Computer keeps going to BSOD while playing games. Help!

[kalizar]

I'm only getting the blue screen while playing games that are pretty graphically intense, so I'm thinking it's the video card. Stuff like counter-strike source, half-life, portal, etc seem to do fine. I don't remember the first game it happened in, but it seems like its happening more frequently.

When I play Diablo III, I can play for maybe an hour at most before the BSOD pops up and my computer restarts. Both the GPU and CPU temperatures are normal and stable. Drivers for GPU are up to date. Ran memtest86 with no errors. The game just gets choppy for 10-15 seconds, freezes, BSOD says hello, computer restarts.

Here are my specs:

CPU: i5 2500k 3.3Ghz

RAM: 16gb CORSAIR XMS3 DDR3 1600

PSU: Rosewill 850w

Mobo: ASUS P8Z68-V

GPU: GIGABYTE HD6950 1GB GDDR5

What do you think is causing this? Is there any way I can upload some kind of error report so I can get a better idea? This is getting really frustrating!

TL;DR My computer BSOD's while playing games. Why?

[CPressland]

Sounds like the GPU is overheating to be honest!

May not specifically be the GPU Core-Temperature, maybe the GDDR Memory.

Pop the case, get a regular desk fan, blow it in there, see if symptoms persist. While not exactly a particularly scientific experiment, it does yield results.

[Nebula2020]

Try removing the side of the case. Just to see if it helps.

I know you say the temps are normal and stable.

It sounds like a temp thing to me.

[simplezz]

Could be OS, drivers, or the GPU. If you have another Graphics card, give that a try. What is the error code / description for the BSOD?

[kalizar]

Sounds like the GPU is overheating to be honest!

May not specifically be the GPU Core-Temperature, maybe the GDDR Memory.

Pop the case, get a regular desk fan, blow it in there, see if symptoms persist. While not exactly a particularly scientific experiment, it does yield results.

Try removing the side of the case. Just to see if it helps.

I know you say the temps are normal and stable.

It sounds like a temp thing to me.

It really sounded like a temp thing to me as well. That's why I started switching back and forth between the game and my control center. I switched the fan speed to manual and jacked it up to like 80%. It sounded like a speedboat starting up, and it did cool it off a little bit, but it still stayed within normal range the entire time. Still got the BSOD.

I'll try to house fan thing. In the event that it IS overheating, what can I do to help cool this beast.

[kalizar]

Could be OS, drivers, or the GPU. If you have another Graphics card, give that a try. What is the error code / description for the BSOD?

I don't really see an error code specifically like it does most of the time. It just says there was a critical error, bla bla bla, and then it says its doing a memory dump, then it restarts. I'll snap a pic if it does it again.

[Wakers]

Find a program called whocrashed? and run it. It will tell you what is causing the BSOD.

Also, removing the side of the case does not make things run cooler. It actually hinders air flow in most cases and will make things run a bit hotter.

I have the same card as you (only 6850) and mine never needs the fans much above 50%, despite being overclocked to heaven - I can almost guarantee that it is not overheating unless the airflow in your case is extremely poor. i.e. you have hot air from the processor going towards the GPU and hot air from the GPU going towards the processor.

[kalizar]

Find a program called whocrashed? and run it. It will tell you what is causing the BSOD.

Also, removing the side of the case does not make things run cooler. It actually hinders air flow in most cases and will make things run a bit hotter.

I have the same card as you (only 6850) and mine never needs the fans much above 50%, despite being overclocked to heaven - I can almost guarantee that it is not overheating unless the airflow in your case is extremely poor. i.e. you have hot air from the processor going towards the GPU and hot air from the GPU going towards the processor.

Ok, that program is giving me this:

On Thu 5/17/2012 7:42:10 AM GMT your computer crashed

crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\051712-12292-01.dmp

This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x7CC40)

Bugcheck code: 0xF4 (0x3, 0xFFFFFA800B9CC990, 0xFFFFFA800B9CCC70, 0xFFFFF800031818B0)

Error: CRITICAL_OBJECT_TERMINATION

file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe

product: Microsoft? Windows? Operating System

company: Microsoft Corporation

description: NT Kernel & System

Bug check description: This indicates that a process or thread crucial to system operation has unexpectedly exited or been terminated.

