X200s BSOD issues - looking for any help I can get!

=>This seemed to be the right place to post this, but I apologize if I am mistaken.

Usually I'm pretty lucky with technical issues, but this has been giving me a headache all day. Yesterday I finally got the X200s I'd always wanted to replace my X60s, and after spending most of the day installing Windows, updates, drivers, software, and transferring over my data I finally settled down and got some work done. After a few hours of working, seemingly without any prompting the machine BSODs. In my dismay (it was also very late) I just watched it happen and didn't think to write down the error. Honestly I don't think I've had a computer BSOD on me since the 90s, so I come looking for help.

Basic specs:
Core 2 Duo 2.13ghz
4gb DDR3
320gb Hitatchi HDD
OS= 7 Ultimate x64

Right now the machine boots up, goes to 7 startup repair, startup repair fails, laptop turns off. It's just looping.

Things I've tried:

-Tested RAM, passed. Replaced with RAM I know is good just to be sure.
-HDD was tested prior and is working fine.
-Updated BIOS, reset to default settings.
-Put 7 install disc and selected repair, then system restore. Tried a few restore points, but each fails with an error.
-I don't know how I did it, but booting up once I got it to BSOD again. "c000021a" error which seems to be a pretty general failure.
-I can't get it to go into safe mode (holding F8 doesn't do anything for me)
-Booted partition management software, detected an error, said it repaired it, nothing changed.

Now I'm at a loss. Should I reinstall and update windows and just wait for it to happen again? I had counted on this becoming my main computer, so I've really had my confidence shaken and am terrified of any future system instability.

 

How did you test the hard drive?

 

How did you test the ram?

 

It had been used before without any issue, and I checked drive health with HDTune before installing it. I'll see if I can find Hitatchi diagnostics though and do a full scan for bad sectors, I assume that could cause this kind of failure?

I used MemTest86+, ran for about an hour and said everything was okay.

 

Install with only 1 module RAM installed, see if that helps. Swap to another if you continue to have problems.
Depending on the issue, I've had RAM error take much longer to error out, more than 1 hr of testing.

 

Go and check the Windows log.

 

I don't think they can get to Windows to look

 

Just finished running the drive fitness test in the BIOS, passed that fine. I don't quite know if that checks every sector, but it did take a bit of time.

Good to know. I put the original 2 sticks back in and am going to let MemTest86+ run for 3 hours or so and see what happens.

I am quite curious what this would reveal, but as goofball said I don't quite know how to access it without being able to boot into Windows. Doing some googling now.

 

there is a hardware check utility from Lenovo that is bootable via USB. You might want to call them for 5 minutes and ask the utility check software link then you can see what is wrong. The same thing happens to my desktop computer at that time, I had all the updates when it restarted all goes to BSOD. The last thing I remember installing is the graphic driver. So I decided to reformat everything and reinstall ....

 

Edit, wrong thread.

 

I left MemTest running while I slept last night. 8 hours with no failures, so I think the memory is good.

I believe I found what you're talking about on the drivers page, burnt it to a CD and am going to run it right now. At this point (and with doing a little more research), I'm pretty confident this BSOD wasn't due to a hardware failure but some botched driver/update/SP 1 install. So I'm going to run the diagnostic, then reinstall 7 being extremely careful what drivers I install and making sure to get all of Lenovo's patches. I hope you haven't had any BSOD issues since?

 

Ive had issues with Windows 7 and Thinkpads in past not cooperating too well together, up to 3 clean installations were necessary with really carefull driver and util selection to make it run stable and smooth.
Just my experience, thought to share if you dont mind.

 

It's good to know I'm not alone in this experience. Reinstalled 7 yesterday using a more focused driver and update installation method and haven't had any issues yet so hopefully the ThinkPad and 7 will get along now.

 

I had the similar issue when I put another hard drive in the HD bay on the ultrabase (dock). Windows startup repair is a joke -- I don't remember one time it helped. I ended up doing a full Win reinstall and now works fine.

Even though they might not be the latest ones, I don't think I ever had issues just using the drivers that are on Lenovo webpage. I had a lot of troubles with Intel RST but since you don't use an SSD, I don't think that was your problem. Also, I don't install ANY drivers offered under Windows Upgrade // Optional. I had a bit of trouble with those too.