BSOD, random crashes whilst playing LOTRO and black screen

[Rhia205]

Heya all

I have a bit of a problem where I'm not sure whether it's driver related or whether something is failing on my computer. My husband seems to think it's driver related but although I can build my own computers when it comes to things like this I'm completely useless!

First off I can't remember whether I had this issue on my previous set when I first installed Windows 7 or whether it's been just when I've upgraded my computer. I just can't recall the first time I started having this problem.

The first thing I noticed was whenever I exited playing a game my screen would go black, with monitor message saying no video output, and the green power button on my monitor would go orange and I would have turn off and then switch my monitor back on for the screen to come back up. Then I noticed that it started doing it randomly when my computer was idle. Again I would turn my monitor off and then back on again to get the screen back up. During these times when this has happened I've never had to reset my computer. I've recently updated my graphics drivers and the issue seems to be a little more often than not now and my husband thinks it's the graphics drivers that's causing it. I've done a search on the internet and I've come across similar problems but requires a restart, which could mean monitor failure or graphics card failure so I'm unsure as to whether it is driver related.

The second issue that I've been having is randomly when I play LOTRO EU client I've been having BSOD, crashes that require a restart or the LOTRO client has stopped responding error and needs to shut down. I've only had 3 BSOD's over the last couple of months, the first being when I downloaded the US Beta version of the game to see what DX11 looked like. I thought that perhaps it was DX11 that was causing it so I disabled DX11 and didn't have another BSOD for a few weeks. A couple of weeks later I was on the EU Live server and I had another BSOD, unfortunately for these two BSOD's I haven't got the crash dump report to post up but I'd been having problems with my onboard sound drivers so I thought that could be the reason, so I bought a xonar sound card and after that even the crashing and lotro has stopped responding errors stopped and I thought the problem had been fixed. Last week I downloaded the preview client for the f2p EU Version of LOTRO to help with the stress testing and I again enabled DX11. Within an hour I had a BSOD and this time I was able to get a crash report from WhoCrashed. This is the error message:

[FONT=Segoe UI, Arial]On Tue 26/10/2010 01:10:50 your computer crashed
This was likely caused by the following module: [FONT=Segoe UI, Arial]ntoskrnl.exe[/FONT]
Bugcheck code: 0x3B (0xC0000005, 0xFFFFF80002FC10F3, 0xFFFFF88009C028A0, 0x0)
Error: [FONT=Segoe UI, Arial]SYSTEM_SERVICE_EXCEPTION[/FONT]
Dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\102610-20794-01.dmp
[/FONT][FONT=Segoe UI, Arial]file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe
product: [FONT=Segoe UI, Arial]Microsoft® Windows® Operating System[/FONT]
company: [FONT=Segoe UI, Arial]Microsoft Corporation[/FONT]
description: NT Kernel & System
The crash took place in a standard Microsoft module. Your system configuration may be incorrect, possibly the culprit is in another driver on your system which cannot be identified at this time.

Which looks like it is indeed a driver issue, which is what has been suggested on the LOTRO forums. I don't know whether the screen going black and these problems I have with LOTRO are related at all to the Nvidia drivers causing me issues but any help and feedback as to why this is happening would be much appreciated. One thing I'm wondering, if my monitor was going could that cause an error like this in LOTRO? Or is it more likely if it is faulty hardware, to be my graphics card? Both my monitor and graphics card are less than a year old so I should be able to RMA them if I need to, it's just finding out which one needs replacing if it is a hardware fault!

I hope that I've made sense here and that you can all understand this!!

Also my computer set up is:

Windows 7 64bit
[/FONT]Gigabyte Technology Co., Ltd. GA-770T-USB3
3.40 gigahertz AMD Phenom II X4 965
Corsair 950W PSU
4GB RAM
Hanns.G HH231 HDMI 24" Monitor
Nvidia Geforce GTX 460
Asus Xonar DS 7.1 Sound card

I think that's everything, I've attached a dxdiag report as well

Thank you in advance!
[FONT=Segoe UI, Arial]

[/FONT]

 

[CarlTR6]

Hi, Rhia; and welcome to the forum. Sorry you are having problems. [FONT=&quot]Please read these threads and post back. We will be glad to help you.

