BSOD 0xF4 (0x03) a few minutes after booting

Dharmok

Netherlands57 Posts

October 19 2011 19:24 GMT

Dear all,

Since yesterday I'm consistently having system lockups turning into a BSOD a few minutes after booting windows both in Normal mode as in Safe mode. It doesn't matter what program I start, the system will just lock up after a while (the loading circle keeps spinning) and eventually I get the dreaded Blue screen. While the loading circle is spinning I can still move my mouse for some reason.

The Error code and the first paramater in the stop screen is always the same:
0x000000F4 (0x0000000000000003)
No dump file is created unfortunatly.

Nothing happens after the two lines:
Collecting data for crash dump...
Initializing disk for cush dump...

The system is farily new, as I assembled it last August. These are my system specs:

PSU: Corsair Enthusiast Series TX650 V2 650 Watt, 20+24 Pins
Motherboard: GigaByte GA-Z68X-UD3
CPU: Intel Core I5 2500K
CPU cooler: Zalman CNPS10X Performa
GPU: Sapphire Radeon HD 6950 Dual Fan 1024 MB
SSD: OCZ Vertex 2 90 GB, S-ATA II / 300, 275 MB's, 285 MB's, 3,5 Inch
HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB, 7200 Rpm, 32 MB
DVD: Sony NEC Optiarc AD-7260S-0B S-ATA, OEM
OS: Microsoft Windows 7 SP1 ENG, Home Premium, 64-Bit
Memory: Kingston HyperX Dual Channel 8 GB, PC3-12800, 1600 MHz, 9, Non-ECC

Googling the error message leads me to suspect my SSD as the cause of this error. The SSD is flashed to firmware 1.33, the most recent firmware seems to be 1.35.

As the SSD might be malfunctioning I changed the location for the dump file to be changed to one of my regular Hard Disk Drives. However, still no dump file is created.

I've tried system repair and system restore to no avail.

I'm hoping someone out here can help me troubleshoot the problem further so I can decide how to best proceed.
Right now I'm thinking of removing the SSD and reinstalling Windows on one of my other HDD's. Should this fix the problem, how can I confirm the SSD is the cause before sending the drive back to my supplier?

Many thanks for your help and support!

R1CH

Netherlands10340 Posts

October 19 2011 19:29 GMT

Yeah OCZ SSDs are notoriously bad. Google around, there's plenty of people having BSOD issues with them.

skyR

Canada13817 Posts

October 19 2011 19:33 GMT

x0F4 BSODs are associated with Sandforce SSDs and there isn't a concrete solution to this.

Netto.

Poland523 Posts

October 19 2011 19:48 GMT

I had an exact BSOD, it appeared when I was playing SC2, and after that whenever I wanted to install a game/program/whatever it was appearing. After a while it started to pop after booting just like you say.

I took it to a friend of mine and, he found out that I had my HDD damaged for some reason. After buying new one the BSOD stopped.

wishbones

Canada2600 Posts

October 19 2011 19:59 GMT

nvm, i forgot how to use it completely what i wrote was half of the instructions.

aspyr

Norway1 Post

October 19 2011 20:59 GMT

Are you using Marvells SATA-controller? If so, try switching around to the Intel controller. Fixed random BSOD/freezes for me, although on another SSD. If you open your manual and check the layout of the motherboard it should be easy to differentiate the Marvell- and Intel controllers.

Dharmok

Netherlands57 Posts

October 19 2011 21:20 GMT

On October 20 2011 05:59 aspyr wrote:
Are you using Marvells SATA-controller? If so, try switching around to the Intel controller. Fixed random BSOD/freezes for me, although on another SSD. If you open your manual and check the layout of the motherboard it should be easy to differentiate the Marvell- and Intel controllers.

No, I'm using the Intel controller. In fact, I have disabled the Marvell controllers in the Bios as I wasn't using them anyway. I suppose I could see what happens when I use the Marvell controller instead of the Intel for the SSD...

Ralpha911

Belgium1 Post

January 02 2012 13:27 GMT

Hello

I got the same error as you. I'm also trying to figure out what's the problem and find a solution.

Can you please give my the following information (on forum or via e-mail (ralpha911@gmail.com)):

* What's in your PC (HDD, SSD, GPU, RAM,..)
* What where you doing when it happend
* If you got a solution...

I hope I can help you and myself

Ralph Bisschops

P.S. @Dharmok: ik ben Nederlands dus ge kunt het gewoon in het Nederlands sturen als ge wilt

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BSOD 0xF4 (0x03) a few minutes after booting

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