Question New PC build crashing occasionally while gaming. How do i figure out what's wrong and how to fix?

[SHI KI]

Built this PC a while ago and have had no issues until two weeks ago when it randomly bluescreened and crashed when i was gaming. After that i updated my video drivers with a clean install. It was fine for a while so i assumed that was the problem, but then it happened again today.
I haven't had any other issues like fps lag in game, loud fans, hot GPU/CPU or any memory problems.
How do i find out what's causing the crashes? I can see the crashes in reliability monitor but not the cause. It just says windows shut down unexpectedly.

Chassis: Lian Li Lancool III RGB
GPU: GeForce RTX 3060 12GB OC V2
CPU: Intel Core i5 12400
Motherboard: ASUS TUF GAMING B660
CPU Cooler: CM Hyper 212 EVO V2
PSU: ASUS ROG Strix 850
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO SL DDR4 3200Mhz 32GB

 

[Richj444]

Built this PC a while ago and have had no issues until two weeks ago when it randomly bluescreened and crashed when i was gaming. After that i updated my video drivers with a clean install. It was fine for a while so i assumed that was the problem, but then it happened again today.
I haven't had any other issues like fps lag in game, loud fans, hot GPU/CPU or any memory problems.
How do i find out what's causing the crashes? I can see the crashes in reliability monitor but not the cause. It just says windows shut down unexpectedly.

Chassis: Lian Li Lancool III RGB
GPU: GeForce RTX 3060 12GB OC V2
CPU: Intel Core i5 12400
Motherboard: ASUS TUF GAMING B660
CPU Cooler: CM Hyper 212 EVO V2
PSU: ASUS ROG Strix 850
RAM: Corsair Vengeance RGB PRO SL DDR4 3200Mhz 32GB

Does it only happen in one game? Have you run any stress tests? Hard to say from your post, it could be just the game being picky. Some games crash on some systems.

 

[SHI KI]

Does it only happen in one game? Have you run any stress tests? Hard to say from your post, it could be just the game being picky. Some games crash on some systems.

Both times it has happened has been in the same game playing the same character. I play that game everyday tho for a few hours but like i said it's only crashed twice. I ran heaven benchmark and everything was fine but other than that no other stress tests. Btw just in case it wasn't clear, the game isn't crashing, the whole pc is.

 

[Richj444]

Btw just in case it wasn't clear, the game isn't crashing, the whole pc is.

No, you were clear, but I just overlooked it. I hate intermittent issues, they're the worst. Random bluescreens can be caused by lots of things, but I think RAM and power supplies are two of the most likely culprits. Try running Memtest and make sure your RAM passes. A faulty PSU might also cause it, but that's hard to test without having another PSU you can try. Run checkdisk on your drives. Try sfc /scannow (SFC scannow - Microsoft Community) to make sure no system files are corrupt. That's about all I can think of off the top of my head but hopefully it will turn up something.

 

[johnbl]

see if a minidump file was produced. if so put the files on a server, share them for public access and post a link.

 

[SHI KI]

see if a minidump file was produced. if so put the files on a server, share them for public access and post a link.

https://filebin.net/lb13iln3843oqftg

 

[SHI KI]

No, you were clear, but I just overlooked it. I hate intermittent issues, they're the worst. Random bluescreens can be caused by lots of things, but I think RAM and power supplies are two of the most likely culprits. Try running Memtest and make sure your RAM passes. A faulty PSU might also cause it, but that's hard to test without having another PSU you can try. Run checkdisk on your drives. Try sfc /scannow (SFC scannow - Microsoft Community) to make sure no system files are corrupt. That's about all I can think of off the top of my head but hopefully it will turn up something.

I have done a stress test on my GPU, had one running on my CPU as well for a while and like you suggested also ran memtest for 4 passes. Nothing suspicious as of yet...
I will run memtest again through the night, if nothing shows up i will run the CPU stress test again for a few hours. Going to try chkdsk and SFCscannow now.

EDIT: sfc/scannow found corrupted files and repaired them. I obviously don't know if this was the source of the issue yet, but when i think about it, this might have started after the windows 11 update.

 

[johnbl]

ok, I looked at the most current memory dump. the stack was corrupted but the raw stack had calls to audio drivers.

