Games crashing and getting random BSOD's -unable to access minidump -

[turboknee]

OK So since I had Fry's put in my MOBO, CPU, GPU, and RAM in December I've been getting some strange issues that I think indicate a bad GPU - however - the issues are sporatic and Fry's won't consider doing anything if they can't recreate the issue. Well, today I left my rig on and when I got home I saw it got a BSOD and created a minidump file. I did all the steps and downloaded all the tools to look at it but it keeps telling me access denied in WinDbg. I tried to take ownership and everything but no good. Can someone here help me by taking a look and sending me results with your opinion?

I have the following specs:

AMD Athlon II x3 455 (stock)
Asus M5A97 Mobo
XFX Radeon HD 6770 1gb
8gb Kingston Hyperx
Windows 7 Ultimate x64

Games crash often and sporatically leaving AppCrash messages and then afterwards my Google Chrome will Appcrash and no games will load - they all Appcrash after showing strange colors and artifacts in their loading screens or launchers. All is fixed on reboot and if i restart the game (i.e. ME3, Alan Wake are the worst - whereas Skyrim and Amalur run much better) the issue is resolved for a period of between 15 mins to 2 hours - approx.

Thanks in advance for any help - I'm past Fry's return period so for them to make an exception I need to prove their hardware was shotty from the get go and that it took me this long to track down the issue.

 

[shanky887614]

how old is the pc?


you can be a thorn in there side because all the items there have a warently from the manufacturer of at least a year


try running prime95. if it crashes quick then you can prove its unstable

 

[turboknee]

I just had it put together in december although I kept the existing HDD and Case/PSU which were older but ok - HDD is Maxtor 300 gb 1.5/gbs sata and PSU is unk brand but 680 watts.

I've ran prime95 and no errors for 3 mins - did not run further as cpu was getting very hot - however - i monitor temps using dual-monitors when running games and temps are safe

 

[DarkMatterTrace]

This little free tool might help to get one step closer to finding out if its a hardware fault or some driver issue:

http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed_help.htm

Run the tool and eventually post results. Also update all drivers if they aren't up to date.

On a side note, if your pc cannot run prime95 more than a few mins you should consider upgrading the cpu cooler. This will prolong the durability of the cpu.

Kind regards
Dark

 

[turboknee]

OMG YOU ROCK - this program is the shiznit

here's the conclusion:


3 crash dumps have been found and analyzed. 2 third party drivers have been identified to be causing system crashes on your computer. It is strongly suggested that you check for updates for these drivers on their company websites. Click on the links below to search with Google for updates for these drivers:

atikmpag.sys (AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.)

rtl85n64.sys (Realtek 8180/8185 Wireless Device, Realtek Semiconductor Corporation )


now both have been updated to newest drivers recently but problem persists. I have been having internet issues as well. How can I fix this issue and does it appear hardware or driver conflist/issues?

 

[DarkMatterTrace]

Hmm its a bit hard to tell without more info , but if you have experienced artifacts when running games f.ex. I would suggest running a graphics stress test with futuremark or some program like it. If you have any issues during the test I have a hard time seeing how they can refuse you returning the card.

Also monitor the GPU temps during the test if possible.

 

[turboknee]

ok ran 3Dmark11 and the results are ugly - only 9-10 fps average - however there was no crash or bsod. I ran memtest86 and passed. Temps were not bad during 3dmark- stable at approx 54c

Anything else I should try to furnish evid. of a bad gpu or am I wrong about it?

 

[JDFan]

I'd suspect the PSU more than the GPU --- an older Generic model PSU is probably just getting ready to give out and is not supplying a steady source of power to keep everything running properly. Do you have another PSU you could test to see if that fixed things ?

 

[turboknee]

I might agree there. I just ran Furmark and ran great for 15 mins stable at 76c. So GPU is fine I suspect. Hmmmm no i do not have another PSU but it was so rarely used. Is there another way to test PSU? I have a pretty crappy surge protector snake also. Could that cause these issues?

EDIT: not the plug issue since it happened again with pc plugged directly into wall ( i know - dangerous ). I have no idea wtf is going on. How does this thing survive 15 mins of Furmark w/ MSAA 2x in FS 1440/900 with no issues and crash on stupid ME3. And why does it cause my entire desktop to go nuts - AI Suite II immediately appcrash'd as well as Chrome right after the game went. Strange artifacts in pics and buttons on chrome. I took a video to show Fry's techs. I am stumped.

I checked temps right after it crashed. GPU at 54c and CPU at 41c - temps are not a prob either at all

 

[DarkMatterTrace]

Assuming that the hardware is ok, you stress tested GPU and RAM without issue, I think the problem might be malware (ZeroAccess rootkit messes system up a lot f.ex.), or some form of system corruption. Also from the WhoCrashed report it said it could be driver faults.

