Windows 7 Getting desparate....

[shifty]

Hi everyone, I'm new to these forums, and I desparately need help here... For months now, ive been having horrid computer problems. First I would get random crashes with no bluescreens... So after switching many parts out, It turned out to be the graphics card. I switched, quite temporarily from a GTX 260 to a 9500. When no errors came around, I decided to follow the idea of... 'If you have to replace... Upgrade', and bought a new GTX 275 to hopefully end my headache once and for all..

However, I have been having blue screens of death or random instant shutdowns in every game i have. The crashes occur totally randomly, and I doubt it is an overheating issue. My temperatures are quite acceptable with both CPU and GPU. The Bluescreen error I always get is nvlddmkm.sys, which leads me to believe it is a driver issue, but, I have not been able to fix this issue no matter WHAT.

The last thing im considering is replacing the motherboard, as it is the only thing in my computer which hasn't been replaced or tested continuously.

I am TIRED of blue screens and horrifically random crashes. Please help me if you know anything about my issue. I am desperate to make sure that my computer isn't just an expensive Brick... Specs are as follows.

Intel Core 2 Quad Q9550
4 gb RAM
MSI GTX275
WD Caviar Blue 640 gb HDD
Ultra X3 1000w PSU
ASUS P5N-D
NINE fans.

 

[cybercore]

Happy New Year Shifty and welcome to the forums.

One reason for your random crashes can be insufficient power supply, how many watts do you have for your system ?

 

[Basher]

Another reason can be over heating - especialy when heavy graphics are used.

Make sure all your fans are clean and that the cpu cooling vents are free from dust.

Basher

 

[shifty]

Thank you for the welcome. Happy new year to all of you as well!

I have 1000W of power, more than I'll ever need, and it is a brand new unit. I bought it just to see if it would remedy my situation. Long story short, it didn't.

About the overheating, i have a LOT of fans running, and the GPU and CPU are under normal conditions as near as i can tell. The only thing that I haven't monitored is the Northbridge/southbridge temperatures on my motherboard. I remember I touched the heatsink once and nearly burned my finger.. Is that a bad sign? I have tried a whole bunch of temperature monitoring programs, but none of them tell me the exact temperature of the northbridge.

 

[Basher]

Go into the bios there is normally a system status thingy that will have your temperature reading.
Not sure what you are talking about with the North/South Bridge chips :-( If I were you I would try taking the pc top/side panel off and run it then and see if it still crashes.

Basher

 

[Saltgrass]

Well, you seem to have plenty of power, I assume the PS is compliant with newer standards. Are you running it from a UPS to help filter the power?

RAM can somethimes be a problem, have you tried another manufacturer or different settings in the bios?

If changing the graphics card stopped the errors, it would seem logical the problem was related to that. Upgrading to a bigger card, still probably uses the same drivers used on the 260, so you still have that problem. Do not let Windows upgrade your video driver.... (I did get one of the 260s that blows the hot air out the back)

If you have the ability to turn off a couple of the cores on the processor, you might try that.

Have you checked the event viewer to see if there are any warnings or errors that might help indicate some problem?

But my real question is why do you have nine fans??? Are you overclocking by any chance?? Do you have more than one hard drive and if so is there a place for them to get air circulation?

 

[shifty]

The power supply is brand new, so yes it complies.

I have tested RAM thoroughly, but I suppose it would be a good idea to switch to a non value brand <_<

Yes, the lower series of card did work... But using a GTX card shouldnt make that much of a difference, should it?

Event viewer just says that the Kernel Power was shut off... I think error code 41 or something. Common and generic from what I've read.

Regarding the 9 fans, thats including CPU and GPU fans and all that. circulation is guaranteed... the actual case fans are as follows: 2 intakes, 1 exhaust in back, 1 on top... Antec 300 Case.

 

[Saltgrass]

Yes, the lower series of card did work... But using a GTX card shouldnt make that much of a difference, should it?

I am just going by what you said. Are both the cards PCI Express 2.0 x16? Do you have the card in the correct location regarding the PCI slots? Are there other cards that you might be able to move to another slot?

That GTX 2xx video cards are very large, are you sure something isn't keeping the card from seating correctly?

Does Device Manager show any problems regarding PCI? Which chipset drivers are you using, Win 7 or Asus?

If there was a heat problem, taking the side off the case and possibly using an external fan to move the air would make sure the system was cool for testing, as was suggested.

And lastly, did you do a clean install of Win 7 or an upgrade over an older OS?

 

[shifty]

Yes the cards were both PCIE 2.0 x16.

The cards are in the proper slot. It is an SLI board, but the card is in the correct, top, one.

I COULD try reseating the cards, it seems like a logical idea.

The chipset drivers are from Asus/Nvidia but the problem was also occuring on the W7 chipset drivers.

Device manager shows no problem with PCI slots, and i did a clean install of W7 (64 bit btw)

The card was overclocked, and getting pretttty hot, above 70 degrees.... So i JUST underclocked the card, not by much... 10 mhz below stock, and the temperatures seem to be a bit more controllable. I'll see how that goes.

 

[shifty]

Well no, Underclocking did nothing. Still got the nvlddmkm.sys error. Joy. For anyone who can decipher this, here is the error coding

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 116
BCP1: FFFFFA80045FC4E0
BCP2: FFFFF8801019F230
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 0000000000000002
OS Version: 6_1_7600
Service Pack: 0_0
Product: 256_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\010110-17752-01.dmp
C:\Users\Adam\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-36005-0.sysdata.xml

 

[shifty]

Well, I replaced the motherboard (and consequently the RAM) and everything is back to normal. Just a report for all who are curious about these kinds of errors.

 

[ickymay]

Well, I replaced the motherboard (and consequently the RAM) and everything is back to normal. Just a report for all who are curious about these kinds of errors.

so you reckon this was a bad motherboard or was it the ram or just the combination ?

If it was the combination could you post the exact make and models ?

 

[shifty]

I figure the motherboard gave out. I used memtest to test the RAM and returned no errors.

For reference however, the models are listed:

ASUS P5N-D with latest bios revision

Corsair Value select 1 gb modules (4 gb worth) 667 mhz