Widescreen Gaming Forum

I'll not be fiddling with settings for a while now.

Windows boot is turning bad on me. Tonight I tried to boot... The following will happen at different boots, sometimes several at a time: BSOD at startup. Disk check. Explorer crash. Other programs crash. Settings can't be found. C: file system corrupt (oh dear...).
System restore failed of course. But for some reason after that failure Windows will boot without much problems again. Apart from wanting to do a checkdisk before actually starting. I'll let that one run next time if it keeps asking. For now it's approaching bedtime and I'm glad at least it's working. With some minor quirks in the start menu though (text in command line is invisible and it can't find some .dll). Tomorrow I'll just have to see...

Btw, first BSOD at startup was last Saturday, but it was a single happening.

I'm seriously hoping this was the last I've seen of it. But I fear there will be more...

All that comes to mind just now is:

Check the SSD firmware version

Check the memory timings/ voltage.

_________________
P8Z68-V Pro | 2600K | HR02 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 128GB M4 + 6TB | X-Fi > HD595 | AX850 | Tai Chi | PB278Q | G110 + Deathadder 2013
P8Z77-V | 3570K | Mugen 2 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 500GB | X-750 | Fractal R3 | U2212HM | G110 + G400
P8H77-I | G860 | 4650 | 2x2GB XMS | 320GB | CX500 | Prodigy | T22B350EW | MX518
DC3217IYE | 1x4GB Vengeance | 64GB M4 | TX-42VT20E

Haven't fiddled with any memory stuff. Surely stock settings should be good?

SSD firmware version, yes, it does seem like a harddisk issue.


I've let checkdisk do its job this time and everything seems fine, except for the .dll it can't find when I open the start menu for the first time. And command text being invisible, probably as a result of not finding that .dll...
Possibly, hopefully, it was a single incident causing a BSOD which triggered more malfunctions, which have been mostly fixed now.

Maybe if I use the DVD I can do a Windows restore. But I think I'll install the Intel toolbox in any case, just to check the SSD.

I've just done a system restore again. This time there was no complaint and it worked until the end.

And... the system's been restored. Apparently :roll:

Only OpenOffice installation has been removed. I'll get it back when I need it (my next website update) ;)


Interestingly, after the restore my sound card couldn't be found. After having the plug pulled for a while, and disabling the onboard sound in the BIOS, it was back. I've had the no-card problem when I first wanted to install it. Then I went into the case, unplugged the power cable and replugged and tried again. Maybe just unplugging from the wall would've done the job already.
In any case, I'm starting to think the issues I was having were sound card related. It may have caused the first BSOD, which eventually escalated into a complete mess.

Yes... let's hope it was just that. And that disabling the onboard sound, which I just plain forgot until now, solves the problems permanently.

Maybe the SPD settings for the memory require a higher voltage than the board is giving it, this is something you need to check. Maybe the CPU is undervolted.

Is the BIOS for the motherboard up to date? Sounds like data corruption or some sort of error within something. It points to a dodgy storage medium IMO though.

_________________
P8Z68-V Pro | 2600K | HR02 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 128GB M4 + 6TB | X-Fi > HD595 | AX850 | Tai Chi | PB278Q | G110 + Deathadder 2013
P8Z77-V | 3570K | Mugen 2 | HD5850 | 2x4GB Vengeance LP | 500GB | X-750 | Fractal R3 | U2212HM | G110 + G400
P8H77-I | G860 | 4650 | 2x2GB XMS | 320GB | CX500 | Prodigy | T22B350EW | MX518
DC3217IYE | 1x4GB Vengeance | 64GB M4 | TX-42VT20E

If indeed the storage medium is dodgy, then problems will return undoubtedly. For now I intend to sit it out for at least a week before I start fiddling, tweaking, or even activate Windows.


By the way, where do I check the voltage stuff? I'm not really up to date with all those terms I'm afraid...

Update: windows just crashed again. As I was reading a forum. Nothing special running. Just Steam and the usual. I had just ignored the activation prompt.
I've seen this crash screen before... it's blank with a certain colour (some greenish I believe it was), but not even, a bit crude.

Reboot went well enough, but at dxdiag it's complaining about C:WindowsSysWOW64dciman32.dll... aaaaand it's 0 bytes. Corrupted obviously.
Makes me wonder, was this before the system restore point, or did the most recent crash corrupt it?

Let's see if I can restore the file this time...


edit: seems like there are more files going at 0 bytes. Something's very very wrong. I'll try a full windows reinstall later on. See if that helps. As well as those voltage things, if I can/know how to.

Have you got a normal HDD you can use to see if it's the SSD?

Writing this from a fresh Windows install.

Even the Windows Setup managed to crash before actually starting.

Then I rebooted into the previous installation to find my sound card inactive. Again.

Backed up some things I forgot and did windows setup again. This time it worked.

Then I installed the video drivers. No problem.
Then I installed the sound card drivers. Sound card not found.

So now the X-Fi lies somewhere behind me, disconnected from the pc. Onboard sound enabled. Let's see how things hold out without that annoying thing. If it has managed to just lose it while everything was running, it can definately make things messy I think.

Time will tell if the installation is now stable without Creative...


I do have a normal HDD installed, but it serves mostly as a backup disk. I don't want to use it for a fresh install just yet. Not before I've backed everything up on a medium I haven't bought yet.

Let's add a positive note. I've run the Windows 7 performance index:

Processor: 7.5
Memory: 7.5
Graphics: 7.8
Gaming graphics: 7.8
Primary Harddisk: 7.5

Base score: 7.5


Not too shabby :)