I was browsing weather.com yesterday and my Win7 x64 PC gave me some warning and rebooted to a blue screen.  And that is all she wrote, can't get it back working.  I tried safe mode and still get a blue screen.  Tried the Win7 install disk to do a repair with no luck either.  Nothing I do will get it to boot, even tried just a command prompt boot in safe mode and no go.  About four months ago I made a bootable USB external drive, but stupid me I never tried to see if it worked.  I tried it today and it too gives me the BSOD.  I have a Hiren's boot CD diagnostic disk which does boot the machine using a mini version of XP - that works fine.  It has diagnostics on it and I ran all the hardware checks and the machine passes fine.  Any idea for a next step - I am pulling out what little hair I have left

 

Howard,

 

This guy is a personal friend of mine...

 

http://www.gansmediaonline.com/

 

 

Its him and his brother, they know their stuff, and are very reasonable.

 

Ask for Marc, tell him you know me

 

Troy

2 things to check.

 

First, try swapping the hard drive if you have a spare laying around. It sounds like you might have a few bad sectors on the drive.

 

The other hardware to check would be the ram. While very uncommon now a days, the chips do go bad every so often.

 

I hope you have a backup of your important files because if its your drive, you may not get them back.

 

If you want to pm me, I could walk you through a few things.

could you mount the hard drive with Hiren's and see you files? 

Troy, thanks I will keep that in mind.  I am fairly good at this stuff, as this is a machine that I built myself about three years ago - but I am running out of options.

 

Mikey - I will take you up on that pm offer.

 

Mosin Fan - yes I was able to do that, and even copied a couple of files off of it.  My gut is telling me that something is wrong with the SSD, but that does not explain why my USB drive won't boot the system either- but as I said I never did try it so it might not be bootable.

 

 

PS - pulled the SSD and put a backup image that was about six weeks old onto an old 300gig HD, system booted and seems to be running.  Guess I will have to give it a while and see if it stays good.  Very very strange.

What did you change since the last backup? My friend called me that his computer was dropping a BSOD every now and again when he browsed youtube or loaded up certain games. I figured that flash content may be causing the issue. Sure enough I uninstalled his GFX driver and Flash player, reboot, re-install, and everything was fine.

 

My suggestion is that you uninstall anything that you put on since the last backup, and ensure all of your drivers are up to date. If you think it may be your RAM, run Memtest. Alternately, if you have at least two sticks, you can pull one and try to replicate the problem, if it happens, then swap them. If it persists, it most likely isn't the RAM. If it comes to the point where you need to back things up, I recommend a pen drive Linux install, using Ubuntu. 

I had not installed anything recently, that is why this is so strange.  I have Symantec Endpoint Security, Malwarebytes, and some other anti-trojan stuff so I don't think it anything like that.  The system is sluggish now, but I think it might be the old drive.  My concern is that right now in task manager I am only seeing 16gigs of ram while I have 24 gigs installed.  Its Triple channel memory, two triples of 12 gigs each - so why on earth it is only showing 16 has me very perplexed.  I did take them out and put them back in earlier - so perhaps something is not seated correctly?  Will have to check but have to go out soon.

I don’t know what you have but if you have a Dell by chance they have on-board diagnostics. Just F12 any DELL at POST and select the diagnostics option and you could test ALL the hardware,  again that is if you have a Dell. If it is something else like HP you would have to see if they offer that support.

 

What happens when you boot with Hiren’s/Tiny XP how much memory registers then? If you have the correct amount of memory with Tiny XP your know your OS is corrupted. Or go into the BIOS and see how much RAM show there. If Tiny or the Bios show the incorrect amount then you know its hardware. Also since you brought it up keep in mind one AV program is enough, more than one AV Program will also cause adverse effects.  

