Random 0x0000003B BSOD in W7 Pro x64

Hi,

Sorry for the delay. Computer was in testing for some 2 weeks. As planned, I've installed the 2016 convenience rollup and watched the system if the BSODs would stop. Here's the results:

1 - BSOD 0000003B seems to be gone. No episodes so far.

2 - had 1 BSOD 0000007E. Never had this error before. Happened once.



Minidump attached. Please, take a look.

Thanks.
 

Attachments

Hi. . .

A 0x3b BSOD is a system service threw an exception; 0x7e is a thread threw an exception. Sort of in the same ballpark.

Both exceptions were the same - 0xc0000005 = memory access violation -- An attempt was made to access memory that should not have been accessed.

How many Windows updates came in?

Run systeminfo from an Admin CMD prompt. It will take a minute to run. Please tell me the number of "hotfixes" installed.

The new lone dump is of little use to us as it names a Microsoft Windows driver. It is not the cause.

Run Driver Verifier - Driver Verifier - BSOD related - Windows 10, 8.1, 8, 7 + Vista

It must run for at least 24 hours in the background. The goal here is for D/V to flag a 3rd party driver and BSOD your system. If that happens, please zip up the dump and attach. Thank you.

Regards. . .

jcgriff2
 
Ok, I'm at work right now. Will perform the DV tests next weekend.

The "2016 convenience rollup" is a pack with all the W7 updates until 2016. I tried it so I can trace the efficiency of the updates in solving the problem (just for knowledge sake). In fact, the constant 3B errors seems to be gone for good.

Just finished another Memtest+ scan this morning. 12 passes for each bank/slot. Not a single error.

About the Driver Verifier, should I run it until a BSOD or for 24 hours (restarting when/if a BSOD occurs)?
 
Run Driver Verifier for at least 24 hours - go to 36 hours if possible.

Driver Verifier subjects 3rd party drivers to a variety of stresses and tests to find improper behavior. Driver Verifier monitors kernel-mode drivers and graphics drivers to detect illegal function calls or actions that might corrupt the system.

If Driver Verifier detects a violation, it will force a BSOD immediately without any warning and [hopefully] add 3rd party driver information to the dump to help ID the culprit (assuming that the BSOD is software related).

Why did you stop with the 2016 Windows Update rollout? It is now March 2019 and you should have well over 300 Windows Updates installed in that system by now.

It really is futile to continue to help diagnose a system that is BSOD'ing unless ALL Windows Updates are installed. You can't pick and choose them!

PLEASE install ALL Windows Updates! :-)

I can't force you to do so, but I can plead with you!

Kind Regards. . .

jcgriff2
 
Hi, people.

I think I'm finally up-to-date enough for us to continue the investigation (thanks to the great guys at sevenforums.com, that told me about the amazing DISM++ tool). But before we go on with Driver Verifier and other procedures, I discovered something interesting:

The last errors occurred with the CPU case closed. Actually, I had a scary BSOD sequence (same x0000000A BSOD) and Memtest found tons of errors in my RAM modules (1 pass). The errors occur after some 15-20 minutes of use.

HOWEVER, when I use the computer with the case opened, nothing occurs. PC works well and Memtest found no errors (12 passes).

It seems that I'm having an overheat problem here, so I'd like to confirm with you: does overheat may cause the same BSOD over and over? HWMonitor indicates a "normal" temperature and the CPU/Chipsets heatsinks aren't that hot (finger test).

BTW, I've been using the CPU opened and there's no BSOD case in some 15-20 days.
 
When the case is "opened", does it come in contact with the rest of the system at all. i.e., is the case completely removed?

Overheating can definitely cause BSODs because heat can affect RAMs ability to properly hold kernel code. i, e., "memory corruption".

Have you measured the temps with the case on and off?

CPUID - HWMONITOR | Softwares | CPUID

SpeedFan - Download SpeedFan - Access temperature sensor in your computer

It is rather bizarre that memtest would find errors on a supposed good stick regardless of temperatures.

Is the system clean - free of dust?

What is your RAM configuration - how many sticks and the RAM capacity of each stick?

Regards. . .

jcgriff2

p.s. Can you please provide a link to the SevenForums thread? Thank you.
 
Last edited:
Hi, jcgriff2!

The case is a standard mid-tower ATX, with just a metal cover. When removed, there's no connection between the cover and the case. There's plenty of space and no cable management issues that could cause overheating. And nothing forcing/bending the case or any of it's parts.

I measured the temps with HWMonitor and there's not a huge difference. Maybe 1 or 2º C. After a BSOD, I imediately open the case and there's no signal of overheating (finger test). The CPU fan is working as expected (I guess), and the velocity varies according to the CPU demanding (like watching a 1080p YT video, for example).

Hardware is 100& clean and there's no sign of dust or oxidation.

Regarding the RAM errors, I've read on another forum post that a Memtest error doesn't necessarily mean the RAM stick is bad but that, at that moment, it could not perform a correct reading, for some reason. If this is true, it makes total sense. In our case, the overheating could be causing RAM to malfunction.

When I first posted this thread, the BSODs where occurring with the case open. The updates and RAM modules exchange reduced them drastically. Now, it seems that the BSODs only occur whenever the case is closed. And since the Windows XP boot is now showing the same problem, I think it makes clear that it's a hardware cause and a different problem from the previous BSOD episodes.

I'll do some further testing this weekend. If you have any testing sugestion, please, tell me. At this moment I'm planning to add an extra fan to the case, but I'm not convinced it will help.


And here's my thread at Sevenforums.com:
how to (offline) update W7 (2016 convenience rollup already installed) Solved - Windows 7 Help Forums
 

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