When you installed Windows 8, did you install motherboard drivers specifically for Windows 8? Did you install Graphics rivers specifically for Windows 8? Did you run the Windows updates until there were no more updates? What software did you install? Did you like Windows 8 better than Windows 7? (just mostly a curiosity question, but I understand some games have issues with Windows 8) Do you find that some games crash more often than others?
It installed flawlessly. It installed all drivers automatically and there were no issues really. I haven't had time nor will to test too many games. Minecraft freezes after about 20 minutes. Just Cause 2 freezes after 5 or 10 minutes. I am curious whether downloading one of the "games for windows" will make a difference.
I think you need to install the Windows 8 drivers if you are going to use 8. From your motherboard's sit find the windows 8, chipset sata and USB 3.0 drivers, at least. Also the windows 8 graphics driver from AMD. Several of your dumps are Steam crashing. That does not always mean it was Steam's fault though. But to make sure, close Steam completely, open the Steam folder and delete every folder EXCEPT Steamapps and the Steam.EXE (application). Restart the computer. Start Steam. It will completely update itself and replace the files and folders in the steam program with the most current ones. You will have to get an email from them with a code to authorize your computer. I'm sure you are familar with the process. It should only take 5 or 10 minutes. When you install the CCC driver, on about the third screen it asks whether you want to install or uninstall, select uninstall. Reboot and run it again and select install. That is to try to make sure there are no conflicting Graphics drivers. If you still ahve problems after that, I feel pretty sure you have a hardware problem. If you don't mind, would you post a list of all of your software programs that you have installed, I just want to make sure you don't have a program that commonly causes BSODs. There are some programs that are notorious for causing problems. Also, when downloading drivers from Asus, get the network driver for your lan.
On my board, I also go into bios and disable any services I do not use. For example, if you don't use Wi-Fi, disable it in bios, If you don't use Bluetooth, disable it in bios. If you are not sure about an item, leave it alone. Don't install any of the Asus utilities, especially the AI Suite, fan expert and that stuff. I know this is very aggravating to you and I understand. I've been there before.
Also, if you do not have extra computer compoments, start calling some friends who would be willing to help you. Try to see if they would be willing to loan you an extra or swap graphics cards and PSU. If none of the above works that will be our next move. But, we want to try them 1 at a time to see if replacing one will solve the problem. If it is hardware, I would suspect it would be the graphics card, PSU, Ram or Motherboard. I know we have tested several of those, but the tests are good and the best we have, but they are not 100% accurate all the time. I am asking you to borrow them because I don't want you to spend money on something we don't know for sure is the problem. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. I'm trying to get you to be able to play something a little better than Angry Birds.
Also, have you updated BIOS to the latest version? And have you updated your SSD to the latest firmware?
OK, so after resting for a couple of weeks (i.e. not paying attention to my computer) I decided to open it up. Take it apart, reinstall everything and try to get it all as "basic" as possible. So today I decided to give it a shot and see what happens.
It was fine for a few hours, played 2 hours of Half-life 2 without crashing. Decided to play Starcraft 2 and see what happens and then it crashed. TO be fair, it took a game and a half for it to crash, so that's relatively good news.
Here's the graball zip for this crash in case anyone has the time and patience to take a look at it.
Attachment 270974
Thank you and good Monday!
Pardon me popping up late. Mind if I get a recap on what's been done so far? Notably, I want to know what hardware tests have been conducted. It looks like you've done IntelBurnMark and FurMark so far. Anything else?
The thing is, we have a hardware problem, that's a given. What hardware is causing the issue, however, is undetermined. It looks that you've already taken into account a number of parts like the graphics card but no luck. I reckon the best thing to approach right now is the Trio of Trouble, aka CPU/PSU/Mobo. Without proper testing equipment, it is difficult to ascertain from software diagnostics alone which part is responsible, but I have no doubts one of them is. Best thing to do is to swap each part and cross fingers. If you have another system that's reliable, swap the PSU and test stability. If not, you're just going to have to replace each till you find it.
Btw, to add credibility to this speculation, the crashdumps are reporting IP misalignments and other misc. errors that are related commonly with those three parts.
If you don't know which part to switch out first, Prime95 may be able to assist in that endeavor. Run Torture Test on it for several hours on Large FFTs, then another several hour run on Blend. If either crashes your system, send the crashdump. If you want it on a livecd environment, try UBCD. It's probably named "Mersenne Prime Test" there.
Basically, if Large FFTs is bad but Blend is good, then the issue is more likely the CPU. If Blend is bad but Large FFTs is good, the problem is more likely Mobo/PSU. If both end up bad, then who knows! It's still not a guarantee that whatever results these tests show up will lead you to the right part, so you will have to decide whether doing this test is worth the wait.
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