Constant BSOD Please Help!!

[grifter_66]

I hope this is the right place for this and some one out there can help me, I'm at the end of my rope here.


I built a nice budget gaming rig for a friend of mine about 8 months ago:

GIGABYTE GA-EP45-UD3P
Intel Core 2 Duo E8400
EVGA GeForce GTX 260 Core 216
G.SKILL 4GB (2 x 2GB)DDR2 1066
OCZ ModXStream Pro OCZ700MXSP 700W
and Vista 64 Ultimate

About 4 months in he started to randomly get a BSOD with the error code 0x000000116, in the beginning it was only every once in a great while but after about a month it started to happen much more frequently so he called me. The first thing I did was update the BIOS but that didn't help, just turned a majority of the BSODs into freezes I then pulled the video card and sent it back to eVGA who quickly gave us another one. During the down time I let him use an older 9800GT I happened to have on hand and the computer ran fine, no BSODs. When I got the GTX260 and put it in the system gave another BSOD within an hour.I then tested his RAM in my machine and it was fine, put my RAM in his, BSOD, put it back in mine and everything was fine. Did the same with the video cards (I have a GTX260 as well). Given the fact that the system ran fine with the 9800GT in it I and eVGA tech support figured it was a PSU issue so I RMA'd that and got a new one but the problem persisted. At this point we are also now using Windows 7 Ultimate with the same results but now the action center is also reporting video driver failures (yes the drivers are all up to date)..

I'm now getting a bit frustrated but figure it has to be the MOBO with everything else we tested checking out OK. So, I RMA the board and it takes Gigabyte 3 fucking weeks to get us another one. When the new board arrived I put everything back in, reinstalled Win 7 only to get the same exact problem with the same exact error code. I called Gigabyte again and they said they couldn't find anything wrong with the board I sent in and asked if the BIOS on this one was up to date, being that I forgot to do this again I was hoping these new BSODs were due to the older BIOS but no luck, Gigabyte tech support was worthless. I then call eVGA again because the only thing I know for sure is that the errors I keep getting point to the video card. We talked awhile (eVGA is the only tech support I can talk to and actually feel better when the call is over than I did when the call began, talking to them is like bouncing ideas back and forth between a friend and my self) and figured that this specific model of PSU may be having trouble powering this system. Even though on paper everything should be fine he thought maybe that the split 12 volt rails weren't getting enough power to the card so I call OCZ again. OCZ got me a new 700w Fatality PSU with a single 12 volt rail in 2 freakin' days on Christmas Eve no less... that's how it's done people. Get it installed again... SAME DAMN PROBLEM!!

I now have no clue what to do next, I'm going over the machine again with a flashlight hoping to find something obvious, something I messed up that wouldn't have changed with everything that has been done but nothing. I then notice the boards serial number and got this this sick feeling in my stomach. I find the original paperwork I filled out for the RMA and check the serial number and it matched. All's those bastards did was roll back the BIOS and send the damn thing back to me!

I now have to call them again tomorrow and some how convince those douche bags to send me a new board and hopefully pay for the shipping back on the defective one. I've been building PCs regularly for about 15 years now and I have never had this much trouble with a system before.

Alls I want to do is scream at Gigabyte until they break down crying ruining the rest of their week in the process. I am so angry right now and I have no idea what to do besides trying another mobo.

If any of you have any idea what the hell is going on with this system and/or how to fix it please let me know.

Thank you.

 

[heatlesssun]

Sorry for your troubles. I hear about this type of thing constantly in cyberspace, getting the EXACT same item back from an RMA. It's never happened to me personally (but I think I've RMA'ed about two things this decade). It's GOT to be the motherboard from you description.

You could just buy another MB if getting the system backup is important. If you RMA the board and complain about getting the exact same board back you will probably get a new one this time.

Once again sorry to hear about this. I really hate it when this type of thing happens.

 

[Vola]

Ask them for an advanced replacement RMA board. That way they can't send you back the same one you sent in. Any time I have to RMA something that's what I do and your down time will be shorter too.

 

[BillParrish]

0x000000116 is typically a driver problem. Graphics driver in particular. But regardless it is a software issue. Changing out hardware to solve a software issue is going to be frustrating as it is unlikely to solve the issue as you have discovered.

I would try.

Backup your personal data, get it off the drive.
Go to Gigabytes web site and making double sure you have the right board model number download the drivers and burn them to a CD.
Go to Nvidia website and DO NOT download the latest driver. Do a web search and find out what driver was released for you OS and card as the "second go round", you do not want the first driver released for your OS/card and you do not want the latest. Get one between.

Set you memory voltage to 2.0V.
make sure the Memory mulitplier is set to 2.0 (this will underclock your ram for now, wait until the issue is resolved then come back and tweak it)
Add "one notch" of voltage to the MCH.
Do not OC the CPU yet.

