Being Plagued By BSOD/Driver Crashes While Gaming  


  1. SpicyTM
    Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.
       New #1

    Being Plagued By BSOD/Driver Crashes While Gaming


    Ever since i bought my RX 460 i have been plagued by random BSODS and if im lucky enough my driver will crash and recover.
    my BSOD goes by so damn fast i can never read it, all i see when it happens is atikmpag.sys or something.

    When my driver crashes and recovers i get a notification saying my driver has crashes and successfully recovered.

    Weirdly enough this doesnt happen for every game, heres a list of games i have BSOD or had a driver crash in.

    Sleeping Dogs
    Overwatch
    Psychonauts
    Rising Storm 2
    Warframe
    Cities Skylines


    In sleeping dogs i am 100% guaranteed to get a BSOD or driver crash at some point, too make it weird in fullscreen i will BSOD, but in windowed i will get a recovered driver crash

    I have viewed my dump file myself and it says it was caused by watchdog.sys.
    What do i do?

    EDIT
    https://i.imgur.com/MczcvZp.png
    Last edited by SpicyTM; 26 May 2017 at 23:23.
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  3. SpicyTM
    Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.
    Thread Starter
       New #2

    Would it be safe to disable watchdog? is it important? because it seems to only be causing problems
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  4. Melchior
    Posts : 334
    Windows 11 Pro (x64)
       New #3

    when was the last time you updated your graphics drivers?
    Here is the link to ATI/AMD's driver page
    http://support.amd.com/en-us/download
    http://support.amd.com/en-us/downloa...%207%20-%2064#

    The usual recourse is to make sure:
    1) Windows is up to date
    2) drivers are up to date (in this case probably you graphics drivers.
    3) checking for malware etc

    what driver version are you running?
    you can check the installed programs list using a program called CCleaner (TOOLS(menu)-->"Uninstall"
    or you can check the gfx card's driver page via Device Manager
    The latest ATI/AMD driver update is v17.10 dated: 5/18/2017

    btw.. your profile and specs info say your are running Windows 7 32bit.. and yet you have 8GB of ram..?!
    This would be a simple error, you have to be running 64 bit in order to have and utilize 4GB or ram or more...
    so you really should fix that

    EDIT:

    ooh watchdog.sys..
    dono... never had a watchdog.sys error...
    of course with the exception of my 3rd to last PC an old Pentium 3 (I used an ATI Radeon 9800 SE 128MB) I have always preferred Nvidia..

    according to Microsoft TechNet
    In Microsoft Windows XP SP1 and later operating systems, GDI (Graphics Driver Interface) uses a watchdog timer to monitor the time that threads spend executing in the display driver. The watchdog defines a time threshold. If a thread spends more time in a display driver than the threshold specifies, the watchdog tries to recover by switching to VGA graphics mode. If the attempt fails, the watchdog generates bug check 0xEA, THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER.
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  6. SpicyTM
    Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.
    Thread Starter
       New #4

    Melchior said:
    when was the last time you updated your graphics drivers?
    Here is the link to ATI/AMD's driver page
    http://support.amd.com/en-us/download
    http://support.amd.com/en-us/downloa...%207%20-%2064#

    The usual recourse is to make sure:
    1) Windows is up to date
    2) drivers are up to date (in this case probably you graphics drivers.
    3) checking for malware etc

    what driver version are you running?
    you can check the installed programs list using a program called CCleaner (TOOLS(menu)-->"Uninstall"
    or you can check the gfx card's driver page via Device Manager
    The latest ATI/AMD driver update is v17.10 dated: 5/18/2017

    btw.. your profile and specs info say your are running Windows 7 32bit.. and yet you have 8GB of ram..?!
    This would be a simple error, you have to be running 64 bit in order to have and utilize 4GB or ram or more...
    so you really should fix that

    EDIT:

    ooh watchdog.sys..
    dono... never had a watchdog.sys error...
    of course with the exception of my 3rd to last PC an old Pentium 3 (I used an ATI Radeon 9800 SE 128MB) I have always preferred Nvidia..

    according to Microsoft TechNet
    I havent been on here since i had my old potato and forgot to change that part.