 

 

Not a Dell or HP, its a system I build on an ASUS mother board with an Intel i7 processor.  I pulled the memory and reseated it all and now the system reads the correct amount of memory.  I agree with you on the one AV program, but the others are anti-malware and anti-trojan programs and don't conflict with the AV.  The system seems OK now, just a little sluggish with the old 300GB hard drive.  Think I will go out and get a new SSD and hopefully be back in business.  I wonder if they will let me take the old SSD to the range and shot the crap out of it

My guess is that it's something mechanical since you can't even boot to safe mode. 

 

Did you OC the CPU?  Maybe your cooling got a little dusty and reducing the cooling ability plus the heat wave we're having just overheated something.  

Did not over clock but cooling could have been an issue. I blew out about 14 pounds of dust. But I think the issue is either he SSD crapped out or just a sector got messed up. I booted with Acronis and restored an image from a month ago to an old 300gig drive I had laying around. I then swapped out the SSD with that drive and am up and running. So the question is do I dare to. Reformat and put an image on the SSD or should I just trash it? If I trash it should I replace it with another SSD or one of the hybrid Hd/ssd units?

Do you have a spare machine you can boot the SSD in? It probably won't run for crap but if you boot it stripped you may be able to tell how bad the drive is? How about looking to the SSD manufacturer for some drive diags, load on Hirens or connect SSD using a drivewire device and run the diags on the SSD. If SSD comes up bad it may be recoverable or at least cloneable.

 

Other than that if you want to mess around try stripping down current box to basics, 1 set of RAM, pull out any pci or video cards and try to boot SSD again. Shouldn't be an issue but I've seen stranger stuff happen.

If you think it may be the hard drive, put the hard drive in the freezer for 20-30 minutes, quickly re-install it and try booting.  It may get up long enough to backup what you need.  Only attempt this if you think it's a hard drive issue and only as a last resort.  You may have to do this several times as the drive warms back up.

Do you have a spare machine you can boot the SSD in? It probably won't run for crap but if you boot it stripped you may be able to tell how bad the drive is? How about looking to the SSD manufacturer for some drive diags, load on Hirens or connect SSD using a drivewire device and run the diags on the SSD. If SSD comes up bad it may be recoverable or at least cloneable.

 

Other than that if you want to mess around try stripping down current box to basics, 1 set of RAM, pull out any pci or video cards and try to boot SSD again. Shouldn't be an issue but I've seen stranger stuff happen.

Don't have another machine I want to screw with, but I could just put the image on the SSD and give it a go.  But my concern is that maybe it works for a while and then craps out again.  Think I'll just trash it and get a new one.  They have dropped in price quite a lot and the new ones are faster too.

 

As for the freezer trick, that only works on physical hard drives - an SSD has no moving parts so that won't do anything.

Oops.  OK, I missed that part.  Good luck.

Www.apple.com

Www.apple.com

A friend is a CE manager for Verizon Wireless, single item with highest return rate for hardware related issues... iPhone. All computer components fail eventually, regardless of who makes them. Also, Apple doesn't have a magic SSD drive, they use commodity hardware just like all other vendors. Some say you are actually better off buying your own SSD so you know what brand you are getting.

A friend is a CE manager for Verizon Wireless, single item with highest return rate for hardware related issues... iPhone. All computer components fail eventually, regardless of who makes them. Also, Apple doesn't have a magic SSD drive, they use commodity hardware just like all other vendors. Some say you are actually better off buying your own SSD so you know what brand you are getting.

 

Hmm, we mostly run iphones at work. Hundreds of them. We don't have return issues. Also, we aren't handing them out to teenagers who treat them like they couldn't give a crap. Apple also does not use a commodity SSD for their laptops. It is unfortunately a proprietary form factor for fitment purposes. The optional ones that are upgrades to their mechanical laptop drives might be commodity, but all the systems with non-optional SSDs are not. 

 

Also, even if what you stated was true, phones are not laptops or desktops. Apple usually specs out their systems very well for compatibility and stability. Their main issue historically is poor thermal management, usually sacrificed on the altar of style. Their latest round of laptops actually appear to be better than similar sized PCs. All the PC designers seem to have smoked some sort of engineering crack that tells them laptops will never be placed on a lap or table, and thus putting all your air intakes on the bottom of the machine is obviously ok. I'd be cautious of the ultra think imac though. 

