Problem solved. Computer BSoD. Again..

[ozzeh / dave]

For a while now I've been getting blue screens, and up until yesterday it's been occurring only in Borderlands 2. But yesterday and today I've bluescreened in TF2. Up until now it's only happened with a game open, and seems to happen randomly.


The error is PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA / portcls.sys / ntoskrnl.exe.


I've re-installed all my drivers and it still happens. I'm thinking about reformatting but I'm wondering if there's any chance of bad ram maybe? And if it is, how can I determine which ram stick(s) is/are responsible?


I'm running Windows 7 Ultimate Service Pack 1 / fully updated.

 

[hXcjedders]

I get that error too. I think it's hardware failure, since I have reformatted and had the same BSoD.

 

[bluehawk]

Every blue screen has an error code it's really long write it down and plug it into Microsoft support page and it will tell you the problem.

 

[KillerZebra]

Enable and run driver verifier. And run a memtest over night.

 

[ozzeh / dave]

Right, so I tried the driver verifier and rebooted, it didn't seem to do anything. No special screen or process appeared while booting up. So I logged back in to windows and the screen froze and everything stopped responding. So now here I am in safe mode, I'm probably going to just backup and reformat.

 

[PsychoRealm]

Locate and post here crash minidumps. Generally they are stored at %systemroot%\minidump. However, local may vary. BSOD dumps should help identifying the root cause.

Just as a side note. The module causing BSOD from your OP (portcls.sys) seems to be related to audio drivers (in particular, AC97 codec). You might wanna check your audio card (unless it's integrated).

 

[KillerZebra]

Driver verify doesn't show anything on the screen after you turn it on. What it does is stresses your drivers and if your computer crashes, it normally tells you which driver failed. Sometimes it doesn't work though.

Hopefully you created a restore point before turning it on.

 

[ozzeh / dave]

Gonna wait a few days to see if it crashes again and will post a minidump if/when it does.

memtest results:

Spoiler

 

[tux9656]

Perhaps something is overheating. When was the last time you cleaned all the dust out of your computer? My CPU tends to get a little too warm when I neglect to blow out the dust every so often.
If you don't have a lot of dust, you'll have to try everything in a process of elimination. First test your hardware, one piece at a time. If your hardware tests out alright, then it has to be a software problem.
To test the RAM, try Memtest86+.
To test the CPU, try cpuburn. (not sure if it's available for Windows)
To test the audio controller, just play some music or some sound files.
Once the RAM, CPU, and audio controller have been verified to be alright, test the graphics card with 3dmark.

 

[ozzeh / dave]

Perhaps something is overheating. When was the last time you cleaned all the dust out of your computer? My CPU tends to get a little too warm when I neglect to blow out the dust every so often.
If you don't have a lot of dust, you'll have to try everything in a process of elimination. First test your hardware, one piece at a time. If your hardware tests out alright, then it has to be a software problem.
To test the RAM, try Memtest86+.
To test the CPU, try cpuburn. (not sure if it's available for Windows)
To test the audio controller, just play some music or some sound files.
Once the RAM, CPU, and audio controller have been verified to be alright, test the graphics card with 3dmark.

I've done all that already. From what people have been telling me, it's probably my onboard audio. I'll probably get a soundcard to replace it soon but that's all I'm willing to buy for this machine as I'll be building a new one in the next few months anyway.