BSoD

[zimmerframe]

Not so much a tutorial, more how I eventually solved a problem that had dogged me for ages.


For more than 6 months I had been getting random BSoD ( Blue Screens of Death).  The errors generally related to IRQ problems, nVidia drivers and a couple of others too. The Microsft error reporting always said "The error was caused by a device driver" but never specidied which one

I have always kept my machine drivers and BIOS fully updated but at first suspected that I may have a problem with the video driver.  I uninstalled and re-installed and  rolled back to earlier drivers but still the problem perstisted.

I then suspected a possible memory problem.  I ran Memtest86 http://www.memtest86.com/ but this didnt turn up anything at all.  At the time, I had 2 Gig of DDR2 memory installed in a dual channel arrangement.

I changed my antivirus program.  I had been running a corporate version of MaCafee that we use at work, ( quite legitimatly as I send files home and back again)  I changed this to AVG as this seemed to use less system resorces. For a while I thought I cracked it but after a couple of days the BSoD returned.

I then decided to look again at the memory arrangement that I had.

When I originally built my machine, I installed 1Gig of a matched pair of Crucial Ballistix DDR2 memory in dual channel.  I subsequently bought a second matched pair of Crucial but from a different supplier and added them to my system.  With hindsight, the errors probably started soon after that

It turned out on close inspection, that the second pair that  bought had a different product code.  Further investigation reveiled that it had different latency timings to my originals.  I removed the second pair. 

That was three weeks ago and no more BSoD

The moral being, always buy memory as matched and from the same supplier.

Anyone want to buy a matched 1Gig of Crucial DDR2...?

[Nerval]

There's a lesson to us all.

I've only had BSoD with hardware mismatches too - thanks to EVESHAM fitting assorted bits into my old computer which didn't match the original one.(pause for Scott to hurl abuse)

But, does your m/c run any differently with only 1GB memory as opposed to 2GB?
Why would you need so much?

[Scott]

I've only had BSoD with hardware mismatches too - thanks to EVESHAM fitting assorted bits into my old computer which didn't match the original one.(pause for Scott to hurl abuse)

Meh..! Their customer service sucks ! Still...life's too short but I'll be leaving the blogspot to get spidered for the next few months then I'll contact their CS department to get the MD's email and drop him/her a line with the url.

[Nerval]

I knew I could rely on Scott. 

[zimmerframe]

But, does your m/c run any differently with only 1GB memory as opposed to 2GB?
Why would you need so much?

Slightly slower when loading levels in Battlefield 2.  Most apps though, no noticable difference.
When I built it, I wanted the fastest machine I could afford at the time, particularly for gaming.

Speaking of which, Core 4 is just around the corner, now there's a thought ...

[zimmerframe]

Slightly slower when loading levels in Battlefield 2.  Most apps though, no noticable difference.
When I built it, I wanted the fastest machine I could afford at the time, particularly for gaming.

Speaking of which, Core 4 is just around the corner, now there's a thought  ...

[zimmerframe]

Christmas wish list   Maybe...

Mrs Zimm; " what do you need an even faster computer for

Me: Becuase its there