BSOD While gaming, error 0x0000008E / dxgmms1.sys

Hello.

I've been having sporadic BSOD issues on my windows 7 32 bit PC for quite a while now. However they have always been rare. The PC was put together by the store I bought it at to be a decent gaming PC. When I started getting bluescreens fairly soon after getting it I took it back to the store twice however they were never able to reproduce the problem or find any issues. The other bluescreens have been various stop codes that I no longer have the error messages of. Any attempt to google for fixes to those generally came up empty or fixes did not work.


Lately however these crashes have been getting a LOT worse to the point where I have been getting several a day over the last few days. Mainly Page fault in non-paged area.
I've done a lot of googling and attempted several fixes but nothing has worked so far. I've gotten 2 BSOD's over the past 20 minutes while playing GW2 and I'm out of things to try and fix it. (The errors in the title were those 2.)

Things I have tried so far:
I've ran Memcheck, no issues found.
I've used a utility to monitor CPU & GPU temperatures and they are well within the allowed limits for my CPU/GPU. GPU hovering around 60 running at max on GW2, CPU peaking at 50 after running at 100% for a while, my GPU should run fine up to 90C and CPU should be fine up to 60-65 ish.

I have re-installed the latest recommended version for my grapic drivers twice and then updated to a beta version that GW2 recommends to fix some issues.

Seeing as the frequency seems to increase while playing GW2 I've also re-installed the game twice.

I've ran several virusscans which also come up clean (using Avast as well as Hitman Pro.)

I have tried to re-install directX however I've been unable to get it to re-install.
(The registry trick for changing the version doesn't work, I've undone any changes made there after it failed.) The dutch installer says it's already installed (My pc's language), the english one crashes with an unspecific error telling me to look up DirectX.log and a crash log. There is however no crash log and the DirectX.log doesn't say much, I've included the file in the folder of crash dumps.

Other possibly usefull info:

The games I play generally when I am getting bluescreens seem to be Minecraft (tekkit modpack as well as regular) Perfect World and Guild Wars 2. I also generally have firefox + youtube running in the background.
On a side note, ingame (not just GW2) I also occasionally get weird graphical glitches, textures from the background flashing to the front rapidly (quite annoying, good thing I'm not prone to seizures...) This seems to happen mainly in GW2, occasionally in PWI & other games, never in Minecraft, possibly DirectX related?

I am using 2 monitors on my pc.
In the past I've suspected overheating to cause issues however after doing a few thorough cleanings as well as running the temperature checking utility I don't think this is the problem anymore.

This PC was put together by the store I bought it at with a pre-installed windows 7 that I do not have the CD of, though I can probably still get this by calling them it would be a big pain. (I have since moved and it's quite a while away.)

Crash dumps included. I will be watching this thread whenever I can, I like to think I'm a fairly advanced PC user so there's no need to hold back more complicated solutions.

Thanks in advance for any efford in helping me fix this, as I stated before I've ran out of things to try and my only other option is taking it to a store which is very inconvenient as I need my PC daily for both work and studies as well as being a game addict. Not to mention the huge bill that's quite a pain on a student budget.

Hello Feone and welcome to Sevenforums.

* What temperatures are we talking about just before a crash?
* Please download CPU-Z and take a snapshot of every tab.
* You mentioned memory diagnostics, have you tried Memtest86+? (if no, see below)
* Is it under warranty since you bought it in a store, built?

(Screenshots and Files - Upload and Post in Seven Forums)

BSOD ANALYSE

Updating System Specs will give us a better sight of
how your system is put together. It's simply done.

§ Download Speccy
§ |User CP (top of the page)| |Edit System Spec|
§ COPY & PASTE section to section
§ Include Laptop, Desktop information
§ End with |Save Changes|

• How does your computer act in Safe Mode?

3rd party drivers may bug your memory.

7 ready & BIOS

How long have you been running Windows 7 on this motherboard? Either there's a BIOS update available for your motherboard, otherwise your board is not 7-ready. Your BIOS is from 2009 which could be problematic.

Here are some of my suggestions:

• Search your hardware parts on the Windows 7 Compatibility Center, and ensure that Microsoft has approved the product to be 7 ready.
  
  • End with the Upgrade Advisor afterwards.
  