I would personally choose to do a reinstall to be on the safe side, but if you don't want to do that I would suggest to try the following:

1. Run chkdsk in an administrator command promt.
2. in the same promt run: sfc /verifyonly
3. If none of these find anything and you don't want to reinstall do a system restore to a earlier date where you think the computer was working.
4. None of the above works go to Majorgeeks or techguy forums and request malware inspection help (there are some guides about the logs you will need to post). There is usually a looong waiting time for the experts because they are overflooded most of the time .


If you reach number 4 there are 3 tools you can use first to check if there is any malware:

1) tdsskiller http://support.kaspersky.com/faq/?qid=208280684
2) aswMbr http://public.avast.com/~gmerek/aswMBR.htm
3) also malwarebytes is useful at times.
´
Best of luck with it

 

[turboknee]

Thing is I have this issue from day one and done many virus scan's and a few reinstalls and nothing works. I found a post on another site and convinced the GPU is bad. Games use CPU and GPU at same time under load whereas stressers only test GPU. Me thinks the issue is with the GPU itself but only crashes when CPU is also under load. Which seems strange but here's what i found:

http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/121496-many-crashes-graphics-all-over-screen.html

BTW my AI Monitor shows 3.3v at 3.264 / 5v at 5.1v / 12v at 11.994 - are these ok or signs of a bad psu?

FYI - ran rootkit scans and ok. SFC ok as well.

 

[alishathomaz]

The most important Blue Screen of Death troubleshooting step you can take is to ask yourself what you just did.

1) Did you just install a new program or a piece of hardware, update a driver, install an update, etc.? If so, there's a very good chance that the change you made caused the BSOD:
Startup using Last Known Good Configuration to undo recent registry and driver changes.
Use System Restore to undo recent system changes.
Roll Back device driver to version prior to your driver update.

2) Scan your computer for viruses. Some viruses can cause a Blue Screen of Death, especially ones that infect the master boot record (MBR) or boot sector.

3) Update drivers for your hardware. Most Blue Screens of Death are hardware or driver related so updated drivers could fix the cause of the STOP error.

4) Return hardware settings to default in Device Manager. Unless you have a specific reason to do so, the system resources that an individual piece of hardware is configured to use in Device Manager should be set to default. Non-default hardware settings have been known to cause a Blue Screen of Death.

5) Return BIOS settings to their default levels. An overclocked or misconfigured BIOS can cause all sorts of random issues, including BSODs.

 

[turboknee]

Again, All of these have been addressed. This has been happening since my build. Through Win7 reinstalls, 3 different gpu driver updates, multiple windows updates, multiple virus scans, diagnostics and torture tests, etc etc etc. Nothing pinpoints the exact issue. I am sure it's either a faulty GPU or PSU. I am going tomorrow to Fry's to have them look at it and to exchange my GPU. I'm just concerned it'll be a fight given that they built this thing in December and have already given me about 5 different answers over the phone. I hate to drag my rig into them for nothing, or worse, havce them look at it and tell me its not their fault and charge me $90 for the diagnostic

 

[turboknee]

Best answer selected by turboknee.

 

[JDFan]

Me thinks the issue is with the GPU itself but only crashes when CPU is also under load. Which seems strange but here's what i found:

That even more makes it look like a PSU issue -- The more parts being stressed the more heat build up inside the case leading to less available output from the PSU and the more likely a PSU is going to have problems providing a clean stream of Power to run them all and if the PSU is having problems providing Clean power to run the thing then it's going to crash eventually (and running it for awhile with a bad PSU providing power spikes and unstable power can eventually cause the other parts to become damaged making it look like one of those parts was the initial problem so you replace it only to find the problems continue to crop up after a small amount of time as they continue to get poor power)

 

[turboknee]

Damn. I hope you're wrong because i already exchanged the gpu. Techs at Fry's barely looked at it but looking at the errors and listening to my story they agreed the gpu was bad. However, I had to speak with the stores assistant manager as the returns supervisor refused to give me store credit and told me to ctc XFX. I went apeshit and got my way. We'll see - so far its running games much better at much higher res. went from 1440/900 to 1920/1080 on Amalur and looks amazing!!

i got the Gigabyte 550ti OC

 

[turboknee]

double post

 

[turboknee]

ARRRRGH! the problem happened again!! Almost exactly the same thing when running Skyrim on ultra with my new gpu! I'm worried this is either CPU, HDD, or PSU - neither of which i can afford to replace. I had to spend an extra $25 to get the new GPU and now i'm royally fuxored. I can't win - i can't afford to replace the wrong item and too embarassed to go into Fry's again after I through a shitstorm to get tyhem to take back my gpu - this is nuts!

I'm even more concerned that the bad power has irreperably damaged the cpu, hdd, or gpu