Help with a friends PC

[TNA_LoL]

So my friend has an issue with his PC and while I would like to think I am computer savy I am not 100% sure what is wrong.  A few months ago he was having issues, turns out it was viruses and I reformatted it for him.  Then about a month later his PC would randomly blue screen.  So I reseated the ram and it was fine for 2 weeks then it started again.  Once it starts to blue screen it does it several times a day.  Then I open his PC back up and put in some ram from my computer.  It works for another 2 weeks then last night he said he got a blue screen.  So here are the following options I think are wrong, in order of how I will trouble shoot.

 

Disconnect the SSD, and reload Windows on the HD

Replace the GPU

Replace the motherboard

 

He's running an I7 on a gigabyte X58 (LGA 1366 board), 60GB Vertex 2 SSD, 500GB Seagate HD, GTX 650 and some 400W antec PSU.  I think the SSD might be the issue as since the problem is so inconsistent, it doesn't seem like a board issue.  Thoughts?

 

[acidydragon]

You can run tests on the RAM with MemTest86, You can check the HDD/SSD with HD Tune.

Do these, and let us know what you find

 

@TNA_LoL

[TNA_LoL]

Thanks, I could never figure out MemTest86, but I feel it's useless because I put working ram from my PC into his PC and it still blue screened

[Fred Castellum]

Thats weird... in some cases default ram timings and speed settings are unstable thanks to the setting the motherboard gives em. That could potentially be the problem, like acidy stated you should run some memtests and check the timings. What ram kit are you using? Give us more spec info if possible, it'll potentially help.

[acidydragon]

Thanks, I could never figure out MemTest86, but I feel it's useless because I put working ram from my PC into his PC and it still blue screened

You need to put it onto a flashdrive, and boot up from the flash drive. Tell it to run the test, It'll take a while.

[TNA_LoL]

I've tried 2 kits.  The first kit the PC has had since I installed the ram 3 years ago.  The second kit is part of my kit.

4x2GB DDR3 1333MHz G.Skill

2x4GB DDR3 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance.

@Mylnnerfred

The kit worked for 3 years no issue, why would out of no where that kit and my kit cause BSOD?

 

Does no one think the SSD is failing?  It is a Vertex 2?

[acidydragon]

That's why I said check the SSD/HDD with the HDD Test.

[TNA_LoL]

That's why I said check the SSD/HDD with the HDD Test.

Ya I am going to do that.  He plays mostly LoL (He's on my team ), and I think I put LoL on the SSD, which leaves me to believe it could be the issue.

[nitrousoxide10]

Do you have the STOP code for the BSoD?

[TNA_LoL]

Do you have the STOP code for the BSoD?

I don't as I've never have had it happen on me.

[nitrousoxide10]

If your friend would disable automatic restart (tap F8 on startup then select disable automatic restart) then the next time that PC has the BSoD he can get the STOP code.

[TNA_LoL]

If your friend would disable automatic restart (tap F8 on startup then select disable automatic restart) then the next time that PC has the BSoD he can get the STOP code.

We did that so now it blue screens but I have yet to see it to see the STOP code.

[TNA_LoL]

Update it started to blue screen again. My theory was the ssd had bad sectors abd Hearthstone was sitting on those sectors so since he wasn't playing it it's fine. He mentioned since he unplugged his external driverit has messed up at all. Can an external drive cause bsod?

[OC.Cristian]

Have you tried turning it off and on again? (jk) Have you tried updating/flashing the BIOS? You've already cancelled out RAM, so it seems that the dominant causes could either be something as simple as a BIOS update or the SSD may need to be replaced. 

[Cubit481]

Try flashing the bios with the latest stable version available...u can also try cleaning the registry of ur OS after flashing and see if that helps...