BSoD every 20 minutes, tried "everything"

edited July 2011 in Science & Tech
'sup
This box (see dxdiag attachment for specs) blue screens every 20 minutes or so, regardless of activity. It also does this when booted up for the first time after a completely fresh reformat, though it takes many hours before it does this the first time. Whether this was random I can't be sure, but the last time I formatted it ran perfectly for 8 hours, only to then BSoD 3 times in 40 minutes. The BSoD exception name is something different almost every time, varying between FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, and several different hexadecimal error codes. The Blue screens can come while playing games, browsing the web, or if the computer is just sitting there and noone is using it.

Things already tried:
  • Many, many reformats
  • The usual updatings of directx, .net framework, graphics drivers, chipset drivers etc.
  • Updating the BIOS
  • Setting memory to ganged instead of unganged mode
  • Running Windows 7 memory diagnostic
  • Running chkdsk with /R /F
  • Running without a paging file
  • Watching the temperatures, which were fine (the 'running for a long time then crashing often' thing made me do this.)
I probably forgot a few things...

I've run out of ideas to try. I don't have spare RAM. Should I try to get a spare hard drive from someone, format it, and install Windows 7 on that one?
Could it be a 64-bit issue that might be fixed by getting Windows 7 x86 instead?
Should I burn a dvd with the memtest86 ISO and boot from that, or should the Windows 7 memory diagnostic be good enough?

Thanks in advance!

Comments

  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    You've done everything but test your hardware, which is where you probably should have started. Your RAM is probably bad, so start with memtest.
  • edited July 2011
    Aaaaaaaaand you were right. One stick of memory was bad. Computer has been running perfectly since then, using just the other stick. Can I somehow edit the thread title to say the problem has been resolved? Otherwise a mod can just lock it :)
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited July 2011
    We just let things die 'round here; they'll shuffle off into obscurity on their own.
  • edited July 2011
    I suppose that'll work. In any case, thanks for the help! I would've probably wasted a few more hours if it weren't for your suggestion.
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