Another BSOD, need your help!

[pryde]

Hi guys, hope this is the right section to post.

Im another noob with a blue screen of death which another forum couldnt help me with after reading many many dump files

I recieve a blue screen when playing games (wow mainly) It can appear 1min into the game or 1hour.
Ive had the problem for months now and the computer is quite new (Built by myself)

Things Ive tried include:
Updating nvida drivers ( over the last 3months)
Updating other drivers, windows etc
Lowering my graphics (Which I shouldnt have to do with my spec)
Change virus software. (And scanned obiviously)

-Im fairly good with computers
-It occurs when playing games such as world of warcraft, red alert3, dead space.
-The blue screen says the problem occured when a driver wouldnt reset and then gives the usal steps.

My spec is
Quad core Q9550
4GB of ram
80GB HD
ASUS P5N-D motherboard
Gefore GTX260 GPU
Vista 64 bit OS
Toshiba 32' windscreen TV (Dont know if this has anything to do with it?)

Dont think ive missed anything, Will try to attach a dump file.

Thank you!
Rem

 

[H2SO4]

Re: Another BCOD, need your help!

If you've already had others look at these dumps for you, chances are you've heard it all before, but just in case...

The OS is detecting the fact that the combination of the video driver plus the video hardware is not only being unresponsive, but has also failed to go along with an attempt to "reset". The OS then BSoDs because it really can't do much else.

Have you read this?
http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/device/display/wddm_timeout.mspx

Your video drivers are already rather recent, but try update them anyway. The fact that this seems to happen under load suggests a possible heat or power supply/quality issue. If you're overclocking, that's a bad idea.

Personally, first thing I'd do would be to open the side of the case and point a mains fan squarely into the middle of the motherboard, then try playing some (good) games again. If the greatly improved cooling makes any difference to the frequency of BSoDs, you know there's a heat element to the problem.

 

[pryde]

Re: Another BCOD, need your help!

Hi, thank you for the response.

Your awnser was much more helpful then the last person to look at the dumps.

All I got was, 'Update your drivers' then pressed 'resovled' on the forum.

Anyways, I dont think its heat related because I downloaded a fan controller, up'd the speeds, vented the case and added more fans. Also I does it when the computers just been started up.

As for power, I did have a 800w but i changed it for a 1000w because it was a brand ive never heard of and it couldnt power the GPU.
Now I have a expensive coolermaster.

I can sometimes make it blue screen by doing certain things in-game. For instance, I can stand in front of a busted power cable on dead space which I would of thought would put strain on the GPU and almost certainly it will crash.

I can do it on world of warcraft but I didnt think it would because the graphics on wow are bad compared to dead space. Hope this helps

Rem

 

[H2SO4]

Re: Another BCOD, need your help!

It's interesting that you can seemingly reproduce the crash by doing something specific in one or more games. It doesn't necessarily suggest a practical solution, but it does imply that the cause is linked to a series of instructions to the video card that result in unresponsiveness (its a "synchronous" event), as opposed to something external such as excessive heat (an "asynchronous" interrupt in the card's behaviour).

Unfortunately, I think that ability to repro actually raises the odds that it's a hardware problem, and you might as well include the driver in the definition of "hardware" if you're already running the latest driver and there are no more updates. The combination of the driver and video card goes reproducibly unresponsive when a certain command sequence is issued, and you've seemingly ruled out heat and power fluctuations.

If you haven't already done so, updating all other drivers (NIC, audio, chipset, AV, firewall...) would be a good idea, just to reduce the likelihood of any involvement, plus updating the BIOS would not go astray. These steps all belong to the "in the absence of anything better" troubleshooting category.

What you'd really want is a team of nVidia techs with debuggers and oscilloscopes tracing precisely what happens during that series of in-game actions which results in video card unresponsiveness. Why is it that this sequence of commands seems to "confuse" the card to the point where it won't cooperate any longer?

Personally, I'd try talking to nVidia if I'd bought the card from them and it cost a decent amount of money. Right now, it's their product that's locking up and the onus is technically on them to explain why.

Failing that, I would borrow another video card and use that as a test. If the same game steps work without BSoDs, by elimination you've pinpointed the obvious cause - your current video card hardware.

 

[pryde]

Re: Another BCOD, need your help!

It's interesting that you can seemingly reproduce the crash by doing something specific in one or more games. It doesn't necessarily suggest a practical solution, but it does imply that the cause is linked to a series of instructions to the video card that result in unresponsiveness (its a "synchronous" event), as opposed to something external such as excessive heat (an "asynchronous" interrupt in the card's behaviour).

Unfortunately, I think that ability to repro actually raises the odds that it's a hardware problem, and you might as well include the driver in the definition of "hardware" if you're already running the latest driver and there are no more updates. The combination of the driver and video card goes reproducibly unresponsive when a certain command sequence is issued, and you've seemingly ruled out heat and power fluctuations.