Delete the partitions and reformat the drive.
Install the OS.
reboot
Install the Gigabyte drivers for NIC/LAN, Audio, Intel INF/chipset rebooting as needed and a reboot when finished even if not required.
Install the graphics driver
reboot
got to windows update and let it do its thing but under no circumstances let it install any hardware drivers.
reboot.
check the event viewer for OS error messages and deal with what you can figure out and then clear them. Keep an eye on them checking for new unexpected ones.

see what that does as far as getting rid of the problem. Avoid making any changes, keep a notebook/log of what the machine was doing and any other changes you make until your are sure the bsod are gone, in particular what was running/ what you where doing when the BSOD happened.

If it happens again give the the entire BSOD message.

 

[grifter_66]

0x000000116 is typically a driver problem. Graphics driver in particular. But regardless it is a software issue. Changing out hardware to solve a software issue is going to be frustrating as it is unlikely to solve the issue as you have discovered.

I would try.

Backup your personal data, get it off the drive.
Go to Gigabytes web site and making double sure you have the right board model number download the drivers and burn them to a CD.
Go to Nvidia website and DO NOT download the latest driver. Do a web search and find out what driver was released for you OS and card as the "second go round", you do not want the first driver released for your OS/card and you do not want the latest. Get one between.

Set you memory voltage to 2.0V.
make sure the Memory mulitplier is set to 2.0 (this will underclock your ram for now, wait until the issue is resolved then come back and tweak it)
Add "one notch" of voltage to the MCH.
Do not OC the CPU yet.

Delete the partitions and reformat the drive.
Install the OS.
reboot
Install the Gigabyte drivers for NIC/LAN, Audio, Intel INF/chipset rebooting as needed and a reboot when finished even if not required.
Install the graphics driver
reboot
got to windows update and let it do its thing but under no circumstances let it install any hardware drivers.
reboot.
check the event viewer for OS error messages and deal with what you can figure out and then clear them. Keep an eye on them checking for new unexpected ones.

see what that does as far as getting rid of the problem. Avoid making any changes, keep a notebook/log of what the machine was doing and any other changes you make until your are sure the bsod are gone, in particular what was running/ what you where doing when the BSOD happened.

If it happens again give the the entire BSOD message.

I've been doing that over and over for months, the only thing the varying versions of drivers seem to change is when the crashes occur.

The hard drive has been formatted and both Vista and Win 7 have been installed multiple times. I have a hard time believing that the same exact problem keeps reoccurring across multiple driver versions and multiple OS's.

The BSOD never stays up long enough to get the whole thing.

 

[brennok]

You may want to try posting your minidump logs in http://www.sevenforums.com/ for Windows 7 though they may also have a Vista version of their forums. I have been getting help due to BSODs on my GA-P55-UD4P which is now getting constant blue screens after only 2 months of usage and no OC.

 

[Flexion]

I then tested his RAM in my machine and it was fine, put my RAM in his, BSOD, put it back in mine and everything was fine.

This little detail, may be the problem. RAM that BSODs in someone else's rig (besides blatant incompatibility reasons) perhaps means that there are issues with it. Is there any way you can do a clean install with fresh sticks of ram from another system just to be sure that the memory isn't the problem? From my experience I've had most BSODs happen due to bad ram settings or ram.

Also, just to be extra sure, loosen up your ram timings and change latencies from 1T to 2T just to eliminate RAM as a factor.

 

[grifter_66]

This little detail, may be the problem. RAM that BSODs in someone else's rig (besides blatant incompatibility reasons) perhaps means that there are issues with it. Is there any way you can do a clean install with fresh sticks of ram from another system just to be sure that the memory isn't the problem? From my experience I've had most BSODs happen due to bad ram settings or ram.

Also, just to be extra sure, loosen up your ram timings and change latencies from 1T to 2T just to eliminate RAM as a factor.

The RAM is fine, we have the exact same kind and I've run his in mine for over a week with no issues. I've run his in mine along side mine and by themselves, no issue. I put mine in his by themselves, BSOD. Just his, BSOD. Each stick tested alone in each slot, BSOD. The RAM tests just fine using MEM test in my machine and his. If the RAM were bad they would have caused my machine to BSOD at least once, especially considering I have my system OC'ed.

 

[Flexion]

The RAM is fine, we have the exact same kind and I've run his in mine for over a week with no issues. I've run his in mine along side mine and by themselves, no issue. I put mine in his by themselves, BSOD. Just his, BSOD. Each stick tested alone in each slot, BSOD. The RAM tests just fine using MEM test in my machine and his. If the RAM were bad they would have caused my machine to BSOD at least once, especially considering I have my system OC'ed.

That's what I mean, I just don't get how your RAM can BSOD his computer, but his RAM won't. Capiche? That's kinda odd to me. Unless your friend is good with running a BSOD'ing system all day long I find it odd that your RAM works in your system but not in someone elses, while their RAM is fine in your system and fine in their own.

