BCC error 116. Video card issue or memory?

[raildogg]

Hey everyone, I had a blue screen crash yesterday and the error code came up as BCCcode116. I have read that this is usually a video problem though RAM might also be an issue. Also, a faulty motherboard can be a problem as well.

After encountering this error, I ran Memtest-86 for about 7 hours but when I came back, there were white block shaped artifacts all over the screen. I'm not sure if it passed or not since the screen was not legible. So I decided to run Memtest-86 again and it has been running for around 10 hours and 14 passes with no errors as of yet. This is a bit strange. I'm not quite sure what the issue could be. I will let it run to about 20 passes and see what happens.

My system specs are the following:

AMD Athlon X4 635
4GB RAM (2x2)
128GB SSD
Gigabyte 880ga motherboard
Integrated graphics - ATI 4250
500W Seasonic power supply

I was wondering if this is an issue with the integrated graphics, would a dedicated graphics card possibly fix the issue? I sort of want to upgrade to a graphics card but I don't play too many games. If that may fix the issue then I would not mind getting one.

Some more background:

Ever since I built this system about 2 years ago, I've always had video related crashes. These crashes occur about once a month. About 4 months ago I discovered some faulty RAM so I removed it. Afterwards, the computer ran very well until the error described above. I don't remember if they are the same error code though.

I would appreciate any response. Thank you.

 

[Steltek]

You can download and install either the free version of Whocrashed or Nirsoft's BlueScreenView to examine the Windows dump files related to the crashes:

http://www.resplendence.com/download/whocrashedSetup.exe

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

This will at least tell you what actually crashed and caused the BSOD.

 

[raildogg]

You can download and install either the free version of Whocrashed or Nirsoft's BlueScreenView to examine the Windows dump files related to the crashes:

http://www.resplendence.com/download/whocrashedSetup.exe

http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html

This will at least tell you what actually crashed and caused the BSOD.

I downloaded Whocrashed and got the following results:

crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\011813-10670-01.dmp
This was probably caused by the following module: atikmpag.sys (atikmpag+0x6334)
Bugcheck code: 0x116 (0xFFFFFA80038CA4E0, 0xFFFFF88004368334, 0xFFFFFFFFC0000001, 0x3)
Error: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR
file path: C:\Windows\system32\drivers\atikmpag.sys
product: AMD driver
company: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
description: AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver
Bug check description: This indicates that an attempt to reset the display driver and recover from a timeout failed.
A third party driver was identified as the probable root cause of this system error. It is suggested you look for an update for the following driver: atikmpag.sys (AMD multi-vendor Miniport Driver, Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.).
Google query: Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. VIDEO_TDR_ERROR

I really appreciate your response. Thanks.

 

[Steltek]

Have you tried to update the video drivers themselves?

You were right in assuming that there might be a memory problem as integrated graphics use part of the system memory pool as video memory. And, I'd run several MEMTEST86+ sessions before I presume that the memory is good (sometimes borderline memory will test as good several times before it suffers a failure).

If it is just a integrated graphics failure and not a motherboard failure, a discrete graphics card might in fact solve your problem.

 

[raildogg]

I installed the newest VGA drivers from Gigabyte's website and installed them but I cannot access them. It immediately fails when I open them. It is the CCC program from AMD. I tried downloading the latest drivers from AMD's website and let the wizard choose the option to automatically choose the best drivers for my system. This method did not work at all since after installing, the drivers had no effect at all to the screen's resolution. The screen had the lowest resolution. Really strange.

For now, the drivers from Gigabyte's website are working in terms of giving me the option to increase the screen resolution to its native size. However, I cannot open the program at all. I think I will go ahead and uninstall them and install the drivers that came with the motherboard's CD. These drivers will be old but at least they will work properly. Is it possible that I may need to update the BIOS? After looking at Gigabyte's BIOS fixes, I don't see any mention of any video related issue so I'm wondering if a BIOS update will fix the problems or not.

Steltek, I will run Memtest-86 again. Thanks for the suggestion. I wonder how can I find out if it is a integrated graphics issue. But before that, I should sort out the issue with the drivers.

edit:

I seem to have installed a newer version of Catalyst software. It took a bit but the Catalyst software is functioning now.