  

• Windows 7 Upgrade Advisor - Download - Microsoft Windows

Code:

BIOS-versie/datum    American Megatrends Inc. 1303, 3-7-2009

Code:

0: kd> vertarget
Windows 7 Kernel Version 7601 (Service Pack 1) MP (2 procs) Free x86 compatible
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS Personal
Built by: 7601.17803.x86fre.win7sp1_gdr.120330-1504
Machine Name:
Kernel base = 0x83047000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0x831904d0
Debug session time: Sun Sep  9 18:38:57.746 2012 (UTC + 2:00)
System Uptime: 0 days 0:13:12.104

IS your Windows Update fully updated? You've experienced the KERNEL_MODE_EXCEPTION_NOT_HANDLED_M, which may indicate a bad Windows or bad drivers - nevertheless memory sticks. Please also look for hidden updates.

We usually ask people to do this command to check if Windows is corrupted. It's the most common used one to check if the Windows files are corrupted. If it'll find errors, it'll restore them.

   Tip

If you're having a custom customization layer on your Aero, it's likely to get restored to default.

Press Start | search 'cmd' | Right-click it
| open as Admin | type SFC /SCANNOW

SFC /SCANNOW Command - System File Checker

Code:

STACK_TEXT:  
a761faec 8c56c276 b5286008 b5286008 048b0000 nt!KeBugCheckEx+0x1e
a761fb14 93ca906e 00000000 a761fcbc 00000000 watchdog!WdLogEvent5+0xc6
a761fb30 93c8e8d4 a761fcbc 0767dbac a761fcbc dxgkrnl!DXGADAPTER::ReleaseCoreResource+0x69
a761fb44 93c8e8ed 873ea000 93cab729 34ab8e48 dxgkrnl!COREACCESS::Release+0x5c
a761fb4c 93cab729 34ab8e48 0767dbac 0767dba0 dxgkrnl!COREACCESS::~COREACCESS+0x10
a761fd28 8304a27a 00000000 0767dd00 773d7094 dxgkrnl!DxgkRender+0x5da
a761fd28 773d7094 00000000 0767dd00 773d7094 nt!KiFastCallEntry+0x12a
WARNING: Frame IP not in any known module. Following frames may be wrong.
0767dd00 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000 0x773d7094

Are you overclocking? You may ask your manufacturer this question, because it seems to be a hardware culprit. The watchdog! in the stack, can indicate an overheated card. Also notice that the watchdog! showed up right after Direct-X.

¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨

Code:

1: kd> !sysinfo cpuspeed
sysinfo: unknown error 80004005
1: kd> !error 80004005
Error code: (HRESULT) 0x80004005 (2147500037) - Unspecified error

Best Regards,
Frederik.

Feone said:

I used the memory checking tool that came with windows 7 to test the memory.

Try this tool:

Combining your crash dumps and the general view of BSODs culprits, I'd suggest you to have a look at your memory, the sticks. Through decades people have been using the bootable tool called Memtest86+ and it's basically very unique in these manners.
Be sure to check your warranty rules and regulations before opening your case.

* Memtest86+ is USB-ready, and can be booted directly from it. Download the flashdrive wizard.
* To ensure that either your sticks OR your motherboard slots are broken, it's necessary to do the below procedure-
* Pull out all sticks except ONE, scan it.
* If no errors, pull the scanned stick into another slot.
* Proceed like this until you've scanned all sticks individually, and all the slots.

I'm not sure if it's still under warranty, it was built in a smaller local store. I could check if it comes to replacing hardware. They couldn't find anything wrong with it last time I took it to be checked.

Awesome!

I've not ran it in safe mode because the crashes never seem to happen when just running a browser or text editor etc. They only seem to occur when gaming at random moments.

Alright.

I've ran windows 7 on this PC for several years, It's the operating system it came with when it was made.

Hardware is windows 7 compatible according to the compatibility centre.
Upgrade Advisor says everything is compatible except for some smaller programs that it has no info on, none of these run when the crashes occur. (A few of the diagnostic tools are amongst them so these are certainly not the problem.)

Windows is fully updated as far as I can tell.
There were no errors found with windows on running the command.

To my knowledge it isn't being overclocked.

ASUS - Motherboards- ASUS M4A78 PRO

Try updating your BIOS using this link. Feel free to use the utility, also manuals are also provided. Though, as far as I'm concerned you cannot go wrong with BIOS updating these days.

Best Regards,
Frederik.

You're certainly welcome! I understand students would avoid using money on new builds, that's the last thing I'd do. You're very sensible.

Best Regards,
Frederik.

Just a thought, have you tried using just one monitor as a test (disable the other or unplug it better still)? I have played games that behaved oddly if you had 2 active monitors (black screens, BSODs, won't start etc). I haven't played GW so I can't speak to that game specifically. I assume you're gaming on one screen and other stuff on the other?