[Cyprius]

Hello everyone, I've been scouring the internet for a few days now trying to find someone with a similar problem to the one that I have but so far have come up quite dry.


What happens is, whether the computer is being used or idleing, it will inevitably crash to BSOD.

The error string is STOP: 0x0000007A. Naturally I went on support.microsoft.com and put in the error string but the results that come up aren't relevant to my issue. It's essentially saying that this could be caused by my machine trying to go into hibernation but my power settings have been changed so that nothing turns off.. ever.

Looking through a few postings on various forums on the topic of this error message (but not the same problem), I pulled out some generic troubleshooting steps like update my BIOS/Drivers, run chkdsk and a memtest. I have updated everything to the most recent drivers available and reflashed my bios. I started running chkdsk last night and alas 14 hours later it finally seems to have finished. However the screen still says:

An unspecified error occured
Windows has finished checking the disk.
...

And appears to be stuck there. My experience with winxp and previous versions of windows always restarted the machine automatically so I'm no sure if I ought to just leave it there hanging or to reboot it myself.

Regardless, the chkdsk found nothing through the entire process with the exception of that error at the end, my intention once the machine either reboots automatically or from me doing it manually is to run a memtest and see whats going on in that regard.

If anyone has any info for this type of issue it would be much appreciated.

A little extra point form information:

- I am running Windows Vista Ultimate
- I have not added any new hardware recently ( In quite a long time actually, maybe 6-8 months)
- I have not installed/uninstalled any new software recently
- I have not updated any drivers recently ( with the exception of after the fact)
- I have open up my box and unplugged everything from case fans to led connectors just to make sure every single connection is in place

Thanks again

Cyp

Edited by Cyprius, 07 May 2009 - 03:01 PM.

[Advertisements]

So here is a little update, after waiting 15 minutes I just rebooted as the chkdsk wasn't doing anything.

I ran microsoft's memory test and performed 7 passes, no problems there.

It happened again and figured I'd take a picture to attach so here it is:



Thanks

EDIT: Just another mini update, I'm attempting to defrag again.. only issue is I usually crash before the defrag finishes make it a useless endeavor. I've continued my search but still can't find anything... very much starting to burn myself out.

Edited by Cyprius, 07 May 2009 - 04:42 PM.

[Cyprius]

So here is a little update, after waiting 15 minutes I just rebooted as the chkdsk wasn't doing anything.

I ran microsoft's memory test and performed 7 passes, no problems there.

It happened again and figured I'd take a picture to attach so here it is:



Thanks

EDIT: Just another mini update, I'm attempting to defrag again.. only issue is I usually crash before the defrag finishes make it a useless endeavor. I've continued my search but still can't find anything... very much starting to burn myself out.

Edited by Cyprius, 07 May 2009 - 04:42 PM.

[usasma]

Since chkdsk has errors and can't finish, I'd suggest performing a bootable diagnostic of your hard drive. I wrote some instructions here: http://usasma.vox.co...iagnostics.html

[Cyprius]

Thanks for the update, I have a seagate drive so I followed your link to get seatools. I'm running it as I'm posting this on my laptop, trying to figure out what to do with the application. It scanned my drive quickly after launching the software and then I went into basic tests > long test. It seems to be scanning through now so I suppose we will see what comes of it.

Edited by Cyprius, 07 May 2009 - 05:22 PM.

[Cyprius]

So once the test got to 68% it failed and the error message was

The drive is not responding to commands. Check cables and drive power connection.

I took apart my computer yesterday. Completely took it apart to make sure absolutely everything was connect properly so I know its not just the connection.

I'll try and use a different SATA cable and maybe a different power cable from my psu and then run the test again. Any other thoughts?

Cyp

[Cyprius]

Sigh... So I changed the SATA cable, used a different power cable and it still crashed at 68%.( I also used a different sata connector on my mobo.) It gave the exact same error message:

"The drive is not responding to commands. Check cables and drive power connection."

I'm at a loss here because I'm not sure what else to change.. Could this mean there is a problem with the connectors on my hdd itself? or could it be caused because my hdd is partitioned and the second (smaller) partition isn't formatted yet? (it's currently just raw space)

EDIT: Mini Update: So rather then wasting time I went and quick formatted that 100gb partition I had that wasn't formatted. I tried the long scan again in seatools for dos but not even 30 seconds later, it kicked me out to dos and said thanks for using seatools for dos, to restart you machine press ctrl + alt + del and remove the disk.

I tried downloading seatools for windows and thinking maybe somehow my machine would let the scan finish before it went BSOD but the windows version of the software didn't even recognize my drive.

Finally I went back to seatools for dos and started the long scan again, everything seems to be working again.. I'm at 4% and plan to sit here till it hits 68% to see if the same thing recreates itself.

Edited by Cyprius, 07 May 2009 - 08:33 PM.

[Cyprius]

Test scan number 3 crashed at 34%, but this time it didn't say failed, it actually froze and had weird error strings at the top that appeared. I took a picture, here it is:



Considering that quick format seemed to have made things worse, I'm not going to tick off quick format this time around.. hopefully it won't crash during the format process and if all the stars align just right to make that work, I'll try to perform the long scan in seatools for dos.. again!

