BSOD M17x R1

Hello everyone.

I've got a M17x R1 laptop and I was experiencing several BSODs even after reinstalling W7 several times. So I opened a thread on Dell's forums and after some responses I was suggested to install those drivers ( LaptopVideo2Go: Drivers ). I had some black screens (some after a few secs came back to normal and some I had to turn off the pc).

So I disabled PCIE Gen 2 in the BIOS and I haven't had any single BSOD or Blackscreen, nothing for the past 3 days when I disabled PCIE Gen2. But 20 mins ago I just had one BSOD which really pissed me off because I didn't expect to experience one after disabling that in the BIOS and yet I got one so now I don't know what else to do.

This is a screenshot I took from BlueScreenView:

http://i46.tinypic.com/6iqjpt.jpg

Thanks to everyone in advance !

 

Please zip and upload the dump file(s) from C:\Windows\Minidump\. I'll analyze them for you.

A list of your system specs would be helpful as well.

 

Thanks a lot Aznpos.

So here's the link to the zipped dump file: 072212-22916-01.rar

Here's a pic of my system's spec: http://i49.tinypic.com/2q061y1.jpg

 

I took a look at your dump file and I strongly suspect your RAM's going bad. Please follow the instructions here: RAM - Test with Memtest86+. Allow the test to run for at least 7 passes (run it overnight if possible). If I'm correct, you'll get errors in which case you will need to replace your RAM modules. If you wish, Part 3 of the guide I referred you to details how to test each module and slot individually.

 

I'm off to bed now (I live in Spain) so I will leave the test running overnight. I will tell you the results tomorrow.

So, do you rule out any drivers problem?. I have turned off Pcie Gen 2 because I read it ended with blackscreens and stuff like that in M17x R1. I also have to say that i recently reinstalled W7 and followed the drivers installation guide from Alienware's webpage and the only drivers I changed was nvidia driver display but as I said I still got one BSOD even with Pcie turned off (which supposedly fixed the BSOD/Blackscreen issues).

Thanks a lot !

 

The dump file you uploaded doesn't indicate that this particular BSOD has anything to do with your GPU or its drivers.
Unfortunately I'm not familiar with the BSOD/Blackscreen issues related to the R1 and PCIE Gen 2 settings.

Do let me know the results of the RAM test though. If there are errors I suggest replacing the RAM modules. That should at least fix this BSOD you're getting. If you get any more BSOD's, upload them and I'll take a look.

 

Hi!. Well I let the test run for almost 10 hours. I've taken two pics from two different passes but 0 errors were found :S.


First one: http://i46.tinypic.com/25yyk52.jpg

Second one: http://i45.tinypic.com/33ypc1z.jpg

Edit: The last BSOD I got before this one was exactly the same as this one. Sadly, I do not have the dump file anymore but it was exactly the same (ntoskrnl.exe+557000).

Thanks!

 

Have you monitored the temperatures on your machine lately?

 

Yes, I usually run Speedfan while playing Diablo III and GPU can reach temperatures of up to 100ºC. But I had that BSOD when Diablo 3 was minimized (60ºC at the most).

P.s: I have to say that I cleaned up the heatsink recently so it might be a Diablo III issue.

 

It could be that, why don't you try the steps on that article and let us know the top temperature.

 

I downloaded HWMonitor and took a pic of my current temperatures. I think it will prove nothing because the laptop is pretty much in idle state right now since I am just surfing.

http://i47.tinypic.com/htwsaq.jpg

I am not going to play today so should I upload another pic while playing Diablo 3?.

 

Hmm...well good news is that your RAM seems to be doing just fine. So yay for your RAM
Luis made a good suggestion and it would be good to see temps while your system is under heavy load so checking your temps during a Diablo 3 session would be a good idea.
It would also be helpful to know exactly what happened before the BSOD (i.e. what were you doing on the computer; were the fans spinning up; did you notice any artifacts prior to the BSOD etc.)

Also if you get additional BSODs, upload the dump files. I'd be interested to see if the address that the exception occurred at is the same. If it is, it's possible that it's a software/driver issue in which case clean installing the drivers may be worth a try.

 

After playing for like 20 mins more or less those are the temps I got: http://i45.tinypic.com/b3op5t.jpg

Have to say it's 33ºC here in my city.

