is my CPU crashing my games?

[Jordus]

Hey, I've been having issues lately with games frequently crashing. Seems like every game has crashed. I am wondering if my CPU is the issue though as I've tried almost everything else non-hardware related.

So what happens is that I'll be playing a game, going fine, temps usually go to 60-70 according to Speccy and every now and then the game will just freeze. It won't crash to desktop and sometimes I can still hear the sounds going on in-game like it should. Now what leads me to believe it might be CPU related is that when I tab out, the game is still running in processes but the CPU usage has dropped all the way down to like 2% usage. I've tried taking the side panel off of my PC thinking it might be cooling issues but that was to no success. I'm really at my wits end here as I cannot figure out what is going wrong at all.

Here are my specs:

CPU: i5 4690K @ 3.5ghz
RAM: 16gb dual channel DDR3
MOBO: Gigabyte H81M-H
GPU: 4GB ZOTAC GTX 970

Usually after these crashes I check my event viewer and quite frequently find windows error reporting thing. They claim to be AppHangB1's which I have no idea what that is. Here is the recent one if it helps you at all:

----------------------------------------------

Fault bucket , type 0
Event Name: AppHangB1
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0

Problem signature:
P1: Overwatch.exe
P2: 1.11.1.37254
P3: 5936f705
P4: cd12
P5: 67246080
P6:
P7:
P8:
P9:
P10:

Attached files:

These files may be available here:
C:\ProgramData\Microsoft\Windows\WER\ReportQueue\Critical_Overwatch.exe_e0728714a7b195864b8c822cf4cc2b076e7eade_1b7b3310_1f2d4442

Analysis symbol:
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report ID: 8fa73991-4b97-11e7-be67-fcaa14c8c8ec
Report Status: 96
Hashed bucket:

---------------------------------

If any of you can help me or shed some light on my issue, you would be a lifesaver.

 

[RARRAF]

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

 

[Jordus]

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

I'm not actually sure, if I remember correctly something like a 550W. Cant really see it because its under something thats screwed in.

 

[Jordus]

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

I'm not actually sure, if I remember correctly something like a 550W. Cant really see it because its under something thats screwed in.

Nevermind. It has an evga 600w. I took it apart to clean it and found a good amount of dust I missed when previously cleaning the inside of my machine as it was an intake for the PSU on the bottom. Could that have caused an issue?

 

[Bo Lee]

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

I'm not actually sure, if I remember correctly something like a 550W. Cant really see it because its under something thats screwed in.

Nevermind. It has an evga 600w. I took it apart to clean it and found a good amount of dust I missed when previously cleaning the inside of my machine as it was an intake for the PSU on the bottom. Could that have caused an issue?

I wouldn't think a PSU problem would cause a game to freeze though. It is more likely to cause the PC to shut down. Typically cooling issues and PSU issues will lead to the entire system crashing, not just freezing a game up.
I would try doing some memory testing, make sure your RAM isn't going bad. But before that, it might be worse uninstalling your GPU and sound drivers and then reinstalling them fresh.

As for your errors, the AppHangB1 is typically a registry error. And that could cause these types of errors also. May want to try a registry cleaner and see if that helps.

Good luck! It can be a pain nailing down the issue sometimes.

 

[Jordus]

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

I'm not actually sure, if I remember correctly something like a 550W. Cant really see it because its under something thats screwed in.

Nevermind. It has an evga 600w. I took it apart to clean it and found a good amount of dust I missed when previously cleaning the inside of my machine as it was an intake for the PSU on the bottom. Could that have caused an issue?

I wouldn't think a PSU problem would cause a game to freeze though. It is more likely to cause the PC to shut down. Typically cooling issues and PSU issues will lead to the entire system crashing, not just freezing a game up.
I would try doing some memory testing, make sure your RAM isn't going bad. But before that, it might be worse uninstalling your GPU and sound drivers and then reinstalling them fresh.

As for your errors, the AppHangB1 is typically a registry error. And that could cause these types of errors also. May want to try a registry cleaner and see if that helps.

