[SOLVED] My laptop crashes without warning, I can`t solve it. PROBLEM: Mismatched RAM. FIX: I buyed only one 32GB stick and changed the RAM.

foxyBuddy

foxyBuddy

Member
Joined
Apr 13, 2023
Posts
10
My laptop has been crashing since late March. BSODs come randomly without warning.

I tried to run Windbg preview these days, all of crashdumps don`t give me favorable results and I can`t find what causes BSOD.

Also, I tried to ran Window Memory Diagnosic, Dell BIOS Hardware scanning, and even reinstall Windows 10, none of them worked.

When I ran memtest64 for memory error, my laptop crashed.

Today, my laptop crashed four times, which made me very annoyed. I can`t learn on laptop, do my university homework and even my competition.

I am very afraid when I am on respondent this month. If my laptop crashes, my all hard work would go in vain.


Laptop specs:
Manufacturer: Dell
Model number: Dell G5 5500
OS:Windows 10 22H2 x64
OEM or Retailed: OEM with Microsoft Account digitally activated
Time since bought: more than 2 years
Last install time: April 11, with all personal files, settings reserved
Have you re-installed the OS? Yes
CPU: i7-10750H(6Cores, 12Threads)
RAM:Samsung with unknown Model Number, 32GB total
Video Card: Intel UHD Graphic+Nvidia Geforce RTX 2060
driver verifier: How to enable?
Security software:Windows Defender
proxy, vpn, ipfilters: Yes
Disk Image tools? No since last reinstall
overclocking? No and no software related installed

Image attachment: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/3GLRmQhcLbEQCZPP5CYfsgh
Here is my dumpfile attachment. I want someone to answer me ASAP since I don`t want to buy brand new one before senior.
 

Attachments

I'm afraid that I'm unable to read a System log that's not in English. That said, there are a few of these fatal error messages in your log...
Code: 
Event[1920]:
  Log Name: System
  Source: Microsoft-Windows-NDIS
  Date: 2023-04-12T08:24:09.5990000Z
  Event ID: 10317
  Task: PnP
  Level: ´íÎó
  Opcode: ÐÅÏ¢
  Keyword: N/A
  User: N/A
  User Name: N/A
  Computer: DESKTOP-2L8M8AG
  Description: 
΢ÐÍ¶Ë¿Ú Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2¡¢{f27c696a-23ac-414f-8cf4-e32ffe75b8f2} °üº¬Ê¼þ Fatal error: The miniport has failed a power transition to operational power
This would suggest that there is an issue with your wireless card (your AX201) or the driver. The driver is from September 2022, so I would look for an updated driver on the Dell website.

In addition, and potentially more serious, your two RAM cards have different part numbers, indicating that they are not a matched pair. One is M471A2K43DB1-CWE and the other is M471A2K43EB1-CWE. Have you added additional RAM since you bought the laptop?
 
ubuysa said:
I'm afraid that I'm unable to read a System log that's not in English. That said, there are a few of these fatal error messages in your log...
Code: 
Event[1920]:
  Log Name: System
  Source: Microsoft-Windows-NDIS
  Date: 2023-04-12T08:24:09.5990000Z
  Event ID: 10317
  Task: PnP
  Level: ´íÎó
  Opcode: ÐÅÏ¢
  Keyword: N/A
  User: N/A
  User Name: N/A
  Computer: DESKTOP-2L8M8AG
  Description:
΢ÐÍ¶Ë¿Ú Microsoft Wi-Fi Direct Virtual Adapter #2¡¢{f27c696a-23ac-414f-8cf4-e32ffe75b8f2} °üº¬Ê¼þ Fatal error: The miniport has failed a power transition to operational power
This would suggest that there is an issue with your wireless card (your AX201) or the driver. The driver is from September 2022, so I would look for an updated driver on the Dell website.

