Routine blue screen of death after first boot, then OK.

[Sebastian42]

Even with NEW RAM, the PC may crash a few minutes after startup, but otherwise behaves well. 32xWin10ProV1909

 

[BigFeet]

We would certainly need more information. Complete system specs, exact BSOD error.

 

[Sebastian42]

Can I get a guide to what 'complete' entails ? Please note that it only taskes a reboot to overcome the Blue Screen error. I would like to send you a screenshot, but the PC is not capable of screenshooting at that stage. I realise that a phone-camera-shot might suffice, but fear that it would probably be fuzzy. While I was writing this reply, I lost the mouse cursor, CTTRL ALT DEL was ineffective and so had to do a hot restart.

 

[BigFeet]

I meant CPU, motherboard, graphics card (if applicable), ram (amount, speed), PC brand/model. Any overclocks? It's really hard to guess without knowing the exact error message. There can be literally thousands of causes for blue screens. It almost always hardware, but can be drivers. At least knowing what the blue screen error is helps narrow it down a little.

 

[Sebastian42]

CPU : Intel(R) CoreCfM) i7 CPU X 990 @ 3.47GHz
Mobo : Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. - X58A-UDS
Graphics card : NVIDIA GeForce GT 710
RAM : DATARAM DDR3 PC3-1600MHz U-DIMM 240pin - blue screen also with two matched 2Gb Chips - Crucial & Samsung
I have heard of overclocking but have not set it so myself.
The error message will have to wait till it happens again, and I manage to get a photo of it.

I think it just says that an error has occured and it will try to remedy it, itself.

 

[BigFeet]

It should give a "stop code" at the bottom of the blue screen. That should help narrow it down. Have you monitored the CPU temperatures?
Just curious. That motherboard supports triple channel ram. If you have only 2 sticks, what slots are they in?

 

[BigFeet]

Another thing I notice, 990X only supports DDR3 1066.

 

[Sebastian42]

I forgot to add that the RAM chip is 4Gb; the RAM slots are 3 white and 3 blue - alternating, with blue nearest the CPU. When I use two 2Gb chips, they are in the two white slots nearest the CPU.

I had a faulty heatsink fan, and replaced it with a new one - but in troubleshooting and remedying THAT issue I did install a CPU temperature monitoring software; on one occasion I saw temperatures as high as 100; that is when I replaced the fan. Since then I have looked only once, and the tempratures were in the forties.

"990X only supports DDR3 1066." Are you saying the 4Gb chip in inappropriate ?

The blue screen also happened with two 2Gb. UNlike the DATARAM, the Samsungs and Crucials do NOT give an MHz rating.
Crucial : 256MX64 ; Samsung : 2Rx8 PC3 10600U-09-10-B0

 

[BigFeet]

The max for that motherboard is 24gb, so a 4gb stick is fine. The ram speed you are using (1600 mhz) isn't supported by the CPU. It most likely down clocks it to 1066 mhz, but that could also cause instability. Though I've run 1600 mhz ram on a motherboard that only supports up to 1333 mhz without issue. It's just something to think about. The Samsung PC3 10600U is 1333 mhz. Have you tried running just one stick?

100 C is very high for that CPU. The max temperature is 67 C. That certainly could have damaged it.

 

[Sebastian42]

"The max for that motherboard is 24gb, so a 4gb stick is fine." As far as I know the 32bit version of Windows 10 can use only 4Gb.

"The ram speed you are using (1600 mhz) isn't supported by the CPU" Only the 4Gb has its speed marked (as 1600MHz); it works as well as the other 2Gb chips (but no better).

"but that could also cause instability" - like the Blue Screen crashes ?

"Though I've run 1600 mhz ram on a motherboard that only supports up to 1333 mhz without issue." As I seem to be doing too.

"Have you tried running just one stick?" I have and it works no worse. I just thought that more RAM (up to 4Gb) would be better (SOMEHOW)

"could have damaged it." Would that explain blue screen crashes soon after first booting ?

"100 C is very high for that CPU." I agree - that is why I replaced the fan. Current temps are <40 .

 

[Wolfie]

The CPU draws around 130W of power, what is your power supply (PSU) rated as?.

 

[BigFeet]

Yes, the CPU being overheated could certainly cause a blue screen at boot. I'm not saying that's the issue, but it's certainly a possibility. I accidentally overheated my video card badly one time. From that time on it never was the same. It ran for 3 more years, but started losing signal for no reason, then it start giving me a blue screen whenever I put a load on it.

Your issue is going to be a tough one. When was the last time you did a clean install of Windows? I would recommend maybe trying that. And definitely I would recommend the 64 bit version.

 

[Sebastian42]

PSU is 680watts. Reinstall of Windows is out of the question for an inconvenience of BSOD - Every week there is some or other enhancement to the overall system; would be too much effort to get it back to the current level of customisation.

 

[Wolfie]

It might be a problem with the HDD/SDD, what type of storage are you using and have you tested that for damage?.

 

[Sebastian42]

The system is on SSD - there is also one SSD permanently connected for certain storage and a HDD also permanently connected for another type of storage; and one USB, frequently accessed for a third type of storage. Have not tested for damage.

 

[Wolfie]

Your main SSD connection should be in SATA 0 on the motherboard, is that the case?, the other drives are not so important!.

 

[Sebastian42]

When I set up the connections to the 10 SATA ports I recorded what I knew about them (from BIOS info) and my records say that the main SSD is connected to SCSI 1 (of which there are two). I will check, but I do not think I saw a numbering of SATA

 

[Sebastian42]

I have found the SATA diagram and number configurations in the mobo manual - and will try to re-arrange the allocation of the SSD connection.

 

[Sebastian42]

I have changed the connection so SSD is on SATA0. It booted to NO mouse cursor. A reboot fixed that.

 

[Wolfie]

Okay, now what about the system stability?, is it stable now?.