs when transferring and/or downloading large/numerous files. Happens when I move files from OS SSD to external HD, or from internal HDD to external HD.

 

Honestly the mobo is newer so I'm hoping it's not that, but I'm going to try showhbk's method of resetting the BIOS and sorta rebuilding from nothing next. fingers crossed.

 

Cool, hopefully that works. If you end up needing a board to test with just let me know and I'll snail mail you one

[ShowHBK]

Update: never ran memtest, got busy with hockey and fiancee stuff

 

Off topic question... do you play in the Chiller Leagues? I'm a goalie and I play Sunday D. If you are talking about the Jackets, that's cool to.

[El Karacho1647545492]

Off topic question... do you play in the Chiller Leagues? I'm a goalie and I play Sunday D. If you are talking about the Jackets, that's cool to.

 

Yeah you used to be on Jagrbombs, right?

 

I'm still in E, although this is the first time ever we've not been a bottom feeder team. I'm the C/#33 for the Chili Dogs.

[El Karacho1647545492]

Necrobump for anyone who gives a fuck:

 

Finally caved and bought a new retail copy of Windows 10 Pro in case the fault was with the mobo and I needed to replace that, since I think OEM copies consider a new mobo a "new device" and won't transfer.

 

Removed Win10 Home OS SSD from the tower, asked a friend to run killdisk on it to get it properly wiped. Installed Win10 Pro on cleanly formatted 128GB SSD, currently restoring old programs and files from file level backups, but it's running like a dream and no page fault errors or other memory related crap to speak of yet.

 

I'm guessing with the overall number of times i've seen similar issues pop up in google searches, this just had something to do with the free Win7->10 upgrade.

 

Solution: Fresh Windows 10 install on a fresh hard drive.