This appears to be a typical software driver bug and is not likely to be caused by a hardware problem.

The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver which cannot be identified at this time.

It's that same error for every time my computer has ever blue-screened. However, I have my case open, with a big fan blowing in there. I also turned of vsync and set shadows to low, and the combination of all of those things seems to have Diablo running just fine. No blue since the last time I posted.

So how do I fix ntoskrnl.exe is my next question I guess......

[Wakers]

Graphics drivers then, would be my first guess. Are they up to date?

Download a tool called driver cleaner, remove all graphics drivers, then reinstall the latest AMD drivers.

Have you got overdrive turned on? turn it off and return settings to what you would normally have them at.

[remixedcat]

Remove drivers>reboot>driversweeper>reboot>reinstall drivers

[Decebalvs Rex]

Check if your power supply handles your Graphic card well and try chaning your FANs over the GPU.It sounds like a temperature fail for me.Also check if any program overclocks it too.

[simplezz]

A couple of questions:

1. Are you overclocking?

2. Are you manually setting dram timings / voltages?

3. When did this start happening? Recently? As soon as you put the machine together? After changing a component?

4. What BIOS settings are you using?

There are a few things you can do:

1. Run Prime95 to stress test your cpu independently of the GPU.

2. Run Memtest86 all the way though.

3. Run 3DMark test.

4. Load up a different OS, for example Ubuntu, and try running a game there. Does it BSOD on all games, or just high end ones?

5. You seem to have a lot of memory there. Try just 4GB.

6. If you changed hardware recently, ?'d suggest resetting the bios to defaults.

7. Try updating your BIOS.

[CronicHazel]

I had a remarkably similar issue with faulty Radeon 5870

definitely try swapping out the graphic adapter for testing or look into your graphics drivers

[bjoswald]

Need to see the code to diagnose the problem. :rofl:

[Wakers]

Need to see the code to diagnose the problem. :rofl:

Try reading the thread. He's already posted the code.

[butilikethecookie]

Happened to me yesterday. Bump down your overclocking a little bit. Have been running Skyrim error free ever since.

[kalizar]

A couple of questions:

1. Are you overclocking?

2. Are you manually setting dram timings / voltages?

3. When did this start happening? Recently? As soon as you put the machine together? After changing a component?

4. What BIOS settings are you using?

There are a few things you can do:

1. Run Prime95 to stress test your cpu independently of the GPU.

2. Run Memtest86 all the way though.

3. Run 3DMark test.

4. Load up a different OS, for example Ubuntu, and try running a game there. Does it BSOD on all games, or just high end ones?

5. You seem to have a lot of memory there. Try just 4GB.

6. If you changed hardware recently, ?'d suggest resetting the bios to defaults.

7. Try updating your BIOS.

1. CCC was using "overdrive." It wasn't set past normal clock speeds, but I turned it off anyway. I have not manually overclocked anything. Everything is stock to my knowledge.

2. No

3. Computer started blue screening right after I put it together. It would only go to blue screen when trying to wake the computer from sleep. I turned off sleep mode and viola, problem solved. It recently resurfaced when playing some more graphically intense games. It didn't happen for a few days, but it happened again just now. Every time it happens, it says it was due to ntoskrnl.exe. Here is the wikipedia page about it.

4. Default settings

My friend has this same "copy" of windows, and his gets the same errors. Do I have a corrupt version, or a corrupt ntoskrnl.exe? Is there any way to replace just this file? If I boot my windows disc and go to repair will it find and replace this corrupt file? Is this even possible if the file on the disc is corrupt itself?

[Steven P. Administrators]

This only ever happened to me for a couple of reasons, the card I had when I inspected it showed that the fan was clogged full of dust, the PC was dusty too, cleaning everything out and reseating the fan fixed the problem.

Another (more common than you would believe) is that the PC unit doesn't have enough "breathing space" so ensure there is at least a minimum of 2 to 3 inches space on each side and at the back.of the unit, if you've enclosed it in a desk that could be another reason as well (overheating).