BUT, do not focus on this yet. Do this:
download microsoft autoruns from here:
Autoruns for Windows - Sysinternals | Microsoft Learn
run it as an admin and find these three driver entries and delete them and reboot.
NTIOLib_X64 NTIOLib_X64.sys Sun Jul 9 18:54:30 2017
NTIOLib_X64_fffff8019d190000 NTIOLib_X64.sys Wed Apr 27 00:47:43 2022
NTIOLib_X64_fffff8019d470000 NTIOLib_X64.sys Sun Jul 9 19:13:57 2017

delete the old minidumps and retest for failure.
most likely you have 3 overclock drivers running out of different directories. Each driver takes does a overclock then the next one and the last one and you end up with a bad overclock.
the driver name is NTIOLib_X64.sys windows adds a number to the driver when there is a collision in the driver name, then loads the second driver at a offset.

 

[SHI KI]

ok, I looked at the most current memory dump. the stack was corrupted but the raw stack had calls to audio drivers.

BUT, do not focus on this yet. Do this:
download microsoft autoruns from here:
Autoruns for Windows - Sysinternals | Microsoft Learn
run it as an admin and find these three driver entries and delete them and reboot.
NTIOLib_X64 NTIOLib_X64.sys Sun Jul 9 18:54:30 2017
NTIOLib_X64_fffff8019d190000 NTIOLib_X64.sys Wed Apr 27 00:47:43 2022
NTIOLib_X64_fffff8019d470000 NTIOLib_X64.sys Sun Jul 9 19:13:57 2017

delete the old minidumps and retest for failure.
most likely you have 3 overclock drivers running out of different directories. Each driver takes does a overclock then the next one and the last one and you end up with a bad overclock.
the driver name is NTIOLib_X64.sys windows adds a number to the driver when there is a collision in the driver name, then loads the second driver at a offset.

Thank you for taking the time to look at the minidump! I'm wondering if it's possible i fixed this already with sfc /scannow? Is what you're talking about the corrupted files that were repaired or do i need to do what you said anyway? Asking just so i don't accidentally mess something up.

 

[SHI KI]

ok, I looked at the most current memory dump. the stack was corrupted but the raw stack had calls to audio drivers.

BUT, do not focus on this yet. Do this:
download microsoft autoruns from here:
Autoruns for Windows - Sysinternals | Microsoft Learn
run it as an admin and find these three driver entries and delete them and reboot.
NTIOLib_X64 NTIOLib_X64.sys Sun Jul 9 18:54:30 2017
NTIOLib_X64_fffff8019d190000 NTIOLib_X64.sys Wed Apr 27 00:47:43 2022
NTIOLib_X64_fffff8019d470000 NTIOLib_X64.sys Sun Jul 9 19:13:57 2017

delete the old minidumps and retest for failure.
most likely you have 3 overclock drivers running out of different directories. Each driver takes does a overclock then the next one and the last one and you end up with a bad overclock.
the driver name is NTIOLib_X64.sys windows adds a number to the driver when there is a collision in the driver name, then loads the second driver at a offset.

Seems to be gone already?

 

[johnbl]

Seems to be gone already?

look in microsoft autoruns to see if they are loaded.
I expect the registry has them under netiolib_ (the three entries shown above)
you would remove all three from autoruns, then add the most current version back if you want the functionality.
3 copies of NTIOLib_X64.sys in the loaded drivers list
and 3 registry entries, in the hives. the setup program does not check for a previous install version. (you are expected to uninstall before you install) Problem is they moved the directory structure on different versions, and there is a 32 bit and 64 bit installer.
best to delete all copies and just install the most current version if you want it.

 

[SHI KI]

look in microsoft autoruns to see if they are loaded.
I expect the registry has them under netiolib_ (the three entries shown above)
you would remove all three from autoruns, then add the most current version back if you want the functionality.
3 copies of NTIOLib_X64.sys in the loaded drivers list
and 3 registry entries, in the hives. the setup program does not check for a previous install version. (you are expected to uninstall before you install) Problem is they moved the directory structure on different versions, and there is a 32 bit and 64 bit installer.
best to delete all copies and just install the most current version if you want it.

I completely removed MSI SDK and MSI Center from my computer and the entries are all gone now. I'm assuming i don't have to reinstall MSI Center or those drivers, and since they may have caused BSOD i don't want to either haha. Hopefully no more crashes now....

 

[Richj444]

I completely removed MSI SDK and MSI Center from my computer and the entries are all gone now. I'm assuming i don't have to reinstall MSI Center or those drivers, and since they may have caused BSOD i don't want to either haha. Hopefully no more crashes now....

Good call. Unless you're using some specific function like Mystic Light or something, I'd leave MSI Center and SDK off, they tend to cause a lot of problems.