Good luck! It can be a pain nailing down the issue sometimes.

Can you recommend any registry cleaners? I already did a memcheck. It was fine.

 

[Bo Lee]

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

I'm not actually sure, if I remember correctly something like a 550W. Cant really see it because its under something thats screwed in.

Nevermind. It has an evga 600w. I took it apart to clean it and found a good amount of dust I missed when previously cleaning the inside of my machine as it was an intake for the PSU on the bottom. Could that have caused an issue?

I wouldn't think a PSU problem would cause a game to freeze though. It is more likely to cause the PC to shut down. Typically cooling issues and PSU issues will lead to the entire system crashing, not just freezing a game up.
I would try doing some memory testing, make sure your RAM isn't going bad. But before that, it might be worse uninstalling your GPU and sound drivers and then reinstalling them fresh.

As for your errors, the AppHangB1 is typically a registry error. And that could cause these types of errors also. May want to try a registry cleaner and see if that helps.

Good luck! It can be a pain nailing down the issue sometimes.

Can you recommend any registry cleaners? I already did a memcheck. It was fine.

CCleaner is a decent one. Try that and I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

 

[Jordus]

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

I'm not actually sure, if I remember correctly something like a 550W. Cant really see it because its under something thats screwed in.

Nevermind. It has an evga 600w. I took it apart to clean it and found a good amount of dust I missed when previously cleaning the inside of my machine as it was an intake for the PSU on the bottom. Could that have caused an issue?

I wouldn't think a PSU problem would cause a game to freeze though. It is more likely to cause the PC to shut down. Typically cooling issues and PSU issues will lead to the entire system crashing, not just freezing a game up.
I would try doing some memory testing, make sure your RAM isn't going bad. But before that, it might be worse uninstalling your GPU and sound drivers and then reinstalling them fresh.

As for your errors, the AppHangB1 is typically a registry error. And that could cause these types of errors also. May want to try a registry cleaner and see if that helps.

Good luck! It can be a pain nailing down the issue sometimes.

Can you recommend any registry cleaners? I already did a memcheck. It was fine.

CCleaner is a decent one. Try that and I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

No luck, crashed again earlier today. Another AppHangB1 in the event viewer :/

 

[Bo Lee]

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

So what PSU do you have running this because sounds more like a psu problem to me make and wattage

I'm not actually sure, if I remember correctly something like a 550W. Cant really see it because its under something thats screwed in.

Nevermind. It has an evga 600w. I took it apart to clean it and found a good amount of dust I missed when previously cleaning the inside of my machine as it was an intake for the PSU on the bottom. Could that have caused an issue?

I wouldn't think a PSU problem would cause a game to freeze though. It is more likely to cause the PC to shut down. Typically cooling issues and PSU issues will lead to the entire system crashing, not just freezing a game up.
I would try doing some memory testing, make sure your RAM isn't going bad. But before that, it might be worse uninstalling your GPU and sound drivers and then reinstalling them fresh.

As for your errors, the AppHangB1 is typically a registry error. And that could cause these types of errors also. May want to try a registry cleaner and see if that helps.

Good luck! It can be a pain nailing down the issue sometimes.

Can you recommend any registry cleaners? I already did a memcheck. It was fine.

CCleaner is a decent one. Try that and I will keep my fingers crossed for you.

No luck, crashed again earlier today. Another AppHangB1 in the event viewer :/

That sucks. Everything I see about that error suggest a registry problem though. Check out this article, maybe it can give you some ideas to try. http://blog.cheesesoft.com/what-is-apphangb1-error-and-how-to-fix-it/

 

[Bo Lee]

I may have found something else. You said while gaming. Are these Steam games? I found this about someone having the same problem and some of the Steam files were causing the issue. https://steamcommunity.com/discussions/forum/1/864973032790233112/

 

[synphul]

Doubtful it's a cpu issue, those temps are fine. Is it a legit copy of windows you're using (fully licensed)? Is it a fresh install of windows or is it an update, ie were you running win8.1 and updated to win10 rather than install win10 from scratch? Have you updated to the latest video card drivers?

