(SOLVED)BSOD out of the blue (pun intended)

[Tacotardis42]

Hello! I have a Windows 7 home premium laptop computer, and my computer shut down with a BSOD suddenly. On reboot it informed me that it did not shut down correctly (Thanks, I hadn't noticed) and it gave me some info. Here it is.

Problem signature:
  Problem Event Name:   BlueScreen
  OS Version:   6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
  Locale ID:   1033

Additional information about the problem:
  BCCode:   3b
  BCP1:   00000000C0000005
  BCP2:   FFFFF96000164FB3
  BCP3:   FFFFF880025C5230
  BCP4:   0000000000000000
  OS Version:   6_1_7601
  Service Pack:   1_0
  Product:   768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
  C:\Windows\Minidump\100315-23415-01.dmp
  C:\Users\(My Account)\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-82321-0.sysdata.xml

Read our privacy statement online:
  http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=104288&clcid=0x0409

If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline:
  C:\Windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt

Conveniently, I had just run CHKDSK earlier with no problems found, after BSOD I checked and it found many errors, and I am currently running a virus scan, and afterwards I'll reboot to fix the errors. Any idea what caused it, and if it may be a bad sign, or just a random meaningless error? Also, I would like to know how to read dmp files, preferably without installing anything if possible.  Thanks in advance!

[Boggin]

Windows doesn't have a built in program to view Memory Dump files and if you want to go through this https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/kb/315263 you still need to know what you are looking for such as BSOD experts do.

However, the rest of use either BlueScreenView or WhoCrashed.

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed

You should be able to boot up into Safe Mode with Networking to download those, but often, a reboot will resolve unless they keep recurring.

[Tacotardis42]

So unless it recurs, I won't have to check the memory dumps? And by the way the scan found nothing and the chkdsk found no issues besides unused security descriptors, with no KB in bad sectors.The SFC found no issues. Any idea what could have caused it it, seeing as there are no apparent residual problems? 

[Boggin]

BSODs are usually caused by 3rd party drivers and it's usually just a glitch during the Boot process when they don't reoccur after the reboot.

You could still try either or both of BlueScreenView and WhoCrashed to see what they make of the Dump files.

[Tacotardis42]

Well, I didn't isntall any third party drivers, and the computer had been on a while (hours). Any chance it was a bizarre thermal shutdown?

[Boggin]

What I meant by 3rd party drivers are such as your graphics, networking or audio which load when you boot up normally and it can even be a program that is in your Startup menu of msconfig.

Should have read your opening post more carefully though as I missed that the BSOD occurred whilst in use and not on Startup as they usually occur.

If the laptop has an overheating problem then you would get those shutdowns constantly unless the overheating occurred because of how you were using it.

Laptops is a misnomer because they shouldn't be used on laps as that can block the air intake, but if you were heavy gaming then that could cause a BSOD because of heat, although you would normally get a message to say that your computer was shutting down to protect itself.

Can you remember if the fan seemed to be working overtime or particular noisy prior to the shutdown, as that would be an indication of overheating.

I think you should download one or both of those programs and they should tell you what had gone wrong, but 3B errors are usually graphics related and you should go to your computer support to check for any updated drivers.

The free version of HWMonitor will tell you what your temps are. http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

The error ending 0005 is usually an access denied and those FFFFF ones are memory addresses for which, they are anyone's guess.

[Julian]

Ah I've seen this one before with my nvidia card. can you give me a driver version and date on your video card

Your error is 0x3B: SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION
This indicates that an exception happened while executing a routine that transitions from non-privileged code to privileged code.

Cause

"This error has been linked to excessive paged pool usage and may occur due to user-mode graphics drivers crossing over and passing bad data to the kernel code."

[Julian]

Then again I've seen it happen with my network interface card (Nic) and on board audio. Both being driver issues.

[Tacotardis42]

Ok, thanks. I didn't notice any loud fan noises, and I was watching a video, nothing graphics intensive. I will download a program, and give you any needed info. Also I have had thermal shutdowns and none of them were BSOD, and I use Driver Booster 3 by Iobit to update my drivers, and it works pretty well. I checked and it said I had no new updates. I will let you know when I get the info. P.S Hi Julian I'll take care of your thing first because that doesn't need any third party things, you posted right before I posted this :p

[Tacotardis42]

Ok using the default device manager, my things under display adapter are: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470  Date 9/9/2010 version 8.771.1.0 and Intel(R) HD Graphics same company (ATI Technologies Inc), same date,  same version. Tell me if you need any more info, I'll be happy to supply. Getting bluescreenviewer now.

