Why does my computer keep crashing on certain games?

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alexjt1988

Prominent
Apr 29, 2017
5
0
510
Hi all,

I keep getting the blue screen of death on certain games (Astroneer, 7 Days to Die, Battle Brothers) while other games work perfectly fine (Arma 2, Blood Bowl, Rocket League, Tyranny). Most of the time it comes back as WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR, which is a hardware issue (?), but I've stress tested every component of my computer and haven't found any issues. I've been up and down these forums trying to find an answer to my problem, but since I've already sunk about 20 hours into diagnosing it I was hoping someone could just help me directly.

First let me list my computer specs:

Operating System: Windows 10 64-bit
Processor: Intel Core i5-4690K CPU @ 3.5 GHz
Memory: 16 GB DDR3
GPU: GTX 970
Harddrive: Crucial BX100 SSD, 460 GB total, 190 GB Free
Cooling System: Corsair Water Loop
MOBO: ASUSTek Z97-Pro Gamer

Here's the testing programs I've run that have come back clean:
FurMark for the GPU
IntelProcessor Diagnostic Tool for the processor
Hot CPU Tester Pro 4 for the RAM


Here's my recent crash dump analyses:

http://imgur.com/a/1spza

Here's my temperature and voltages (idle):

http://imgur.com/a/kgzjI

And temp/volt again after a few minutes of Kerbal Space Program, everything stable:

http://imgur.com/a/BZCUp

Finally, here are some of the actions I've taken so far:

1. Removed my cooler, cleaned off the old thermal paste with isopropyl alcohol, then reapplied Arctic Silver 5 thermal paste. I was concerned that my processor was getting into the 70C temp range during gaming but I don't think my bios is auto restarting because of it. Anyways, not much improvement after reapplying paste.

2. Uninstalled my GPU driver using Display Driver Uninstaller and reinstalled the latest version for the GTX970 off of the website (not using GeForce Experience).

3. Opened my case and pushed on all the little power plugs to make sure they're fastened tightly. Also blew out the dust on the fans.

If anyone can help me figure out what's wrong I'd appreciate it a lot! I've been driving myself crazy trying to figure out which piece of hardware is causing my hair to fall out and I'm out of ideas.



 
Solution
J
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z97PRO_GAMER/HelpDesk_Download/
has bios update, update drivers (all are newer than the generic ones installed)
also go to the utilites and get the updated asus probe driver.
the old one will cause problems.
when you update the BIOS, it will remove the slight memory and cpu overclock. I just would not let the bios tune the clocks until you really know the problem is gone.


your cpu was release 2qt of 2014,
you bios is from 02/09/2015
i think your bios is doing some slight overclocking and that is causing the excess power usage when the system warms up. I would reset the BIOS to defaults and reconfigure.

both your CPU and memory are being overclocked by strange amounts
you have an old asus driver...
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C

Carnaxus

Reputable
Apr 18, 2017
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The crashlogs seem to indicate that the error is caused by a Windows .dll file. You could try finding your Windows disc (if you have one) and doing a repair. The BSOD may be reporting a hardware issue, but it's also possible that the .dll file is somehow sending bad information to the hardware, causing it to lock up and register a hardware fault.
 
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alexjt1988

Prominent
Apr 29, 2017
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I have the Windows 7 disc, but I was one of the unwilling test subjects for Windows 10 when it automatically updated my OS. Can I still do a repair of Windows 10 from a Windows 7 disc? I assume I'm going to lose all my data if I go this route.
 
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alexjt1988

Prominent
Apr 29, 2017
5
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510


Well I tried to follow the directions here:

https://www.lifewire.com/fix-hal-dll-errors-in-newer-versions-of-windows-2619245

And the startup repair process failed on me. No error codes, just says that it can't repair windows 10. I guess I'll need to do a clean install of Win10 since I don't see any other reasonable fixes for the hal.dll file.
 
