BSOD due to bad card?

[Bregg]

I will not pretend to know very much about hardware so I'll just post the problem and codes.

General information and description:

1. My system has been running smoothly for nearly two years until about two hours ago.

2. The crash is directly tied to any attempt to run a game. (Indicating that any stress on the card, causes failure?)

3. Video lockup and system freeze with color and rendering distortions.

4. Since the time of purchase only one instance of overheating has occurred, friend forgot to open the cabinet that houses my rig, fans went into over drive. No immediate meltdown, and everything has worked fine for nearly three months since. However I assume this may have caused some initial damage to any number of things.

System specs:


OS Name Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Home Premium
Version 6.0.6002 Service Pack 2 Build 6002
Other OS Description Not Available
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
System Manufacturer Dell Inc
System Model XPS 630i
System Type x64-based PC
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz, 3006 Mhz, 2 Core(s), 2 Logical Processor(s)


Installed Physical Memory (RAM) 6.00 GB
Total Physical Memory 6.00 GB
Available Physical Memory 4.12 GB
Total Virtual Memory 12.1 GB
Available Virtual Memory 10.2 GB
Page File Space 6.29 GB
Page File C:\pagefile.sys


Display Device:

Name NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
Adapter Type GeForce 9800 GT, NVIDIA compatible
Adapter Description NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT
Adapter RAM 512.00 MB (536,870,912 bytes)
Installed Drivers nvd3dumx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvwgf2umx.dll,nvd3dum,nvwgf2um,nvwgf2um
Driver Version 8.17.12.6099

The Error

BCCode STOP: 0X00000116

see: nv&ddmkm.sys

BCP1 FFFFFA8008C994E0
BCP2 FFFFFA6002EEE220
BCP3 000000000000000
OSvrs 6_0_6002
Srvpck 2_0
Product 768_1

Ran memory diagnostic, no problem
All drivers are up to date, with a force update from Nvidia
So is this a bad card? Or something more sinister?

Thanks

 

[Twoboxer]

This particular issue sounds like the graphics card (the favorite) or a psu issue, though it could posisbly be other things.

Is this a bought or built system? If bought, make, model, age please.

If built, what psu (make and model) are you using? How old is it?

Do you have access to either a spare psu or another graphics card? The easiest way to diagnose this will be to swap out parts, or to test your parts (eg Graphics card) in another PC.