Blue screen of death. Need some help.

[jayhayjay]

I'm experiencing weird BSOD crashes whenever I'm playing demanding games such as GTA 5. It usually takes about 30 minutes for the BSOD to occur and it occurs everytime. My PC is a month old and this has been taking place the last 12 days. I have everything updated (BIOS + drivers), hardware properly installed and configured, CPU temps never surpass 60 degrees and there is good airflow in my case (which means that it's not a case of increasing temperature).

The BSOD says "0000000x124". I've checked the dmp files and they don't make that much sense. I've also run a memtest and it didn't come up with any problems. I also have an identical rig with the same identical components and it never experiences a BSOD. That's what makes the entire situation really weird. If it really is a hardware problem I'm practically 100 percent unable to find it out. I've run out of ideas. Exchanged components with that rig and same thing. BSOD. I need some serious help.

Thanks in advance.

I'm running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.

I have an ASUS Z-97 P mobo and an i5 4690K CPU that hasn't been overclocked, set under a Hyper 212 Evo cooler.

My PSU is the Keep-Out FX 700 MU. It's not a popular brand but it's rated as 85 plus efficient and I've checked through HWInfo and it sends accurately the proper amount of voltage it should be sending. I've also exhanged this PSU with my other rig's identical one and it still had a BSOD so I'm pretty sure it's not the PSU as the same second one works perfectly on the other rig.

I have a USB mouse, an old LCD monitor connected to my GPU through a VGA to DVI-I adapter and a keyboard that is connected to the motherboard through a classic grey keyboard cable (don't know what it's precisely called).

My PCI slot's clip has also been broken but the GPU sits firmly and works greatly. People have also reassured me that a slightly broken clip cannot be causing a BSOD.

PLEASE, do keep in mind that the other identical rig never faces any BSOD issue.

 

[cyclohexane]

What GPU?

 

[Harvey]

1. Unplug and reseat your vid card and your RAM. Clean the contacts with alcohol or contact cleaner on a Q-tip if you have any doubts.

2. Try another PSU. You don't have to remove the current CPU. Just move another one close enough to connect it to the motherboard and peripherals. Make sure your temporary hook up is physically stable.

The one from the other system should answer this question, one way or the other.

 

[frozentundra123456]

Sounds like something is overheating. I know you checked the cpu, but how about the psu, gpu, or the motherboard?

 

[jayhayjay]

What GPU?

Gigabyte's GTX 970 WindForce 3X OC 4GB version.

 

[jayhayjay]

Sounds like something is overheating. I know you checked the cpu, but how about the psu, gpu, or the motherboard?

GPU stays below 60 degrees all the time, CPU never never surpasses 60 degrees and both the mobo and the PSU are always extremelly cool. I've pointed out that on my other identical system, some components overheat but I never experience any BSODs. It's impossible for this one to be cooler and to crash because of temperature.

 

[jayhayjay]

1. Unplug and reseat your vid card and your RAM. Clean the contacts with alcohol or contact cleaner on a Q-tip if you have any doubts.

2. Try another PSU. You don't have to remove the current CPU. Just move another one close enough to connect it to the motherboard and peripherals. Make sure your temporary hook up is physically stable.

The one from the other system should answer this question, one way or the other.

I'll try number one. As for number two. I said that I changed my PSU with my other rig's identical one and I still had a BSOD. Then, I put the PSU from the crashing rig to the non-crashing rig and still the non-crashing rig didn't have a BSOD. So, it's not the PSU.

Any more info would be appreciated

 

[Harvey]

I'll try number one. As for number two. I said that I changed my PSU with my other rig's identical one and I still had a BSOD. Then, I put the PSU from the crashing rig to the non-crashing rig and still the non-crashing rig didn't have a BSOD. So, it's not the PSU.

Any more info would be appreciated

You might

Sorry I missed that you had already exchanged PSU's

Since you already swapped out other removable components, I would suspect strongly suspect that the fault is on your motherboard.

The most hopeful part of your post is that it's only a month old. I would suggest contacting Asus' about RMA'ing the board.

Good luck.

 

[jayhayjay]

You might

Sorry I missed that you had already exchanged PSU's

Since you already swapped out other removable components, I would suspect strongly suspect that the fault is on your motherboard.

The most hopeful part of your post is that it's only a month old. I would suggest contacting Asus' about RMA'ing the board.

Good luck.

It's just rather strange for the motherboard to crash. And ASUS are supposedly extremely reliable ones.

Thanks for the help, though.

 

[Harvey]

It's just rather strange for the motherboard to crash. And ASUS are supposedly extremely reliable ones.

I'm sure Asus tests their boards as thoroughly as possible, but even companies whose products are known to be highly reliable can't guarantee 100% freedom from failure. For example, there is a phenomenon known as "infant mortality" in semiconductors, where a small percentage of tested parts fail early. Also, a solder joint could be faulty where the problem only shows after prolonged normal stress under heating, or the board, itself, could flex slightly when heated, causing the problem in one or more connections.

That's why they have warranties and an RMA process. A good, reliable company is one whose products have an acceptably low failure rate and honors their warranties when required.

