Hi,
I am new here, and I would really, really appreciate your help :)
I am writing because my ASUS K95VJ laptop (running Windows 8 x64) has recently started blue-screening on a whim. I consider myself to be a very competent PC user, but I confess that this is somewhat outside my area of expertise.
I can't honestly remember what I was doing when the first BSOD occurred five days ago, but I do know for certain that it was the very first BSOD this machine had ever encountered. I have experienced ten since then, with varying BugChecks; upon analysing the system minidumps in WinDbg, I have encountered the following BugCheck codes:
-----------------------
I am not skilled enough to usefully interpret the dump files, but as you can see I was able to activate Driver Verifier. When it was started, after a slow reboot, it blue-screened nearly immediately, twice in a row. Thinking I had found my culprit in Avast!, I then uninstalled it completely earlier today. Most of the STOP errors have occurred when I was using either Chrome (which I use constantly) or Cubase 7.5 (which I use infrequently for music production). After I got rid of Avast!, the system seemed stable for a good few hours, during which time I left Driver Verifier running and put Cubase under heavy load. I then stopped Verifier, as all seemed fine.
Sadly, I have recently encountered another BSOD, shown above :( It also occurs to me that, curiously (?) the BugChecks during verification were both CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUTs, but neither were DRIVER_VERIFIER_... initiated blue-screens as I had hoped.
I installed my own RAM when I first purchased my laptop over a year ago (32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz for music production purposes), and have had no issues with the system until now. Concerned it could nevertheless be the RAM at fault, I ran Windows' own Memory Diagnosis tool yesterday, which discovered no obvious problems, though I have not yet run MemTest86+. ChkDsk also encountered no obvious problems. No driver conflicts are evident in Device Manager. I have scanned the system for viruses and other malware using MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, SuperAntiSpyware and Windows Defender and found no signs of infection.
Perhaps of interest, Windows Event Viewer includes the following event, the first really worrying error to be generated by the machine, logged 3 seconds before the system rebooted and logged the details of the BugCheck:
"An I/O operation initiated by the Registry failed unrecoverably. The Registry could not flush hive (file): ''."
I am at a loss as to what to do next. I am prepared for the RAM (or my NVIDIA graphics memory), the hard disk, or a recent software installation of some kind to be at fault, but without being able to understand the minidump files, I can't really plan my next move. I attach all of the minidumps to date, for anybody who is more experienced in their interpretation.
Laptop specs via Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2:
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 8, 64 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Count: 8
RAM: 32645 Mb
Graphics Card: Microsoft Basic Render Driver, 11 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 381545 MB, Free - 141766 MB; D: Total - 550503 MB, Free - 57883 MB;
Motherboard: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC., K95VJ
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Enabled
Please note the machine is equipped with dual graphics cards (Intel HD Graphics 4000 and NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M).
Please do let me know if you need any further information.
Thank you very much in advance for your help!
altudios
I am new here, and I would really, really appreciate your help :)
I am writing because my ASUS K95VJ laptop (running Windows 8 x64) has recently started blue-screening on a whim. I consider myself to be a very competent PC user, but I confess that this is somewhat outside my area of expertise.
I can't honestly remember what I was doing when the first BSOD occurred five days ago, but I do know for certain that it was the very first BSOD this machine had ever encountered. I have experienced ten since then, with varying BugChecks; upon analysing the system minidumps in WinDbg, I have encountered the following BugCheck codes:
-----------------------
- Image: ntkrnlmp.exe [NT KeRNeL, Multi-Processor version]
DPC_WATCHDOG_VIOLATION (133) : The DPC watchdog detected a prolonged run time at an IRQL of DISPATCH_LEVEL or above. (The system cumulatively spent an extended period of time at DISPATCH_LEVEL or above.)
PROCESS_NAME: svchost.exe - Image: igdkmd64.sys [Intel Graphics Device Kernel Mode Driver]
KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE (139) : A kernel component has corrupted a critical data structure. (A LIST_ENTRY has been corrupted)
PROCESS_NAME: chrome.exe - Image: nvlddmkm.sys [NVIDIA Graphics Driver]
BAD_POOL_HEADER (19) : The pool is already corrupt at the time of the current request. (A pool block header size is corrupt.)
