Win 8 BSOD every 5 minutes on Asus tablet

J

JohnMcD

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Joined
Aug 3, 2013
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10
Location
Christchurch, New Zealand
Computer is an Asus win8 tablet. BSOD is occurring about every 5 minutes with me as user. My partner is having less trouble somehow, with a couple of BSOD in 20 mintues, and nothing for last hour. Files attached, though BSOD happened before log was fully complete. Perfmon report was done after restart.

There are no additional hardware devices installed or attached.

BSOD began happening today 04/08/2013.

If relevant the tablet was returned to dealer for repair due to faulty touchscreen and was replaced.

In file $evtx_sys_dump.txt is shows errors for today from about event_448 with UNDF reflector and WUDFPF driver (whatever those are?) and at event_434 with with Trusted_Platform_Module

VERY much appreciate advice to fix this.
 

Attachments

Hi,

We have many DRIVER_POWER_STATE_FAILURE (9f) bugchecks attached, all of which are faulting ACPI.sys. This is not the true cause however, as ACPI.sys is the ACPI Driver for NT and is a Windows system driver. If we instead however run an !irp on the blocked IRP address of the *9F DMP files we have, we get the following:

Code: 
>[ 16, 2]   0 e1 861e6998 00000000 810a2e8b-85ed5280 Success Error Cancel pending
          Unable to load image \SystemRoot\system32\drivers\[COLOR=#ff0000][U][B]isstrtc.sys[/B][/U][/COLOR], Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for [COLOR=#ff0000][U][B]isstrtc.sys[/B][/U][/COLOR]
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for [COLOR=#ff0000][U][B]isstrtc.sys[/B][/U][/COLOR]
 \Driver\IntelSST    nt!PopRequestCompletion

As you can see, the true culprit appears to be isstrtc.sys which is the Intel SST Audio Driver (WDM). Given that this is a tablet, the driver is OEM so there is not much we can do. I am wondering if we possibly have another device driver causing conflicts here, so I am going to recommend enabling Driver Verifier:

Driver Verifier:
What is Driver Verifier?
Driver Verifier is included in Windows 8, 7, Windows Server 2008 R2, Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 2000, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003 to promote stability and reliability; you can use this tool to troubleshoot driver issues. Windows kernel-mode components can cause system corruption or system failures as a result of an improperly written driver, such as an earlier version of a Windows Driver Model (WDM) driver.
Essentially, if there's a 3rd party driver believed to be at issue, enabling Driver Verifier will help flush out the rogue driver by flagging it and causing your system to BSOD.
Before enabling Driver Verifier, it is recommended to create a System Restore Point:
Vista - START | type rstrui - create a restore point
Windows 7 - START | type create | select "Create a Restore Point"
How to enable Driver Verifier:
Start > type "verifier" without the quotes > Select the following options -
1. Select - "Create custom settings (for code developers)"
2. Select - "Select individual settings from a full list"
3. Check the following boxes -
- Special Pool
- Pool Tracking
- Force IRQL Checking
- Deadlock Detection
- Security Checks (Windows 7)
- Concurrentcy Stress Test (Windows 8)
- DDI compliance checking (Windows 8)
- Miscellaneous Checks
4. Select - "Select driver names from a list"
5. Click on the "Provider" tab. This will sort all of the drivers by the provider.
6. Check EVERY box that is NOT provided by Microsoft / Microsoft Corporation.
7. Click on Finish.
8. Restart.
Important information regarding Driver Verifier:
- If Driver Verifier finds a violation, the system will BSOD.
- After enabling Driver Verifier and restarting the system, depending on the culprit, if for example the driver is on start-up, you may not be able to get back into normal Windows because Driver Verifier will flag it, and as stated above, that will cause / force a BSOD.
If this happens, do not panic, do the following:
- Boot into Safe Mode by repeatedly tapping the F8 key during boot-up.
- Once in Safe Mode - Start > type "system restore" without the quotes.
- Choose the restore point you created earlier.
If you did not set up a restore point, do not worry, you can still disable Driver Verifier to get back into normal Windows:
- Start > Search > type "cmd" without the quotes.
- To turn off Driver Verifier, type in cmd "verifier /reset" without the quotes.
- Restart and boot into normal Windows.
How long should I keep Driver Verifier enabled for?
It varies, many experts and analysts have different recommendations. Personally, I recommend keeping it enabled for at least 36-48 hours. If you don't BSOD by then, disable Driver Verifier.
My system BSOD'd, where can I find the crash dumps?
They will be located in C:\Windows\Minidump
Any other questions can most likely be answered by this article:
Using Driver Verifier to identify issues with Windows drivers for advanced users
Click to expand...

Regards,

Patrick
 
Reinstall of OS was of no help. BSOD again within a few minutes :-(
Click to expand...

Hi,

As long as you aren't installing any troublesome 3rd party driver consistently, this implies a hardware issue. Can you attach the latest dump please so I can take a look?

Regards,

Patrick
 
Hi Patrick,
here's the latest dump. I enabled verifier again, followed by restart of the tablet, and waiting for BSOD again. I tried to check verifier was running but had issue with the command line... from either powershell or from cmd prompt, ran verifier /querysettings, this opened a new cmd box, ran the command and promptly closed! unable to read the output, but presuming it was setup.

Thanks for your time on this.

John.
 

Attachments

Still seeing *9F bugchecks faulting isstrtc.sys and verifier doesn't appear to be enabled. Since you mentioned you reinstalled Windows and you are still having the problems, it's likely something went wrong during the replacement of the screen.

BSOD began happening today 04/08/2013.
Click to expand...

Normally I would ask if you're consistently installing any problematic 3rd party drivers that you haven't installed until today, but since you did a clean install, I doubt it's driver related.

How old is the tablet? Is it eligible for replacement?

Regards,

Patrick
 
Hi
that's really annoying about verifier not enabled. I'm definitely following the instructions precisely. not sure how to confirm it is running/enabled though.

Just getting a BIOS update to install also, but BSOD happening before it can complete :-(

yep, it's still under warranty. will give it another 30 minutes then call it a day.

John.
 
Technically, verifier IS enabled, however the system is crashing so frequently and consistently (due to hardware failure) that Driver Verifier doesn't have any time to do its job, so it's essentially not 'enabled'.

Regards,

Patrick
 
OK, so that explains that part.

I've got it in safe mode, with network on, and am updating the BIOS anyway. The BSOD doesn't seem to happen (yet) in safe mode.

Don't wait on more from me in next few hours as getting late. Will probably throw back at dealer tomorrow.

John.
 
Patrick
The info you've provided has been helpful. I've disabled the audio drivers and the BSOD seems to have stopped occurring. I've also recognised that several drivers are out of date. Asus have an update program that wasn't enabled, and is now attempting to update BIOS and drivers. It's a slow progress.

John.
 
still some updates to complete.

However, re-enabling three particular drivers and BSOD starts again.

these are:
Speakers (Intel SST audio device driver WDM)
Intel SST audio device driver WDM
Reaktek I2S Audio codec
 
Yeah, it seems hardware related in regards to audio. Something likely went wrong when replacing the touch screen, that's my only guess (especially given you said that's when it started).

Regards,

Patrick
 

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