Crashing when playing any game

[BlackBorderGuy]

I made a similar thread in an other forum section but maybe it wasn't the correct one, so I'm trying my luck here. I would really appreciate some help!

I have a gaming PC, a bit old, here are the configs : https://gyazo.com/b5dd0d25036b2b5b3037139f5886bacd

Suddenly today, it started "crashing" whenever I would launch a game. Not instantly, but a few seconds in, even on the menu without playing.Sometimes the sound would bug out (last sound I heard would just get repeated over and over until I restart) while at other times the sound would keep on playing normally (I could still talk with people on my skype call) but both monitors would be black with a no signal error on screen. The PC wouldn't turn off, so I would have to manually restart it.


I checked for overheating (GPU temp wouldn't go over 75 while gaming which seems ok), I cleaned dust off the pc, replaced my PSU and didn't get anything. I stress tested the computer using StressMyPC and it didn't crash. Any ideas would be more than welcome.

 

[smashjohn]

I'd check your Application and System logs in the Event Viewer to see what errors are being reported at the time of the crash. Generally, you'll have a primary event or failure that triggers the others. The timestamps should help you identify which event occurs first (if you have a series). Focus on the red Errors in the list.

 

[BlackBorderGuy]

Thank you for your answer. There are quite a few errors in both sections I will list them in the order they occured (I am posting right after a crash). First, in the application section :

1) Error event 1018, nssm : Failed to read registry value AppDirectory
2) Warning : Even 1030, nssm : Registry key AppDirectory is unset for service ExpressVpnService. Assuming startup directory C:\Program Files (x86)\ExpressVPN\xvpnd.
3) 3 consecutive errors from Perflib source titled Event 1008, about some issues in some DLLs in System 32.

I am unable to tell if those errors occured after the crash when my computer restarted as the time would be identical.

In the system tab, I have these errors :

1) Event 6008 : The previous system shutdown at 8:16:44 μμ on ‎22/‎8/‎2018 was unexpected.
2) Error 161, volmgr : Dump file creation failed due to error during dump creation.
3) Critical Event 41, Kernel-Power : The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.
4) Event 1001, Bugcheck : The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x00000122 (0x000000000000000a, 0x0000000000000004, 0x0000000000000004, 0x0000000000000000). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 7261d4c5-edf4-44af-9da5-cfdc60187fe7.


However, before the first error log, there are many information logs mentioning booting options and stuff like The operating system started at system time ‎2018‎-‎08‎-‎22T17:18:01.495954300Z. and The last shutdown's success status was false. The last boot's success status was true. So that leads me to believe all the afforementioned errors occured after my PC restarted and not before, as the information boot logs have an earlier timestamp.

 

[BlackBorderGuy]

I think the reason there is no error log at the time of the issue might be because the computer doesn't actually close - monitors turn black with a no signal error and sound sometimes gets bugged (if the last thing I heard before crashing was a shot for example, the sound of the shot would repeat over and over) while sometimes sound would keep on working (my skype call would continue normally even though my screens were black). So when the computer does shut down it's because I was forced to restart it.

 

[smashjohn]

Do you know which DLLs it's complaining about?

I'd keep an eye on these logs when the problem occurs to see if you can identify a software problem. In terms of hardware, you're probably going to want to shut everything down and reseat the graphics card and memory. Do you have any special circumstances at play here? OC CPU or MEM? Is your 32GB in 4 sticks? You may want to run few cycles of MEMTEST86 just to clear those of blame.

 

[BlackBorderGuy]

Regarding the dlls, here are the dll errors :

1) Error 1008, Perflib : The Open Procedure for service "WmiApRpl" in DLL "C:\WINDOWS\system32\wbem\wmiaprpl.dll" failed. Performance data for this service will not be available. The first four bytes (DWORD) of the Data section contains the error code.
2) Error 2004, Perfnet : Unable to open the Server service performance object. The first four bytes (DWORD) of the Data section contains the status code.
3) 4x 1008 errors regarding dlls : bitsperf.dll, esentprf.dll, secur32.dll, msdtcuiu.dll.

