Question BSOD while gaming - hal.exe & ntoskrnl.exe

Aug 15, 2019
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For some times I have seen to have this issue, that causes a BSOD for me while gaming. It doesn't give me a BSOD right, when I start gaming, but maybe after an hour or two, and it's not everything time, so it's a bit "random", when this issue happens. I recently tried driver verifier to see, if it was a bad driver, but ended in a boot loop, and my system restore point would not work, so had to reinstall my pc.

I have read a few threads here on the forum, but didn't seem to help me, so now i'm asking for help on hoping to get this resolved.

Specs:
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 10 Professional (x64) Build 18362.295 (1903/May 2019 Update)
CPU: Intel Core i5-6600K
Motherboard: MSI Z170A Krait Gaming
GPU: Nvidia Geforce GTX 980 Ti
RAM: 32GB of HyperX Fury 2133 MHz

Minidump: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1G3hlGPtObJsbJ9phvjUtPeJk2C2FoAyW
Memtest86: https://drive.google.com/open?id=1FK4h1GKzQEsT3biqUbxhxIRLd1GGeIrH
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Did you have all 4 sticks in at once? as that doesn't really help. If you had 1 error, you wouldn't know which stick had the error, that is why its better to test all 4 at once. Results show 4 memory sticks in top part...

I am not sure if that test actually does prove anything, i don't know if it would have checked all 4 lanes at once or just the 1st

Think you will find its hal.dll as that is the hardware abstraction layer, sits between ntoskrnl (windows kernel) and hardware. Is error code something like WHEA error or Machine Check Exception? as that is what I normally see associated with those 2 file names.

Remove any overclocks
remove MSI Afterburner or Intel Extreme Tuning Utility
can be caused by heat

I can't read the dumps but I send link to someone who can :)
 
Aug 15, 2019
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All 4 ram sticks was in while it was testing last night.
It shows 0 errors for the memtest86 test, but would you like me to test it with 1 ram stick at a time?
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
Looking around I find advice that says, if all 4 work, no need to test one... and then other cases where all 4 work together but fail individually... so its sort of up to you.

I know you can run memtest on multiple slots but not sure about at same time. I am not 100% sure if memtest looked at all 4 sticks during that test or just tested 1 of them. If its the 2nd option, it could still be ram. At very least it would clean ram of list of possibles.

You could wait to see what dump reports, My friend is likely asleep now but there are others around who can read them as well.
 

gardenman

Splendid
Moderator
Hi, I ran the dump file through the debugger and got the following information: https://pste.eu/p/Tsum.html

File information:081419-10406-01.dmp (Aug 14 2019 - 13:57:37)
Bugcheck:MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION (9C)
Probably caused by:memory_corruption (Process: dwm.exe)
Uptime:2 Day(s), 15 Hour(s), 24 Min(s), and 58 Sec(s)

BIOS information was not included in the dump file. This can sometimes mean an outdated BIOS is being used.

Your memtest86 results in webpage form: https://pste.eu/p/DwOp.html

This information can be used by others to help you. I can't help you with this. Someone else will post with more information. Please wait for additional answers. Good luck.
 
Aug 15, 2019
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Updated my BIOS to the latest version about a week ago, as I was suspecting this to be the issue, but still had BSOD after the update. Why the information is not included in the dump file. No clue, but just checked the BIOS again to be sure, and it's the latest according to MSIs website.
 

Colif

Win 11 Master
Moderator
dwm.exe = windows desktop manager. Its what runs graphics on the desktop environment.

it could be the GPU drivers... Nvidia are never the best and 980 TI isn't really what latest drivers built for. You could try running DDU and run windows update after restart and let windows find drivers. See if that stops errors. - https://forums.tomshardware.com/faq...n-install-of-your-video-card-drivers.2402269/

its possible there is a newer version of the Intel Management Engine Interface on the MSI website and it might be why the bios info isn't showing on the dump. I can't tell as loading the MSI website now is currently showing nothing under drivers on Chrome or Firefox - so I can't tell how old newest BIOS is.

See if you can find newer Wifi adapter drivers as current ones from 2014 could be causing problems as well
 
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gardenman

Splendid
Moderator
Sometimes BIOS updates help, sometimes they don't. I wouldn't worry too much about the BIOS info not being included in the dump file. This happens often, sometimes even with the latest BIOS installed. When the BIOS information is included in the dump file, it helps us by showing more info about your system such as exact RAM modules and types you have, CPU info and more. But that isn't required.