 

[Cschill1290]

Maybe that mobo just doesn't like the gtx260?

 

[grifter_66]

That's what I mean, I just don't get how your RAM can BSOD his computer, but his RAM won't. Capiche? That's kinda odd to me. Unless your friend is good with running a BSOD'ing system all day long I find it odd that your RAM works in your system but not in someone elses, while their RAM is fine in your system and fine in their own.

His RAM isn't fine in his system, his machine is blue screening no matter what kind of RAM is in there, that's the point. His RAM is fine in mine and not in his. My RAM is fine in mine and not in his which tells me it's not the RAM causing the BSOD it is something else.

Maybe that mobo just doesn't like the gtx260?

No doubt, I wish I had a card to test in it that was the equivalent or better.

I'll be calling Gigabyte in a second to get a new board if that doesn't solve the problem I'm swearing off technology and moving to Budapest to become a monk.

 

[Cschill1290]

I would say try an ATI card, but I doubt you want to spend that kind of money on a whim.

 

[grifter_66]

I would say try an ATI card, but I doubt you want to spend that kind of money on a whim.

Nope, I wish I could though. I've got another board on the way from Gigabyte so if this doesn't work we will buy new RAM from a different manufacturer (probably Corsair considering that's what Gigabyte uses to test their machines) and if that doesn't work I'll part this thing and start fresh.

 

[Flexion]

His RAM isn't fine in his system, his machine is blue screening no matter what kind of RAM is in there, that's the point. His RAM is fine in mine and not in his. My RAM is fine in mine and not in his which tells me it's not the RAM causing the BSOD it is something else.



No doubt, I wish I had a card to test in it that was the equivalent or better.

I'll be calling Gigabyte in a second to get a new board if that doesn't solve the problem I'm swearing off technology and moving to Budapest to become a monk.

Ahh... Got it now... Don't fret, although turning into a monk and moving to Budapest would really cure our hardware addiction problems, it's not the solution... Get a new board, I can't imagine any P35/P45 chipset not playing nice with a working 260GTX. I mean the 260GTX was released during that time. It's not like they were out after the X58 started showing up, it shouldn't be an issue.

 

[grifter_66]

Ahh... Got it now... Don't fret, although turning into a monk and moving to Budapest would really cure our hardware addiction problems, it's not the solution... Get a new board, I can't imagine any P35/P45 chipset not playing nice with a working 260GTX. I mean the 260GTX was released during that time. It's not like they were out after the X58 started showing up, it shouldn't be an issue.

Exactly, I think this is just one of those shitty times where the specific problem is undiagnosable although Gigabyte swears up and down that the board is fine. They say that it's just that brand of RAM causing the problem but I won't believe it unless we run into the same issues with the new board. I really hope thats not the case though, G-Skill modules are consistently the most reliable, stable and easily overclockable (is that even a word?) modules I have ever used.

Any way I want to thank you all for your input and letting me vent a little. If y'all still care I'll give a quick up date when the new board gets here and I get it in.

EDIT: I forgot to thank you for the link brennok so thank you, I'm sure that forum will come in handy quite often in the future.

 

[BillParrish]

no clue, all I can add is that as far as I know, and I read about every post here, there is no reports of incompatability with the 260 and Gbyte boards.

Power supply is more than sufficient so thats not it.

Yes, update us, this is an interesting one.

 

[Flexion]

G-Skill modules are consistently the most reliable, stable and easily overclockable (is that even a word?) modules I have ever used.

Yeah, strangely enough. Though the name is extremely funny implying you have Gangsta Skills from running their memory, GSkill has consistently produced good RAM for my use. I've got it running in two DDR2/C2D,C2Q rigs all OC'd, and no errors for 2-3 years now. I can't say the same for Crucial Baller-stix or OCZ for that matter. Corsair has always been reliable for me and OCZ always made it right witht he RMA replacement set. But GSkill tends to be solid stuff.

Bill's right. Typically, these kinds of problems are attributed to the PSU being shoddy, apart from that are you experiencing the same problems under a different OS?

 

[grifter_66]

Yeah, strangely enough. Though the name is extremely funny implying you have Gangsta Skills from running their memory, GSkill has consistently produced good RAM for my use. I've got it running in two DDR2/C2D,C2Q rigs all OC'd, and no errors for 2-3 years now. I can't say the same for Crucial Baller-stix or OCZ for that matter. Corsair has always been reliable for me and OCZ always made it right witht he RMA replacement set. But GSkill tends to be solid stuff.

Bill's right. Typically, these kinds of problems are attributed to the PSU being shoddy, apart from that are you experiencing the same problems under a different OS?

Damn, sorry I left you hanging there, got a nasty case of the stomach flu so I wasn't doing much posting.

Yeah, when this started we were running Vista Ultimate 64 not only have we changed the OS but we've used multiple driver revisions for all components as well as two different BIOS updates.