Ever since I received my computer two years ago, I've been having a problem when playing games like DayZ, Arma III, Civ. 5, and even the new Space Engineers game (which doesn't seem to graphics intensive), whereas I can play Garry's Mod, Minecraft, and RuneScape just fine. This problem includes my computer hard-hanging, the screen freezing, and the computer running while everything else begins to not respond. The num-lock light on my keyboard will disappear, and when pressing it nothing occurs. The mouse turns off, my headset makes a sudden buzzing noise and then shuts off, and my wireless adapter will turn off. I've been looking into this problem ever since I've had this computer, and what I've found is that the solution to my problem lies in my hardware.
Here are the event logs from the crash:
Spoiler [ 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] 2014-08-17T00:10:24.563615900Z
EventRecordID 199050
Correlation
- Execution
[ ProcessID] 4
[ ThreadID] 8
Channel System
Computer Michael-PC
- Security
[ UserID] S-1-5-18
- EventData
BugcheckCode 0
BugcheckParameter1 0x0
BugcheckParameter2 0x0
BugcheckParameter3 0x0
BugcheckParameter4 0x0
SleepInProgress false
PowerButtonTimestamp 0
My specs:
Time of this report: 8/18/2014, 10:54:55
Machine name: MICHAEL-PC
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.140303-2144)
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd.
System Model: To be filled by O.E.M.
BIOS: BIOS Date: 03/23/12 22:47:30 Ver: 04.06.05
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3770 CPU @ 3.40GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.9GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 16332MB RAM
Page File: 2864MB used, 29796MB available
Windows Dir: C:\Windows
DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode
It should be noted that my power supply unit is a stock, factory unit at 800w.
Here is a list of things I have done to try and narrow down the hardware problem:
Take out one RAM at a time and run games with one in one time, and another in another time, in both slots; still crashed, no change in result.
Update BIOS; did nothing.
Open side of case to let more air out and cool it down; did nothing (I don't believe it's a heat problem, get 50C during any intense gaming).
Plug the computer into a wall outlet versus a surge protector (I believe the wall outlet gave me some more time before the crash occurred; whereas the surge protector usually crashes within 30+ minutes of gaming, the wall crashed only 45 minutes in).
I've had my mother's IT guy come to take a look; he did something in the BIOS to the fans, but again, I'm not sure that this problem is heat.
A problem that has popped up in the more recent months, is that my computer will freeze momentarily, and purple lines in boxed form, like a checkerboard, will pop up on my screen; the message afterward claiming that the 'Nvidia Driver has stopped working'. Then it is all back to normal. This does not occur during gaming, but rather when I'm idle watching something or just browsing the internet. I have not yet made any sort of hardware changes, as I'm very reluctant to spend money, but I'm confident that the problem lies in my PSU.
Any help towards fixing this would be very, very much appreciated, because as I've said, I built this PC for gaming, and ever since I've had it, it can only run for 30 minutes before crashing on certain, more intense games.