PROCESS_NAME: consent.exe - Image: iaStorA.sys [RST AHCI Intel Rapid Storage driver]
KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED (1E) : (Exception: memory access violation, driver attempted access to 830a9c)
PROCESS_NAME: System - Image: aswSnx.sys [Avast! Antivirus]
BAD_POOL_HEADER (20) : The pool block header size is corrupt.
PROCESS_NAME: svchost.exe - Image: igdkmd64.sys [Intel Graphics Device Kernel Mode Driver]
BAD_POOL_CALLER (C2) : Current thread attempted to free the pool, which was already freed.
PROCESS_NAME: chrome.exe - Image: igdkmd64.sys [Intel Graphics Device Kernel Mode Driver]
KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE (139) : A kernel component has corrupted a critical data structure. (A LIST_ENTRY has been corrupted)
PROCESS_NAME: Cubase7.5.exe
* * * DRIVER VERIFIER STARTED * * * - Image: aswSP.sys [Avast! Antivirus]
CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT (101) : (18 Clock ticks, address of processor control block = fffff88002c02180) - Image: aswSP.sys [Avast! Antivirus]
CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT (101) : (18 Clock ticks, address of processor control block = fffff88002d5b180)
* * * DRIVER VERIFIER STOPPED * * *
* * * CREATED SYSTEM RESTORE POINT * * *
* * * UNINSTALLED AVAST! ANTIVIRUS * * *
* * * DRIVER VERIFIER STARTED * * *
No crashes
* * * DRIVER VERIFIER STOPPED * * *
- Image: synusb64.sys [Cubase driver]
BAD_POOL_HEADER (19) : The pool block header size is corrupt.
PROCESS_NAME: System
I am not skilled enough to usefully interpret the dump files, but as you can see I was able to activate Driver Verifier. When it was started, after a slow reboot, it blue-screened nearly immediately, twice in a row. Thinking I had found my culprit in Avast!, I then uninstalled it completely earlier today. Most of the STOP errors have occurred when I was using either Chrome (which I use constantly) or Cubase 7.5 (which I use infrequently for music production). After I got rid of Avast!, the system seemed stable for a good few hours, during which time I left Driver Verifier running and put Cubase under heavy load. I then stopped Verifier, as all seemed fine.
Sadly, I have recently encountered another BSOD, shown above :( It also occurs to me that, curiously (?) the BugChecks during verification were both CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUTs, but neither were DRIVER_VERIFIER_... initiated blue-screens as I had hoped.
I installed my own RAM when I first purchased my laptop over a year ago (32GB Corsair Vengeance DDR3 1600MHz for music production purposes), and have had no issues with the system until now. Concerned it could nevertheless be the RAM at fault, I ran Windows' own Memory Diagnosis tool yesterday, which discovered no obvious problems, though I have not yet run MemTest86+. ChkDsk also encountered no obvious problems. No driver conflicts are evident in Device Manager. I have scanned the system for viruses and other malware using MalwareBytes Anti-Malware, SuperAntiSpyware and Windows Defender and found no signs of infection.
Perhaps of interest, Windows Event Viewer includes the following event, the first really worrying error to be generated by the machine, logged 3 seconds before the system rebooted and logged the details of the BugCheck:
"An I/O operation initiated by the Registry failed unrecoverably. The Registry could not flush hive (file): ''."
I am at a loss as to what to do next. I am prepared for the RAM (or my NVIDIA graphics memory), the hard disk, or a recent software installation of some kind to be at fault, but without being able to understand the minidump files, I can't really plan my next move. I attach all of the minidumps to date, for anybody who is more experienced in their interpretation.
Laptop specs via Tech Support Guy System Info Utility version 1.0.0.2:
OS Version: Microsoft Windows 8, 64 bit
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3630QM CPU @ 2.40GHz, Intel64 Family 6 Model 58 Stepping 9
Processor Count: 8
RAM: 32645 Mb
Graphics Card: Microsoft Basic Render Driver, 11 Mb
Hard Drives: C: Total - 381545 MB, Free - 141766 MB; D: Total - 550503 MB, Free - 57883 MB;
Motherboard: ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC., K95VJ
Antivirus: Windows Defender, Enabled
Please note the machine is equipped with dual graphics cards (Intel HD Graphics 4000 and NVIDIA GeForce GT 635M).
Please do let me know if you need any further information.
Thank you very much in advance for your help!
altudios