Hey I am uploading another pic because I was in the middle of a fight in Diablo 3 and for 1 sec the colours like distorted but like I said it just lasted one sec. It was really weird and I dunno if that has to do with high temps. I tabbed to windows right away and took that pic:

http://i50.tinypic.com/10cp7up.jpg

The colours distortion I got is like this: http://img.yeoldewebsite.net/WoW/WoWScrnShot_021308_182918.jpg

That's not a pic I took but it's pretty much like the distortion I suffered for that one sec.

 

Yea, your GPU is definitely overheating and that distortion you're getting are artifacts. Perhaps someone with an R1 can give additional and better advise but I suggest repasting your GPU and cleaning your heat sink thoroughly. There was a member here on the forums that use a can of compressed air to clean the heat sink from the outside (without taking it out) and ending up pushing the dust under the fins of the heat sink causing his system to overheat.

 

Problem is that I took my laptop to a store to get it cleaned one month ago. I did that one year ago and it worked (I played WoW back then and my GPU overheated a lot but after I took it to the store those problems dissapeared). As I said I took it again one year after that (It's been one month now from that last cleanup) because I exeprienced those same overheating issues but it's still overheating only while playing Diablo 3 which leads me to think that it might be a Diablo 3 problem.

And what do you mean with artifacts?. Does it have to do with the high temperature issue?. I don't quite get what you meant by that (I am from Spain so sorry to bother you about that).

Thanks a lot

 

If you're sure that the store did a good job of cleaning, maybe you can try running Diablo 3 at lower settings.
By the way, did your BSOD happen while you were playing Diablo?

Here's a good place to see examples of screen artifacts: Diagnose video card problems by comparing with example corrupted screens

 

It happened when I minimized BSOD. I was playing Diablo and then minimized because I was a bit tired and wanted to surf for a while (I didn't log out from the game) and after 5 mins I got it). I am thinking about uninstalling the display driver I was adviced to install on dell's forum and go ahead with the latest one on Dell's webpage for the m17x (I had Bsods with this as well but PCIE Gen 2 was still enabled but at least I didn't get any kind of artifact).

About the artifact i think it is the GPU one but it only lasted 1 sec so I am not quite sure. I've run Bios' diagnostics several times for a long time and 0 errors were found :|.

Edit: One thing I notice in "Add or Remove Programs" is that "Nvidia Drivers" (the feature that allowed you to uninstall nforce drivers as well as display drivers) does no longer exist but instead there is only the display drivers along with its utilities like 3D, PhysX and stuff. I remember that I only removed Display driver from that "Nvidia Drivers" feature and left the other ones there but now I noticed that there are not any Nforce drivers and that "Nvidia drivers" in "Add or Remove programs". So how do I know if i have those drivers installed?.

Thanks a lot

 

I would remove all traces of the nVidia driver then run CCleaner or Driver Sweeper to remove all registry entries of the drivers then perform a clean install of the latest drivers.

You can also remove the registry entries manually. However be careful messing with the registry and make sure you backup your registry or create a restore point.

Registry - Backup and Restore
How to: Remove your Nvidia GPU Drivers.

 

Should I use nvidia's webpage or Dell's for the drivers?. Anyway. I haven't had anymore BSODs so far so should I wait and see if this drivers still works?.

 

If you haven't had any BSOD's you can leave it for now to see if it's a driver issue. As for which drivers to use, I've been using 296.10 WHQL with minimal issues. the 3xx.xx series didn't really work out well for me (lots of TDR errors).

 

Where can I find those just in case I got another BSOD?. Or that driver doesn't have to work fine for me since yours is R3?

 

You can find the drivers here: NVIDIA DRIVERS 296.10WHQL
Your 260M should be supported by this driver. If not you will need a modded .inf file.

edit:Here's the modded .inf: Modded .inf for 260M

 

Thanks a lot aznpos. Will wait just in case I don't get BSODs anymore.

 

No problem!
Sounds like a plan. Do let me know if you get any other BSOD's.

 

I've just got another BSOD a few minutes ago. I was playing D3 so GPU temp might be around 100ºC or even higher.

Pic from BSView: http://i50.tinypic.com/1zxnwww.jpg

.rar with .dump file: 073112-24835-01.rar

 

I just reviewed your dump and it's a 0x3B SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION stop error. It's still citing memory_corruption as the cause but since you already ran 7 passes of Memtest and the exception code is 00000000c0000005 (memory access violation), it's likely a driver issue.

Something interesting is that there was involvement of AIMP3.exe which I believe is an audio media player. Where you running AIMP3 when the BSOD happened? You may want to try using a different player.

There was also involvement of a system file so it may be worth running a system file scan. To do that follow the instructions here: SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker under option 2.

