Background:
I purchased a set which featured 4 gigs of DDR3 and a socket FM1 processor. The mainboard was free with the purchase (rut-roh). Yes, I know. I purchased a hard drive separately... and it HAD to be a WD. I just don't trust any other brand. The PSU was an Antec. After a few months, the system began shutting off withtout warning and rebooting. I figured that there must be a board problem (since it was free), so I replaced the *Biostar with a new MSI board with the same specs; that way I could just transfer the memory and all to the new board. Unfortunately the processor got away from me and was damaged. I replaced it with a new AMD A8 and installed it with all the proper compound (I don't go with the stick-on crap). I also figured I'd install a new Seasonic PSU just to rule it out. I retained the original RAM and installed it on the new board. I installed Windows 7 clean, x86. Guess what... it started to do it again, but way less frequent (perhaps the new board had different memory dynamics). So I found my 64 bit CD and re-installed Windows in 64 bit. Still doing it. Okay... I found out that the BSOD is disabled in Windows 7 for some reason, and it was just rebooting without showing it. So I enabled it and got the error in the title of this. I also found the crash dump with a program I have. I included an attachment image of the screen cap from the report. Parameter 2 is c000009d.
0xC000009D, or STATUS_DEVICE_NOT_CONNECTED, indicates defective or loose cabling, termination, or that the controller does not see the hard disk.
What the Heck? Now... I KNOW that the RAM installed is from the old (still new) board, and is still in question. I ran CHKDSK and I used the WD Lifeguard utility afterwards. Being a new WD drive, I trust the out-of-box quality of it. I'm not sure if CHKDSK made any repairs to the volume, but I found two "windows old" folders in the directory, so I know it could not have been a clean installation from the previous upgrades and such. I know the SATA cables are good since I've swapped a few since the original board. I did a memory test for the RAM, btw. No results.
So I ordered new RAM, mainly because 64 bit affords me more than 4 gigs. Before I install it, perhaps I can verify the integrity of the old RAM chipset. In summary, since the only original hardware is the RAM and the HDD, I think the RAM is more likely the culprit. I've spent enough cash on swapping parts out, and I sort of want to build another system with the stuff I rejected (for a friend). I mean, it's been a day since the CHKDSK utility ran, and nothing happened since; but it's still early. Is there a more intensive check I can perform to really test the remaining hardware?