PC crashes... kinda

[qwazwaz]

So, as of yesterday, my pc has crashed twice... kinda. The power LED on the case stays on, but my monitor goes black, then says no input. I built this pc several months ago, and I cheaped out on the motherboard. Is this a screen problem? psu problem? motherboard problem? after the "crash", i manually reset the computer, and it boosts just fine. I don't remember the circumstances of the first crash, but the second time I was downloading a bunch of mods for fallout 3, with maybe 10 chrome tabs open and 10 or 15 tabs for various utilities open at once. specs: i5-4670k at stock, r9 290 at ~1000 mz, some msi h81 mobo, 8gb ddr3 1600 ram.

 

[Paul NZ]

Here's the same stop error with the same files that are crashing on yours

That nexus thing is listed above

 

[qwazwaz]

Do you think that my HDD is the issue? I can make due without, but that would leave me with only an SSD for storage...

 

[qwazwaz]

I just use it for the small amount of non-application storage I need.

 

[Paul NZ]

It could that Nexus mod thats causing it. If thats the only time it crashes

 

[qwazwaz]

I've heard that the Control center utility that is packaged with the driver may be the source of the problems. I have removed it, as it is pretty useless, and will update if I crash again. Otherwise, SUCCESS! thank you once again for all your help.

 

[Paul NZ]

Sweet !

 

[qwazwaz]

Crashed again, didn't even create a minidump file for me (I may have restarted too fast). Does Windows 8.1 create system restore points automatically? I may try that.
EDIT: My pc claims that some files are missing, and that my installation media will provide these files. Will '"repairing" damage my personal files (game saves especially?)

 

[Paul NZ]

Dont thinik a repair will ruin anything it'll repair what maybe damaged. I havent had this before myself

 

[qwazwaz]

Ok. I'll have to attempt the repair tomorrow because I need to "borrow" a disk reader from a different PC in my house, and It's 2 am, and I'm too tired to deal with this now.

 

[Paul NZ]

k ciao !

 

[qwazwaz]

did the repair, still crashing, this time while playing CS GO (not remotely a graphically intensive game.) I can confirm that it is an issue with the computer, not the monitor, because I happened to be using headphones when it crashed, and the sound got all messed up.

 

[qwazwaz]

I am now convinced that it is a faulty chip. I unplugged it, plugged it back in, now it won't even work when I turn on my PC. Time to go have a look at the AMD, Gigabyte or Newegg RMA process.
UPDATE: the card is not recognized as being in the x16 slot. There are no other slots on the board. Is there a way to find out if it is a board error or card error?

 

[Paul NZ]

Try the card in another pc

 

[qwazwaz]

I tried that, still had crashes. It seems that I got a card with the elpida memory (not the better hynix stuff), which has been known to have problems. The go-to solution for this problem is to underclock your memory, so I threw a 20% underclock at it, so far no crashes for 2 hours, will report back in 24 hours. mood: cautiously optimistic.