Edited by Cyprius, 07 May 2009 - 09:10 PM.

[Cyprius]

Long format done, started up test number 4 and it crashed as soon as I initiated it. The exact same error string that was in the screenshot that I posted. After doing some digging, it appears that many people find the seatools application very unreliable and are have similar if not identical issues (crashing at 68%)

I feel like the last 4 hours worth of troubleshooting have led me in a loop. All this testing to say that I think I need to find some other way to diagnose my hdd.. haha I'm only laughing because I'm morally exhausted.

-Cyp

[usasma]

Try the Hitachi DFT (Drive Fitness Test) from the link I gave earlier. That is sometimes more reliable than the SeaTools.

Also, the gibberish at the top of the screen in your screenshot is the program crashing. I'm figuring the hard drive is damaged, but would suggest running the built in Windows memory test in order to rule that out ( http://www.bleepingc...utorial146.html ). If the built in test doesn't want to run, here's a link to additional tests: http://usasma.vox.co...iagnostics.html

If you pass the memory test, then it's either your hard drive or the motherboard. I'd suggest trying a new hard drive to see if that fixes it (check the store's return policy just in case).

[Cyprius]

Thanks again for getting back to me. I'm thinking along similar lines about the hdd or my mobo being defective. I tried running another chkdsk before bed just to see. It crashed on me again.

I'm gonna go grab an extra hdd after work and test it out, before I pop in the new one though I'll give a try to that software you suggested to see if I get better results.

[Cyprius]

I went and saw star trek last night, it was amazing. I was all pumped to install vista on my replacement HDD hoping that everything would work out... but of course more problems arised.

I finally had vista installed on the drive ( after a few problems ). At first it would reboot during the installation sequence like it was suposed to but it would post error message when it was turning back on saying windows had encountered and error and to run the repair utility from the disk (this was before the isntall was even finished) So i ran the repair utility, it fixed the issue, the installation was completed.

After the installation I installed all the latest drivers and a few small apps. I opened up about 10 applications like mozilla with multiple tabs open, ventrillo, windows media player.. etc just to have proccesses running throughout the night. I wake up this morning and there is an error message on each of the applications. I'm kicking myself because I rushed out the door this morning to work and didn't have time to write down the error. It was something to the effect of could not write to memory i/o or could not save to memory i/o.

After closing down every application I rebooted and now I get a black error screen before boot saying "windows has encountered an error press ctrl + alt + del to restart. Even if i do ctrl alt del it posts the same message everytime. I read a bit online before I left for work about this message and it said this could happen from installing windows xp/vista on a new harddrive without having formatting it.

Anyways this has turned into a relatively long post, let me know what you think or if you feel like I left something out.

Thanks

[usasma]

A fresh install on a fresh hard drive and you're still having issues.
Could you post the references about the installation on a new hard drive without formatting it first? I haven't heard of this issue before.

Since the formatting could possibly be a cause, try formatting the drive again and then installing Windows. Try running the built in memory test also (can't remember if you've done this yet). You also may want to run SiSoft Sandra Lite (free here: http://www.sisoftwar...n=sware_dl_3264 ) It may give you some clues about the motherboard issues.

[Cyprius]

I'm running off to work now, just to let you know.. I ran a full format last night on the new drive (took about 5-6 hours) and this morning about 30 odd minutes ago I started the vista installation. It froze at 58% and then blue screend. Error code 0x000000D1///nvstor.sys. I don't have the time to fiddle with anything because I'm leaving right this second but I just wanted to post the error message before I forgot it.

EDIT: sorry it says DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL at the top of the screen

Edited by Cyprius, 10 May 2009 - 07:24 AM.

[Cyprius]

At work now, I plan on running Sisoft sandra lite when I get home because I'm really starting to have difficulties believing that this can be caused by ANYTHING other than my motherboard at this point. It's the sole common denominator. And to answer a question I forgot to in my previous post, I did run about a dozen passes with microsoft's mem diagnostic with no issues.

I'm crying here because my motherboard is the evga 790i ultra ftw (775) and I realllllly am not looking forward to dishing out another 300$ canadian on a replacement.

EDIT: Another quick question now that i've looked over the sisoft sandra page. Will this tell me if theres a physical problem (ie: sata connectors failing) with the board or just if driver/software is incorrect?

Edited by Cyprius, 10 May 2009 - 08:35 AM.

[usasma]

nvstor.sys is likely to be your SATA storage drivers for your nVidia chipset (which could relate to the hard drive issues). Since the error happened on installation, it's unlikely that this is a driver error (despite the symbolic name of the error code).

Depending on the chipset of the board (and maybe even the board) there could be a problem with the way that the motherboard handles the memory. Do you have the parameters for the Blue Screen error message (the numbers after the 0x000000d1)?

What make and model motherboard do you have? How much RAM do you have (# of sticks and size of each stick). Have you updated the BIOS on the motherboard (don't do this until we've verified the information on your motherboard chipset - there were some issues a while back with nVidia chipsets and high amounts of RAM.