 

None of this helps the OP though. My guess would be a driver update hosed something and it is now booting directly to BSOD. OP should put the actual BSOD error code and text up (not the hex dump portion). 

Www.apple.com

Thanks but I want to stick with a computer, not a fruit!!!! 

 

I love my iPhone and my iPad as they are great tools, but for real work I want to stick with a non-proprietary system that I can customize as I want.  I have never seen an Apple computer that will let me install six hard drives, install my choice of graphics card, etc.....

My son's SSD crapped out last month, he ran out and replaced it to get back running  Then he contacted the manufacturer and they are sending him a replacement.  Better to have a spare than to fill a bad one with holes?

Hmm, we mostly run iphones at work. Hundreds of them. We don't have return issues. Also, we aren't handing them out to teenagers who treat them like they couldn't give a crap. Apple also does not use a commodity SSD for their laptops. It is unfortunately a proprietary form factor for fitment purposes. The optional ones that are upgrades to their mechanical laptop drives might be commodity, but all the systems with non-optional SSDs are not. 

 

Also, even if what you stated was true, phones are not laptops or desktops. Apple usually specs out their systems very well for compatibility and stability. Their main issue historically is poor thermal management, usually sacrificed on the altar of style. Their latest round of laptops actually appear to be better than similar sized PCs. All the PC designers seem to have smoked some sort of engineering crack that tells them laptops will never be placed on a lap or table, and thus putting all your air intakes on the bottom of the machine is obviously ok. I'd be cautious of the ultra think imac though. 

 

None of this helps the OP though. My guess would be a driver update hosed something and it is now booting directly to BSOD. OP should put the actual BSOD error code and text up (not the hex dump portion). 

 

Been a while since my last stats class but I'm not sure how your hundreds stack up against the 10s of thousands the pass through Verizon. Just repeating what I was told, we run Blackberry, iPhone, etc. Have minimal problems with all luckily.

 

Not to go off topic but Apple uses components made by the same manufacturers in the same factories as the rest of them. Form factor has little to do with the underlying technology. In the past they've used Samsung and Toshiba drives. I thought they were now using SanDisk.

Hmm, we mostly run iphones at work. Hundreds of them. We don't have return issues. Also, we aren't handing them out to teenagers who treat them like they couldn't give a crap. Apple also does not use a commodity SSD for their laptops. It is unfortunately a proprietary form factor for fitment purposes. The optional ones that are upgrades to their mechanical laptop drives might be commodity, but all the systems with non-optional SSDs are not. 

 

Also, even if what you stated was true, phones are not laptops or desktops. Apple usually specs out their systems very well for compatibility and stability. Their main issue historically is poor thermal management, usually sacrificed on the altar of style. Their latest round of laptops actually appear to be better than similar sized PCs. All the PC designers seem to have smoked some sort of engineering crack that tells them laptops will never be placed on a lap or table, and thus putting all your air intakes on the bottom of the machine is obviously ok. I'd be cautious of the ultra think imac though. 

 

None of this helps the OP though. My guess would be a driver update hosed something and it is now booting directly to BSOD. OP should put the actual BSOD error code and text up (not the hex dump portion). 

 

 

The only thing I caught was ***Stop 0x0000007B and something about KDCOM.dll and page_fault_in_nonpaged_area

Been a while since my last stats class but I'm not sure how your hundreds stack up against the 10s of thousands the pass through Verizon. Just repeating what I was told, we run Blackberry, iPhone, etc. Have minimal problems with all luckily.

 

Not to go off topic but Apple uses components made by the same manufacturers in the same factories as the rest of them. Form factor has little to do with the underlying technology. In the past they've used Samsung and Toshiba drives. I thought they were now using SanDisk.