Also, if your GPU temps are really 100ºC+ that's cause for concern. That's really much too hot. Try to raise the rear of the computer using bottle caps to see if that helps a bit. Your GPU's may be in need a of repaste.

If the SFC System file scan doesn't come up with any errors, please enable Driver Verifier by following the instructions here: Driver Verifier - Enable and Disable. Please make sure you read the entire guide and make sure you understand the procedure. When enabled, driver verifier will test the drivers while you are using the computer. If it finds something wrong it will trigger a BSOD. The dump file from this BSOD will show which driver was faulty and will give us a better idea of what's going on.
Also, please make sure all your device drivers are up to date.

 

I am using the drivers I was advised to use on Dell's Alienware forum like 2 weeks ago. So, should I use the 296.10 you are using?. I dunno the difference between Verde drivers and normal ones so I dont know which one i should use because I also got Bsods while using nvidia's latest display drivers.

And yes AIMP3 was running when the Bsod came up. Thanks a lot!

 

While I don't think AIMP3 was the real cause of the BSOD, it may be worth trying a different player.

As for the drivers, I was referring to your other drivers as well, including some drivers of some possible external devices that you may have attached to your R1. Although GPU drivers are a common cause of BSODs, as it stands right now, there's no indication that they're involved. We'll have to see. The thing with troubleshooting BSODs is that each one is a clue as to what's going on. As such, sometimes we can't really doing anything until the next one happens.

For now, try the system scan. If it finds and repairs some errors, see if it fixes the issues. If nothing comes up, try enabling Driver Verifier. While it's enabled, use your computer as you would normally. If a BSOD occurs it's most likely caused by Driver Verifier. The dump from that BSOD should reveal to us the faulty driver.

 

Thanks! I will do that as soon as I sit in front of the laptop. I was saying that about the display driver because it may lower temperatures while playing Diablo. Also I dunno if I uninstalled Chipset driver by chance because I dont know where to check if they are currently installed.

I have to say I made a clean install of W7 like 2 weeks ago using all drivers from Dells webpage but for the display driver. Will try scannow and tell you how it goes.

 

I can't say for sure but I'm doubtful that a different GPU driver will lead to lower temps. It's very likely that either your GPU needs a repaste, your heat sink has gone bad and/or Diablo 3 simply stresses your GPU too much. In case 1 (GPU needs a repaste) your only option is to repaste your GPU. In case 2 (bad heat sink) you'll need to find a replacement heat sink. In case 3 (Diablo 3 is too much for your GPU) you can try running Diablo 3 at lower settings.
If there is a new vBIOS for your GPU that may help with temps.

To check your chipset drivers, go to Control Panel>Device Manager>System Devices>right click on your chipset>Properties and check to see if your drivers are installed correctly. While you're there, go to View>Show hidden devices and look out for any yellow triangles that indicate missing or corrupt drivers.

If you feel it's necessary, you may to a clean install of Windows but I think it's not a good solution; especially since you've already tried that several times. However if you used drivers other than those on the Dell website, it may be worth a shot.

 

Scannow has just finished and it hasn't found any corrupted file or anything at all. I am going to run Driver verifier now and see how it goes.

 

Good luck and keep us posted!

 

Just restarted after setting driver verifier and it take a bit longer to run all application on startup. Guess it should be normal.

P.s: Everything is going hell slower than ever :S. Experiencing some audio stuttering as well

 

Hmm...that's unsual. I guess try and run some programs as you would normally and see if any BSOD's happen. If nothing happens, allow it to run for a while longer and then disable driver verifier.
Also, what are your temps like right now?

 

I am out for a walk early in the morning and I left aimp3, chrome, vlc media player and D3 (minimized) running and the temp was like 61º. As soon as I arrive home I will check the temps. What should I do if no bsod happened by the time I arrive home?

 

If no BSOD comes up I suppose you could disable driver verifier for now and try again later. In which case it's a waiting game to see if a BSOD occurs naturally. It seems your system will bluescreen when you play Diablo 3. I would be interested to see a driver verifier BSOD dump while running Diablo 3.

 

I've turned driver verifier off for now since I cannot play D3 cause it is under maintenance (Youtube videos didn't load also). If I go out later today I will turn dverifier back on and leave it running along with Diablo in a random quest because it will reach High temperatures even without actually playing.

Yes, both of the BSODs I got happened while D3 was ON (in one case it was minimized) and in both cases temperatures were really high.