When you tab out of the game and cpu usage drops it's mostly likely because the game is no longer in focus, it's been put off as a background task and with nothing going on in the game the cpu is no longer under load. When you enter back into the game the cpu is back under load again once you begin playing.

 

[Jordus]

Doubtful it's a cpu issue, those temps are fine. Is it a legit copy of windows you're using (fully licensed)? Is it a fresh install of windows or is it an update, ie were you running win8.1 and updated to win10 rather than install win10 from scratch? Have you updated to the latest video card drivers?

When you tab out of the game and cpu usage drops it's mostly likely because the game is no longer in focus, it's been put off as a background task and with nothing going on in the game the cpu is no longer under load. When you enter back into the game the cpu is back under load again once you begin playing.

It's an updated version of windows 10. I upgraded from windows 7. It's fully licensed. I got it when it was the free upgrade.

Also, no, it's not it just coming out of focus. When I tab out after the game freezes/crashed it drops to 2% or less CPU. When I normally tab out it's a like 30% maybe.

 

[synphul]

If the game is crashing then it's likely closed, the program has terminated. In that case it's also normal for the cpu usage to drop drastically, it's no longer processing anything game related. Sounds like a software issue to me. If possible one of the first things I'd try doing is reinstalling windows, you should have a win10 license now (after a period of time your win7 license became a win10 license with the rollback feature expired). Sometimes bits from the previous os can hang around causing conflict.

A cpu error would more than likely result in a bsod with an error code. It would mean backing up your files and doing a fresh install (so your data files aren't lost). Starting fresh is usually the best bet, that way you have a clean os (no junk laying around from a previous os) and fresh updated mobo drivers along with gpu drivers. Reinstall steam and see if things improve. Even a seemingly small software or registry conflict can cause programs to crash.

Were these problems happening on win7 before you upgraded to win10 or did the problem start after the upgrade?

 

[Jordus]

If the game is crashing then it's likely closed, the program has terminated. In that case it's also normal for the cpu usage to drop drastically, it's no longer processing anything game related. Sounds like a software issue to me. If possible one of the first things I'd try doing is reinstalling windows, you should have a win10 license now (after a period of time your win7 license became a win10 license with the rollback feature expired). Sometimes bits from the previous os can hang around causing conflict.

A cpu error would more than likely result in a bsod with an error code. It would mean backing up your files and doing a fresh install (so your data files aren't lost). Starting fresh is usually the best bet, that way you have a clean os (no junk laying around from a previous os) and fresh updated mobo drivers along with gpu drivers. Reinstall steam and see if things improve. Even a seemingly small software or registry conflict can cause programs to crash.

Were these problems happening on win7 before you upgraded to win10 or did the problem start after the upgrade?

No they weren't happening on windows 7, but they weren't happening for a long time on windows 10 either until a few weeks ago.

 

[pyterodactyl]

If the game is crashing then it's likely closed, the program has terminated. In that case it's also normal for the cpu usage to drop drastically, it's no longer processing anything game related. Sounds like a software issue to me. If possible one of the first things I'd try doing is reinstalling windows, you should have a win10 license now (after a period of time your win7 license became a win10 license with the rollback feature expired). Sometimes bits from the previous os can hang around causing conflict.

A cpu error would more than likely result in a bsod with an error code. It would mean backing up your files and doing a fresh install (so your data files aren't lost). Starting fresh is usually the best bet, that way you have a clean os (no junk laying around from a previous os) and fresh updated mobo drivers along with gpu drivers. Reinstall steam and see if things improve. Even a seemingly small software or registry conflict can cause programs to crash.

Were these problems happening on win7 before you upgraded to win10 or did the problem start after the upgrade?

No they weren't happening on windows 7, but they weren't happening for a long time on windows 10 either until a few weeks ago.

i know this tread is already 2 years old, but i am having the exact same problem, can you tell me how you solved it ?