Computer crashing randomly when playing video games (black screen, sound blocks on a loop)

[sethaithanan]

Hello everyone. I don't know if the thread belongs in this category but I'll take my chances(my first thread here, so once again, sorry if it doesn't belong to the category).

- So the issue:
I've desperately tried everything and nothing seems to work. My computer just pops up a black screen, the sound goes on for a while longer, then it blocks on a certain loop. This happens when I'm playing newer games like Skyrim/LeagueOfLegends/Dota2 and the likes of them(doesn't happen with older games like Stronghold Crusader).

- My PC hardware:
*CPU: Intel(R) Core(TM) i3 CPU 530 @2.93Hz 2.93GHz
*RAM: 2.00GB
*OS: 32bit Windows 7 Ultimate
*Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce GT 220
*Motherboard: [ASUS P7H55] Intel H55 Express (5.2W)
(That's all the relevant info, I think.
PS. I'm copying this info from a hardware scanning program called 3DP Chip)

- What I've tried and doesn't work:
*I have the latest graphics drivers;
*Tried rolling back to an older driver in case my machine doesn't support the latest one(found that suggestion on another forum);
*Ran a registry cleaner; Ran a PC defragment;
*I have no viruses(scanned my engine with multiple anti-viruses);
*Tried reinstalling windows;

-Additional info I dug up with a free program called WhoCrashed:
"On Sun 6/1/2014 10:06:51 PM GMT your computer crashed
crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\060214-10826-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: dxgkrnl.sys (dxgkrnl+0x8D0FF)
Bugcheck code: 0x116 (0xFFFFFFFF84EEC510, 0xFFFFFFFF8F428CA4, 0xFFFFFFFFC000000D, 0x3)
Error: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\dxgkrnl.sys
product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System
company: Microsoft Corporation
description: DirectX Graphics Kernel
Bug check description: This indicates that an attempt to reset the display driver and recover from a timeout failed.
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver on your system that cannot be identified at this time. "

I guess that's about it. I'm literally begging you guys not to spam and I need only opinions from experts or people who have encountered this same issue and have solved it. Thanks in advance. cheers.

PS. This has happened many, many times, so I really am desperate for a solution :/.

 

[i7Baby]

This is usually a symptom of the cpu overheating.

Can you see the cpu temperatures? Use something like Real Temp or HWInfo - Sensors to do that.

Quite often it is because -

Your cpu fan speed is too low - raise the fan speed
Your cpu cooler is dusty - clean it out.
Your cpu cooler is loose in its mounting - remove it, clean it and the cpu with isopropyl alcohol, then put it back using a pea size drop of Arctic Silver thermal paste.
Sometimes it is because the Vcore voltage is too high per HWInfo. This might be because you have tried to overclcok the cpu. Drop the voltage using bios. Sometimes it's because of a faulty power supply or motherboard.

To check for a faulty power supply - Check the 12V, 5V and 3.3V readings in HWInfo. If more than 0.2V from the target, then replace the power supply.

The dump file is pointing at a faulty graphics card. Try another one.

 

[sethaithanan]

This is usually a symptom of the cpu overheating.

Can you see the cpu temperatures? Use something like Real Temp or HWInfo - Sensors to do that.

Quite often it is because -

Your cpu fan speed is too low - raise the fan speed
Your cpu cooler is dusty - clean it out.
Your cpu cooler is loose in its mounting - remove it, clean it and the cpu with isopropyl alcohol, then put it back using a pea size drop of Arctic Silver thermal paste.
Sometimes it is because the Vcore voltage is too high per HWInfo. This might be because you have tried to overclcok the cpu. Drop the voltage using bios. Sometimes it's because of a faulty power supply or motherboard.

To check for a faulty power supply - Check the 12V, 5V and 3.3V readings in HWInfo. If more than 0.2V from the target, then replace the power supply.

The dump file is pointing at a faulty graphics card. Try another one.

