No Video Signal Occasionally + Different Blue Screens

[Rheinwasser]

Hi,

 

I am troubleshooting a system of a friend. It is an low-end-system with an AMD A8-6600 APU, 4GB of RAM, an AsRock motherboard and a kingston ssd.

 

From time to time when you try to boot it the monitor doesnt receive a video signal (dvi). This is resolved after a forced reboot most of the time. The video signal is also occasionally lost while using the computer at no particular time.

 

CPU and GPU stress tests both resulted in BSODs, CPU was IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL and GPU BUGCODE_USB_DRIVER. I also randomly got an PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED AREA win32k.sys and a BSOD regarding atikmdag.sys.

 

I ran chkdsk /f, sfc /scannow, cleared the registry of useless entries, updated all drivers, removed weird or unneccessary software and checked for malware. Temperatures also seem to be fine and there is plenty of thermal paste left.

 

I am thankful for any ideas regarding my problem :-)

[Blevins]

This sounds like it could be a memory issue. Try running Memtest86. I don't have time to find you a link right now, but google should turn it up pretty quick. After that I'd test your hard drive/SSD, while probably not the problem, page file issues can cause similar problems to memory. I recommend SeaTools, or WD's Data Lifeguard software. 

 

Also, grab the dump files from C:\windows\minidump and upload them somewhere so we can see them. Or you can use BlueScreenView to get a more understandable look at what's going on. 

[Rheinwasser]

35 minutes ago, Blevins said:

This sounds like it could be a memory issue. Try running Memtest86. I don't have time to find you a link right now, but google should turn it up pretty quick. After that I'd test your hard drive/SSD, while probably not the problem, page file issues can cause similar problems to memory. I recommend SeaTools, or WD's Data Lifeguard software. 

 

Also, grab the dump files from C:\windows\minidump and upload them somewhere so we can see them. Or you can use BlueScreenView to get a more understandable look at what's going on. 

Oh, by the way: I also got a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION.

 

I've justed the windows memory + drive check software that windows provides. I am going to try Memtest and SeaTools tomorrow, I just didn't have an USB stick handy.

 

I will definitely try BlueScreenView tomorrow, I hadnt heard of it yet. I will also upload the minidump. Are you capable of diagnosing them?

 

And if you had to guess: software or hardware?

[Blevins]

5 hours ago, Rheinwasser said:

Oh, by the way: I also got a SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION.

 

I've justed the windows memory + drive check software that windows provides. I am going to try Memtest and SeaTools tomorrow, I just didn't have an USB stick handy.

 

I will definitely try BlueScreenView tomorrow, I hadnt heard of it yet. I will also upload the minidump. Are you capable of diagnosing them?

 

And if you had to guess: software or hardware?

Hardware is my first thought. Especially if SFC didn't turn anything up. But it could also be OS corruption. 

Is it Windows 7, or Windows 10? 

 

You can try this from the command line as well:

dism /online /cleanup-image /checkhealth

If that comes up with corruption try replacing /checkhealth with /restorehealth

 

And yes, for the most part I know to look at minidumps.

[Rheinwasser]

15 hours ago, Blevins said:

Hardware is my first thought. Especially if SFC didn't turn anything up. But it could also be OS corruption. 

Is it Windows 7, or Windows 10? 

 

You can try this from the command line as well:

dism /online /cleanup-image /checkhealth

If that comes up with corruption try replacing /checkhealth with /restorehealth

 

And yes, for the most part I know to look at minidumps.

Its a windows 7 system. I will try the command in a few hours and post the minidumps. Thanks in advance.

[Rheinwasser]

 

16 hours ago, Blevins said:

Hardware is my first thought. Especially if SFC didn't turn anything up. But it could also be OS corruption. 

Is it Windows 7, or Windows 10? 

 

You can try this from the command line as well:

dism /online /cleanup-image /checkhealth

If that comes up with corruption try replacing /checkhealth with /restorehealth

 

And yes, for the most part I know to look at minidumps.

 

I have tried that command but both for the /checkhealth and /restorehealth it comes up with an error saying that it cant execute these parameters in this context.

 

The minidump folder is completely empty, do you have any idea why?

[Blevins]

Sounds like memory dumping isn't enabled. 

 

To enable it:

Quote

To configure your system to write out crash dumps in case of a system error, take the following steps: 
Right-click My Computer, and then click Properties. Click the Advanced tab, and then under Startup and Recovery, click Settings (or Startup and Recovery). For best results, under write debugging information select full> or complete memory dump. However, your system must meet several conditions for this option to work. Alternatively you can select small memory dump to have your system write out crash dump files that are significantly smaller but may not contain the necessary information to properly identify the root cause of a system crash. 

Quoted from: http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed_enablingdumps