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Gareth G. Author

Level 1

10 points

BSOD - why?

I'm trying to idenfiy the source of the BSODs I've been getting on a new entry level retina MBP.

So far they have occured

-when installing windows 7

-when installing boot camp drivers

-when updating windows 7

-when playing 3d intenstive games or running 3d mark.

My first installation went smoothly, but the computer crashed during boot camp installation multiple times, even after a reinstall of windows.

I had the windows 7 iso on a external USB drive which has not been working well recently, so I thought my iso might be corrupted. I redownloaded windows and tried anew. This time boot camp installed well, but I got a single BSOD when updating windows. After a restart I tried updating a second time and no problems occured. At this stage I believed my windows installation to be sound.

I later tried to play Alien vs Predator (2010) an I would randomly get a BSOD saying "A clock interrupt was not received on a secondary processor within the allocated time interval". The same BSOD occured in the first few seconds of 3d mark vantage, but never precisely at the same point. This lead me to believe that the issue might be GPU/heat related.

I ran a dignostics tool on the BSOD dump file (forgot the name) and it said the problem might be heat related or a software (e.g. driver) error.

I thought a driver error might have been caused by the problems I had during the windows update, so I attempted a fresh install. This time I got the same BSOD during the installation procedure itself. Here is where my ideas end.

I'm by no means an expert, but the windows installation producing the same error as GPU intensive appliations does not seem to support the GPU/heat hypothesis. What else might it be? What diagnostic tools could I use? If something turns out to be defect indeed, how do I reproduce the problem in OS X - IIRC people in apple stores just shrug their shoulders when you tell them that something is windows is not working.

Any help is really appreciated!

MacBook Pro (Retina, Mid 2012), Windows 7

Posted on Aug 10, 2012 6:51 AM

Best reply

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Posted on Aug 10, 2012 7:12 AM

ISO has to be burned or written at slow 2x speed to succeed and have a good install.

Install alone may seem okay but fail.

I've seen people with RAM that "well it works in Lion" but was defective and failed memtest and even one where it was loose and not tight fit and secure in the DIMM socket. You might want to rule out ISO burning and RAM.

Copy the ISO to your disk and try using that to write the ISO to (another) USB device.

Instructions for the MacBook Air: https://support.apple.com/kb/HT4407

download a free iso burning program for Mac (we used SimplyBurns Mac). That program runs you through the necessary steps to properly burn the iso file you need. After doing so, Bootcamp recognized the installation file and everything worked as it should.

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/3410900?start=45&tstart=0

http://simplyburns.en.softonic.com/mac

Here's instructions on burning an ISO with Disk Utility:

http://lifehacker.com/251758/mac-tip--how-to-burn-an-iso-or-dmg-file-to-disc

And this thread on burning a Windows DVD in OSX:

https://discussions.apple.com/thread/2039118?start=0&tstart=0

(Summary: you can use Disk Utility to burn the ISO, but choose a slow burn speed)

Nvidia GT650M driver install: problems with windows 7 graphic driver after the installation Apple Support Software for Windows. The GT 650M was not showing up as the graphics adapter. I fixed the problem by inserting my windows support software CD a second time. I did not let it use auto run. I went into the Windows 7 directory and then into the Nvidia directory and ran setup.exe. This installed the Nvidia drivers for me. If this works correctly, you will have an Nvidia control panel available to you. I set the resolution to 2880x1800. I also set windows to 200% magnification.

I think what happens is that after you install windows, and then run the windows support CD, the main boot camp setup script seems to stop on the nvidia driver install--everything else installed correctly.

GPU-Z:

http://www.techpowerup.com/downloads/SysInfo/GPU-Z/

AIDA64 Extreme Edition

http://www.aida64.com

http://www.aida64.com/product/aida64-extreme-edition/overview

CCleaner

http://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

Lubbo FanControl for MacBook Pro

http://sourceforge.net/projects/lubbofancontrol/

TEMP cleanup

http://support.kaspersky.com/faq/?qid=208279128

How to view error message:

From Control Panel-> Admin. Tools-> Event Viewer-> Windows logs:
Check Application and System Folders for Red highlit messages. Note that you can right-click clear these log folders.

Memtest

This is a step by step guide with audio and video to explain how to use memtest to see if your memory is defect:

Another thing to add is that some errors will not be found on the first pass, best to do at least 3 passes.

http://www2.corsair.com/training/how_to_memtest/

View in context

18 replies

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Aug 12, 2012 9:08 AM in response to Gareth G.

Do you know how to run Apple Hardware Test?

If your Mac came with OEM DVD it is on that, if Lion or later then from the Recovery Mode.

http://support.apple.com/kb/HT4718

Gareth G. Author

Level 1

10 points

Aug 12, 2012 10:46 AM in response to The hatter

I don't think your link was the right one, but the idea is notheless brilliant.

In fact the computer freezes on apple hardware test. That should be good enough for a return.

The hatter

Level 9

60,990 points

Aug 12, 2012 10:59 AM in response to Gareth G.

I think the 'original' version of that link talking about Internet based AHT back in July '11.

This which Macs can use that: http://support.apple.com/kb/TS4154

And yes, so you already ran AHT and experience the freezing is... shame but puts to rest how and why and what.

A 'pass' 'on AHT also does not mean a computer is not free of errors only that the testing did look for a component and test it. Like RAM which often passes but memtest does fail.

BSOD - why?