Blue screening problem, please assist

[ishyishy]

Hello,

 

I recently built a new system. I replaced: video card, MB, hard drive, Optical drive, ram, processor, cpu cooler. Only things I am using from the old system is the power supply and the case. The PSU and case are about 3 years old, so not too bad. Ever since then, I have been having blue screen errors.

For the record, here is my hardware (dont think it matters but ill post it anyway)

- Antec 1200 case

- Cooler Master 850W psu

- Kingston hyperx 240GB SSD

- EVGA gtx 580 gpu

- EVGA z68 FTW MB

- i7 2600k cpu

- 16GB kingston hyperx ram

- blu-ray optical

 

About 5 months ago, it would happen every time i had a game open + anything else making sounds (pandora, a stream, etc) open. So I thought it was a video or audio driver problem. I re-installed those drivers, it happened again. I googled how to troubleshoot a blue screen error.

 

I followed everything that had been suggested:

 

- Memory check. I used Memtest86. Check turned up clean.

- OS Check. I used microsoft file checker, clean.

- Re-installed drivers: Video, audio, chipset, USB 3.0, Ethernet. Using manu site (evga)

- Flashed bios to the most current version using menu site (evga)

- Scanned for viruses with 3 different programs, clean.

- Stress tested my hard drive, video card, and ram. Tests ran fine with no problems.

 

After all of this, I was still blue screening.

 

I asked myself what other programs I had installed recently, and there was nothing out of the ordinary. So I decided to wipe my HD.

 

I wiped my HD partitions, I reset my RAM setting back to default (from 1600 back to 1333).

 

I then had about a 3-4 month period of NO BLUE SCREENS. I installed all of the same software and drivers, back to what it was when I was having persistent BSODS. It wasnt happening, no matter how many programs I had open, or what I was doing.

 

And now all of the sudden, with no changes to the hardware or software from my 4 month non-bsod period, and now im bsod'ing several times a day again.

 

I tried programs like 'WhoCrashed' to find out what was causing it, if it was a driver, and it couldnt pick up anything because my computer wasnt making dump files. I googled how to make sure that it made them, made the changes, and it still doesnt make a dump file.

 

The error code is something to the effect of 0x00000f4, which i looked up, and it's just a generic crash code that doesnt mean anything, and thats basically all it tells me.

 

Here is a small detail about the crash: When I bsod, I let the computer sit while it "collects the dump information" (and doesnt create the dump file for some reason) and then it resets itself after about a minute or so. As it is booting, it prompts me to select a bootable device and reset. What? It doesnt want to boot to my HD. I turned off the comptuer, let it sit for 30 seconds, and turned it back on. I checked the bios, and my HD is recognized by the bios. It then successfully boots to windows again.

 

I dont know what to troubleshoot anymore, but I have a gut feeling that my hard drive is failing on me, or that the connection to the HD is being severed somehow, or that my PSU is failing. But, I cant confirm any of that or even get a slight hint towards any of that other than what I have said thus far.

 

What should I do?

 

Thanks.

[sword_fish]

tho i haven't messed with SSDs yet but a Firmware Update might fix it.

[saywhut]

Is any component overclocked in any way? Before wiping your HD, you said you had your RAM at 1600 from the default 1333.

 

Do you also have another HD or SSD you can perhaps test your system on?