Seriously look at the tear downs of the air and both retina MBPs. They might use commodity chips and controllers, but they are proprietary form factor.

 

As for stats, the Verizon guy might be measuring the abusiveness of his customer base.

 

Like you, we run various platforms without hardware issues outside of drops and such, and our policies don't encourage lying about damage. I'll bet yours are probably similar. We both don't have many issues. Look at a population of the lowest common denominator encouraged to lie about causes of failure, and the rate shoots up.

 

The only thing I caught was ***Stop 0x0000007B and something about KDCOM.dll and page_fault_in_nonpaged_area

Sounds like kdcom.dll got corrupted or maliciously modified. It is critical to booting apparently. Emergency boot disk and replace it plus scan the ssd for malware and you might be back in business.

 

 

Sounds like kdcom.dll got corrupted or maliciously modified. It is critical to booting apparently. Emergency boot disk and replace it plus scan the ssd for malware and you might be back in business.

I thought that might be it too.  I had a friend email me a copy of that file from his system and it was the exact same size and time stamp as mine.  Under the mini XP from Hirens I tried to replace it but could not get permission to change or delete it.. Was kind of surprised that XP did that.

Can you boot into safe mode via F8 key after BIOS splash screen? If so does it stay running? I have been getting a lot of machines lately for repair with rootkits. They are basically a Trojan that hides from most antivirus suites.

If that is the case you may have a rootkit and you can try Tdsskiller in safe mode to find and to remove it. The safest thing to do is format the disk and reinstall the OS. I have removed all traces of spyware and viruses from a machine and caught the malware still calling home via firewall logs. Format is the safest bet.

If it is not malware flaky RAM and bad drivers can cause the issue also. The Hirens disk has some good tools for testing.

 

It can be a lot of things but these are some basics. Regarding your RAM issue have you confirmed the motherboard supports more than 16GB of RAM?

 

 

I thought that might be it too.  I had a friend email me a copy of that file from his system and it was the exact same size and time stamp as mine.  Under the mini XP from Hirens I tried to replace it but could not get permission to change or delete it.. Was kind of surprised that XP did that.

Murphdog - I have system up now, via installing another old hard drive and placing a one month old image of the SSD on that drive.  I never was able to boot it in safe mode, not even safe mode with the command prompt.  I think it had something to do with the file KDCOM.dll but not really sure.  I ran all the Hirens diagnostics and it showed no hardware issues.  As for memory yes the system has always handled the 24 gigs that I have in it.  They are two banks of triple channel ram.  When I was mucking around I reseated all the boards and blew out the dust and must not have had some of the memory seated fully.  Reseated it and it sees the full 24 gigs now.

 

The question now is what SSD to get.  The stuff I was looking at seems to suggest either Intel or Samsung.  Probably looking at 180-250 gig.  Any suggestion on a particular model to go for would be welcomed.

Who do know at Verizon? PM me and I'll ask this person myself.

Also it looks like nobody here understands that Osx is based on FreeBSD. It's not proprietary. Only Darwin, which are the GUI widgets are specific to Apple, which they publish how to write for without charging anything. Yes it's "controlled" for quality purposes, but it's not proprietary.

Murphdog - I have system up now, via installing another old hard drive and placing a one month old image of the SSD on that drive.  I never was able to boot it in safe mode, not even safe mode with the command prompt.  I think it had something to do with the file KDCOM.dll but not really sure.  I ran all the Hirens diagnostics and it showed no hardware issues.  As for memory yes the system has always handled the 24 gigs that I have in it.  They are two banks of triple channel ram.  When I was mucking around I reseated all the boards and blew out the dust and must not have had some of the memory seated fully.  Reseated it and it sees the full 24 gigs now.

 

The question now is what SSD to get.  The stuff I was looking at seems to suggest either Intel or Samsung.  Probably looking at 180-250 gig.  Any suggestion on a particular model to go for would be welcomed.

 

 

I've been running an OCZ for a while now with out a hiccup..