In addition, and potentially more serious, your two RAM cards have different part numbers, indicating that they are not a matched pair. One is M471A2K43DB1-CWE and the other is M471A2K43EB1-CWE. Have you added additional RAM since you bought the laptop?
Click to expand...
Yes, I added more RAM for competition. Originally, my laptop was only 8G and added to 16G, which ran successfully and I checked part numbers very carefully before I bought new RAM.
Some unrecognized words are:
ÐÅÏ¢ is information,´íÎó is error, ΢ÐÍ¶Ë¿Ú is Miniport, °üº¬Ê¼þ is include events
Here are new details should I posted:
Click to expand...
I ran sfc/scannow in administrator mode, firstly it recovered some files and secondly the same.
The first crash today was occurred before the login screen shows. Error code says KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE
Second crash says SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED
Third time was IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL with Ntfs.sys in bluescreenview
Fourth time was SYSTEM_THREAD_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED again with FLTMGR.SYS

I will reboot in recovery mode(My laptop has a recovery partition)and run chkdsk tools. Then I will send you log files if exists.

foxyBuddy said:
I will reboot in recovery mode(My laptop has a recovery partition)and run chkdsk tools. Then I will send you log files if exists.
Click to expand...
No, it doesn`t works and it says can`t check C partition since it is used.
Bro, you said there is a fault in my wireless card (my AX201) or the driver. I will search if there is new version of driver on Windows Update or Dell website.
 
@foxyBuddy

We understand computer problems can be stressful and that's what we are here to help with.

Please understand, our techs are on a volunteer basis and they have lives, jobs, Families. They will get to your issue as time permits.

Please be respectful and don't make multiple posts.

See here: Sysnative Forum Rules Pay close attention to the Be Polite part.

Thanks.
 
I am concerned about that additional RAM stick. Can you please remove the extra RAM you bought and see whether the laptop still BSODs?
 
ubuysa said:
I am concerned about that additional RAM stick. Can you please remove the extra RAM you bought and see whether the laptop still BSODs?
Click to expand...
I see, but there were some random BSODs before I added new RAM, especially this year. Tonight no new BSODs after fourth crash.

The seller told me that RAM in exact ID was no longer in product long ago and remove a RAM on laptop myself is very difficult.

According to other posts, I will make a memtest USB drive in the following days to analyze if there is any errors in my new RAM.
 
foxyBuddy said:
No, it doesn`t works and it says can`t check C partition since it is used.
Bro, you said there is a fault in my wireless card (my AX201) or the driver. I will search if there is new version of driver on Windows Update or Dell website.
Click to expand...
Yup, you have to select "check the disk at reboot" (or something similar to it).

You can use memtest86+ to check the RAM.
It doesn't have the limitation to four passes.
 
I'm uncomfortable leaving that extra RAM installed. The part numbers are close but not the same and even slightly mismatched RAM can cause BSODs.

No memory tester can ever prove that RAM is good. The only reliable way is to remove it.

For your AX201 you can also try the Intel Driver & Support Assistant at Intel® Driver & Support Assistant
 
ubuysa said:
I'm uncomfortable leaving that extra RAM installed. The part numbers are close but not the same and even slightly mismatched RAM can cause BSODs.

No memory tester can ever prove that RAM is good. The only reliable way is to remove it.

For your AX201 you can also try the Intel Driver & Support Assistant at Intel® Driver & Support Assistant
Click to expand...
I know, the most suspecious part is my new RAM. I searched there are still many RAM with correct ID on sale. I will update AX201 driver first today and see if BSODs are less frequent. Then I will go to retailer again this weekend to see if there are any RAM with correct ID or just remove it if BSOD continues.
And here is final question: is AX201 the only driver causes crash except for incorrect RAM added?
Today, no BSOD till now and I will post you dumpfiles if any.
Sorry for late reply for different time zones.
 
ubuysa said:
I'm uncomfortable leaving that extra RAM installed. The part numbers are close but not the same and even slightly mismatched RAM can cause BSODs.

No memory tester can ever prove that RAM is good. The only reliable way is to remove it.

For your AX201 you can also try the Intel Driver & Support Assistant at Intel® Driver & Support Assistant
Click to expand...
Sorry for bothering you again but my laptop crashed just now with code MEMORY_MANAGEMENT.
I updated all drivers up to date.
So the only solution is to replace RAM with the same product ID tomorrow. I can`t remove since my competition needs a lot RAM when running.
Here is new dumpfile and system information till now.
 

Attachments

I can't say for sure that the two different RAM part numbers is causing BSODs. However, I've done some extensive research on the characteristics and (especially) the timings of the two RAM cards that you have. The two sites I used are here..