I enabled Driver Verifier in order to play some Diablo but no BSODs. I turned it back off because normal tasks take too much time to execute so I will try to enable it next time I play Diablo.

Last BSOD I got this morning and I wasn't running Driver Verifier :S. Wasnt playing diablo either.

080212-29780-01.rar

I am gonna uninstall my current nvidia drivers and install the 296 u are using

 

This BSOD is exactly the same as the last one you had except the address of the memory access violation is different. I'll have to do some research to see what the significance of this is so I'll post back when I've found more info.
However seeing as you've had 2 BSODs involving AIMP3, I would stop using it and use a different audio player.

Reinstalling your nVidia drivers is a good idea. However make sure you cleanly uninstall the old drivers and use CCleaner or DriverSweeper in safe mode to clear all the registry entries before installing the new drivers. You may wish you clear the registry entries manually as well but that's more risky.

 

Yeah I didi that. Well i followed all the steps in the guide you gave me. I also installed Dell's webpage nforce drivers again just in case. I posted for advise in another thread regarding R1 about which nforce drivers I should use.

About AIMP3 I guess I will have to stop using it if it is necessary but I really love it to be honest .

I was listening a song through soundcloud and suddenly there was a 2 secs audio stuttering with the 296.10 Display drivers. Is that normal? It hasn't happened till now (and that driver has been installed for one day now) and I only suffered it frequently when I had a really old display drivers installed.

 

To be honest, I don't even know if AIMP3 is the root cause of the problem but since it appeared in 2 BSOD's I figured it was worth a try to not run it and see if any other BSOD's pop up.

hmm...not sure if it's due to the drivers or not. Was there any display distortion or TDR errors?

 

Dunno what that means but I've been searching in the web and it may be a 11.3 flash player version issue.

Last BSOD: 080412-53555-01.rar

It's just annoying. I am getting one pretty much once a day and it is unbearable :S. Gonna uninstall AIMp3.

Edit: I've uninstalled Aimp3 to see if it was the problem. I've also rolled my flash player version back to 10.3 to avoid some flash issues.

 

I'm sure it's very frustrating and for that I'm sorry. Troubleshooting BSOD's aren't that easy unfortunately.

Just checked your latest dump file and it's a 0x07E SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED with memory_corruption as the listed cause. Even though you ran Memtest and came up with nothing after 7 passes, given that the bugchecks seem random, I'm beginning to think it's either a hardware problem (something is broken or on its way out), malware or unstable OC. Please answer the following:

Are you overclocking any components? If so, revert back to stock settings.

What antivirus software are you using?

Are you using any virtual drive software such as Alcohol 120% or Daemon Tools?

Please check Windows update and see if there are any updates for your system. Make sure you have SP1 installed.

Please give Driver Verifier another go and see if it turns up anything.

Also, please run a hardware diagnostic test (PSA): Alienware™ Systems Diagnostics

Try those and let me know if anything changes. If not, we'll need to proceed to the next step.

 

Thanks a lot Aznpos really for taking too much time helping me.

- I haven't overclocked anything and I dunno how to do it either.

- Karpesky Antivirus 2012 (bought, not cracked)

- I haven't. I used Daemon tools previously but I haven't even installed it since my last reinstall of Windows.

- I've installed every Windows update available. And yes, I have SP1 installed.

- I will as soon as possible.

- I have run hardware diagnostic test a bunch of times so far. And no errors were found even running the long test every single time.

 

Not a problem. Although I'm not an expert, I do enjoy troubleshooting BSOD's. It gives me an opportunity to learn a lot.

Thanks for the information.
Kaspersky has been known to cause BSODs in some systems but there's nothing to indicate that it's the cause in this case so I think I'd leave it for now. When you definitions update expires, I highly suggest removing Kaspersky from your system using the removal tool ( Removal tool for Kaspersky Lab products

It's good that you don't have Daemon Tools installed. It uses a driver (sptd.sys) and it's been known to cause BSODs in Windows 7.

While it's good news that the hardware diagnostics didn't come up with anything, it's also a bit puzzling. Given that the BSOD's remained after several fresh installs of Windows 7, SFC Scan came up with nothing and Driver Verifier didn't seem to find anything wrong with the drivers, I would think the most likely cause is a hardware issue. Especially since all the BSOD's cite memory_corruption as the cause. You did mention that you had the computer cleaned at the shop. I wonder if they took out the RAM modules and didn't replace them correctly. I suggest opening up the computer and reseating the RAM as well as check for any loose cables, cards etc. While you're in there, you might want to check for and remaining dust in the heat sinks as well and check the heat sinks for signs of leaking (look at this post and the posts after it to see if the heat sinks have gone bad: Re: [Conference Call] Nvidia GeForce GTX 580M 78C° Throttling [SEE POST #191 and later].

