BSODs for 4 weeks now - desperate for advice

Been lurking on the forum trying to find a clue to my problem (below). After 4 weeks and still unresolved, I'm breaking my silence with a plea for help. (Rather detailed, sorry).

Ever since replacing my MB, CPU and Ram, I've been getting BSODs about once every day. The error messages are almost never the same - same goes for output from WinDBG. So far, I've done the following:
1) Virus checks with Comodo AV, AVG and Kasperski
2) Spyware checks with Spysweep AV, Spyware Nuker, Spyware Blaster
3) Anti trojan checks with Backlight, AIMfix, AVG anti-trojan
All above have repeatedly come up negative.

Re-installed XP pro (twice) - initially full install, most recently using a slipstreamed intallation with most bells and whistles removed.

Things got worse after installing latest ATI driver and vga.sys was implicated in a couple of error logs/debugging reports so I forced use of microsoft generic vga.sys and things were great for 2 days so I removed my Radeon 9600 agp card and reverted to onboard s3 vga. Since then things have improved but I'm still getting BSODs at least every other day. And the screen is really slow updating - I miss the radeon!

I've tried swapping the memory cards around. I've run Asus probe and CPU temp stays around 53 deg. Tried running the system with no peripherals attached and soundblaster card removed - OK for 24 hours then blue meany again.
Firefox.exe implicated a couple of times so uninstalled FF and re-installed latest version.

The only other clue I can think of is that it's never happened if there are only background services running - I rarely power down at night and it's always running in the mornings when I come back to it. About 90% of the time it crashes when I'm using the mouse and browsing/surfing but as my job requires that, I'm doing it most of the time anyway, so you'd expect that result.

On Tuesday, I'll try a new power supply but the one I'm using is only 1 month old. Any suggestions will be warmly received - at the moment it's a bit like the death of 1,000 cuts - each crash doesn't really bother me much but cumulatively, I'm dying here.

Can post latest crash dump and hijackthis log if anybody is interested in helping.

System
Asus P5VD Mainboard
Intel Pentium D Dual Core 3400Mhz
2x512 DDR II RAM
S3 onboard vga/Radeon 9600SE
soundblaster live 5.1
Win XP SP2 5.1.2600

 

It would genuinely help if you told us what the BSOD error number and error text was.

Question: Did you restore from an image, are you just booting from your original installation hard drive on this new motherboard? What exactly have you done to change the motherboards in terms of XP?

 

Thanks for this quick response.
I've done everything in the list given in your first reference except disable L2 caching which I'll try now.

Just about all the stop errors are 9c MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION.
The database of stop errors concludes with this:
"Most commonly it results from overheating, from failed hardware (RAM, CPU, hardware bus, power supply, etc.), or from pushing hardware beyond its capabilities (e.g., overclocking a CPU). "

I'm sure it's not overheating and the CPU is not overclocked. So that means failed hardware???

Normally, I would just take the CPU, MB and RAM back to the shop but I live in Laos and I know that the shop will not replace anything but insist on sending it all back to the manufacturers (which means to their suppliers in Thailand) who will take their time, refuse all refunds and make me wait at least a month for a replacement.

I can't be without my computer for that long so what this means is that I'll have to replace everything and whatever turns out to be broken throw away and eat the cost. So I need to be sure before I start replacing - I don't want to pay for something that wasn't broken.

Next question, where do I start?

 

Sorry Bill, your reply came in while I was writing the previous response.
Most errors are machine_check_exception 9c errors but winDbg gives different probabilities as to the culprit. The latest was videoprt.sys

I bought a new MB and CPU 4 weeks ago. I also uprated the Ram to DDR II.
XP was installed from cd using a disk provided by the shop that sold me the MB. Unattended install, burned on a disk. I have no idea of its origin other than that.

If I'm right in assuming that it is a hardware error,
is there a reliable way to detect which component is the most likely candidate for replacement? As I wrote earlier, I can't expect refunds or replacements so my decision needs to be made carefully.

 

Bsod

Hi Pieman, for what it's worth, are your sticks of RAM exactly identical in every way? incompatable RAM can cause quite a few funny things including BSOD. Neil.

 

Try the Microsoft Online Crash Analysis Memory Tester:
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

 

Thanks for the input so far.
retiredlearner: ram sticks bought at same time, same mfcture - identical.
Bill: Had MS mem test running all night. No problems reported.

 

Hi P1eman,

You have to provide the bugcheck parameter of bugcheck code 9C. They are very useful to diagnostic your problem. You can find it at the system event log 1001 or 1003.

The following is the common bugcheck parameter of bugcheck code 9C
00000004,80545ff0,b2000000,00070f0f

 

Again, thanks for any help.

Update:
Since the mem test found no fault, I've had 4 stop errors (in about 24 hours).
Also today I got back from the market and saw that the computer had reset while I was out. No user activity - only background services running. This is the first time it has happened when unattended. I'm usually working on something when it crashes.

cpc2004 (thanks for your input):

Bug check code and parameters:
0x0000009c (0x00000000, 0xf7a4b050, 0xb2000000, 0x1040080f)

DebugWiz/WinDbg suggestions for the last 5 events:
1Probably caused by : Unknown_Image ( ANALYSIS_INCONCLUSIVE )
2Probably caused by : sptd.sys ( sptd+148a8 )
3Probably caused by : VIDEOPRT.SYS ( VIDEOPRT!pVideoPortDispatch+d25 )
4 Probably caused by : Unknown_Image ( ANALYSIS_INCONCLUSIVE )
5 Probably caused by : VIDEOPRT.SYS ( VIDEOPRT!pVideoPortDispatch+d25 )

I'm resigned to having to replace something but still need to know what is the most likely candidate.

 

Hi,

Your problem is caused by BUSCONNERR (ie Bus and Interconnect Error). Probably the culprit is motherboard. Refer this problem

 

I made a trip to a computer shop this afternoon - the place I bought the cpu from. I started to explain the problem, got no more than 5 words out when the owner reached under the counter and pulled out the box for an Asus P5VDC main board and asked, "Is this like yours?" In his best English he then explained 50% of the last delivery were 'sh*t ".
So, looks like the answer.
Thanks everyone for your interest and help. I'll try to pass it forward.