Question BSOD/freezes or App crashing occur when playing game

[PE061]

Hello everyone,

I read other threads related to the similar issue I am having, but unsuccessfully.

I built my own PC a few years ago for the first time, and it works fine unless I play a game (and the only game I play is The Sims 4).

Almost each and every time I play, I either experience (in order of frequency):

• PC freezing, to the point that I have to manually reboot
• BSOD but not always the same one and, checking WhoCrashed, mostly "ntoskrnl.exe" related
• AppCrash (i.e. the game itself crashes)

This is my PC config:

OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-bit
BIOS: 12/04/15 20:19:28 Ver: 04.06.05 (type: BIOS)
Processor: AMD FX-8320E Eight-Core Processor (8 CPUs), ~3.2GHz
Memory: 16384MB RAM DDR3 (dual channel)
Available OS Memory: 16338MB RAM
Page File: 3369MB used, 15906MB available
Motherboard: ASRock 970A-G/3.1
VideoCard name: 2048 MBATI AMD Radeon R7 360 Series (Sapphire/PCPartner)
HDD: 465GB Seagate ST3500413AS ATA Device (SATA)
931GB Western Digital WD Elements 1042 USB Device (USB (SATA)
Audio: Realtek High Definition Audio
PSU: Thermaltake 530W modular

For the record, I don't have 3rd party antivirus

And this what I already tried to find a solution:

• sfc /scannow: no integrity violations
• chkdsk: no errors
• DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth
• Windows clean boot
• Checked RAMs, with both Windows diagnostic tool and MemTest86, and both didn't show any error
• Updated Windows (Windows updates are always enabled by the way)
• Updated GPU drivers
• Uninstalled GPU driver with DDU.exe and reinstalled. It was even worse, hence I uninstall it again with DDU.exe
• Checked both Reliability Monitor and Event Viewer. When the PC freezes, Reliability Monitor doesn't show anything helpful, while the Event Viewer shows the error ID 6008 "The previous system shutdown at __ on ‎__ was unexpected " 30/40 minutes before the freeze occurs, but at the same time of the error I am still actually playing.

Other attemps I made, game related: repaired the game, updated the game, removed and replaced the Mods folder by folder, played in a clean user data folder. But I honestly don't think the game is the original cause of the issue by now.

This is the link to the last 5 minidumps: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1ToDnE9-kc2m2eZRFuBoSCESpZHMRTkAe

The only thing I have yet to try is a BIOS update, because it scares me and because I am using my PC for working remotely, hence I am afraid that if something bad happens I have no other way to work (my country is in lockdown due to COVID-19).

I also started to think that maybe could be my PSU? But just because I am running out of ideas.

Thanks so much in advance for any help provided.

 

[PE061]

Thank you @gardenman

 

[Colif]

I also run Prime95 and it actually "happened" something, although I don't know if it is useful or not: when it was running, I experienced a BSOD twice.

what happened? is there a log report? might be in Prime95 folder.

I am not really here this month but I can't ignore threads I have replied to, can I...
1st BSOD happened while Windows Platform Protection Service was running, its used to download and maintain Windows/Microsoft licences.
2nd IRQ error is reporting Windows Defender minidriver as the cause

Just general trend of the two make me think its LAN drivers. You have Feb Realtek drivers, I have seen people havge errors with them in recent months, could update to newer here - https://www.realtek.com/en/componen...0-1000m-gigabit-ethernet-pci-express-software

 

[PE061]

what happened? is there a log report? might be in Prime95 folder.

I am not really here this month but I can't ignore threads I have replied to, can I...
1st BSOD happened while Windows Platform Protection Service was running, its used to download and maintain Windows/Microsoft licences.
2nd IRQ error is reporting Windows Defender minidriver as the cause

Just general trend of the two make me think its LAN drivers. You have Feb Realtek drivers, I have seen people havge errors with them in recent months, could update to newer here - https://www.realtek.com/en/componen...0-1000m-gigabit-ethernet-pci-express-software

Hahah thank you @Colif, I appreciate that!

This is the file with Prime95 results, a few errors occured when I eventually managed to run the tests (i.e. after the 2 BSOD): https://drive.google.com/file/d/15KP8X2-BywYQaboH3DW8_iJYPmIP5LTH/view?usp=sharing

I updated the Realtek driver, we will see if this time works because I already tried that in the past and it was not the solution, unfortunately.

 

[Colif]

i think the rounding errors can be fixed by giving CPU more voltage, as PC isn't stable.

You aren't overclocked I assume?

The algorithm, in a rough sense, uses a transformation that produces floating-point results when a precise answer is an integer. So, each decimal result is rounded to the nearest integer, and the rounded-off decimal is a "rounding error" in the FFT algorithm. When results come out below nnn.4 or above mmm.6, it is obvious which way to round and the rounding error is considered "safe". But if a calculation comes out nnn.48, is the error 0.48 and should be rounded down, or is the error 0.52 and should be rounded up? The calculation is no longer trustworthy.

When the algorithm produces an error above 0.4, it repeats the particular calculation that produced the error. if the error is repeatable, it is a sign that the precision of the transformation is not high enough for the size of calculation being attempted, and a slower/larger/more precise transformation is then used to reduce error below the 0.4 cutoff. However, if the error is non-repeatable, the computer has a hardware error- calculations are no longer deterministic. This is where you're at.

