the Way of the Turtle

BSOD Problem Diagnosed?
Monday, December 10, 2012

At irregular intervals pretty much ever since I got the new PC up and running, it's been hit with BSOD (Blue Screen of Death) crashes... and I've somewhat half-heartedly tried to diagnose the problem and fix it, without much success (I say half-heartedly, because whole-heartedly would mean digging into the log files it stores when a crash occurs - and I don't have much enthusiasm for that prospect, though I might have to do it anyway if this doesn't solve the problem.)

A lot of what I've read online suggests the problem is either a driver conflict (quite possible, since I'm running plenty of stuff designed for earlier versions of Windows on Windows 7) or a memory issue. Late last week I ran a diagnostic which informed me that my RAM/memory has hardware problems (!) and that I should contact HP for assistance. A little more research revealed that I didn't read the "fine print" as well as I'd thought when I chose this particular PC - it came with 8 GB of RAM that I assumed could be upgraded to whatever I want/can afford in the future, and in fact I installed an extra 16 GB when I set up the computer (only to discover that Windows 7 Home Edition only supports a total of 16 GB, requiring me to shell out another $70 for a key code to unlock my access to Windows 7 Professional Edition... thanks, Microsoft.) Now I've found out that the maximum RAM the motherboard is supposed to support is 16 GB (4x4 GB) rather than the 24 GB I've got installed.

Oddly enough, much of what I've read suggests that if the extra RAM is a problem the PC won't boot... or else the PC will only recognize the maximum amount. Mine boots fine (for the most part... it freezes occasionally after an update or crash) and claims it's seeing all 24 GB. At the same time, several sources are adamant that this critter will only support 16 GB, so I've ordered a pair of relatively inexpensive 4 GB chips to see if that solves the problem...

JMH

Ironically, a couple of hours after I posted this... another BSOD crash. Sigh...