For part number M471A2K43DB1-CWE RAM reviews Samsung M471A2K43DB1-CWE 16GB, characteristics, performance

For part number M471A2K43EB1-CWE RAM reviews Samsung M471A2K43EB1-CWE 16GB, characteristics, performance

If you compare the two you will see that all the timings match, except for the latency measured during PassMark testing. Latency is the time it takes for the RAM to return a memory value after being selected, and since the timings of the two different part numbers (in clock cycles) are the same then the latency should be the same - but it's not. One RAM card had a measured latency of 37ns whilst the other was 55ns, to me (and I'm not a hardware expert) that is sufficient evidence that the two RAM cards are NOT matched.

It would be nice if someone who is a hardware expert could comment, but I really would like to see how the laptop performs with just the original RAM card installed.

In the most recent dump, the MEMORY_MANAGEMENT on 14th April, there are no third-party drivers on the full call stack, that means that the only drivers being called were Microsoft drivers, which are considered flawless. That is a strong indication that the problem is hardware.

In this dump the call stack shows that address space cleanup was going on...
Code: 
4: kd> knL
 # Child-SP          RetAddr               Call Site
00 fffff50a`0404f058 fffff805`6a0bc49a     nt!KeBugCheckEx
01 fffff50a`0404f060 fffff805`6a06d836     nt!MiDeleteVa+0x153a
02 fffff50a`0404f160 fffff805`6a06d94b     nt!MiWalkPageTablesRecursively+0x776
03 fffff50a`0404f200 fffff805`6a06d94b     nt!MiWalkPageTablesRecursively+0x88b
04 fffff50a`0404f2a0 fffff805`6a06d94b     nt!MiWalkPageTablesRecursively+0x88b
05 fffff50a`0404f340 fffff805`6a06a94b     nt!MiDeleteVad+0x88b
06 fffff50a`0404f3e0 fffff805`6a0bad31     nt!MiWalkPageTables+0x36b
07 fffff50a`0404f4e0 fffff805`6a07e830     nt!MiDeletePagablePteRange+0x4f1
08 fffff50a`0404f7f0 fffff805`6a48555f     nt!MiDeleteVad+0x360
09 fffff50a`0404f900 fffff805`6a42441f     nt!MiCleanVad+0x43
0a fffff50a`0404f930 fffff805`6a431550     nt!MmCleanProcessAddressSpace+0x137
0b fffff50a`0404f9b0 fffff805`6a70da92     nt!PspRundownSingleProcess+0x20c
0c fffff50a`0404fa40 fffff805`6a08e5c5     nt!PspProcessRundownWorkerSingle+0x32
0d fffff50a`0404fa70 fffff805`6a1265f5     nt!ExpWorkerThread+0x105
0e fffff50a`0404fb10 fffff805`6a204848     nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x55
0f fffff50a`0404fb60 00000000`00000000     nt!KiStartSystemThread+0x28
We can see calls to nt!MiCleanVad and nt!MiDeleteVad to remove an address space (the virtual memory in which a process runs), followed by calls to nt!MiDeletePagablePteRange, which deletes the page tables for this address space (these map virtual addresses to real memory addresses). Then things start to become unusual, we see another call to delete the address space, followed by multiple calls to re-check the page table structure, then a final call to delete the address space and then the bugcheck that caused the BSOD.

This then was a problem deleting an address space and the page tables associated with it. All that points straight at RAM - again.

I do appreciate that you need 32GB of RAM but all my spider-senses are telling me that you have mismatched RAM and that this is most likely contributing to your BSODs. The only way to conclusively prove that is to remove the new card and see whether it BSODs on the original one alone. I have no idea whether the competition you need the extra RAM for runs continuously, but if not would it be possible to remove the extra RAM at a time when the competition is not running?

It's going to be difficult to troubleshoot further with suspicion hanging over the RAM, with each new BSOD we'd always be wondering whether this is that RAM or whether it's something else...

One other possibility, and I have no idea what your financial situation might be, but Crucial have compatible RAM for your laptop at $34.99 for a 16GB card. It may be wiser to scrap the two RAM cards you have and buy a matched pair of 16GB RAM cards from Crucial, or from another vendor.

It is possible that there are other issues on the laptop, I note that you said you had BSODs before you added the extra RAM, and we've already seen those fatal errors for the AX201 during a power transition, though that may be resolved by a driver update. I looked on the Dell support site for a suitable driver, but it seems that the G5-5500 came with a Killer wireless card, because they only have a Killer driver available. Have you replaced the wireless card as well?

