Absolutely puzzling error

[ZOLLINO]

Hi,

i7 2600K - not OC - just Auto Turbo mode enabled
16GB RAM = 4x4GB Corsair Vengeance product code: CMZ16GX3M4A1600C9
ASUS P8P67 Pro Bios ver. 2302 x64 02-16-2012

ATi Radeon HD 7950 Catalyst Version 14.12 AMD Catalyst Omega Software Packaging Version 14.501.1003-141120a-177998C

For over month now I'm experiencing quite common error Kernel Power error ID 41 Task 63

Following happens mostly while I play some game (Planetside2, GTAV, WarThunder), occasionaly happens while in desktop too. I play and suddenly screen goes black (the video signal is not interrupted! - my TV shows no video signal cut) and I can still hear the sounds, but PC is completely unresponsive. CTRL+ALT+DEL for taskman doesn't work, only thing I can do is hold power button for few seconds until it shut downs.

Before error came up I haven't changed anything. Priority on my PC is to be stable as I'm using for work too. Therefore I install new stuff only when I'm forced to (new gfx drivers, etc.). This error just suddenly appeared so I thought about overheating. Cleaned up dust in PC, temps went down but error didn't disappear. So I updated Windows7 with all possible updates and guess what, it stopped doing it like for week or two. Yesterday evening I got black screen again. I restarted game and usually it comes after while, but I received black screen immediately when entering into accelerated 3D of game.

Sure, I have updated drivers for my ATi to the latest one, didn't help. I installed new power surge extension for my power cords, didn't help. I browsed half of internet just to find, the reinstall of windows usually don't help. There is only one thing left, to compare RAM timings with vendor recommended. But than again, I work on this Windows installation around 2 years now.

PC was verified with Avira antivirus, and Malwarebytes Anti-Malware. I'm stuck at this point and really don't want to go to buy new PSU just to see if it's the cause.

Please notice at the same time of Kernel Power Error I have experienced accoring to Event Viewer also error: volmgr error. Not sure if it's related. (volmgr error here, related KB here)

*UPDATE*: tried again with mate on Teamspeak. Immediately after blackscreen he was able to communicate with me for another approx. 10 seconds. After this period he wasn't able to hear me, only I was able him.

Kernel Power error:

Spoiler: Kernel Power error

- System

- Provider


[ Name] Microsoft-Windows-Kernel-Power
[ Guid] {331C3B3A-2005-44C2-AC5E-77220C37D6B4}
EventID 41
Version 2
Level 1
Task 63
Opcode 0

Keywords 0x8000000000000002

- TimeCreated

[ SystemTime] 2015-05-05T12:26:43.910013000Z
EventRecordID 157241
Correlation
- Execution
[ ProcessID] 4
[ ThreadID] 8

Channel System
Computer PALERMO16

- Security

[ UserID] S-1-5-18
- EventData

BugcheckCode 0
BugcheckParameter1 0x0
BugcheckParameter2 0x0
BugcheckParameter3 0x0
BugcheckParameter4 0x0
SleepInProgress false
PowerButtonTimestamp 130753023254427433

I played around and found option about the Driver Verifier. I activated with: verifier /standard /all and during next booting of W7 (that blurred logo) just before getting into W7 GUI it BSODed.

So I ran memtest:

 

[DelJo63]

Last event shown (volmgr 46) is a known issue;
see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/2756313

 

[DelJo63]

Kernel event 46:

Windows Kernel event ID 41 error "The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first"​

 

[Tmagic650]

The last set of minidumps is flagging the driver Atikmpag.sys which is an ATI video driver

 

[ZOLLINO]

Gentlemen, thanks for your help. However, I can also see ndis.sys in minidumps and also on BSOD. Any idea what this could be related to?

If Win is not able to crate minidump before crash, is there any other dump file I can analyze? (Kernel dump maybe?)

Seems like I will have to reinstall Win to find out whether this is HW related or Win just decided to go (2 yrs installation)

 

[Tmagic650]

Ndis.sys is a network driver. This shows up many times in minidumps, along with drivers with more importance for troubleshooting purposes... A clean install of Windows may be a good thing to do

 

[DelJo63]

Ndis.sys is a network driver. - - reinstall

I always have trouble with this approach. *IF* the issue is a driver, then it should be solvable without a reinstall. Without a different version of the suspect driver, the reinstall is not only futile, but a lot of wasted time and effort.

Just $0.02

 

[ZOLLINO]

I dont like to reinstall either as I have some complex environment which takes time to restore to original state. However, I'm quite puzzled atm and reinstall seems only reasonable thing to do atm. I'm not able to pinpoint the cause as the not always crash creates minidump. I'm just worried it could be PSU or worse, GFX.

 

[Demian]

You could try and run the troubleshooter in action center it'll check your drivers and download new obes if it can. And if you truly don't want to reinstall you could repair windows with the cd or iso (whichever you have) it should leave everything except windows and installed programs the same.

 

[ZOLLINO]

Well, I did some maintenance tasks and tried to make PC crash (playing GTAV usually works) but it didn't crash for 8 hours of playing yesterday.

Demian many thanks for your reply. I may use that option. Meanwhile I prepared my stuff for reinstall, bought Win8.1Pro (also due to announcement of WinX for free for owners of 7 and 8, 8.1) and trying to get my PC to crash to produce minidump. I still don't know whether it's software/drivers only or PSU/GFX too.