BSOD prone unstable system, any suggestions welcome

I built a new PC a couple of months ago and have been plagued by BSOD, games
freezing and random reboots. I have updated all of the drivers that I can.
The only driver that is not up to date is the nForce Networking Controller
driver - when I update that one it doesn't work at all. I like Vista when it
works, but am close to purchasing a copy of XP. I hadn't seen a BSOD for
years.

My system comprises:
E6600 2.4GHz processor
Samsung 320GB SATA hard drive
MSI P6N SLI Platinum NVIDIA nForce 650i Motherboard
Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card
Foxconn GeForce 8800GTS video card
mushkin 2GB SDRAM DDR2 800
700W power supply
Microsoft Windows Vista 32-bit Home Premium OS

The system boots up OK & is usually stable when I am not gaming. However any
game that I have tried (Half Life 2, Supreme Commander, WoW) will soon result
in BSOD, freezing or re-booting. The BSOD messages have been various, but
usually are IRQL_NPT_LESS_OR_EQUAL errors. Here is the info from my last BSOD:

BCCode: a
BCP1: A238C08D
BCP2: 00000000
BCP3: 00000000
BCP4: 82CAA249
OS Version: 6_0_6000
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 768_1

I do not know how to decode this. Most posts that I have seen regarding BSOD
just say 'check your drivers'. I have done this & ran a memory test. I don't
know what else to do.

IMO, various BSOD messages usually hints to a hardware problem. Check your
RAM with the Vista memory check utility. Also lowering the RAM speed to
DDR667 has helped some people with BSOD problems in Vista.

Sorry Westy... I had a BFG 650i ultra mobo and I returned it to the store to
exchange it for an ASUS P5K se with the Intel P35 chipset. I noticed MSE and
XFX had BIOS updates, BFG did not so I changed the board/ chipset and so far
so good. Same ram as you too. Maybe you can update BIOS as I did not have
that option to try. I was talking with Microsoft and they said my similar
problem could be my BIOS. When I was loading Vista, load the IDE chipset
drivers at the instal point when you can partion and format area. I reloaded
more than 30 times and gave up on that chipset. BFG said it was a Vista
problem... lol. Have you gone to Nvidias' forums to see all the problems
other people are having with Nvidia chipsets, 500 and 600s?? wow Good luck...
CC :-)

"Westy" wrote:

> I built a new PC a couple of months ago and have been plagued by BSOD, games
> freezing and random reboots. I have updated all of the drivers that I can.
> The only driver that is not up to date is the nForce Networking Controller
> driver - when I update that one it doesn't work at all. I like Vista when it
> works, but am close to purchasing a copy of XP. I hadn't seen a BSOD for
> years.
>
> My system comprises:
> E6600 2.4GHz processor
> Samsung 320GB SATA hard drive
> MSI P6N SLI Platinum NVIDIA nForce 650i Motherboard
> Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi sound card
> Foxconn GeForce 8800GTS video card
> mushkin 2GB SDRAM DDR2 800
> 700W power supply
> Microsoft Windows Vista 32-bit Home Premium OS
>
> The system boots up OK & is usually stable when I am not gaming. However any
> game that I have tried (Half Life 2, Supreme Commander, WoW) will soon result
> in BSOD, freezing or re-booting. The BSOD messages have been various, but
> usually are IRQL_NPT_LESS_OR_EQUAL errors. Here is the info from my last BSOD:
>
> BCCode: a
> BCP1: A238C08D
> BCP2: 00000000
> BCP3: 00000000
> BCP4: 82CAA249
> OS Version: 6_0_6000
> Service Pack: 0_0
> Product: 768_1
>
> I do not know how to decode this. Most posts that I have seen regarding BSOD
> just say 'check your drivers'. I have done this & ran a memory test. I don't
> know what else to do.