PC Crashes when I play games

plath · Jul 2, 2014

Hi,

My PC keeps crashing when I play games. After playing a few mins in-game (CSGO, Red Orchestra 2, etc) my whole PC blackscreens and locks completely (No alt tabbing or ctrl alt deleting and my monitor says there's no signal.) which means I have to restart. I updated my Nvidia driver from 337.88 to 340.43, but no change. Reverted to the 335.23. Still crashes. When it crashes my fan revs high.

My pc is a prebuilt that I only got in feb.

spec is:
GTX 770
i5 4670k @ 3.4ghz
8gb ram
550w psu
on 8.1

I looked at event viewer and it says these things a few times right before it crashed: "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered." and "Application csgo.exe has been blocked from accessing Graphics hardware." Although I'm not sure if that's relevant.

Would someone please tell me what might be the problem? Is my card borked?

bccorrupt · Jul 2, 2014

Have you updated drivers or directx lately or have you tried to update the drivers since this started happening? If rolling back to older drivers or clearing out the drivers completely and installing the newest ones doesn't work, there's also a hotfix, but I would try messing with the drivers first.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2665946

plath · Jul 2, 2014

^I removed all the drivers and then reinstalled the latest, but still crashes. Should I use the hotfix then?

JNor · Jul 2, 2014

plath :

how did you remove the drivers?

plath · Jul 2, 2014

^add/remove programs. should i use a specific driver removal program?

bccorrupt · Jul 2, 2014

Yes, driver cleaner, or something similar.

http://www.guru3d.com/content_page/guru3d_driver_sweeper.html

JNor · Jul 2, 2014

plath :

Driver Sweeper has since been replaced with Display Driver Uninstaller. I also saw plenty of people saying they stopped using it due to it being packaged with adware. Guru has an older version of DDU so I'd download the newest one (that I personally have used recently without any issues, here: https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic/550192/geforce-drivers/display-driver-uninstaller-ddu-v12-9-5-1-released-06-18-14-/

After clicking "download latest version here" in that link, only download the DDU installer, you don't need that other thing, "give me power 2.0". I'm honestly not sure what that is. Make sure you extract the entire contents of the folders and keep them together. Always uninstall your video card drivers in safe mode as a precaution, and have a system backup/image or at the very least a restore point, in case something happens. When running DDU make sure Nvidia is checked and remove all folders is checked. If you are only installing new drivers and not a new card, click the option to clean and reboot. Then install your new drivers in normal mode. I've also used CCleaner for removing old registry files left behind from previous hardware/software uninstalls after installing a new graphics card or driver. This has helped me with issues before and may help get rid of anything corrupted in your registry that is causing conflicts with your current drivers. Unlike Display Driver Uninstaller, CCleaner should be run in normal windows mode and not safe mode.

If all of that doesn't do the trick, you can try choosing a system restore point from a date where you weren't having the issues. It has worked for me before but I'd save it as a last resort, next to reinstalling windows. If you do end up doing a restore point I'd strongly recommend CCleaner since it will be restoring your system to a point in time when you had certain software that it thinks is still active but you've removed--as your future self...mindblowing??

JNor · Jul 2, 2014

Link to CCleaner btw:

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

and maybe even give malwarebytes a try in case there are any malware programs interfering with your drivers.

https://www.malwarebytes.org/

plath · Jul 2, 2014

used DDU then reinstalled 340.43, but no change.

Shadowblade2652 · Jul 2, 2014

could be overheating maybe?

plath · Jul 2, 2014

Shadowblade2652 :

what Speccy says:

plath · Jul 3, 2014

^got msi afterburner and was checking temps as i played csgo, put the fans to 100% and the max GPU temp was like 45. still locks up. dunno what I should do.

seem to be able to play RO2 without crashing though. been playing it a while and haven't had my pc blackscreen since i cleaned my system of drivers and reinstalled 340.43.

*EDIT* Nope, still crashes in RO2 too. Just took a bit longer than it did previously.

plath · Jul 5, 2014

Someone suggested to me that my problems might be caused by my Corsair VS550 PSU that I got with my 3xs scan.co.uk custom prebuilt. Could that be possible?

bccorrupt · Jul 5, 2014

Your temps look good and your power supply should be plenty enough for your setup. Hopefully the drivers being cleaned will fix it for you.

chimera201 · Jul 5, 2014

plath :

Yes possible

Shadowblade2652 · Jul 5, 2014

plath :

It looks plenty powerful enough though. Corsair generally makes great power supplies.

plath · Jul 6, 2014

^I was told its off the cheapest series Corsair do and that it's OEM and not 80+ certified. The card also recommends 600w.

Shadowblade2652 · Jul 6, 2014

plath :

They normally recommend a bit higher to account for bad efficiency. Otherwise, it should be fine. PSU doesn't seem an issue.

chimera201 · Jul 6, 2014

The Corsair VS series is the worst quality PSU series from Corsair. It's quite a possibility that it could be the PSU. And if I were you i wouldn't buy that PSU for a GTX 770. You should equally spend your money on all components.

JNor · Jul 6, 2014

plath :

Not sure if this helps or not, i just came across this snippet in the patch notes for the beta drivers you were using while I was troubleshooting some issues of my own :/ It seems like a pretty specific scenario, and may not apply to you but it really does sound like it was either a beta driver issue, or some conflict with drivers and registry items. I know first hand how frustrating that is though. Too well! And if it's just happening with that game I'd assume its an issue to be fixed in an upcoming release, and wouldn't really sweat it. Good luck though and let us know if you have any more info to go off, or if you manage to figure it out!

You can read more on the patch notes here: http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/340.43/340.43-win8-win7-winvista-desktop-release-notes.pdf

AEvans190 · Jul 11, 2014

I am having the same issue.. every time I play games it crashes out.. the two I have tried is csgo and watch dogs..

my build:

i7 4770k with hyper 212 evo
msi z97 gaming 7
corsair pro vengence 16 gb 2400
geforce gtx 660 sc
xfx xtr 650 psu
rosewill blackhawk case
windows 8.1 pro

Without playing games I keep getting a message saying "display driver stopped responding...version 340.43..."
I tried the driver before the beta and was doing the same thing..

When I tested gpu with furmark it gave opengl error code 3

prime95 all night ran fine, cpu temp at 65

any ideas!? thanks guys

plath · Jul 12, 2014

I RMAd the system and they concluded it was the PSU at fault.

It's still with them and they've replaced it with a EVGA 600b Bronze. Just had a look and it's on a lower tier to the VS series. Should I be concerned?

bccorrupt · Jul 12, 2014

That list can't always be trusted. The 600B is an excellent power supply for the price. Here's a review from probably the toughest power supply critic out there.
http://www.jonnyguru.com/modules.php?name=NDReviews&op=Story6&reid=351

chimera201 · Jul 12, 2014

plath :

Get something better seriously even if you have to pay for it. You have a GTX 770 and those level of PSUs aren't recommended for something like GTX 770. Get a Seasonic PSU

@bccorrupt: The rating that jonnyguru gives also depends on the price. You get what you pay for.

@AEvans190: Your issue seems to be game specific. Try what JNor said

bccorrupt · Jul 12, 2014

Like I said, "for the price". I would consider the 600B an improvement over the Corsair VS550 that came with it.

PC Crashes when I play games

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