Drivers – most common cause of BSODS are corrupt and outdated drivers.
1) If you have updated the drivers after downloading them and the problem is still there.
2) Download “Driver sweeper” and install that on your troubled computer.
http://www.guru3d.com/category/driversweeper/
3) Download all latest drivers available from your manufacturer’s website
4) Boot in to Safe mode
5) Use driver sweeper to uninstall currently installed drivers
6) Reboot
7) Reboot into safe mode again
8) Install the latest drivers
9) Boot
*************************************************************************************Memory Test
BSODs can be caused by the hardware issues as well. Most common is the memory corruption. It is very important to run memtest on single stick of RAM at a time in troubled computer. Running test on all RAM sticks at once does not give accurate results
1) Download memtest
www.memtest.org (.iso file)
2) Burn that on a CD, as a bootable image
3) Turn your computer off
4) Remove all but one RAM stick from your computer
5) Boot your computer with memtest cd
6) Run 8 – 11 passes on that stick
7) Shutdown the PC
8) Take the tested RAM stick out and plug in the next RAM stick
9) Boot again with memtest CD and run 8 – 11 passes
Repeat the process until all RAM sticks are tested individually
If time permitted, it is also good to run windows memory test as well just so that if memtest+ didn’t catch something.
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HARD DRIVE Test
Another cause of BSODS is hard drive problems. Hard drive can have errors, sector corruption etc yet it does not make any noises that indicate that there is an problem
1) Download hard drive diagnostic tool from your hard drive manufacturer
http://www.tacktech.com/display.cfm?ttid=287
2) Burn that on CD as bootable image
3) Boot your computer with that CD
4) Run extensive test
CHKDSK -
Another way to find errors and bad sectors on the disk is to run use “CHKDSK”
Open up command prompts with elevated privileges
Type in “CHKDSK /F” – to fix errors on the disk
Type in “CHKDSK /R” – finds bad sectors and recovers readable information
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CPU Test
http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/
Download Prime 95
Use the Large FFTs for stress testing your CPU
Graphics Card Test –
Sometimes graphic drivers are the cause of BSODS. Updating, uninstalling and reinstalling, or even reverting to the older version of drivers does not solve the problem. Then there are two things that can be done.
1) Remove the video card and plug into another PC (if available) install the drivers and test the system to see if you start having the same issues.
2) Run furmark test to see if there are issues with your actual hardware.
http://www.ozone3d.net/benchmarks/fur/