Solved BSOD 116-A Playing BF3, little help needed please, Thanks.

[nmixxo]

Hi,

I have been having a few crashes lately with this code [116]. Nearly all of the time I don't even see a blue screen, searched some topics on BSOD code 116 and apparently it is GPU related, probably why I'm not seeing a BSOD.

I have flashed the GPU bios's a while ago but it has always ran smoothly up until today. After about 30 to 45 minutes of playing Battlefield 3 my computer locks up and will reboot. GPU bios do not have any voltage tweaks, I just flashed them so BIOS's matched as one was an older BIOS. As I said it has ran fine with those BIOS's for months now and before you ask, yes the BIOS's are from the correct manufacturer. I think (hope) the problem lies with directX 11 but I have update that and uninstalled then re-installed Visual C++ x64 and x86 but I am still having same problem.

Done a GPU driver update (the correct way) with no luck. This problem has got me stumped so here I am. Your help would be greatly appreciated.

I have uploaded the Seven Forums Diagnostic Tool zip file as described and included a txt copy of dump file with it, don't know if that helps but it's there anyway.

This is my first time posting here so be gentle please.

All relevant info should be there, if there is anything else required please let me know.

Thank you in advance for your time.

nmixxo

 

[Dsprague]

You are correct in saying that the bugcheck 0x116 is infact GPU related, so here we go:

the Crash is indeed being caused by your drivers, however even though you have installed the latest drivers the gpu seems to be using the old drivers

Taken from your driverlist.txt:

nvlddmkm     nvlddmkm               Kernel        [COLOR="Red"]1/12/2012 11:24:02 AM[/COLOR]

Driver Reference Table - nvlddmkm.sys

Please follow this tutorial to properly remove the old drivers: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/83814-drivers-clean-left-over-files-after-uninstalling.html

Then install the newest drivers from here (should be dated for may of this year): Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers

 

[nmixxo]

Thanks Dsprague,

I didn't actually have the latest Nvidia drivers (320.18 WHQL) installed as they cause artifacts and stuttering in Battlefield 3. I did however have 310.70 WHQL installed but when I installed them they were not from a fresh download.

From memory the best drivers for me were up to and including 313.96 beta, after that I start to get a lot of stuttering and artifacts in game. I will download a fresh copy of 310.90 WHQL and try that, if that fails I will try the latest 320.18 driver.

Any idea of why it would have started to BSOD with, the current driver? I did have MSI afterburner installed but it was performing fine up too today.

Thanks again for your help Dsprague. Much appreciated.

Will post back and let you know how it goes.

Cheers

 

[Dsprague]

Well if you were using Afterburner to overclock with (not sure exactly how it works I have never used it myself) it may have simply put to much strain on the GPU as any overclock can eventually cause hardware failure. Other than that, it could also be conflicting with a recent update from Microsoft. or it could just be some odd unreported bug the actual source of the problem is up for speculation as it is hard to pin these things down.

 

[nmixxo]

I was using MSI Afterburner for overclocking the the GPU core but only a very mild 3% increase and no voltage increase.
Nvidia have been putting all sorts of voltage locks and Power draw limits into the latest drivers for what ever reason I dont know, I do know that the GTX 590 has weak VRM's which is why 3rd party overclocking tools will not let you increase voltages. Also some games like battlefield 3 do not like nvidia cards being overclocked. The mild clock I have been using (625 up from 607) has been running flawlesly for a while now without crashes. A lot of people have been having nvlddmkm.sys crashes with standard clock settings and Electronic Arts (Battlefield 3 makers) suggested fix was for people to downclock there cards (lol). Great news if you have spent thousands on video cards. Battlefield 3 and DirectX11 has never worked well, for that matter neither has the whole game. They should just stick to consoles lol.
Might have to just live with standard clocks, or unistall the game
Anyhow Thanks again mate, unistalling and sweeping old drivers now.

 

[nmixxo]

Well I installed a fresh version of 313.96, re-seated the power going to the cards and same with the Sli bridge. Works fine now, no crashes and its running sweet at 625 Mhz on the core. Happy days.
Still not sure what it was but it's working now so I'm happy. Got to love computers lol.
Is it wrong to dislike something you love hehe.
Thanks for your help and suggestions Dsprague.
Cheers nmixxo.

 

[Dsprague]

Glad I could be of help and glad to hear things worked out for you.