PC BSOD. Only certain games.

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PC BSOD, only certain games. Minidumps Attached. -> Fixed : )

Hi guys,

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Update- Problem Solved
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First off, I have found heaps of helpful info from this site contained in the form of guides and general posts. I however have been unable to resolve my problem. Any help would be much appreciated as this is beyond my level of knowledge.

My system is:

CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E6320
Mobo: Intel D946GZIS
Video: NVIDIA GeForce 7600 GT (256 MB)
OS : XP Pro SP2
Audio: Creative SB Live! Series Audio Processor
Optical: PIONEER DVD-RW
Memory: 1 Gig ddr2 (1 stick)
HD: 80Gig NTFS

As described certain games crash. World in conflict and gears of war in particular. Most games work fine (eg: Armed Assault, Bioshock which are very demanding games), the system is otherwise stable. I get a BSOD before I even get into actual play time, usually right at the end of loading a scene as you are about to be thrown into the action. All menus and intros work fine.

The error reported when windows reboots is: "STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER" microsoft recommend turning acceleration down or different graphics drivers, however I dont think that is the fix in this case.

I am pretty thorough when uninstalling\re-installing new graphics drivers. I usually clean my windows temp folder and use drivercleaner pro after uninstalling through control panel.

I have tried a larger power supply (400W Thermaltake). My 12V rail goes no lower than 12.06v.

I ran memtest86 for 23 runs and found 0 errors.

I have tried all manner of video drivers from the latest to those recommended on the developers websites. No fixes found.

I changed my 7600GT for an X800xl and the problem still persisted.

most minidumps say "Probably caused by : nv4_disp.dll ( nv4_disp+b36d8 )" but I can't read further into them to obtain anymore usefull information. From what I have read here, sometimes that NV4_disp.dll error is not always a reflection of a direct graphics hardware\software issue. I hope that is the case here.

I have tried that many possible solutions I may have missed some things I have tried.

I anyone could spare a few minutes to look at my minidumps I would be very appreciative. I have gone about as far as I can myself I think, my poor little brain isnt working anymore : (

Thanks in advance.

Julian
 
A little twist in the plot

Hi guys,

No one has been able to offer anything as of yet but here is some more info to help give me some ideas maybe.

I installed a x800xl into the troublesome PC with the latest drivers from ATI (7.11's). I then got a BSOD pointing to the ATI driver file "atikvmag.dll".

Does this mean I am seeing a PCIe problem..maybe motherboard.

As usual minidump is attached.

Thanks

Frosty
 
All your minidumps point to nv4_disp.dll which is an Nvidia driver. It is quite possible that the Nvidia drivers just don't play nice with certain games.

However, and this may be even more crucial. All of your minidumps also list DEFERRED_WATCHDOG pointing to the watchdog.sys. BugCheck 100000EA.

Since this is part of Windows, the first thing you might want to do is probably make sure you are up to date. Install all the latest service packs and critical and even recommended updates from MS Updates.

If you are up to date, next try running the System File Checker. To do that, click Start->Run and type sfc /scannow and hit enter.
When that is done, restart the PC. It may ask you for your XP CD, so keep it handy.

Do those things, and see if it crashes again. If so, post your fresh minidumps.
You can also do some more googling on the watchdog.sys file, and your BugCheck 100000EA.
 
Thanks mate...I will post back with some more info as it comes to hand. I'll keep the x800XL installed at the moment as it bluescreens slightly less often : )

ta

Frosty
 
Hi guys,

I fixed the problem, thought I would post to let you know what it was.

After trying to run sfc /scannow the file checker was asking for my disk as suggested. We have a corporate license and multiple PCs where built at the same time I got my PC. Therefore my whole windows installation was just a disk image of the first machine that was built. I thought that may have caused an issue so after trying unsuccessfully to have the disk accepted trying all methods @ http://www.updatexp.com/scannow-sfc.html, I rebuilt the OS from scratch with skeleton software installed and still had the problem. At least now sfc /scannow worked and that didnt fix the issue either.

Tried turning hardware acceleration down, fast writes off, RivaTuner tweaks, NGO drivers, directx tests, all no to effect. I still figured the GPU was OK as after installing 3dmark06, it passed all tests fine.

I installed the GPU into another identical PC....... still crashed.

Trend Officescan was the unlikely culprit. I say unlikely because I use officescan on two PC's, one had the issue the other didn't. Not sure yet what the co-relation was but maybe it was somthing like a direct3d vs opengl compatability issue or something. Officescan had no records in its logs of any issues maybe the logs were not written to because the machine was BSing.

Working progs: 3dmark06, Armed Assault, Bioshock
Crashing progs: Gears of War, Company of heroes.

Why it caused the NV4_Disp.dll to fail I dont know but it certainly put me on the wrong path to finding the prob.

Thanks for your help Route44, maybe this will help someone if they encouter the same prob.

Ta

Frosty
 
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