[kalizar]

This only ever happened to me for a couple of reasons, the card I had when I inspected it showed that the fan was clogged full of dust, the PC was dusty too, cleaning everything out and reseating the fan fixed the problem.

Another (more common than you would believe) is that the PC unit doesn't have enough "breathing space" so ensure there is at least a minimum of 2 to 3 inches space on each side and at the back.of the unit, if you've enclosed it in a desk that could be another reason as well (overheating).

Well hello Neobond! I was thinking overheating was the problem, so I took some steps to try and make the computer cooler, including moving it more into the open, opening the side and pointing a desk fan into it, etc. Then I remember that my case fans were making a funny noise one day, and I turned them all the way as low as they would go. I turned them full blast again, and thought all was well. However, BSOD again just now.

Nothing in the case is very dusty, seeing as the computer is pretty new.

As I mentioned, it is always ntoskrnl.exe causing the problem, and I don't really know how to remedy that.

[Steven P. Administrators]

As I mentioned, it is always ntoskrnl.exe causing the problem, and I don't really know how to remedy that.

Hi there :) What version of Windows is it? Maybe a dumb question but are you up to date with Windows Update? Another thing you might want to try is to check your motherboard manufacturer site and see if there is a BIOS update (look why there is an update if there is).

Can't really think of anything else other than trying to reinstall Windows? If you do that try to see if you can image your current C:\ drive so you can restore it if that doesn't help.

[kalizar]

Hi there :) What version of Windows is it? Maybe a dumb question but are you up to date with Windows Update? Another thing you might want to try is to check your motherboard manufacturer site and see if there is a BIOS update (look why there is an update if there is).

Can't really think of anything else other than trying to reinstall Windows? If you do that try to see if you can image your current C:\ drive so you can restore it if that doesn't help.

Windows 7 Ultimate, which is up-to-date. I've already updated my BIOS when the mobo wasn't reading temperatures correctly.

It's looking like a fresh install may be in store for me, but I really don't know if it will help in my situation.

[Steven P. Administrators]

ntoskrnl.exe exits, but isn't the cause of the problem (it's a protected system file that can't be modified) so your ntoskrnl.exe is the same as mine ;) It's probably still driver related. You might also want to do a search for the graphics card + driver version you are using on Google and see if others are having the same problem.

Sometimes rolling back to an earlier driver version fixes weird issues too.

[kalizar]

ntoskrnl.exe exits, but isn't the cause of the problem (it's a protected system file that can't be modified) so your ntoskrnl.exe is the same as mine ;) It's probably still driver related. You might also want to do a search for the graphics card + driver version you are using on Google and see if others are having the same problem.

Sometimes rolling back to an earlier driver version fixes weird issues too.

Ok. I was thinking ntoskrnl.exe WAS the problem, but it makes more sense that it's failing due to something else. I did a little research and it seems there is a fairly large community who believes catalyst 11.9 is the best version, especially when it comes to gaming.

I'm gonna give the older drivers a shot. I'll report back....

[Steven P. Administrators]

Ok. I was thinking ntoskrnl.exe WAS the problem, but it makes more sense that it's failing due to something else. I did a little research and it seems there is a fairly large community who believes catalyst 11.9 is the best version, especially when it comes to gaming.

I'm gonna give the older drivers a shot. I'll report back....

You'll need to ensure all of the current drivers are wiped, look for a Catalyst driver sweeper before you install 11.9 and good luck (Y)

[kalizar]

Alright, so I used the Catalyst 11.9 uninstall feature to remove 12.4, then installed. I didn't use driver sweeper because I figured the uninstall feature would have removed them.....

I then played Diablo III for almost 2 hours. Gameplay was choppy to say the least. My framerate was hovering right at about 100fps the whole time, but it was extremely choppy anyway. This eventually ended with a blue screen and of course a mixture of anger/sadness from me =P.

Sooooo. I just used driver sweeper to remove all traces of AMD/ATI drivers, and reinstalled Catalyst 11.9. Stay tuned...