[Tacotardis42]

And it found no errors? OK, whocrashed it is. And that reported no crashes found, and I checked for myself, the minidump is gone. Ah well.

[Boggin]

Sometimes it may not create a mini dump file but check to see if they are enabled on your machine.

http://blog.nirsoft.net/2010/07/27/how-to-configure-windows-to-create-minidump-files-on-bsod/

When I ran Disk Cleanup as an admin, it listed 11.4MB in dump files but neither of those programs found any on mine either for some reason.

I run CCleaner at the end of each session but have the memory dump file box unchecked so they are not deleted.

Regardless of whether there are any updates or not, I think it would be prudent reinstall all of the 3rd party drivers if this happens again.

[Tacotardis42]

It created a minidump, but I must have deleted with a junk cleaner. Ah well. Should I label this as solved? Kind of impossible to check it now unless I wanna undelete it :p

[Boggin]

Yes, you could do if you aren't getting any more problems, but at least you now know what to do should it occur again.

What sort of junk cleaner are you using and does it have the option to uncheck dump files ?

Are you able to undelete it ?

[Tacotardis42]

Well I use iolo system mechanic, and it's pretty good but a bit too user friendly i.e it doesn't take as much user feedback for what it deletes, so no I can't uncheck them unless I exclude a folder manually. I really like it though. And I may be able to undelete it, I know of several programs that can do it, but I don't know if I actually have them currently installed. I'll let you know if I successfully undelete it.

[Boggin]

With the free version of CCleaner you have more control over what you remove.

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner/download

While it has a Registry Cleaner which is one of the safest, there's no real need to clean the registry and you can negate the need to use it to remove any residue following using Windows to uninstall a program, when you use a 3rd party uninstaller program.

https://www.piriform.com/docs/ccleaner/using-ccleaner

I'm always wary of these commercial "mechanic" programs as indiscriminate use of them can screw a system and quite often, the unwary/inexperienced let them loose on the registry where they clean indiscriminately.

While I don't know the program you are using, Advanced System Care and Uniblue Power Suite are two to steer clear of.

[Shane]

I use the WhoCrashed program every time I am fixing a customers machine and there is a blue screen. It does a good job on letting me know what crashed.

But if it wasn't a driver or something specific that caused it and is something more general then it is normally due to hardware, such as failing hardware, bad hardware and even heat.

I looked over the posts but didnt see if you where able to run whocrashed and post what it said.

Shane

[Boggin]

I think he'd run a cleaner before using BlueScreenView and WhoCrashed so neither found any dump files to analyse (Post#10).

[Shane]

I have had that happen on a customers machine. The reason on the customers machine that there was no dump file was because the blue screen couldn't write it.

In this case, the blue screen was being caused by bad hardware not by something in Windows. In this case it turned out to be the hard drive was cutting out and so Windows couldn't write to it if it wanted to. Other times it was the motherboard that was going out and the sata channel was of course not responding and so windows couldn't write the dump file either.

As for the one customer their hard drive was dieing and when it got to a certain temp the drive would just cut out. I had to try and get their data off of it, so I put ice in two zip lock bags, then wrapped small towels around the bags and had the hard drive sit in between the two making a sandwich with it and keeping the drive as cold as possible. I was able to get the data off the drive without it dieing on me since I could keep the temp down.

As for the other user who had a bad motherboard, there was nothing I could do there but replace the board. I knew it was the board because I hard swapped out everything else lol, cables, power supply (in case it was simply dropping power to the drive) and even the drive itself and it still happened. Once the motherboard was replaced it was good to go.

Point being that if Windows didn't write the dump file, then there is a serious reason why it couldn't.

Shane

[Tacotardis42]

Hello Shane! Boggin is right, I acciently deleted junk files before I ran WhoCrashed, I verified that it was there after the crash, but I had no idea how to view it. And also, as far as I can tell the computer is fine a couple days after the shutdown. I also ran recuvva from piriform, but it did not find the dump file, so there is nothing more I can do as of right now. Should I mark this topic as solved, or is there some miracle that can be done Thanks in advance!

[Boggin]

Just mark it as Solved and wait for the next BSOD

[Tacotardis42]

XD Sounds good!