Crash->Blue Screen->Forced Restart

[stethnorun]

Ok I think this is a problem with my video card or memory since it only happens when trying to play games. Recently, and at seemingly random times, my game will crash suddenly, a blue screen with dos-type wording comes up VERY quickly and then a split second later, the computer restarts itself. The problem is that I can't even figure out what the problem is since the blue screen that has the error information is gone a split second after it appears. Any ideas on how to even begin diagnosing this? Is there a crash log or something I can access?

[glc]

List your complete specs, including brand and model of the power supply, and also list your operating system and I'll move this into the correct forum. We don't troubleshoot in General Discussion.

[Alaron]

Go to Control Panel > System > Advanced > Startup and Recovery > Settings and un-check the box for 'Automatically Restart'.

Then you can write down the stop error.

[stethnorun]

Ok sorry...didn't see a section that was general tech-help since I don't actually know where the problem is yet.

Power Supply: CORSAIR CMPSU-550VX 550W ATX12V V2.2 SLI Ready CrossFire Ready 80 PLUS Certified Active PFC Compatible with Core i7

Motherboard: ASUS P5K LGA 775 Intel P35 ATX Intel Motherboard

Memory: CORSAIR XMS2 2GB (4 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model TWIN2X2048-6400C5DHX

Processor: ntel Core 2 Duo E8400 Wolfdale 3.0GHz 6MB L2 Cache LGA 775 65W Dual-Core Processor

Video Card: EVGA 512-P3-N802-AR GeForce 8800GT Superclocked 512MB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card

And I'm running Win XP Service Pack 3.

I unchecked the auto-restart option (I also told it to do a Kernal Memory dump...should I put it back to small?) So I guess I'll just try to recreate the crash.

[shadowpr]

Is it a 2x1gb or 4x1gb of ram? If 4x1gb, I would run memtest.org on them

I had that same board, and ram and would have problems with all 4 slots being full.

If that's the case, options are to loser the speed, raise the voltage, or what i did was get a 2x2gb pack.

[stethnorun]

Well I ran the microsoft version of memtest. It came up clean. I'll do the mem test one if you think it's significantly better.

And yeah I have 4x1 gb of RAM. I only had 2x1 for a while but recently got 2 more sticks (even though my windows only uses 1 of them). But I got the extra sticks close to 2 months ago. This crash problem has only been happening for a few days.

[glc]

You don't need a full dump - it takes an engineer to read dump files. All we want is the stop error off the bluescreen.

Moved to the XP forum.

[shadowpr]

It took a few months for my computer to blue screen with the 4x1gb as well.

[stethnorun]

Well I've been loading and unloading all the games that were crashing it before. It's not coming up again. I guess that's a good thing but I feel like it's a cancer that's just in temporary remission.

[stethnorun]

Ok speak of the devil...here is the info from the stop error:

File: nv4_disp.dll
PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGE_AREA

Stop: 0x00000050 (0x90FF00E4, 0x00000000, 0xBD0C8749, 0x00000000)

nv4_disp.dll - Adress BD0C8749 base at BD012000, datestop 4a2fc146

Well there it is. Looks like a video card error after all. Either that or my RAM is using my display drivers in some unhealthy way. It seems like it happens upon loading or unloading a game (that is, starting it up, and then quitting to windows).

[glc]

Try different versions of the Nvidia driver.

[stethnorun]

Hmmm...ok well it did this with the current version and the one before that. So I should go back 2 versions? Alright I'll try it.

[stethnorun]

Well I tried doing what you said but it didn't help. I downloaded the Ntune program....is it possible that what's causing this is an overheating video card? It looks like my card is hitting 80-85 degrees celcius under a heavy load (such as playing Far Cry 2, when the crash usually happens). If so, how do I cool the inside of my comp off? I recently dusted....I have the max number of fans. My comp has been shoved in the corner of my room...I gave it some space and it seemed to help a bit...but still not enough to significantly cool it down. Any suggestions?

[glc]

Too many fans can be an issue - you need to choose which fans you use and which direction they blow carefully. You want airflow from front to rear, and slightly more exhaust than intake.

Take the side off the case and aim a desk fan into it for troubleshooting - if the crashes stop, then you know you have an airflow issue.

[stethnorun]

Yeah I have 2 smalls in the front for intake (though I don't think they intake much...I don't feel much airflow when I put my hand up to them). One small on top as exhaust and one large in back for exhaust. So I think it's set up correctly...and I can't add any more. I'm pretty sure this is at least PART of the problem...because when I am able to keep the comp cooler, Far Cry 2 doesn't give me any graphical glitches or low frame rates. When it gets really hot, I get artifacting and skipping frames. Directly after that, I get the blue screen. I'm just not sure how to cool it down. Maybe I need to buy a video card with a better fan?

[stethnorun]

Well I used the Ntune program to increase the fan speed on my video card (I didn't even know there were different settings that...just thought it was on/off). It seems to have done the trick. Temps only get up to 68c now...even under very heavy loads. And no artifacting or crashes. I don't know WHY the factory setting was only 30% fan speed.

I only have one last question....does keeping the video card fan speed at 100% do any damage after a long time? I keep all my other tower fans at 100% all the time and they seem fine. So this should be a good solution no?

[glc]

If you registered your video card with EVGA, you should have an extended warranty on it.