The "insides" of the pc are pretty dusty all around when I opened the lid, I'll get to cleaning it as soon as possible. As to the temperatures, HWinfo reads out the following(I have no idea what a normal temperature is, or why are there multiple temperature readings, so I'll just list out everything I'm reading out, and everything I think is relevant):
CPU: Core#0 - 47.4 *C Average; 41.0 *C Minimum; 64.0 *C Maximum;
Core #1 - 50.2 *C Average; 44.0 *C Minimum; 66.0 *C Maximum;
Core Max - --------||---------- (pretty much the same as core#1)
Motherboard: 25.9 *C avg; 28 *C Maximum; 24 *C Minimum;
Auxiliary: 84.2 *C avg; 88.0 *C Maximum; 71.0 *C Minimum;
GPU: 53.7 *C avg; 69 *C Maximum; 44 *C Minimum;

About the voltages:
GPU Voltage: 0.916 V avg; 1.000 V Maximum, 0.900 V Minimum;
Power Supply Voltage: +12V - 12.011 V avg; 12.040 V Maximum; 11.872 V Minimum;
+3.3V - 3.423 V avg; 3.440 V Maximum; 3.408 V Minimum
+5V - 5.162 V avg; 5.184 V Maximum; 5.160 V Minimum

Waiting on further advice and further analysis of what might be wrong and causing the issue, I'll also update the performance when I clean out the dust, but for now, give me additional info based on the voltage/temperatures and inform me if something is at fault with those. Thanks in advance, once again.
PS. What do you mean by 'try another one'? You're saying that I should change the graphics card, or?
PPS. Forgot to put the fanspeed in there(as to what I think is the fanspeed, since it's the only measure in HWinfo with RPM): 1455 RPM avg; 1721 RPM Maximum; 1318 RPM Minimum

 

[i7Baby]

OK - I gather its aboy 20C ambient?
CPU temp is too high. Even GPU temp seems high. Clean it out and try and post new temps. Can you also post Vcore readings? And cpu fan rpm

Power supply voltages are OK

Yes - try another graphics card. Can you post gpu fan speed and clock and memory speeds before hand ? Voltage is OK.

 

[Diganta Das]

As previously said your rig is always over heating and must be cleaned...if problem persist you have to upgrade the Graphics..

 

[cpr016]

Alright, I had this exact problem so I'll tell you what I did.

1. First, I went into my bios, and the Asus BIOS has an option for different Performance modes. I saw that mine was in "Turbo Mode", which overclocks the components. Putting this back into "Normal" mode was the first thing I did. (And it worked)
2. Second, I went back into my BIOS and changed the max temps of my cpu and gpu. It turns out I was crashing a lot because my cpu was getting to a temperature that my BIOS had the "Auto-shutoff" set at. I put my gpu max temp around 80C, and my cpu around 65C. (Can't remember exactly what)
3. Lastly, I went into my fan profiles. I had "Asus Fan Xpert" to control my cpu fan speeds. I adjusted the fans to keep the temperature around 45-50 degrees at max load, so it would never reach the Max temp. For my gpu, I downloaded EVGA Precision X and adjusted the fan control to keep my gpu under 70 degrees at all times.

So basically you just need to keep your component temperatures away from the max temperatures set in your BIOS, since most will shut off to prevent component damage. Changing your fan profiles using a program like the ones above can be a huge help. About the "Turbo mode" in the BIOS, it overclocks or increases voltages of the components, and since I didn't know what exactly it was doing and how, I wasn't sure whether or not it was doing more harm than good.

 

[Ivan DK]

Alright, I had this exact problem so I'll tell you what I did.

1. First, I went into my bios, and the Asus BIOS has an option for different Performance modes. I saw that mine was in "Turbo Mode", which overclocks the components. Putting this back into "Normal" mode was the first thing I did. (And it worked)
2. Second, I went back into my BIOS and changed the max temps of my cpu and gpu. It turns out I was crashing a lot because my cpu was getting to a temperature that my BIOS had the "Auto-shutoff" set at. I put my gpu max temp around 80C, and my cpu around 65C. (Can't remember exactly what)
3. Lastly, I went into my fan profiles. I had "Asus Fan Xpert" to control my cpu fan speeds. I adjusted the fans to keep the temperature around 45-50 degrees at max load, so it would never reach the Max temp. For my gpu, I downloaded EVGA Precision X and adjusted the fan control to keep my gpu under 70 degrees at all times.