If you haven't already done so, updating all other drivers (NIC, audio, chipset, AV, firewall...) would be a good idea, just to reduce the likelihood of any involvement, plus updating the BIOS would not go astray. These steps all belong to the "in the absence of anything better" troubleshooting category.

What you'd really want is a team of nVidia techs with debuggers and oscilloscopes tracing precisely what happens during that series of in-game actions which results in video card unresponsiveness. Why is it that this sequence of commands seems to "confuse" the card to the point where it won't cooperate any longer?

Personally, I'd try talking to nVidia if I'd bought the card from them and it cost a decent amount of money. Right now, it's their product that's locking up and the onus is technically on them to explain why.

Failing that, I would borrow another video card and use that as a test. If the same game steps work without BSoDs, by elimination you've pinpointed the obvious cause - your current video card hardware.

Ok thank you for you help thus far. You have been the most helpful in shedding light on the issue.

Ive sent a email to nvidia and waiting for a reply.

Ive haven't updated the bios or firewall. Im asuming the firewall is updated with windows updates and AV software? Which I have been keeping up to date.

Going to update mother board drivers now...
What is NIC?

If nvidia fix the issue Ill post the anwser for those who have scanned google for hours looking for a anwser like me :S

Thanks
Rem

 

[H2SO4]

Re: Another BCOD, need your help!

Ok thank you for you help thus far. You have been the most helpful in shedding light on the issue.

No problem

Ive sent a email to nvidia and waiting for a reply.

Ive haven't updated the bios or firewall. Im asuming the firewall is updated with windows updates and AV software? Which I have been keeping up to date.

If you're using the in-built Windows firewall, then it gets updated through the Windows Update mechanism. Otherwise, if you're running another firewall, you might want to check the company's website for any updates.

Going to update mother board drivers now...
What is NIC?

NIC = Network Interface Card. The bit of hardware that connects you to the internet, either through an ethernet cable or wirelessly to your (wireless) access point. NICs have drivers and you should update those too, from time to time.

If nvidia fix the issue Ill post the anwser for those who have scanned google for hours looking for a anwser like me :S

Thanks
Rem

Unfortunately, the cause of your driver+video_card's failure to respond and "reset" may be entirely different from that of others who are experiencing the same BSoD. Unless there is a defect in the driver or the video card design which affects every single instance of that model, the problem is most likely specific to your motherboard or your video card, and the solution may not pertain to others. Still, it's certainly worthwhile posting back anything you get from nVidia or your own investigation.

 

[pryde]

Re: Another BCOD, need your help!

Ok thank you for you help thus far. You have been the most helpful in shedding light on the issue.

No problem

Ive sent a email to nvidia and waiting for a reply.

Ive haven't updated the bios or firewall. Im asuming the firewall is updated with windows updates and AV software? Which I have been keeping up to date.

If you're using the in-built Windows firewall, then it gets updated through the Windows Update mechanism. Otherwise, if you're running another firewall, you might want to check the company's website for any updates.

Going to update mother board drivers now...
What is NIC?

NIC = Network Interface Card. The bit of hardware that connects you to the internet, either through an ethernet cable or wirelessly to your (wireless) access point. NICs have drivers and you should update those too, from time to time.

If nvidia fix the issue Ill post the anwser for those who have scanned google for hours looking for a anwser like me :S

Thanks
Rem

Unfortunately, the cause of your driver+video_card's failure to respond and "reset" may be entirely different from that of others who are experiencing the same BSoD. Unless there is a defect in the driver or the video card design which affects every single instance of that model, the problem is most likely specific to your motherboard or your video card, and the solution may not pertain to others. Still, it's certainly worthwhile posting back anything you get from nVidia or your own investigation.

Ok Im back.

After many chats with nvidia I was given a list (which is a understatment) of things to check and do.

Boot in safe mode and reinstall drivers with driver cleaners.
Ill type this in detail just incase its searched.

Download latest drivers and save to desktop,
Download Drivedweeper and leave shortcut on desktop.
Restart computer and tap F8 simultaneously until computer loads boot menu.
From the options select safe mode.
Navigate to device manager. Right click 'My computer' click properties and select device manager.
Expand the display adapters and right click on your graphics card. Select properties and unistall driver.
Restart computer in safe mode again and run drivesweeper, select your graphics card and run a clean.
Install the update that we left on the desktop from earlier and reboot.

If a error appears which bascily says a .dll file is missing then use 'Run' and type msconfig.
Select start up and find a process that looks simular to the missing file. For me the files missing was nvmgh.dll and the process started with nv and in the description was a nvidia ultiliy which I dont use.
Uncheck and apply. Done!

Drivesweeper is free and a quick search will point you to guru to download from.

Anways, Dont want to speak to soon but so far so good.
Thanks for your help!

Regards,