Another bit of advice about drivers; laptops often have highly customised drivers, mainly for reasons of power saving. It's not uncommon to find that generic drivers (from Nvidia, Intel, etc.) do not function properly on laptops because they don't contain these customisations. It's always wiser with laptops to use only the drivers provided by the vendor's support site, and for you that means the Dell support site. For example, the power transition failure message in your System log is typical of the sort of failure we'd expect if you don't use the customised Dell drivers.
 
Last edited:
ubuysa said:
I can't say for sure that the two different RAM part numbers is causing BSODs. However, I've done some extensive research on the characteristics and (especially) the timings of the two RAM cards that you have. The two sites I used are here..

For part number M471A2K43DB1-CWE RAM reviews Samsung M471A2K43DB1-CWE 16GB, characteristics, performance

For part number M471A2K43EB1-CWE RAM reviews Samsung M471A2K43EB1-CWE 16GB, characteristics, performance

If you compare the two you will see that all the timings match, except for the latency measured during PassMark testing. Latency is the time it takes for the RAM to return a memory value after being selected, and since the timings of the two different part numbers (in clock cycles) are the same then the latency should be the same - but it's not. One RAM card had a measured latency of 37ns whilst the other was 55ns, to me (and I'm not a hardware expert) that is sufficient evidence that the two RAM cards are NOT matched.

It would be nice if someone who is a hardware expert could comment, but I really would like to see how the laptop performs with just the original RAM card installed.

In the most recent dump, the MEMORY_MANAGEMENT on 14th April, there are no third-party drivers on the full call stack, that means that the only drivers being called were Microsoft drivers, which are considered flawless. That is a strong indication that the problem is hardware.

In this dump the call stack shows that address space cleanup was going on...
Code: 
4: kd> knL
 # Child-SP          RetAddr               Call Site
00 fffff50a`0404f058 fffff805`6a0bc49a     nt!KeBugCheckEx
01 fffff50a`0404f060 fffff805`6a06d836     nt!MiDeleteVa+0x153a
02 fffff50a`0404f160 fffff805`6a06d94b     nt!MiWalkPageTablesRecursively+0x776
03 fffff50a`0404f200 fffff805`6a06d94b     nt!MiWalkPageTablesRecursively+0x88b
04 fffff50a`0404f2a0 fffff805`6a06d94b     nt!MiWalkPageTablesRecursively+0x88b
05 fffff50a`0404f340 fffff805`6a06a94b     nt!MiDeleteVad+0x88b
06 fffff50a`0404f3e0 fffff805`6a0bad31     nt!MiWalkPageTables+0x36b
07 fffff50a`0404f4e0 fffff805`6a07e830     nt!MiDeletePagablePteRange+0x4f1
08 fffff50a`0404f7f0 fffff805`6a48555f     nt!MiDeleteVad+0x360
09 fffff50a`0404f900 fffff805`6a42441f     nt!MiCleanVad+0x43
0a fffff50a`0404f930 fffff805`6a431550     nt!MmCleanProcessAddressSpace+0x137
0b fffff50a`0404f9b0 fffff805`6a70da92     nt!PspRundownSingleProcess+0x20c
0c fffff50a`0404fa40 fffff805`6a08e5c5     nt!PspProcessRundownWorkerSingle+0x32
0d fffff50a`0404fa70 fffff805`6a1265f5     nt!ExpWorkerThread+0x105
0e fffff50a`0404fb10 fffff805`6a204848     nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x55
0f fffff50a`0404fb60 00000000`00000000     nt!KiStartSystemThread+0x28
We can see calls to nt!MiCleanVad and nt!MiDeleteVad to remove an address space (the virtual memory in which a process runs), followed by calls to nt!MiDeletePagablePteRange, which deletes the page tables for this address space (these map virtual addresses to real memory addresses). Then things start to become unusual, we see another call to delete the address space, followed by multiple calls to re-check the page table structure, then a final call to delete the address space and then the bugcheck that caused the BSOD.

This then was a problem deleting an address space and the page tables associated with it. All that points straight at RAM - again.

I do appreciate that you need 32GB of RAM but all my spider-senses are telling me that you have mismatched RAM and that this is most likely contributing to your BSODs. The only way to conclusively prove that is to remove the new card and see whether it BSODs on the original one alone. I have no idea whether the competition you need the extra RAM for runs continuously, but if not would it be possible to remove the extra RAM at a time when the competition is not running?

It's going to be difficult to troubleshoot further with suspicion hanging over the RAM, with each new BSOD we'd always be wondering whether this is that RAM or whether it's something else...