Here are some resources to help you take your computer apart:

alienware m17x r1 disassembly
Alienware Online documentation (Service Manual)
Alienware M17x Teardown & Cooling Modification

 

Ive looking through the bet and could it be my mouse the cause?. Ive been using it for almost one year now and there were bsods previously but not that frequently. Its a logitech g500.

Ill download WoW and see if the temperatures are the same that with D3.

Last Bsod: 080412-53555-01.rar

AIMP3 wasn't installed. I just watched one of those videos (1st one) and had a look at the RAM modules and just take the first one off and put it in again just in case because I really don't know how to deal with that stuff. Going to run a Diag test now.

I disassembled both rams now and blow them to clean some dust rests that could interfere with some cables or something. After that I ran a long diagnostics just in case and 0 errors. But when I booted up the laptop afterwards I heard like a sound like a clock ticking in the right side of the laptop (where numbers are placed) and I haven't heard it before. I have searched and I found a thread here about that issue and the solution is to update the BIOS but I updated it before my Windows several reinstalls.

Looks like this whole thing is getting worse.

 

It could be but again, there's nothing pointing to the mouse and its drivers. However, see if there's a more recent driver for your mouse.

This dump looks to be the exact same one you uploaded a few posts back. See if you uploaded the same one twice by accident.

The clicking is probably the HDD. I haven't seen an R1 in person so I'm not 100% sure on that.
Perhaps try running Check Disk to see if there are any errors on your HDD. Disk Check

As I mentioned before, all things are pointing to a hardware issue. The fact that all the diagnostics we've done haven't picked up anything may indicate that the part(s) haven't failed yet but are on their way out.
Are the RAM modules you have in your computer the original ones from Dell that came with the laptop? If you have some new modules or modules you know to be problem-free, it may be worth a try to swap out the ones you currently have in your R1.

 

Yep I am pretty sure that dump file I uploaded was from the last BSOD I got I've just checked it out just in case and it's the same code number as the file I've got in my minidump folder.

Yes they are the original ones and unfortunately I do not have any ram modules. But it sounds like I will have to buy a new pair of Ram modules but do you have any idea how much could it cost nowadays?.

 

That's funny because the timestamp for the last dump you uploaded is the same as the one prior to that. I think it may be the same dump file from the same BSOD.

I memory serves, I believe the R1 has 2 slots and takes a maximum of 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 SODIMM 1333MHz (204 pin). I'm not sure of the prices that retailers in Spain charge but generally you should expect to pay about $40 to $50 for two sticks of 4GB modules. My personal preference is Corsair. The product code I have in mind is CMSO8GX3M2A1333C9.

However, now that I think about it memory_corruption may point to vRAM as well. I'm not 100% sure on this and will have to research this. This may be likely given how hot your GPU seems to be running.

 

What do you think I should buy then?. I have to say that temps are around 54C to 60C tops when I left the laptop running fullscren HD youtube videos and a random HD film simultaniously just to test temps. Those high temps only occur while playing D3 even though I always run it on lowest settings (only thing I keep high is 1920x1200 resolution).

Do you think I'll have to buy a new 260M?

 

Unfortunately I'm not very good when it comes to hardware. If Memtest had found errors, then I would say replace your memory for sure. As it stands right now, even though all your BSOD's blame memory_corruption as the cause, I can't say for sure that it's your RAM as driver/program errors can cause memory_corruption induced stop errors. Even more so, I don't know if vRAM corruption would produce 0x7E stop errors caused by memory_corruption.

I looked further into the 0x7E bugcheck code and I have a few more questions for you:

Are you running a RAID setup? If so, see if there's an update for the RAID driver.

Are you low on disk space? If so, try getting rid of old files or move them to another storage device to free up some disk space.

Please download and use SeaTools to scan your Seagate HDD's for errors: [url="http://www.seagate.com/support/downloads/seatools/]SeaTools | Seagate[/url]

When you have a chance, enable Driver Verifier again and leave to run for at least 36 hours. Just leave you computer one and idle when you are not using it and use it as you would normally if you do. I know you mentioned it because unbearably slow with Driver Verifier on. If you have another computer you could use for now, leave your R1 idle with Verifier on and see if it crashes.