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Carnaxus

Reputable
Apr 18, 2017
1,431
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I'd take it in to a shop where they have Win10 discs so you don't have to pay out the nose for one in case it doesn't work. Have them try a repair with a disc; if it still crashes, they can probably help you more than I can anyways lol
 
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J

johnbl

Polypheme
Nov 4, 2012
10,072
185
67,090
bugcheck 0x124 WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR

you got a CPU generated hardware error most likely from your CPU cache controller.

this is a common heating, or power, or overclock problem. (you do not need to reinstall windows)
copy the memory dump to a service like microsoft onedrive, share the file for public access and post a link.

I can look at it in the windows debugger and make a better guess as to the cause.

you can go into bios and reset it to defaults, boot windows and remove any overclocking software (CPU and GPU)
blow out any dust from the CPU fan, gpu fan and PSU fan. Make sure your fans are all working.

Also, you will want to confirm that your BIOS release date is after your CPU release date. Old bios versions can apply too high cpu voltage and cause these problems (bugcheck 0x124) Same goes with outdated overclocking drivers.
 
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alexjt1988

Prominent
Apr 29, 2017
5
0
510


Thanks for the reply! Sorry I'm a little late with a response, caught me at a weird time with work. Unfortunately I've already tried doing a clean install of Win 10 and I still have issues, so at least I know that wasn't the issue (even if you already knew it =) )

So, let me tackle these issues you brought up one at a time. I don't have overclocking software so that's not a problem. I've already blown out dust from my fans and I'm pretty sure my water cooler pump is operating correctly (pretty stable temps at idle). All the fans are also clocking rpms >0. Unfortunately I dont have a pump RPM or any kind of temperature sensor inside the water loop so that's fairly uncheckable outside of watching processor temps.

The BIOS release date/CPU release date I will look into and see if that's the culprit. In the meantime, here's my memory.dmp file. Unfortunately this is the new memory.dmp after I reformated my OS, but I should have a crash or two on there. Thanks for the help!

https://www.dropbox.com/s/rqk3esc5znxcmpq/MEMORY.DMP?dl=0

P.S. Don't beat yourself up Carnaxus, nothing of value was lost by doing a clean install except for a bit of my time and hair =)
 
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J

johnbl

Polypheme
Nov 4, 2012
10,072
185
67,090
https://www.asus.com/us/Motherboards/Z97PRO_GAMER/HelpDesk_Download/
has bios update, update drivers (all are newer than the generic ones installed)
also go to the utilites and get the updated asus probe driver.
the old one will cause problems.
when you update the BIOS, it will remove the slight memory and cpu overclock. I just would not let the bios tune the clocks until you really know the problem is gone.


your cpu was release 2qt of 2014,
you bios is from 02/09/2015
i think your bios is doing some slight overclocking and that is causing the excess power usage when the system warms up. I would reset the BIOS to defaults and reconfigure.

both your CPU and memory are being overclocked by strange amounts
you have an old asus driver installed:
Asus PCProbe Utility
\SystemRoot\SysWow64\drivers\AsIO.sys Wed Aug 22 02:54:47 2012
old network driver:
\SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\bcmwl664.sys Tue Dec 2 07:42:16 2014
old intel storage driver from 2014
old motherboard sound driver:
\SystemRoot\system32\drivers\RTKVHD64.sys Tue Sep 2 05:04:16 2014
------------
memory dump shows bugcheck 0x124
called by the CPU because of a error returned by the cpu cache memory controller
from cpu core 3 memory bank 1 (write error)

system was up for 9 hr 53 min.

generally, this would most likely be heat related (too much power used when hot)

machine info:
BIOS Version 2002
BIOS Starting Address Segment f000
BIOS Release Date 02/09/2015

Manufacturer ASUSTeK COMPUTER INC.
Product Z97-PRO GAMER
Version Rev X.0x

Processor Version Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4690K CPU @ 3.50GHz
Processor Voltage 8ch - 1.2V
External Clock 100MHz
Max Speed 3900MHz
Current Speed 3581MHz


memory:

Speed 1632MHz
(4 banks, 4gb each)
Part Number F3-12800CL9-4GBXL
 
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Solution
A

alexjt1988

Prominent
Apr 29, 2017
5
0
510


Hey just wanted to say thank you for the time you took to help me out, it's very much appreciated! It's been a little more than a week and I haven't had any issues after updating the BIOS drivers. You're awesome thanks!
 
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