Slow down the overclock, reduce heat (by cleaning out dust, improving airflow, routing cables better, reseating CPU heatsink with less thermal paste, moving the GPU a slot or two away from CPU, etc....), check memory for errors (e.g. with memtest86), or slow down the overclock. You ought to slow down the overclock first, though it may be the memory clock as the culprit rather than the CPU clock.

https://www.mersenneforum.org/showthread.php?t=24129

Bottom paragraph is the advice to follow.

 

[PE061]

You assumed correctly @Colif, I am not overclocking -I honestly don't even though how to do that.
So I am basically experiencing overclocking issues... without the overclocking? This is interesting but extremely bizarre at the same time. How is that?

You suggest to give the CPU more voltage, but how am I supposed to do that? By substituing the PSU?

 

[Colif]

Try the parts of the fix you can do, like... reduce heat (by cleaning out dust, improving airflow, routing cables better, reseating CPU heatsink with less thermal paste, moving the GPU a slot or two away from CPU, etc....). I might be wrong about the voltages

As for voltages, I am not entirely sure myself but I might get another mod to suggest ideas on that. Its possible, based on age of the PC, that it is the PSU at fault as it might be going bad. I don't generally suggest purchasing items based on assumptions though. I like to be sure but after several months of ongoing BSOD its not just going to be windows at this point.

 

[Darkbreeze]

I have yet to try a clean installation of Windows 10 because I need my computer everyday and I don't want to reinstall everything again, it would be too time consuming...

Irrelevant. You need to do the clean install because this IS the second most probable cause of your symptoms. The idea that it's too time consuming is extremely ridiculous because you've already spent FAR more time trying to figure out what's wrong than you would have spend doing a clean install and reinstalling your applications. Sorry, but this is a non-starter as far as excuses go.

Also, you haven't updated the BIOS as far as I can see, and I read through the whole thread to see if you did that at any point and unless I missed it somewhere, you didn't. The initial 1.1 BIOS version for that and some other ASRock AM3/AM3+ boards had identified errata and stability issues that were almost immediately rectified by the BIOS 1.2 version release. If you are afraid to update the BIOS yourself, then take it to a service location or shop that can do it for you. Between the BIOS update and the Windows clean install, it's probably a miracle that this system works at all without constant stability issues on anything more involved than opening a browser tab.

While I certainly can't guarantee that those two things will resolve your problem, because there could be any number of other reasons for why you are having those issues such as the fact that your motherboard is pretty old and was never actually intended for use with that 8 core FX processor because it was released well after the motherboard itself, which was really designed for use with pre-FX AM3 processors, and is rather low end to begin with, so some degradation is to be expected after 6 or more years of use. Or, things like a bent pin on the CPU. Drive failures. Whatever.

The point is, none of those things are as PROBABLE as the BIOS version itself or the clean install of Windows. I'm assuming this Windows installation has probably been in place since you originally built the machine, through many cumulative and major spring or fall major updates, which is much like installing a whole new version of Windows (Upgrade) on top of an older version EACH TIME you do that. It causes problems. We see it ALL THE TIME. I've seen it on my own systems, which is why I do a clean install EVERY TIME a major Windows update version is released if at all possible. Windows does a very poor job of creating compatible environments when it comes to drivers for older hardware after a major update or upgrade, whether Windows 7, 8 or any version of 10. In some cases, it's totally fine, and that user goes on with life as if nothing at all was changed, while others suffer nothing but problems after updates and upgrades of the OS. Years of this, and it's a wonder ANYBODY has a Windows installation that is more than a year or two old.

You say that this system is for work, but that you game on it, so here's my advice. You take the "risk", which I consider to be either extremely low or non-existent, as relates to updating the BIOS. The only way I see there being any kind of problem is if YOU do something wrong OR if there is already a problem with the motherboard, in which case, you needed to either replace it or upgrade the platform anyhow. Make backups NOW of anything important so that no matter what happens, you don't lose any files or folders that would change your life if you lost them. Save them to another location, NOT the same drive that Windows is on. Do this even IF you don't take ANY of the other advice offered here. Get another drive, or burn the files to an optical DVD or CD or BD disk. Upload them to a cloud storage solution. SOMETHING. Anything to ensure that you don't lose what can't be ever regained if you have a catastrophic failure. Anything could happen. Hard drive could (And will, sooner or later) completely fail, and unlike the movies, when they do, the data is RARELY recoverable. Even if you are willing to spend a thousand dollars for a recovery service, it often results in only partial or no recovery of that data. There is only ONE way to ensure data recovery, and that is to have a backup of that data from the start.

So, back to my advice, either address the two main issues or don't use the system for gaming. I'm assuming you don't have any problems using it for work as I don't see any commentary on that here. Just gaming and running Prime95, and the Prime95 problem is likely errata from your initial BIOS version. Lot's of CPU microcode out there have had errata identified on early BIOS versions that are either corrected or worked around on subsequent BIOS and microcode releases, so this is not new. And, that might not BE the issue at hand, but you cannot know one way or the other without TRYING to address the issue. BIOS releases happen FOR A REASON. They are not done simply to offer a way to brick your motherboard because it's something fun to do.