BSODs when gaming

[pantaklea]

Hi guys.

I've been having regular bsods, freezes and restarts for a couple of months now.
They mainly happen when I play mw2 or some other games but weirdly not all of them :S

I've tried running Memtest86+, the tests showed no errors after running for 6 hours.
I'm uploading 4 mini dump files, I've managed to analyze the last one with kd and I'm uploading the debuglog.txt and a speccy-pc.txt which has all the specs of my pc's hardware and software.

I hope we can get to the bottom of this

 

[Route44]

For whatever reason all the files were corrupted and unreadable.

 

[pantaklea]

For whatever reason all the files were corrupted and unreadable.

If you are trying to open the dmp files with "whocrashed" it says that they are corrupted but i've managed to analyze them using this method:

1) Download and install the microsoft.com/whdc/devtoo...nstallx86.mspx
Debugging Tools from Microsoft
2) Locate your latest memory.dmp file- C:\WINDOWS\ Minidump\Mini081505-01.dmp or whatever
3) open a CMD prompt and cd\program files\debugging tools for windows\
4) type the following stuff:
Code:

c:\program files\debugging tools>kd -z C:\WINDOWS\ Minidump\Mini081505-01.dmp
(it will spew a bunch)
kd> .logopen c:\debuglog.txt
kd> .sympath srv*c:\symbols*msdl.microsoft.com/download/symbols
kd> .reload;!analyze -v;r;kv;lmnt;.logclose;q


the log file is attached to the post and i think it can give us a much more detailed picture of what's going on...

sorry for the links i'm new to this forum so i cant post links yet...

 

[Route44]

I am using the Debugging tools and what was attached was cited as unreadable.

 

[pantaklea]

I am using the Debugging tools and what was attached was cited as unreadable.

damn.... well i don't know why its doing that. maybe it's because i manually restart the pc when it freezes. I still wait for a couple of moments before i do that. do you have any suggestions on what settings should i check?
In the Startup and Recovery menu i have
- checked Write an event to the system log
- unchecked Automatically restart
Small memory dump (256 KB)

 

[Route44]

The small minidump is the best way so you are fine there. Try this: The manage attachments button at the bottom of a post offers a ZIP option. Try using that with your current mindump files (though I have no problem with 7z).

Also, it sounds like a video card driver issue. I suggest doing the following...

1. Download Driver Sweeper free version to your desktop screen and install.

2. Download the latest diver(s) for your video card but don't install them.

3. Uninstall your video card drivers and reboot your PC into Safe Mode. Run Driver Sweeper and remove ONLY the video card drivers. I had someone use it on their chipset drivers! If it doesn't find any video card drivers that is quite okay; just leave all other drivers alone.

4. Reboot and install new video card drivers.

 

[pantaklea]

The small minidump is the best way so you are fine there. Try this: The manage attachments button at the bottom of a post offers a ZIP option. Try using that with your current mindump files (though I have no problem with 7z).

Also, it sounds like a video card driver issue. I suggest doing the following...

1. Download Driver Sweeper free version to your desktop screen and install.

2. Download the latest diver(s) for your video card but don't install them.

3. Uninstall your video card drivers and reboot your PC into Safe Mode. Run Driver Sweeper and remove ONLY the video card drivers. I had someone use it on their chipset drivers! If it doesn't find any video card drivers that is quite okay; just leave all other drivers alone.

4. Reboot and install new video card drivers.

I'm uploading the minidump files zipped although I think that if the archive has no errors that it could not corrupt the files, but who knows...

(the two zips are different and contain different dmp files)

I have the latest nvidia drivers installed and I've been using Driver Sweeper for some time now and I install and change drivers using the proper way, the one that you've described.

I also think that it might be a video card issue but not a driver one but rather an overheating one. I've noticed that I get a lot higher idle (67C) and load temps (80+C) than I was getting before. So I downloaded EVGA Precision and set the fan settings to go at 100% if it gets over 70C. I think that before it didn't even go to 100% no matter what (STUPID NVIDIA).

will test latter and give you an update.

P.S. Thank you!

 

[Route44]

The first set of files were corrupt and thus unreadable. The second were readable but they only cited Windows OS drivers and the thing about OS drivers is that they are usually too general to be of much diagnostic help.

However, one error code is 0x3B and these are usually caused by faulty video card drivers. In light of your heat issue you could very well be correct that your problem lies within the card's inability to cool itself under a load which gaming certainly does and raises temperatures significantly.

Look forward to hearing how things are going.

 

[pantaklea]

this is just a stupid post number 5

 

[pantaklea]

The first set of files were corrupt and thus unreadable. The second were readable but they only cited Windows OS drivers and the thing about OS drivers is that they are usually too general to be of much diagnostic help.

However, one error code is 0x3B and these are usually caused by faulty video card drivers. In light of your heat issue you could very well be correct that your problem lies within the card's inability to cool itself under a load which gaming certainly does and raises temperatures significantly.

Look forward to hearing how things are going.

Due to an issue that I've been having with my monitor

http://img197.imageshack.us/img197/1650/dsc00491g.jpg
(I've tried this and it doesn't work http://vip.asus.com/forum/view.aspx...ard_id=13&model=VW222U&page=1&SLanguage=en-us)

I tried reversing the graphics driver to an older version (182.22 x64) because I had a little trick with it to get rid of the pixel static.

and now i got this very "DETAILED" BSOD that makes me throw my pc through the window

http://img651.imageshack.us/img651/1917/10062011045.jpg

I have NEVER had this BSOD before... Oh and no new minidump file.
And that settles it. it's 100% the graphics card or graphics card driver.

I'll test it more now and see if I still get BSODS and give you an update...

 

[Route44]

And I have never seen a Blue Screen like that before. Before purchasing a new card, if you can, borrow a card from a friend and install it and see if you gain stability.

 

[pantaklea]

And I have never seen a Blue Screen like that before. Before purchasing a new card, if you can, borrow a card from a friend and install it and see if you gain stability.

JUST AN UPDATE:

Instead of borrowing or buying a new GPU I oppened my pc, cleaned it well including all of the fans (CPU, GPU, and case fans) and formated it.

I also use my EVGA Precision settings to set the fan speeds at 60% at 50C 80% at 60C and 100% at 70C+.

Now my GPU temps (idle/load) have dropped for about 5-6C and I have not yet have had any BSODS. I hope that doesn't change

I guess it was never the drivers but the GPU's inability to cool itself.

Thanks for the help and I hope we can close this post