You've done your homework to test for other possible causes of the failure. Now, it's time to take them up on their promise to you, their customer.

Thanks for the help, though.

You're welcome. Good luck.

 

[Cr0nJ0b]

For me, most of my BSOD experience has come from these main areas, listed by frequency.

1) Heat -- CPU, GPU or maybe PSU. My room can get hot in the summer and paying a game just pushes it over the edge. But in those cases I'm at like 80C or something very high. I added a watercooler H200 and haven't had a CPU issue since.
-- Check with CPU AND GPU temp running. it's best if you log the temps every min or so as you are in game, so afer the crash you can see how hot it got. Open the case us and put a fan on it and see if that helps.
2) Clocking/Memory -- Lots of memory issues with mismatched sticks or something along those lines with very weird failure scenarios including file transfer corruption.
-- Check in memtest. Run overnight, though you will likely see the issue on the first pass.
-- for clocking, run some type of intensive app like superPI or something. that helped me find errors that would only happen in edge cases under normal use. BF2 was another test app for me. for some reason it was really sensitive to clocking issues.
3) Motherboard -- This usually came up as USB errors. The USB ports were dying and throwing unrecoverable errors. You can see this if you are looking at the dump files. There is a bluescreen dump reader somewhere that I used. Make sure you are set to log the dumps.
--you can test with something like a USB hard drive (a couple would be good) and just mess around with where they are plugged in and transfer data to them. IMO the best way is just to look at the dump for UBS type errors or system errors.
4) HDD -- Bad drive, corrupt sector, corrupt Windows image etc. This is somewhat hard to see but BSOD dumps would should HDD errors.
-- Do large scale HDD tests and check the SMART output for the drive. worst case, reinstall...I have extra drives, so I would usually load a new image on a new drive, load the game in question, and replace my primary drive for testing. That way, if its not the issue, i don't have to go through the whole reinstall business.
5) Gremlin -- Shit happens
--You're screwed. Get a new system, burn incense, eat well, collect positive Karma. etc.

hope you solve this.

 

[jayhayjay]

For me, most of my BSOD experience has come from these main areas, listed by frequency.

1) Heat -- CPU, GPU or maybe PSU. My room can get hot in the summer and paying a game just pushes it over the edge. But in those cases I'm at like 80C or something very high. I added a watercooler H200 and haven't had a CPU issue since.
-- Check with CPU AND GPU temp running. it's best if you log the temps every min or so as you are in game, so afer the crash you can see how hot it got. Open the case us and put a fan on it and see if that helps.
2) Clocking/Memory -- Lots of memory issues with mismatched sticks or something along those lines with very weird failure scenarios including file transfer corruption.
-- Check in memtest. Run overnight, though you will likely see the issue on the first pass.
-- for clocking, run some type of intensive app like superPI or something. that helped me find errors that would only happen in edge cases under normal use. BF2 was another test app for me. for some reason it was really sensitive to clocking issues.
3) Motherboard -- This usually came up as USB errors. The USB ports were dying and throwing unrecoverable errors. You can see this if you are looking at the dump files. There is a bluescreen dump reader somewhere that I used. Make sure you are set to log the dumps.
--you can test with something like a USB hard drive (a couple would be good) and just mess around with where they are plugged in and transfer data to them. IMO the best way is just to look at the dump for UBS type errors or system errors.
4) HDD -- Bad drive, corrupt sector, corrupt Windows image etc. This is somewhat hard to see but BSOD dumps would should HDD errors.
-- Do large scale HDD tests and check the SMART output for the drive. worst case, reinstall...I have extra drives, so I would usually load a new image on a new drive, load the game in question, and replace my primary drive for testing. That way, if its not the issue, i don't have to go through the whole reinstall business.
5) Gremlin -- Shit happens
--You're screwed. Get a new system, burn incense, eat well, collect positive Karma. etc.

hope you solve this.

1) No heat issues with any part. CPU temps are always below 60 degrees, GPU always below 60 degrees as well and the other components are extremelly cool.

2) Nothing's overclocked, everything's in its default form and XMP is disabled. I also ran a memetest that took up to four passes and no errors showed up.

3) Possibility.

4) Major possibility.

5) I've recently sprayed my home with anti-Gremlins spray. No way there's one in my house.

Thanks for the suggestions, though. I'll inform you on additional changes.

 

[jayhayjay]

I'm sure Asus tests their boards as thoroughly as possible, but even companies whose products are known to be highly reliable can't guarantee 100% freedom from failure. For example, there is a phenomenon known as "infant mortality" in semiconductors, where a small percentage of tested parts fail early. Also, a solder joint could be faulty where the problem only shows after prolonged normal stress under heating, or the board, itself, could flex slightly when heated, causing the problem in one or more connections.

That's why they have warranties and an RMA process. A good, reliable company is one whose products have an acceptably low failure rate and honors their warranties when required.

You've done your homework to test for other possible causes of the failure. Now, it's time to take them up on their promise to you, their customer.



You're welcome. Good luck.

Thanks