Random BSOD's, becoming frequent---possibly GPU/USB drivers related?

OS is Windows 7 X64 Ultimate Full retail version, System parts are mostly from October 2010, OS has be reinstalled once a year or so ago after something caused the OS to not work properly when installing a new heatsink after removing the stock one.

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 116
BCP1: FFFFFA80080F44E0
BCP2: FFFFF880042C19E0
BCP3: 0000000000000000
BCP4: 000000000000000D
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 256_1


Hi there, first time poster, however repeated random BSOD's have me in need of this forum's help. They started about 2 months back and have been becoming more and more frequent (read: instead of once every 3-4 weeks, now once a week or more), I did recently upgrade my Video Card drivers and the BSOD code suggests it's graphics related. The BSOD's have continuously happened while I've been sleeping after several days of the comp being without a reboot (I run my tower 24/7 pretty much but haven't had any major problems until now) and when I wake up the computer has restarted on its own.

All my system specs are on my profile if needed, the majority of the parts sans monitors, keyboard/mouse and 2 non-system-related hard drives are from late (october-december) 2010 so approaching the year and a half mark in terms of wear. Attached are the most recent dump and all the usual forum required stuffs for BSOD threads.


Lastly I feel it pertinent to mention I've been having a few USB port related problems where a gamepad has repeatedly dropped and had to be reconnected after prolonged use, as well as a couple times my ipod has disconnected and had to be hard reset after the usb dropped it as well, still have yet to figure those issues out even with the help of one of my more technologically literate friends so if you guys see something in there in regards to that, lemme know!

any and all help is largely appreciated

"It's not a true crash, in the sense that the bluescreen was initiated only because the combination of video driver and video hardware was being unresponsive, and not because of any synchronous processing exception".

Since Vista, the "Timeout Detection and Recovery" (TDR) components of the OS video subsystem have been capable of doing some truly impressive things to try to recover from issues which would have caused earlier OSs like XP to crash.

As a last resort, the TDR subsystem sends the video driver a "please restart yourself now!" command and waits a few seconds.

If there's no response, the OS concludes that the video driver/hardware combo has truly collapsed in a heap, and it fires off that stop 0x116 BSOD.

If playing with video driver versions hasn't helped, make sure the box is not overheating.

Try removing a side panel and aiming a big mains fan straight at the motherboard and GPU.

Run it like that for a few hours or days - long enough to ascertain whether cooler temperatures make a difference.

If so, it might be as simple as dust buildup and subsequently inadequate cooling.

I would download cpu-z and gpu-z (both free) and keep an eye on the video temps

Click to expand...

http://www.sevenforums.com/crash-lo...op-0x116-video_tdr_error-troubleshooting.html

it's definitely not dust or whatever build up, I keep the inside of my tower pretty damn clean and my tower temp and cpu temps never go above 20C and 38C respectively. besides downgrading the drivers the rest of your answer doesn't really solve the problem, I will be trying the downgrade later or early tomorrow but I'm still interested if anyone can find more things wrong in the dump/etc that could be the actual solution to my problems.

edit: as well, trying another video card is not an option due to me being rather poor as **** lol

Shadowedmoon said:

it's definitely not dust or whatever build up, I keep the inside of my tower pretty damn clean and my tower temp and cpu temps never go above 20C and 38C respectively. besides downgrading the drivers the rest of your answer doesn't really solve the problem, I will be trying the downgrade later or early tomorrow but I'm still interested if anyone can find more things wrong in the dump/etc that could be the actual solution to my problems.

edit: as well, trying another video card is not an option due to me being rather poor as **** lol

Click to expand...

