I cannot pinpoint the source of my BSODs

Ok, guys I reinstalled windows, and got a bsod, however, there 1 possibility that it might not be hardware

I installed the same audio driver that I had on my old install, booted up starcraft, playing for like 5 minutes, and a bsod. I think it might be the audio driver, I manually went to VIA website and downloaded Via audio deck, I did this because It was on my old install, but I dont know how it got on my old install. Windows did not automatically search and install this driver, so maybe the reason is that because it is the wrong driver. I am going to system restore to before i installed this driver.

The only problem is, I cannot hear out of my headphone slot if i dont have this installed, with w/e windows automatically installs I can only hear through my speakers (which are plugged into back of my computer, headphones are plugged in through front)

blarp said:

Ok, guys I reinstalled windows, and got a bsod, however, there 1 possibility that it might not be hardware

I installed the same audio driver that I had on my old install, booted up starcraft, playing for like 5 minutes, and a bsod. I think it might be the audio driver, I manually went to VIA website and downloaded Via audio deck, I did this because It was on my old install, but I dont know how it got on my old install. Windows did not automatically search and install this driver, so maybe the reason is that because it is the wrong driver. I am going to system restore to before i installed this driver.

The only problem is, I cannot hear out of my headphone slot if i dont have this installed, with w/e windows automatically installs I can only hear through my speakers (which are plugged into back of my computer, headphones are plugged in through front)

One thing at a time. See if the other driver crashes. If not then the audio driver was at fault, after you determine that we can start looking for a viable audio driver

Yea, I restored, and now I am testing.

blarp said:

Yea, I restored, and now I am testing.

Let us know if you need help

Ken

Well, it crashed, after restore. The only things I had installed besides audio is... starcraft, skype, microsoft security essentials, so i guess it is hardware....

That audio driver was the only driver I manually installed, windows automatically installed display driver and I was just going with that.

In my my last post I said I had a bsod after installing the audio driver, well, it was not a bsod, it was just a freeze and distortion of the screen, and then automatic restart, except the restart failed because of memory corruption so i had to unplug for 30 seconds.

Then after I restore, go on starcraft for 5 minutes, and same thing happens, I crash, screen distorts and computer crashes.

I guess it truly is my hardware then, but it is new ram, what could it be then? My motherboard or something? If I call up cyberpower (company that made my prebuilt) What should I tell them? If i cant find the hardware problem, how would they be able too? Would they just take my word that its defective and replace it? Because without doing something like playing a game I dont think they will get it to crash, if i send my computer to them.

And should I mention that I installed new ram? Or would that void the warranty, so I should not say that, I would put the old ram in anyway to send it back to them but should I say its not the ram because I installed new ram and it was still crashing.

blarp said:

Well, it crashed, after restore. The only things I had installed besides audio is... starcraft, skype, microsoft security essentials, so i guess it is hardware....

That audio driver was the only driver I manually installed, windows automatically installed display driver and I was just going with that.

In my my last post I said I had a bsod after installing the audio driver, well, it was not a bsod, it was just a freeze and distortion of the screen, and then automatic restart, except the restart failed because of memory corruption so i had to unplug for 30 seconds.

Then after I restore, go on starcraft for 5 minutes, and same thing happens, I crash, screen distorts and computer crashes.

I guess it truly is my hardware then, but it is new ram, what could it be then? My motherboard or something? If I call up cyberpower (company that made my prebuilt) What should I tell them? If i cant find the hardware problem, how would they be able too? Would they just take my word that its defective and replace it? Because without doing something like playing a game I dont think they will get it to crash, if i send my computer to them.

And should I mention that I installed new ram? Or would that void the warranty, so I should not say that, I would put the old ram in anyway to send it back to them but should I say its not the ram because I installed new ram and it was still crashing.

As long as you did not have to do anything special to remove the originally installed RAM (i.e. remove solder points), it would not void the warranty. If all you did was unclip it and clip the new RAM in, it is fine. I would make sure you let them know that it is not the original RAM that came with the machine so they know to give it back to you. To be safe, you could put the old RAM in before you send it so you still have the new RAM.

Also, you could try seeing if the BSOD still occurs with the old RAM installed (maybe it is an incompatibility with the RAM).

Additionally, there are good ways to test if video intensive applications cause the BSOD so you can let the manufacturer's tech guys know that instead of the crashes just being related to games. Try the suggestions in post #2 of STOP 0x116: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR troubleshooting to see if it reproduces your BSOD.

Try the above with both your current memory modules and the old modules if the old modules crash your system running your games. If the old modules cause no issues, you may want to look into getting different modules.

blarp said:

Well, it crashed, after restore. The only things I had installed besides audio is... starcraft, skype, microsoft security essentials, so i guess it is hardware....

That audio driver was the only driver I manually installed, windows automatically installed display driver and I was just going with that.

In my my last post I said I had a bsod after installing the audio driver, well, it was not a bsod, it was just a freeze and distortion of the screen, and then automatic restart, except the restart failed because of memory corruption so i had to unplug for 30 seconds.

Then after I restore, go on starcraft for 5 minutes, and same thing happens, I crash, screen distorts and computer crashes.

I guess it truly is my hardware then, but it is new ram, what could it be then? My motherboard or something? If I call up cyberpower (company that made my prebuilt) What should I tell them? If i cant find the hardware problem, how would they be able too? Would they just take my word that its defective and replace it? Because without doing something like playing a game I dont think they will get it to crash, if i send my computer to them.

And should I mention that I installed new ram? Or would that void the warranty, so I should not say that, I would put the old ram in anyway to send it back to them but should I say its not the ram because I installed new ram and it was still crashing.

. The only things I had installed besides audio is... starcraft, skype, microsoft security essentials, so i guess it is hardware....

This may be the cause. If you want to think hardware, feel free, but it could EASILY, be starcraft, or skype.

zigzag3143 said:

. The only things I had installed besides audio is... starcraft, skype, microsoft security essentials, so i guess it is hardware....

This may be the cause. If you want to think hardware, feel free, but it could EASILY, be starcraft, or skype.

Agreed. This is part of why I suggested testing from STOP 0x116: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR troubleshooting with both the old and the new memory. Those should load the computer and graphics about the same as Starcraft, and if a crash occurs, the crash would not be Starcraft related.

You make a good point about Skype, as well. May want to uninstall that and do testing.

We are in complete agreement

I switched the ram sticks, which temporally solved the problem, like it did in the past. After I switched them I ignored the problem, but it has come back again.