    Im on 17.2.1, havent bothered updating because it fixes nothing, its been happening since the v16 drivers.

    On my old GT 740 i have never got a driver crash or BSOD, except for when i pushed it to the limit playing overwatch but it only crashed the driver.
    I would say its a overheating problem but i BSOD playing psychonauts in the winter so i really dont know
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  7. Melchior
    Posts : 334
    Windows 11 Pro (x64)
       New #5

    SpicyTM said:
    I haven't been on here since i had my old potato and forgot to change that part.

    I'm on 17.2.1, haven't bothered updating because it fixes nothing, its been happening since the v16 drivers.

    On my old GT 740 i have never got a driver crash or BSOD, except for when i pushed it to the limit playing overwatch but it only crashed the driver.
    I would say its a overheating problem but i BSOD playing psychonauts in the winter so i really dont know
    ok well update your specs for your new PC when u get a sec because it will give the people here a clearer picture of what you are running

    hmm... its hard to say what updates generally fix...

    v17.2.1.. hmm... there are many updates in between that and v17.10 so it could not hurt to update it anyway and see if it helps...

    I have never heard of watchdog.sys till now and what i found on it Googling...

    another bit I found:
    More specifically, these watchdog.sys errors can be caused by:

    • Incorrectly configured, old, or corrupted MSDN Disc 2428.8 device drivers. (very common)
    • Corruption in Windows registry from a recent watchdog.sys-related software change (install or uninstall).
    • Virus or malware infection that has corrupted the watchdog.sys file or related MSDN Disc 2428.8 program files.
    • Hardware conflict after installing new Microsoft hardware, or hardware related to watchdog.sys.
    • Damaged or removed system files after you’ve installed software or drivers related to MSDN Disc 2428.8.
    • watchdog.sys blue screen caused by a damaged hard disk.
    • watchdog.sys STOP error due to memory (RAM) corruption.
    of course if ATI/AMD Radeon is no good for you, you could go back to Nvidia...
    but the RX 460 is old isn't it?
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  8. SpicyTM
    Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.
    Thread Starter
       New #6

    Melchior said:
    ok well update your specs for your new PC when u get a sec because it will give the people here a clearer picture of what you are running

    hmm... its hard to say what updates generally fix...

    v17.2.1.. hmm... there are many updates in between that and v17.10 so it could not hurt to update it anyway and see if it helps...

    I have never heard of watchdog.sys till now and what i found on it Googling...

    another bit I found:


    of course if ATI/AMD Radeon is no good for you, you could go back to Nvidia...
    but the RX 460 is old isn't it?
    Too late to return, ive had it for 6 months. i dont think its the card itself, i think its AMD's terrible drivers
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  10. Melchior
    Posts : 334
    Windows 11 Pro (x64)
       New #7

    SpicyTM said:
    Too late to return, I've had it for 6 months. i don't think its the card itself, i think its AMD's terrible drivers
    lol.. ahh.. which is why I stick with Nvidia lol
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  11. SpicyTM
    Posts : 6
    Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.
    Thread Starter
       New #8

    Melchior said:
    lol.. ahh.. which is why I stick with Nvidia lol
    Even though Nvidia can be terrible themselves (drivers with telemetry) atleast they work properly. whenever i get enough money im going to do another full custom build and get a 1070 or something
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  12. Melchior
    Posts : 334
    Windows 11 Pro (x64)
       New #9

    don't forget if you intend to stay with Windows 7.... they are locking windows updates for newer CPUs on Widows 7 and 8...
    read this article on the issue, so you have an idea of what CPUs NOT to buy lol
    https://arstechnica.com/information-...n-old-windows/

    yeah the telemetry stuff is no cool..
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