Nothing is OC, my ram is in 6 sticks, I had 4x4 and then added 2x8 for a total of 32. I'll run the MEMTEST, sure. The latest crash did provide some errors fwiw. In the application tab :

1) Error 1000, application error : Faulting application name: dwm.exe, version: 10.0.17134.1, time stamp: 0xf5178e97
Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xe0464645
Fault offset: 0x0000000000000000
Faulting process id: 0x15f4
Faulting application start time: 0x01d43a4a96fbaf50
Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\dwm.exe
Faulting module path: unknown
Report Id: eb2aacc2-37d6-4fb4-a619-541d4e4a2273
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

2) Warning : Event 0, Dwminit : The Desktop Window Manager process has exited. (Process exit code: 0x000000ff, Restart count: 1, Primary display device ID: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970)

3) Error event 1000, Application Error : Faulting application name: dwm.exe, version: 10.0.17134.1, time stamp: 0xf5178e97
Faulting module name: unknown, version: 0.0.0.0, time stamp: 0x00000000
Exception code: 0xe0464645
Fault offset: 0x0000000000000000
Faulting process id: 0x444c
Faulting application start time: 0x01d43a4a97d77b31
Faulting application path: C:\WINDOWS\system32\dwm.exe
Faulting module path: unknown
Report Id: 7b36b995-61e9-4bd1-88f3-8c2edab10d70
Faulting package full name:
Faulting package-relative application ID:

and then they just keep repeating a few more times.


In the system tab :

1) Warning : Event 17, WHEA-Logger : A corrected hardware error has occurred.

Component: PCI Express Root Port
Error Source: Advanced Error Reporting (PCI Express)

Busevice:Function: 0x0:0x3:0x0
Vendor IDevice ID: 0x8086:0x2F08
Class Code: 0x30400

The details view of this entry contains further information.

This error is repeated 4 times, then

2) Warning : Event 4101, Display : Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

This is repeated twice.

3) Error : Event 10016, DistributedCOM The συγκεκριμένης εφαρμογής permission settings do not grant Τοπική Ενεργοποίηση permission for the COM Server application with CLSID
{D63B10C5-BB46-4990-A94F-E40B9D520160}
and APPID
{9CA88EE3-ACB7-47C8-AFC4-AB702511C276}
to the user DESKTOP-T0R0KAJ\theo SID (S-1-5-21-2712474348-3945112872-749902456-1001) from address LocalHost (Χρήση LRPC) running in the application container Μη διαθέσιμο SID (Μη διαθέσιμο). This security permission can be modified using the Component Services administrative tool.

Some of that is in Greek I'm afraid

4) Warning : Event 4115, Display : Display driver failed to start; using Microsoft Basic Display Driver instead. Check Windows Update for a newer display driver.

 

[smashjohn]

nvlddmkm errors indicate your graphics card and/or drivers are crashing. This can be caused by a lot of things and given your symptoms is probably the direction I would pursue. Here's a list of things to check; I'm going from memory so hopefully others on the forum can add anything I'm missing:

1) Reinstall your GPU drivers. Use DDU to fully remove whatever is installed and reinstall the latest package from nVidia.
2) In the nVidia Control Panel, enable debug mode (tools menu I think). This will set your GPU to run at reference settings, which may clock it down.
3) To more fully rule out heat issues, install GPU software from and set your GPU fan curve to 100%. This is loud, but just used for testing. Once you rule this out, set it back to defaults.
4) using the GPU software from your cards manufacturer, downclock your GPU.
5) Test a different PSU. Since GPUs pull a lot of power, it is common for failing PSUs to work fine until the GPU puts a heavy load on it, then it fails causing your GPU to momentarily lose power and crash.
6) Uninstall or unload Skype, Logitech Camera Software (or just unplug any webcams), and nVidia ShadowPlay. These programs have all been reported as potential contributors.

FWIW, I had your exact problem and wound up replacing my PSU which solved the issue.

 

[BlackBorderGuy]

Thank you. Replacing my PSU was one of the first things I did after updating drivers etc. Even though I wasn't sure it was the culprit, mine was pretty old so figured replacing it couldn't do any harm, so that didn't fix the issue. I'm now using a TX750M Corsair which should be good enough.

1) Done already, one of the first things I did
2) Done now
3) Done just now, still crashed even at 100% fan speed when GPU temp was sub 40c.
6) Done now

So yeah, still crashed even after doing 1,2,3,4 and 6 :/

 

[BlackBorderGuy]

I tried a different GPU stress testing software ( Furmark) and it crashed within a few seconds without having a high temperature, so I guess this is confirmation that the GPU is faulty

 

[smashjohn]

I think you're probably right. Sorry mate!

 

[BlackBorderGuy]

Thank you for your help smashjon! That said, I would love to hear if anyone happens to have any ideas before buying a new one.