So basically you just need to keep your component temperatures away from the max temperatures set in your BIOS, since most will shut off to prevent component damage. Changing your fan profiles using a program like the ones above can be a huge help. About the "Turbo mode" in the BIOS, it overclocks or increases voltages of the components, and since I didn't know what exactly it was doing and how, I wasn't sure whether or not it was doing more harm than good.

Ok that is a good solution. But i dont know how to change the max temps in my bios. So if you could give an answer it would be really usefull, because i have the same problem, And its not a hardware porblem, i think that my computer is just auto shutting off because of the max temps allowed.

 

[MFaisalT]

Man I have the same issue, except I have different rig and only graphic demanding games that happen to crash.
GTA V, Batman Arkham Knight, & COD AW are among the games that crash due to GPU stopping to work.

Far Cry 4 for example didn't do that and ran seamlessly, among a lot of other games

I got an i5 4570 and an AMD R9 380 4GB, hooked to a Gigabyte H81M-S2PH and a Cooler Master 500w psu

I've tried everything... turning off Turbo Boost from BIOS, full removal of GPU driver in safe mode and did a clean latest version install (Catalyst 15.7), I also tried an earlier version.... Did a GPU fan override to keep temp under 65, 70, & 80.... all crashed too

just donno what to do.... my system is only 2 weeks old

 

[Diganta Das]

Man I have the same issue, except I have different rig and only graphic demanding games that happen to crash.
GTA V, Batman Arkham Knight, & COD AW are among the games that crash due to GPU stopping to work.

Far Cry 4 for example didn't do that and ran seamlessly, among a lot of other games

I got an i5 4570 and an AMD R9 380 4GB, hooked to a Gigabyte H81M-S2PH and a Cooler Master 500w psu

I've tried everything... turning off Turbo Boost from BIOS, full removal of GPU driver in safe mode and did a clean latest version install (Catalyst 15.7), I also tried an earlier version.... Did a GPU fan override to keep temp under 65, 70, & 80.... all crashed too

just donno what to do.... my system is only 2 weeks old

500W isn't enough at all. plus Cooler master isn't a trustable brand. Try one from seasonics with at least 600w and a 80+ gold..

 

[MFaisalT]

[/quotemsg]
500W isn't enough at all. plus Cooler master isn't a trustable brand. Try one from seasonics with at least 600w and a 80+ gold..
[/quotemsg]

But I've seen in many tdw calculators (including NZXT and one from Sapphire and another one from AMD)... All said i need around 400w to power up my rig properly!!

 

[Diganta Das]

500W isn't enough at all. plus Cooler master isn't a trustable brand. Try one from seasonics with at least 600w and a 80+ gold..
[/quotemsg]

But I've seen in many tdw calculators (including NZXT and one from Sapphire and another one from AMD)... All said i need around 400w to power up my rig properly!!
[/quotemsg]
At load the Cooler Master can't supply the required power. If you are sure 500W is what you need then by a Seasonic or Corsair Psu with 80+ gold certificate

 

[rohangoel007]

I had same problem and i searched whole internet for a solution but was not able to find any.
I installed a gup emperature monitoring application and checked my gpu temperature while gaming.
I found out that my gpu fan is not working and is not cooling my graphic card so while gaming the card temperature reaches 100 degree Celsius and it crashes.

run a game and see if the gpu fan is working or not and check the card temperature.

 

[Thachil]

So hello guys i was also having this problem and what i did was just formatted my pc from windows 7 to windows 10 clean install (formatted everything). And i installed the graphics driver from the disc which i got along with the graphics card i bought and problem solved. I tried another way and this was i went to the graphics manufacturer site and not nvidia site. I gave my product details model number and they provided me the best suiting thing and the problem solved. Instead of downloading the driver from nvidia site which asks only your model series (in my case 730 series), provide the model number in the graphics manufacturer site and download the best suiting thing. I would also suggest to use windows 7 instead of windows 8\10(which runs many things in background and eating your memory). I hope this helps.

 

[Thachil]

So hello again and if you have problems with gpu at 0 degrees, i too had it. The proper installation of gpu driver will solve it. I wont suggest the update of BIOS as if you did happen to do anything wrong your pc will not boot up.