Im not too sure where to go after finding info out about bsod. Its a fresh install of windows so i'd like to think that there can be some order of elimination method.
So to update my progress from a few days ago
The computer passed a 4 hour memtest with 3 and a bit passes.
When I had the computer at my place I couldn't get it to blue screen however when he takins it to his he it seems to happen very often.
also the errors have kind of changed after I reinstalled the graphics drivers
MSI Kombustor.
Also, read my previous post.
Weird!
Do you have your anti-virus enabled?
I had similar issues with an old HDD. I built my machine put my old hard drive in and couldn't get drivers to install without a failure. Thought it was just AMD's drivers Finally got them to install but every now and then my drivers would crash and restore themselves.
I put a new hard drive in the machine didn't have any problems after that.
No fresh install of windows (multiple times)
The SSD isn't something that I've really considered tbh. But ill keep it in mind.
This is pretty advanced stuff for me I'd like to take the easy way out if there is any. Im not sure what im looking for.
As an update to some of my earlier comments.
Had to reinstall (again) to get around this error.
Yeah I could only test it for about 2 hours in my computer before we decided to pack it up (we thought it was fixed). The worst part is that the bsods are inconsistent and can really only be triggered sometimes. I couldn't really force it to happen.
Im going to make him run MSI Kombustor and see if that forces a BSOD. Are there any really useful guides for diagnosing components.
So the latest errors that I've been getting is that when he tries to launch ESO (Elder Scrolls Online) it tends to blue screen at login making the game unplayable. Also we have been able to play Terraria for a few hours together and he hasn't bsod.
I really feel like shit about this build. I first put it together about a week ago and it still doesn't work the way it should. I like it when I can just unbox things plug them in install drivers and be on my way.
So do any of these problems sound like Graphics card related issues:
Playing Batman and textures don't load and some models are missing. Apparently he got his ass kicked by killer croc because he couldn't see him and then a gas tank blew up that he couldn't see.
Playing ESO and character textures just turn solid purple.
Here is a little driver update tool. http://www.iobit.com/en/driver-booster.php You might look at device manager to see if you have any device issues. Windows event viewer while in greek can be googled for clarity and lead you to the source of your issue.
I would uninstall AMD Display drivers and clean with Display Driver Uninstaller.
Move the GPU to another slot and reinstall latest AMD drivers (double check chipset drivers). Still a problem then it probably is GPU at fault or possibly PSU.
It is the latest installed from the box.
I was about to do this but too bad i didn't. I believe that the next slot is only wired for 8x anyway. Maybe.
This wasnt exactly explained to me. What is it for? Where do we go from there. We want to use windows 8.1 on the system.
This doesnt make much sense to me and less sense when i try to diagnose over skype.
Corsair vs 550 W.
THe blue screens are too random to be able to diagnose with any sucess. Im going to take it to a computer shop so that they can test each component. I need some way to check if mobo is faulty.
I've had this happen several times with corrupted/badly flashed graphics card bios. has the bios been modified?
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/toolsofthetrade/ht/sfc-scannow.htm That windows update error leads me to also believe that your system may not be fully updated or that you may have corrupted system files or Malware/virus infection. A clean reinstall maybe in order.
The reason behind trying linux on the machine is too rule out an issue with windows - drivers etc.
- takes a few minutes to download a distro of choice (mint, ubuntu etc), make a usb bootable with the image (unetbootin is a decent enough app to make the usb), boot off that usb (set the pc to boot from usb port in the BIOS), 'try' the linux distro - (it will make no changes to your existing windows install).
Linux (eg Mint) has default AMD drivers that work well enough to get things going, so download and install something like the Heaven benchmark & install it (follow the instructions), if there are graphic issues then its a hardware fault, if it runs without issue its a software fault (windows ~ drivers etc).
All you do is after some testing shutdown, remove usb stick, upon booting back up it will be the normal windows boot sequence.
Also:
- it wont matter what speed the pcie lane is - if it fits test it.
- just point your mate to the Tek's video on using the Event Viewer
https://teksyndicate.com/videos/windows-event-log-explained
I've reinstalled windows too many times to think that its a software issue. It's a new system with pretty much no chance of getting malware of virus.
Yeah the reason why I don't really wanna take this route is because even when I watch the video I don't understand that much. Not to say that its a bad video as such its just that this level of fault finding is above my ability to understand what I'm doing.
Ok it makes sense. This is a last resort kind of option for me. How will I know if there is a hardware fault while using linux then? In fact is there a useful forum you can link me to that teaches me about linux distros and troubleshooting?
The event viewer is well worth going through - it will saves countless hours of troubleshooting. See what errors and warnings are occuring, google em and remedy them.
All you have to do in linux is see if the system shits itself or not - run a benchmark tool like Heaven (how to install), run the benchmark - if shit breaks/artifacting etc then its a hardware fault.
