| n0b0dy | Date: Tuesday, 27.09.2016, 07:17 | Message # 1 |
 Explorer
Group: Users
Pirate
Messages: 297
Status: Offline
| Hi Everyone.
In the past few weeks I have been experiencing various system crashes & total freezes with increasing frequency in the last few days / week. The problem occurs when starting a 3d application like SE for e.g. but any app is causing it. Well I am only playing SE and Elite: Dangerous and it occurs in both but I believe it is a good indication of hardware issue and not software as they are based on different graphics platforms (OpenGL vs Direct3D).
I usually have to hard-reset (if PC doesn't do it automatically - 50%-50% chances here) after the total freeze. Windows comes up with the usual message that it didn't shut down properly and there is a blue screen report at the message box that pops up after restart. Sometimes there is a chkdsk prior to windows start loading (about 1/10 frequency - maybe even less) with no bad file sector reported.
The problem occurs either
a) just prior to finishing loading and entering game,
b) immediately after entering game or
c) a few minutes into the game - usually within the 1st 5 minutes of gameplay. If I get past this crucial 1st 5-6 minutes problem does not occur and I can play for hours.
Based on the above I started monitoring the voltages of the mainboard using its PCProbe utility and I discovered that there is a drop in voltage in the 3.3V, 5V and 12V range during the loading of the games and at the 1st ~ 5 minutes of gameplay (if PC hasn't frozen in the (a) and (b) scenarios). If the game passes the crucial ~5min mark, the Voltages are stabilized.
3.3 drops down to 3.20 from 3.23-3.22. The 3.3V range is actually never 3.3 exactly even in iddle it is around 3.22-3.23
5.0smth drops to 4.9smth. The 5V is usually just a little above 5 at iddle, same with the 12V
12.05smth drops to 11.95smth
I am starting to suspect that it is either a PSU issue or a Motherboard issue. The PSU is relatively new (1 and a half yrs old and it is a Corsair 1200 Watt one. The GPU is also of the same age this one.
The mother board is this one and is the oldest component (~ 6 years old).
Problem is I am not sure which one is failing and each and every component was purchased from a different supplier and at a different point in time. The PSU and GPU (and SSDs) are within warranty coverage but the Mobo is definitely not. Next time I am going to purchase a whole PC with warranty from the same supplier 
Any advice is greatly appreciated and welcome 
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| Trulskij | Date: Tuesday, 27.09.2016, 08:30 | Message # 2 |
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Space Tourist
Group: Users
Germany
Messages: 28
Status: Offline
| PSU is super strong and its corsair, actually 700 Watt would be enough, so most probaly not The PSU.
1. I suspect some incompatible Hardware ( older Soundcards, WiFi cards...) here you need not ! newest drivers but which are working properly on your windows. I had same issue with my X-Fi sound card newest driver made my pc crash and not properly shutting off the pc. Here may help bios update aswell.
2. Second, it may be the propblem with the software, (could be anything), best solution download windows from internet , install it use your key.
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| n0b0dy | Date: Tuesday, 27.09.2016, 09:00 | Message # 3 |
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Explorer
Group: Users
Pirate
Messages: 297
Status: Offline
| Trulskij, thanks for the advice ! Actually soundcard is built-in the MoBo and is 100% compatible with Windows 7 x64bit SP1 (genuine) which I am using. I have not upgraded to Windows 10 as they are not officially supported by the motherboard model.
One suspect peripheral that may be causing issues is the joystick (Saitek X52 Pro) which I have purchased about 6 years ago. I am using an extension USB cable because my PC is in the sitting room and I am sitting in the couch and it may not be delivering enough power to the stick (the LCD display flickers a lot). I can not live without it though as it is very convenient for Elite: Dangerous (and for SE). But I am going to unplug it for troubleshooting purposes... Also I will unplug 2 external HDDs just for the same reason.
As for the software I have disabled steam, and uninstalled various utilities related with energy/power management (Motherboard's EPU 6 engine and GPU Tweak). Only monitoring utility is PCProbe which I use to monitor the voltages and temperatures. No other utility / software has been installed in the meantime apart from GPU driver updates (always using latest display driver that is compatible with OS version and GPU model/type). No overclocking and other special tweaking. Everything is running at default/auto settings. Motherboard BIOS is latest.
Edited by n0b0dy - Tuesday, 27.09.2016, 09:04 |
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| Mosfet | Date: Tuesday, 27.09.2016, 10:21 | Message # 4 |
 World Builder
Group: Users
Italy
Messages: 754
Status: Offline
| Blue screen messages could point in the right direction, check the event log to see the error code and eventually the faulty module, then google it.
"Time is illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
Douglas N. Adams
My mods
Asus x555ub: cpu i5-6200u - ram 4gb - gpu nvidia geforce 940m 2gb vram
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| n0b0dy | Date: Tuesday, 27.09.2016, 10:36 | Message # 5 |
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Explorer
Group: Users
Pirate
Messages: 297
Status: Offline
| Mosfet, Thanks! How do I find the faulty module from the error code?? The error code is a hexadecimal/octadecimal figure if I remember correctly but I am not at home right now so I may be wrong...
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| Mosfet | Date: Tuesday, 27.09.2016, 11:17 | Message # 6 |
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World Builder
Group: Users
Italy
Messages: 754
Status: Offline
| Sorry I was at the phone when I sent the post. Codes are in the form 0x0xxxxx , what I meant is that usually the module generating the error is listed after the code, like ntdll.dll.
If it's an error code associated to a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA it could be also caused by a faulty RAM module.
To check it there are RAM problems you can use tools like MemTest86, better if used with each module separately.
"Time is illusion. Lunchtime doubly so."
Douglas N. Adams
My mods
Asus x555ub: cpu i5-6200u - ram 4gb - gpu nvidia geforce 940m 2gb vram
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