System freeze, no BSOD

[netscape_navigator]

Exported System Information:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/kwwegurcub1kedq/sysinfo.txt?dl=0

Ever since I installed a new game from steam "Holdfast: Nations At War" I am routinely getting a full system lock-up. Whatever is on the screen remains there - no black out or artifacts. Mouse input stops working. And I can't access task manager. I am forced to hit the restart or shut-down button. In-game or watching youtube this has occurred. But last night I was on the phone for 6 hours and my computer was left alone and no freeze occurred.

There is no BSOD, so no dump file to go over.

And the only events in the viewer are ID's associated with me having to force a restart or shutdown manually.

Fans are ok.
Temps are ok.
I updated NVIDIA drivers.
I updated RealTek Audio drivers. (irrelevant I guess, I use an external audio interface)
I checked my Bios Version, it was the latest.
I ran memtest for 12 hours with no errors.

EDIT:
Ran WD's DLGDIAG and my system HDD passed extended test.
Ran chkdsk (/f specifically)
Updated RealTek Ethernet controller driver
Updated USB 3.0 host controller driver
Updated Sata host controller driver
Updated Steinberg Drivers for UR22 interface
Uninstalled ALL NVIDIA audio controllers (but they keep showing up in device mngr!!!)
Disabled RealTek audio (USB > UR22 > Studio Monitors || so RealTek is irrelevant I guess)

A friend recommended to reinstall .net framework and Direct X. It could be completely coincidence that the issue started after installing that game, but I figured I'd give it a try.

Upon running the .net framework installer from Microsoft it tells me my version is up to date and I can't continue with the install.

And when it comes to manually installing direct X I am a bit confused. So many of the newer versions (v11+) are limited by your OS version. And the default download on Microsoft site is still the old 9.0c version. I am not sure what to do with these.

Based on these symptoms I am looking for input so I can prioritize and execute the diagnosis.

What should I focus on ruling out? CPU? GPU? MOBO? System files?

Again, the only software changes that took place was that game. My system was perfectly stable before the game was installed.

thanks for any input

 

[dextermat]

Hi,

Download hard disk sentinel to check the health of your drive to be sure it is not defective.

Also, did you check the integrity of the game ?

Also, download hwmonitor and msi afterburner to check if your cpu / gpu is overheating

might want to also run a chhdsk on the drive.

 

[netscape_navigator]

Hi,

Download hard disk sentinel to check the health of your drive to be sure it is not defective.

Also, did you check the integrity of the game ?

Also, download hwmonitor and msi afterburner to check if your cpu / gpu is overheating

might want to also run a chhdsk on the drive.

Hi thanks for responding.

I just got done running an extended test on my system drive with Western Digital's DLGDIAG (data lifeguards diagnostics) and it passed after about 2.5 hours.

As stated temps and fans are ok. That was the first thing I checked.

 

[johnbl]

make sure your bios and motherboard drivers are updated from the motherboard vendors website. (some drivers have to match the bios version)
remove all overclocking of the CPU and gpu.
(you might even underclock the GPU if it is factory overclocked)
some older motherboards would overclock the PCI/e bus to 103 Mhz (you want it set to the standard 100MHz in bios)

google how to force a memory dump from the keyboard, make the registry settings and the next time the system freezes you can attempt to force a memory dump.

often you will find that a screen lock up is caused by sound drivers messing up the GPU sound support.
you would go into bios and reset it to defaults to remove any overclocking and force the bios to reassign hardware resources and rebuild the database of settings it hands off to windows.

in windows you want to make sure that you have no overclocking driver installed.
and go into device manager and disable any sound source that does not have a speaker attached to it.
I would disable the gpu high def sound driver if you don't get sound via the video cable.

if you have NVidia shadowplay running, I would turn it off or update the network drivers. old network drivers just mess up the streaming and can cause the gpu to stop responding. old drivers can also mess up the virus scanner and cause delays that break the graphics driver.

 

[netscape_navigator]

make sure your bios and motherboard drivers are updated from the motherboard vendors website. (some drivers have to match the bios version)
remove all overclocking of the CPU and gpu.
(you might even underclock the GPU if it is factory overclocked)
some older motherboards would overclock the PCI/e bus to 103 Mhz (you want it set to the standard 100MHz in bios)

google how to force a memory dump from the keyboard, make the registry settings and the next time the system freezes you can attempt to force a memory dump.

often you will find that a screen lock up is caused by sound drivers messing up the GPU sound support.
you would go into bios and reset it to defaults to remove any overclocking and force the bios to reassign hardware resources and rebuild the database of settings it hands off to windows.

in windows you want to make sure that you have no overclocking driver installed.
and go into device manager and disable any sound source that does not have a speaker attached to it.
I would disable the gpu high def sound driver if you don't get sound via the video cable.

if you have NVidia shadowplay running, I would turn it off or update the network drivers. old network drivers just mess up the streaming and can cause the gpu to stop responding. old drivers can also mess up the virus scanner and cause delays that break the graphics driver.