From one crash dmp, not likely. See highlighted in snip

I'm not a supergeek so if you're going to point at random things, please explain what they mean in layman's terms, I mean all I see when you show me that is that 'VideoSchi' whatever that is, hardware hanged and 'TDR' whatever THAT means timed out and that recovery (how the hell I do that is wayyyyyyy out of the ballpark of me understanding ****) is required.

and crashdmp's get auto deleted as far as I can tell, whenever the comp is rebooted so..why would I have more than one? >_>

Still need a solution as the anxiety knowing the comp could crash again at any moment is rather stress-inducing so I'd like to fix whatever's wrong asap :\

Shadowedmoon said:

I'm not a supergeek so if you're going to point at random things, please explain what they mean in layman's terms, I mean all I see when you show me that is that 'VideoSchi' whatever that is, hardware hanged and 'TDR' whatever THAT means timed out and that recovery (how the hell I do that is wayyyyyyy out of the ballpark of me understanding ****) is required.

and crashdmp's get auto deleted as far as I can tell, whenever the comp is rebooted so..why would I have more than one? >_>

Still need a solution as the anxiety knowing the comp could crash again at any moment is rather stress-inducing so I'd like to fix whatever's wrong asap :\

Click to expand...

I figured but you did ask for more information. Basically what that means it that your computer was waiting for DirectX to respond and it didnt within acceptable time. The computer restarted the video service but the hardware reported itself hung.

Can be driver, heat, power, the card, etc, as indicated in the BCC116 speech.

Long ago (many 1000's of BSOD analysis) I realized most users dont know nor care what the hocus-pocus is so I try to limit the geek speak. Anytime anyone wants more I am more than willing to provide it.

Ken

can any of those affect usb ports (on the mobo)? cause that usb issue I mentioned in the OP has gotten worse today, instead of just problems when gaming and the occasional ipod port drop, it's dropping peripherals now too which will render the computer rather useless if I can't figure out wtf is going on :\

as well how can I determine what the cause of the video problems is exactly? I haven't the cash to just go and buy a new video card right now so I'd prefer it to be solved without having to do that :S

lastly, what the heck could have been demanding directx so much when I was in bed and not even using the computer? programs I run 24/7 include firefox, serviio (media sharing program), msn, winamp, IRC, Skype (not video chat though), winamp and antivirus pretty much...I do have multiple monitors but I've never had issues with them before :S

Shadowedmoon said:

can any of those affect usb ports (on the mobo)? cause that usb issue I mentioned in the OP has gotten worse today, instead of just problems when gaming and the occasional ipod port drop, it's dropping peripherals now too which will render the computer rather useless if I can't figure out wtf is going on :\

as well how can I determine what the cause of the video problems is exactly? I haven't the cash to just go and buy a new video card right now so I'd prefer it to be solved without having to do that :S

lastly, what the heck could have been demanding directx so much when I was in bed and not even using the computer? programs I run 24/7 include firefox, serviio (media sharing program), msn, winamp, IRC, Skype (not video chat though), winamp and antivirus pretty much...I do have multiple monitors but I've never had issues with them before :S

Click to expand...

Anything is possible. Given that these are two separate issues and both may be hardware it might be power, or a mobo.

These easiest way to diagnose it is to bring it back to baseline. By that I mean remove all non critical devices, turn off all non critical services and see if it crashes.

Test the ram, and mobo slots with memtest if you havent before.

If that doeasnt work it might help eliminate one variable by doing a clean install. At least that way you would know if it is software or not.

back again, couldn't figure out how to use memtest (didn't have any discs nor have cash to buy discs to burn the .iso/.bin) and now I'm having more and more problems, all my programs are lagging massively and I got my 5th BSOD in 3 weeks today, attached is the minidump

please help, I'm getting very worried about my computer, the majority of my life (gaming, socializing, internet, and watching tv and finding information) revolves around this thing and I can't have it die on me

Shadowedmoon said:

back again, couldn't figure out how to use memtest (didn't have any discs nor have cash to buy discs to burn the .iso/.bin) and now I'm having more and more problems, all my programs are lagging massively and I got my 5th BSOD in 3 weeks today, attached is the minidump

please help, I'm getting very worried about my computer, the majority of my life (gaming, socializing, internet, and watching tv and finding information) revolves around this thing and I can't have it die on me

Click to expand...

If you dont do the tests, we cant give you an answer, This crash was caused by a driver but till you run verifier we cant tell you which.