Computer hard crash black screen

[ChrisHaldor]

I've had this problem for over a year now, really starting to get on my nerves

After a seemingly random amount of gaming (any 3D game really, even Minecraft), one of two things happens:
1: The computer crashes, screen turns black immediatley and sound loops a fraction of a second loop for a few seconds, then PC reboots.
2: Graphics freeze for a few seconds, graphics card restarts and then carries on as normal.

After a hard crash, no bluescreen is shown, but a minidump is left, citing "Unknown hardware fault", I'll attatch a few to this post

Both my graphics card and processor rarely go above 40 degrees C and my HDD never goes >40, so I very much doubt this is a heat issue. However, since AMD drivers are a bit rubbish at the best of times, the fan on my GPU would NEVER go above 40% unless I activate my own custom settings using MSI afterburner's fan speed controller.

I have never overclocked any part of the system. I replaced my GPU half a year ago to no effect.

I have run several hardware testing programs, FurMark, HotCPU tester Pro and so on, none of which seem to cause the computer to crash, no matter how long they are left on, even when all components are running at around 70 oC

I have run the maximum settings on windows memory tester, no errors.

I have tried every possible combination of uninstalling/installing AMD graphics drivers, nothing seems to help.

Based on the above, I am imagining that there is something wrong with my motherboard, the connection between all my hardware, as the PC only seems to crash when everything is in use simultaneously (IE, gaming).

Anyone have any ideas?
Thankyou

Windows 7
PSU: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=CA-167-CM
RAM: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MY-177-OC
MotherBoard: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=MB-467-AS
Processor: http://www.cpu-world.com/CPUs/K10/AMD-Phenom II X4 850.html
GPU: https://www.overclockers.co.uk/showproduct.php?prodid=GX-270-SP

 

[ChrisHaldor]

My mistake, the GPU definitley goes above 40 deg, up to around 60 at peak running, is it possible something in the BIOS is telling my GPU to restart at 60 oC? I'm apprehensive of fiddling with the BIOS

 

[Cobalt006]

What size Power supply are you useing

 

[ChrisHaldor]

500W, that was my first thought so I upgraded from 400W to 500 several months ago made no change

 

[Cobalt006]

Well it says it is hardware related. It points a lot to the hard drive. You may want to check your sata cables. or patch cord ,depending on which kind of hard drive you are using. Hopefully someone one here will chime in with some thoughts .To help you out.

 

[ChrisHaldor]

Thanks, I'll make sure the cables are connected properley, I was getting a HDD feeling, the computer does seem to crash more frequently in areas where a lot of HDD loading would be going on, perhaps it's faulty?

 

[Cobalt006]

Your welcome. I hope this turns out just to be a sata cable , But could possibly be the hard drive. The only real way to know is to swap out the hardrive. If possible.

 

[Tmagic650]

ATAPORT.SYS is related to the hard drive, and it could be caused by corrupt data. Try running CHKDSK by going to Computer right-click on the C drive, select properties, tools, check now. Checkmark both boxes to set a disk check on the next startup

 

[ChrisHaldor]

Thanks, I'll use chkdsk, I ran it a while back, but not witb both options ticked

I'll also try switching the SATA cable with a spare I have if that doesn't show any errors

 

[ChrisHaldor]

Chkdsk came back with no errors after a full scan, and changing the SATA cable hasn't fixed the problem, the computer crashed just now, I'll attatch the crash log

Are you sure ATAPORT is the HDD?

 

[Cobalt006]

Yes,ATAPORT.SYS Is related to the hard drive. Have you update any drivers for your sata controller?

 

[Tmagic650]

"dump_ataport.sys" Chris are you running any over-clocking software for the motherboard or video card?

 

[ChrisHaldor]

Ok, I'll have a look for sata driver updates, if my HDD turns out to be faulty, is there a way to move everything on it (including windows), onto a new one?
Nope, I've not done any overclocking of any kind

 

[ChrisHaldor]

Ok, I've gone to my motherboard's webpage and updated all the avaliable drivers, I'll post here if anything crashes

The thing is, it still seems to be temperature that sets the crash off. I'm using hardware monitor, and crashes seem to occur when either the motherboard's TMPIN0 or my GPU reach around 60 deg. The HDD never goes above 40 deg, even on a hot day

 

[ChrisHaldor]

Crashed again, is it possible the problem is just a faulty HDD? Or should I look into more powerful fans/other cooling methods?

 

[Tmagic650]

Change the hard drive first

 

[ChrisHaldor]

I installed a fresh copy of windows 7 on a different HDD, same crash occurred during gameplay, attatching the crashdump now

With the HDD confirmed as working, that only leaves he motherboard and CPU that haven't been confirmed/replaced
Any advice?

 

[ChrisHaldor]

Ok, just replaced the motherboard to no change, any other suggestions?

 

[ChrisHaldor]

To reiterate, my crashes usually look like this:
The graphics seem to cut out, and the GPU restarts itself. Usually this results in the PC just crashing, very rarely it accepts the GPU restarting and carries on.
Since I got a replacement GPU I know it's not faulty, is it possible it's just not compatible with my system, something like that?

(It's an amd radeon hd 6700, link in OP is broken)

 

[Cobalt006]

You maybe right about it not being compatible. You have replaced the hard drive ,video card ,Plus the motherboard. Is there anyway you can run your on board graphics for a while and see if the system still crashes. I would also run a test on your memory. If possible just to rule it out.

 

[ChrisHaldor]

Already ran a full memtest, was fine

Looking through system event viewer, found something saying:
"The driver \Driver\LtcyCfgWDM failed to load for the device Root\LTCYCFG_DRV\0000."
This Warning occured twice in the last 3 hours, and it appears to happen regularly when the computer is active

Googled it and this seems to be connected to PCI ports, any suggestions on that line of thought?

 

[ChrisHaldor]

Ah, looked in device manager, "PCI latency tool driver" has a warning on it:
"Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source. (Code 52)"

 

[ChrisHaldor]

Sent it off to some techies, and they found an error in Windows and used a full chkdisk or something to correct it
I'm not entirely convinced, but if I don't post back here it's because it worked

 

[ChrisHaldor]

As far as I can tell, it was the RAM
I took it out to check it, and after putting it back in, it's working now. I imagine one of them has a loose connection somewhere, so I'm going to have to be careful moving my PC/buy a new set
Was meaning to upgrade to 6GB anyway =P
Thankyou to everyone for their help

 

[Cobalt006]

Thats good to hear. Glad you got it figured out.