Yep, mobo bios and any/all available associated drivers were updated.

I don't overclock this system ever but I do have it setup to run for top performance, so no idling down to save power ect. If all else fails, I may underclock my GPU though. (GTX 970)

In regards to the sound driver you might be on to something here. I did update my RealTek drivers but I am an idiot and am realizing that it doesn't matter because I use an UR22, an external audio interface with speakers connected. And right before I read your post I checked and Steinberg actually made a new driver for my audio interface. In the past, about 2 years ago people looked at my dump data and suggested that audio drivers were an issue. BUT the thing was back then there was no "new" driver to install - now there is! So I'm crossing my fingers that this will do the trick.

Oh god. I just realized there are 3 NVIDIA audio controllers that I don't need...yeah, going to kill those right now. (high definition audio, Miracast audio, and Virtual audio device). And I disabled RealTek rather than uninstalling it to avoid issues due to my ignorance with mobo audio drivers and their real function. I never hook up anything to my mobo for audio since I use a USB audio interface.

I will kill shadowplay and steam overlay as well. Those actually cause some problems with certain games anyways.

 

[netscape_navigator]

I just had a few freezes in a row after 2 days of everything working fine. I hit the keys to force a crash to obtain a dump file. It doesn't work. I've tried this multiple times now.

I did "get lucky" and got a BSOD before bed though! Full Dump: https://www.dropbox.com/s/wvibbkzd7mkd53i/MEMORY.zip?dl=0

 

[johnbl]

well your system is windows 8.1 with a bunch of old xp files that have been modified.
the bugcheck looks like it is coming from some chrome application because of a bad memory address.

just too many changes for me:
1034 errors : win32k (fffff9600016fcff-fffff96000170145)
and a whole bunch of xp files that have been modified

I would wipe the disk and reinstall a known good copy of windows 8.1

-------------
ame
6 errors : sechost (76b52e3990-76b52e3995)
Error for chrome: Could not find image file for the module. Make sure binaries are included in the symbol path.
3 errors : mfh264enc (7fff47f77309-7fff47f7730b)
Error for d3d9: Could not find module base
Error for libglesv2: Could not find image file for the module. Make sure binaries are included in the symbol path.
4 errors : D3DCompiler_47 (7fff489ba6d0-7fff489ba6d3)
Error for msmpeg2vdec: Could not find image file for the module. Make sure binaries are included in the symbol path.
Error for chrome_child: Could not find image file for the module. Make sure binaries are included in the symbol path.
3 errors : mfplat (7fff5645a661-7fff5645a663)
4 errors : msvproc (7fff58ecb318-7fff58ecb31b)
Error for mf: Could not find image file for the module. Make sure binaries are included in the symbol path.
Error for chrome_elf: Could not find image file for the module. Make sure binaries are included in the symbol path.
4 errors : dxva2 (7fff59f411b8-7fff59f411bb)
4 errors : RTWorkQ (7fff5c151498-7fff5c15149b)
4 errors : Secur32 (7fff5ce481f0-7fff5ce481f3)
4 errors : dbghelp (7fff5d3df780-7fff5d3df783)
4 errors : WININET (7fff5e38db30-7fff5e38db33)
4 errors : iertutil (7fff5e672838-7fff5e67283b)
0 errors : urlmon
Error for libegl: Could not find image file for the module. Make sure binaries are included in the symbol path.
4 errors : USP10 (7fff5e9e1000-7fff5e9e1003)
4 errors : WINSPOOL (7fff5ee07698-7fff5ee0769b)
4 errors : WINNSI (7fff5f3a7220-7fff5f3a7223)
4 errors : IPHLPAPI (7fff5f3f5400-7fff5f3f5403)
4 errors : WINHTTP (7fff60aed848-7fff60aed84b)
Error for nvspcap64: Could not find image file for the module. Make sure binaries are included in the symbol path.
4 errors : DWrite (7fff610624c0-7fff610624c3)
4 errors : WTSAPI32 (7fff614de228-7fff614de22b)
Error for nvwgf2umx: Could not find image file for the module. Make sure binaries are included in the symbol path.
4 errors : COMCTL32 (7fff6303e370-7fff6303e373)
4 errors : WINMMBASE (7fff632a54e0-7fff632a54e3)
4 errors : VERSION (7fff632b7288-7fff632b728b)
3 errors : WINMM (7fff632d8a21-7fff632d8a23)
4 errors : dwmapi (7fff63308530-7fff63308533)
4 errors : shcore (7fff63598800-7fff63598803)
4 errors : dxgi (7fff6361d738-7fff6361d73b)
Error for d3d11: Could not find module base
4 errors : AVRT (7fff63898208-7fff6389820b)
4 errors : dcomp (7fff63d572d8-7fff63d572db)
4 errors : kernel_appcore (7fff63fc74e8-7fff63fc74eb)
4 errors : DEVOBJ (7fff642435e8-7fff642435eb)
3 errors : USERENV (7fff649da5f1-7fff649da5f3)
3 errors : CRYPTSP (7fff64cac289-7fff64cac28b)
3 errors : bcrypt (7fff64f63289-7fff64f6328b)
4 errors : bcryptPrimitives (7fff652c01c8-7fff652c01cb)
4 errors : CRYPTBASE (7fff652d7118-7fff652d711b)
4 errors : powrprof (7fff653bb3f8-7fff653bb3fb)
4 errors : profapi (7fff65410340-7fff65410343)
4 errors : MSASN1 (7fff654be170-7fff654be173)
4 errors : cfgmgr32 (7fff6551a608-7fff6551a60b)
3 errors : CRYPT32 (7fff65661b11-7fff65661b13)
4 errors : SspiCli (7fff657d9488-7fff657d948b)
4 errors : WINTRUST (7fff65829a80-7fff65829a83)
4 errors : KERNELBASE (7fff6594a298-7fff6594a29b)
4 errors : clbcatq (7fff65a0e6a8-7fff65a0e6ab)
3 errors : OLEAUT32 (7fff65ade8d1-7fff65ade8d3)
0 errors : MSCTF
4 errors : GDI32 (7fff65d856d0-7fff65d856d3)
4 errors : RPCRT4 (7fff65fd4ac0-7fff65fd4ac3)
0 errors : ole32
4 errors : IMM32 (7fff6636c6d0-7fff6636c6d3)
0 errors : combase
4 errors : NSI (7fff665a60d0-7fff665a60d3)
4 errors : USER32 (7fff6665dc30-7fff6665dc33)
4 errors : SETUPAPI (7fff66826be8-7fff66826beb)
4 errors : msvcrt (7fff669b0578-7fff669b057b)
4 errors : SHELL32 (7fff674739b8-7fff674739bb)
4 errors : WS2_32 (7fff67f34790-7fff67f34793)
7 errors : KERNEL32 (7fff67f7316c-7fff680745b3)
3 errors : COMDLG32 (7fff68185088-7fff6818508a)
3 errors : SHLWAPI (7fff681fcfe0-7fff681fcfe2)
3 errors : PSAPI (7fff68214188-7fff6821418a)
3 errors : ADVAPI32 (7fff682c03c0-7fff682c03c2)
196 errors : ntdll (7fff68360790-7fff6836195d)

