Blue screen of death-maybe video card?

[valupak]

Hello everyone. I just recently, about 2 months ago, built a new computer. It's an Antec 900, Asus p5n32-e motherboard, 2 gigs of corsair ram, q6600 processor with GO stepping, Asus en8600gts vid card, seagate 500GB, and raidmax 630 watt psu. Last week, I was playing a game and during the middle of playing I suddenly got a BSOD. Now, sometimes some of my games work and sometimes I just get a BSOD right away when I start one. If I go to DXDIAG it will let me test direct draw, but when I try and test Direct3D, i also get a BSOD. It will also sometimes happen with larger videos playing on the computer. I ran Memtest86+ 23 times with no errors. I deleted and reinstalled directx and still nothing. If I boot in safe mode and try to load a game, it comes up with "Too many tries in texture reduction code" and wont let it run. When I do get a BSOD, it says something a little different every time but usually has the code "0x0000000A (0x00000000, 0x0000001c, 0x00000000, 0x804E1637) or something close to it. I am starting to think maybe my vid card went bad. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks.

 

[badge]

Even though the RAM passes memtest86, your RAM is a likely suspect causing the bluescreening. Especially in light of the fact BSOD occurs when you run software (games). Two things: Try each DIMM seperately and as a single in slot 1. Run your games that way (with each DIMM as a single) and see if the BSOD ceases. 2. In BIOS, set the memory voltage to Mfg specs, PC6400 is 2.0-2.1v. Go to 2.2v if you ahve alreay tried 2.1v.

Of course the problem could be other than RAM related, but it's a good place to start. HTH.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/314063

 

[badge]

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[valupak]

Well I've now sent the ram back, received a new set that Corsair tested as working correctly, and I am still having the same problem. It seems to only be during high stress on the video card. Like playing games or playing higher res videos. Am I safe to think the vid card is shot? I do not have an extra laying around or I would try it. Thanks for any replies.

 

[badge]

In BIOS, set the memory voltage to Mfg specs, PC6400 is 2.0-2.1v. Go to 2.2v if you have alreay tried 2.1v. Your MB is picky about this and setting up memory in BIOS is very important. Bump up the memory voltage. Is the Corsair RAM you are using suggested at Corsiar for the MB?

Memory Configurator.

http://www.corsair.com/

It is hard if not impossible to troubleshoot a system without spoare parts, spare vdeo card, RAM, PSU, etc. You are just guessing which piece of hardware is causing the problem. Tracking down the BS code at MS is about all you can do to make an educated decision as to what hardware is causing the problem.

 

[valupak]

memory voltage is set at 2.2. The weird thing is it was working like a dream for about a month before the initial crash so I don't think any of my settings are off. I just installed oblivion and it will play the game fine in 640x480 and 800x600 screen resolution but anything above that will cause a BSOD. If anyone thinks this would most likely be the vid card, let me know. Thanks.

 

[eric54]

Seems like a vram problem. The buffer gets filled the larger the textures it need to draw. RMA the card. If it had been your ram it would have crashed doing anything that was using it. AKA photoshop or loading big programs. Sometimes even booting the OS can be affected by faulty ram sectors.I had that happen on an old rig of mine, b*tch to diagnose, but in the end, pull and go was all it took. Good advice to check the ram, but awkums razor tends to be right (the gfx card was the simplest explanation).