One other possibility, and I have no idea what your financial situation might be, but Crucial have compatible RAM for your laptop at $34.99 for a 16GB card. It may be wiser to scrap the two RAM cards you have and buy a matched pair of 16GB RAM cards from Crucial, or from another vendor.

It is possible that there are other issues on the laptop, I note that you said you had BSODs before you added the extra RAM, and we've already seen those fatal errors for the AX201 during a power transition, though that may be resolved by a driver update. I looked on the Dell support site for a suitable driver, but it seems that the G5-5500 came with a Killer wireless card, because they only have a Killer driver available. Have you replaced the wireless card as well?

Another bit of advice about drivers; laptops often have highly customised drivers, mainly for reasons of power saving. It's not uncommon to find that generic drivers (from Nvidia, Intel, etc.) do not function properly on laptops because they don't contain these customisations. It's always wiser with laptops to use only the drivers provided by the vendor's support site, and for you that means the Dell support site. For example, the power transition failure message in your System log is typical of the sort of failure we'd expect if you don't use the customised Dell drivers.
Click to expand...
I am very appreciate for your very professional kernel analyze comments.
My laptop crashed again with the same code as morning and no third-party drivers detected. No dumpfiles needed since the same cause.
The wireless card driver updated today and no more problems related to it.
According to new dumps and your advanced anayizes, I can find what is critical is my new RAM with incorrect part numbers.
I have contacted RAM retailer and he told me I can go to there whenever I can tomorrow and get correct RAM.
Also, before RAM was added, my laptop seldom crashed and all worked perfectly.
However, the original RAM was only 8GB and possibiy sticked on laptop`s motherboard, but I will have a try to replace with a 32GB whole one or just a new 16G with matched number.
Thank you for professional analyze and statement again and I will tell you what happen after I replace correct RAM!
yours.
 
Last edited:
Get two 16GB sticks. They will give better performance than one 32GB.

Ask for a matched pair of 16GB sticks.

If it still BSODs run the data collector app again.
 
ubuysa said:
Get two 16GB sticks. They will give better performance than one 32GB.

Ask for a matched pair of 16GB sticks.

If it still BSODs run the data collector app again.
Click to expand...
Here are some unanswered questions.
My competition includes strong AI training which needs large memory allocation and a powerful graphic card.
According to my real exprience, 16GB was almost not enough when faced with huge database sets. Now respondent is near I need more RAM to get more accurate results.
Before I post this thread, my laptop crashed sereval times with code PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA and MEMORY_MANAGEMENT. No dumpfiles because I reinstalled Windows 10 and it wiped all old installation files. But all of them pointed out to RAM as pagefile and memory management are RAM`s work from my major study.
Tomorrow, I will remove all of RAMs in my laptop and put two same 16GB(or at least the same product number, but 32GB in total) in it when I in a retail center.
If it still BSODs on Sunday or then, I will tell you ASAP.
 
Crashed the third time today. A different code appeared:KERNEL_SECURITY_CHECK_FAILURE
Tried WinDbg priview and memory was probably corrupted since it says physical memory read at BSOD parameters failed. Again, no third-party drivers detected neither in winDbg nor BlueScreenView.
Now the causes (in my view) is more apperent - the incorrect RAM. According to experiences recently, all the crashes prove that RAM issues are direct causes.
 

Attachments

I wouldn't say this proves that RAM is the cause, but it strongly indicates that it might well be.

Sometimes you can identify the root cuase from the dumps, but sometimes you have to use a bit of experience to point at the most likely cause. That's what we've done here.

Let's see how it goes with matched RAM.
 
ubuysa said:
I wouldn't say this proves that RAM is the cause, but it strongly indicates that it might well be.

Sometimes you can identify the root cuase from the dumps, but sometimes you have to use a bit of experience to point at the most likely cause. That's what we've done here.

Let's see how it goes with matched RAM.
Click to expand...
Hello for your most recent reply. My laptop finally replaced with single 32GB RAM stick. Hope my laptop will perform as good as my old single 16G.
I will test it and I will tell you what happens during weekend whatever BSOD comes or not on Monday.
Though you think two RAM will perform better, I think single RAM is far less the crash chance than double.
 
Here are my tests until today.
No more BSODs after 24 hours replacing with single 32GB stick.
I can finally learn on my laptop again!!!
Thank you for your professional analyzes and patient attitude to my problems again!
 

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