 

[netscape_navigator]

Johnbl thanks,

This is really odd to me because I have never had XP on this hard drive... when I did this build I put win 8.1 on it from a optical disc that I have purchased.

What could be causing this mess? Why do I always end up having to reinstall windows every 12-18 months?

PS - I have had no freezes or crashes in like a week. I "think" the issue was audio driver/device related. I've narrowed it down to either realtek conflicting with steinberg, or my PS3 cam (audio only).

Here is a pic to confirm I am not installing some shady pirated windows
http://

 

[johnbl]

it was a strange build. since it was windows 8.1 you should be able to start cmd.exe as an admin and run
sfc.exe /scannow
dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

the first command will try to get restored files from the hidden files on your machine.
the second command will try to get fixed files from a Microsoft update server.

Johnbl thanks,

This is really odd to me because I have never had XP on this hard drive... when I did this build I put win 8.1 on it from a optical disc that I have purchased.

What could be causing this mess? Why do I always end up having to reinstall windows every 12-18 months?

PS - I have had no freezes or crashes in like a week. I "think" the issue was audio driver/device related. I've narrowed it down to either realtek conflicting with steinberg, or my PS3 cam (audio only).

Here is a pic to confirm I am not installing some shady pirated windows
http://

 

[netscape_navigator]

it was a strange build. since it was windows 8.1 you should be able to start cmd.exe as an admin and run
sfc.exe /scannow
dism.exe /online /cleanup-image /restorehealth

the first command will try to get restored files from the hidden files on your machine.
the second command will try to get fixed files from a Microsoft update server.

the first command found corrupted files but couldn't fix some of them.
the second command worked properly as far as I know.

After doing this my system went from mostly stable lately, to very unstable. I guess it's time to double check my back-ups of work and conduct my annual windows installation...

 

[netscape_navigator]

So I'm about 3 days into a clean install of windows 8.1. The first two days I played a few games heavily and even started working in some SDKs.

Today while watching some youtube I got a freeze/full lock up again.

This implies what now? My cpu or mobo is dying?

I'd hate to build a PC without utilizing sales...but I really need it for work.