BSOD when in games.

[Chadsworth]

Ok, so my computer has been crashing as of late, it used to happen pretty infrequently, but it's been occuring more and more. The crash will occur by my computer becoming extremely jumpy for a few seconds, and finally completely crashing with the last sound looping endlessly and finally a BSOD.

The crash is occuring when I usually have had the computer on for atleast an hour or two, then when I play graphics intensive games(Skyrim, Payday, not things like League of Legends). Then after the first time this occurs, it will happen almost instantly when I reenter the game. I think the temperatures are fine, with the CPU at 40 derees C at idle, and the hard drive at 26.

If I could get any help or advice for this, that'd be swell, thanks.

OS: Windows 7, 8 gb RAM
Motherboard: Gigabyte Technology Co. H55M-USB3(socket 1156).
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU 550 @ 3.2 GHz
Power Supply: Corsair Professional Series™ HX650
Graphics: NVIDIA GeFore GTX 460
Hard Drive: 1TB SAMSUNG HD103SJ

 

[Deemo13]

Maybe go for a memtest.

 

[Chadsworth]

Ok, I'll run a memtest tonight while I sleep. So, regarding the two possible results, if the test has no errors am I probably looking at a graphics card problem here? And if there are issues, a RAM problem, or it's too vague an issue to guess at this point?

 

[Kelthar]

If there aren't issues I'd look at driver problems.

If there are issues, do the ram dance. Take out all sticks, test one at a time. Always use the same slot. If problems vanish when using just one slot, might be a motherboard issue (which is rare).

 

[Chadsworth]

Ok, thanks for that! I'll report back when I'm done, glad I've got some direction, it's not the easiest thing to find people with similar problems when there's such a plethora of them, haha, thanks again.

Ohhhh, just remembered something that could be important, when I bought my computer it was already overclocked to 3.6 Ghz, I never saw a reason to change this because I presumed it was safe and standard, could that be the problem?

 

[Kelthar]

Might be. Unstable clocks could cause that problem. Return to original clocks and try to do what causes it to crash.

Also, what's the error it gives on the BSOD?

 

[Chadsworth]

Returned it to normal, didn't happen again after playing for two hours, could be it I guess, I'll run the memtest tonight and check up, thanks for the help, I'll post later if it doesn't end up being the problem

 

[Chadsworth]

Ok, so it happened again, well it has been happening, the memtest said there were no errors after 6 runs. Is that sufficient? Or should I run it again for longer? And if it is, what kind of errors are possible here?
I'll reinstall all device drivers and whatnot, not sure what the error in the BSOD is, I'll try and see in the next occurence.

 

[Kelthar]

The BSOD will be able to give us much more information (that's what they're for!).

It'll at least be able to exclude certain components.

And concerning memtest, I run it for about 10 runs, but I doubt it's the memory if you got no errors after 6.

 

[Chadsworth]

Ok, so sorry this took so long, but my computer wouldn't crash again, it finally did a few minutes ago, the message is:
STOP: 0x00000124 (0x0000..., 0xFFFFFA8009E25028, 0x000000000BE000000, 0x000000000800400)

If that's any help 😀

 

[Kelthar]

"The WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR bug check has a value of 0x00000124. This bug check indicates that a fatal hardware error has occurred."

I recommend a CMOS Reset, this is most likely caused by incorrect voltages.

 

[Chadsworth]

Thanks heaps for all the help, I haven't really said it yet but I really do appreciate the ongoing support .

I'll look into doing that tonight though, cheers.

 

[Chadsworth]

Ok all done, still didn't help, is it looking like a hardware error? It seems to occur when there's a lot going on on screen, but it's relative, just then I was play a game and merely moving triggered it, whereas other times it will be under no stress and only in menus. Could it be a defunct video card? Considering it only occurs in games and under load.

I'm considering just upgrading my 460 for a 650 Ti Boost, while not a massive upgrade, I've got a spare bit of cash lying around, and hopefully it might just fix the problem.

 

[Kelthar]

If you could have a friend lend you a GPU just for testing that'd be great (you'll need to install the drivers and everything).

 

[Chadsworth]

Hmm, ok, well I think I know the cause, well roughly, so I hadn't really thought about it, but the problem only started occuring when I began to use two monitors. I unfortunately don't have any friends with a card I can borrow, even suggesting something like that sounds like witchcraft to them, haha. If it matters, I presume it doesn't but, the BSOD always appeared on the secondary monitor.
Additionally, I bit the bullet and just ordered a new card, I'll try running both screens on the new card, but if it occurs again, is running my main monitor on the new card, and my secondary one on my current one viable? My case has all the room for it, but I'm pretty new to the whole concept of moving, replacing parts, I paid the people I bought this from to assemble it for me.

 

[Kelthar]

You'll probably be able to unless the drivers somehow conflict. If the two monitors have different resolutions, put the more powerful GPU on the one with highest resolution to keep a more stable framerate.

What you'll definitely get is incompatible framerates (one is at 40 the other is 30, for example), but that's something you're already expecting I guess.