New build question

Hi, Darren here, I have just completed my first build. I have one problem, I have been getting a BSOD a couple times a day. The widows error reporting system says it was a driver that caused the issue but nothing else. The system is as follows AMD athlon x2 5200+ 65W 2 gigs corsair ddr2 memory DFI NF570 SLI-M2/G motherboard XFX GeForce 8600 GTS video card antec 850 PSU an antec 900 case seagate 500 GB hard drive and also Maxtor 60 GB as well and a Hanns-g 19" LCD monitor. I am not sure if this is the appropriate forum for this kind of help request. I thnak you in advance foe any assistance you can provide. Darren

The exact error number and message of the BSOD might help.

It is not uncommon for brand new components to come with outdated drivers. I would suggest you go out to DFI and XFX and ensure you have the latest drivers and BIOS for the motherboard and drivers for your graphics card.

Concerning your graphics card, did you connect power to its power connector?

You need to look in device manager and see if there are any errors listed.

Did you ensure there is TIM (thermal interface material) between the CPU and heatsink?

Did you observe ESD precautions to ensure no static damage occurred?

Are you 110% certain, without a doubt positive that you only used case standoffs where the motherboard has a corresponding mounting hole? This is crucial and a common mistake area for new builders - cases support 1000s of motherboards and so there are always more case holes than motherboard holes.

If the above is okay, I would remove all but one stick of RAM, any extra hard and all optical drives, USB devices and run like that for awhile. If fine, swap RAM modules and try again.

You can test your RAM using one of these programs. Both require you to create and boot to a bootable floppy or CD to run the diagnostics. Using the floppy method is generally easier and yet another reason I still include floppy drives in all my new PC builds. However, the CD method is just as effective at detecting RAM problems. Allow the diagnostics to run for several passes or even overnight. You should have no reported errors.

Windows Memory Diagnostic - see the easy to follow instructions under Quick Start Information.

MemTest86+ - an excellent how-to guide is available here.

Is there a way to keep the BSOD up longer? The computer re boots so quickly that I can not see the exact error code. As stated the only thing I have been able to get thus far is from windows error reporting. That states that a driver causes the error.

Try disabling Automatic restart. This will cause the system to halt at the infamous blue screen of death (BSOD) instead of continually rebooting, and hopefully display a useful error code and message. And it will allow you to look for errors in the Event Log. To change the recovery settings to disable Automatic restart:

1. Right-click My Computer and go to Properties > Advanced

2. Under Startup and Recovery, click Settings to open the Startup and Recovery settings menu

3. Under System Failure, uncheck the Automatically restart check box, then click OK as needed to exit out

4. Restart the computer and see what happens

At this point, when/if a fatal error occurs, it should not automatically reboot, but give you the BSOD. This does not fix the problem causing the fatal errors, but it does stop the endless reboot cycle and hopefully allow further troubleshooting.

Ok that is done when I get the screen again I will see if I can get the error code for you

You still need to look at the other things I listed.

working on all that as we speak

Ok I have updated the drivers everything should be up to date. Note I have not had the BSOD at al today since i have updated the drivers last night. Grafix card does have power to it. No errors listed in the device manager TIM is in place ESD precautions followed Case standoffs were checked and double checked at time of the build

Good - on all counts.

Hopefully the new drivers will take care of it. If it does happen again, you can plug the error number - for example, STOP: 0x00000050 into Google for some clues. Also, look in Event Viewer for errors with a time stamp within a couple seconds of the crash.

I would keep an eye on your temperatures, particularly, the CPU temps. Your motherboard utilities disk should have a monitoring program (check for a more recent version on your maker's website). If none, I recommend CoreTemp for newer Intel and AMD64 CPUs. Speedfan is a great and popular alternative, or you can try Motherboard Monitor.

STOP Messages

Already running core temp and even running multiple apps and game have not seen the temp above 41C

That's good.

Ok here is the error code I get with the BSOD Stop 0x0000008e(oxC0000005, 0xBFA280DD,OXBAA7774C,OX00000000) NV_4disp.dll- adress BFA2800DD Base at BF9D5000 Date stamp 46ee3c9a

here is the windows error reporting message. You received this message because a device driver installed on your computer caused the Windows operating system to stop unexpectedly. This type of error is referred to as a "stop error." A stop error requires you to restart your computer. More information ——————————————————————————– Problem report summary Problem type Windows stop error (a message appears on a blue screen with error code information) Solution available? No What does this problem mean? Windows has encountered a problem it cannot recover from and it needs to be restarted Cause Unknown Computer symptoms A message appears on a blue screen with error code information (for example: 0x0000001E, KMODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED) Additional steps for you to take Please continue to send problem reports so analysts at Microsoft can study and try to correct the problem as quickly as possible

Well, Stop 0x0000008e points to numerous things including RAM, drivers and even PSU problems. You still need to eliminate your RAM as the source of the problems. Even though NV_4disp.dll-definitely points to the nVidia drivers, it may be the drivers are hitting a memory address that is bad.

If RAM is good, I would completely remove your nVidia drivers and start over. The best way I know to do that is with DriverCleaner as this purges all traces of the old. Then install the new drivers again.

I also found this thread - I think it is worth checking it out. You say you just completed this build - what does "just" mean in time? Did the BSODs start immediately? Did you surf the net without setting up your security defenses first?

More Info: Troubleshooting Stop Messages

I used diver cleaner and re installed the drivers. I will see how that works, and if the issue continues I will go for the memory, Probably in a day or so .. busy weekend comming up