[/FONT][1 - Novice] How to ask for help with a BSOD problem

http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html

 

[Rhia205]

Thanks for the quick reply. I've done what you asked but I had problems with this:

3. Run a System Health Report -
START | type perfmon /report - a viewer will appear | Save as an HTML file (default file extension)

When I typed in perfmon / report it said it was invalid. Typing in perfmon bought up a viewer with no way to save the information, couldn't find anything under report to do a system health report, so I have no idea whether I have done this right or not!

I've included the zip file from the BSOD Dump & System File Collection app so hopefully I've done something right!

 

[CarlTR6]

Thanks, Rhia; we can get by without the Perfmon report. I noticed you mentioned that you had had crashes; but there are no dump files in your uploads. Read this tutorial, especially the last part of the first post and make sure your computer is configured for mini dumps. If you find any, zip them and upload them. In the meantime, I will look at the info you have provided.

I suggest that you uninstall Eset using this removal tool: Tool. Eset is known to cause crashes and conflicts on some Win 7 systems. Download and install Microsoft Security Essentials in its place. You can try Eset again after you get your system stable; but I do not recommend doing so.

All of your drivers look up to date. Let's see if uninstalling ESET makes your system more stable. Post back and let us know.

 

[Rhia205]

Okay I didn't know that, my husband uses ESET with Windows 7 64bit and hasn't had no problems. I will try Microsoft Security Essentials and see if that helps and will post back to let you know Thank you again for the help!

 

[CarlTR6]

You are welcome. I did find one slightly out of date driver loaded on your system:

gdrv.sys 13/03/2009 - GIGABYTE Tools - Windows (R) Server 2003 DDK driver

This driver is a bit of a mystery. It is a Gigabyte driver; but I have been unable to figure out what it is associated with. It appears to be some kind of a utility or tool. You might try to update this driver through Windows downloads, Your next try would be through Gigabyte. I do not have it on my 32 bit system.

 

[Rhia205]

Heya and thanks for the reply

I have had a look at gdrv.sys and it looks like it's part of EasySaver but I'm not 100% sure. I've also found this while doing my search and was wondering if this is the culprit of my errors?

Before I try to update EasySaver I'm wondering if I actually need the programme? I don't overclock my computer at all and tbh since I've installed it I've never used it. I am wondering if it's safe to uninstall to see if it gets rid of gdrv.sys and also stabalizes my computer so I can put ESET back on!! I really like ESET and if indeed it is ESET that is causing me problems then it'll be the first time ever that I've had a problem with it and will be kind of disappointed that I won't be able to use it!

The other thing is that someone mentioned in the thread I linked up above that renaming the file stopped the issues he was having. Should I also try that if I need to keep EasySaver on my computer?

EDIT: Just finished doing some more searching and I've noticed this gdrv.sys seems to come up an awful lot with BSODs. I located the file on my computer and then uninstalled EasySaver and sure enough the file has now gone. Will be interesting to see if I get anymore problems now that this is removed. Hoping it will have fixed my probs but we'll see!! Will post an update over the next few days!

 

[CarlTR6]

Very good detective work and a great job of following suggestions. I thank you for telling me the program gdrv belongs to. This will help a future poster. I have hunted this thing before; now I have made a note of it. You are right about it being a BSOD maker; we have seen that here before.

About Eset, most third party antivirus programs, firewall programs, and security suites cause BSOD's on some, not all, Win 7 systems. There are valid reasons why this happens. Generally, Eset does not; however, I have seen Eset directly blamed in a dump. Once you know your system is stable, install it again and see what happens. Another antivirus program that runs well with Windows is Avast.

I hope your problem is behind you and your system runs smoothly. Please do update us in a couple of days.

 

[Rhia205]

No, thank you for the help I'm very inquisitive so I use Google a lot when I don't know what something does which has helped me in the past, however it's knowing the cause of the problems to search for that I'm quite useless with, if you hadn't have mentioned the gdrv.sys I would never have searched about it on google, so it's thanks to you that I've learned something new and I really hope issues with BSOD will go away now!

Just a little update, haven't had any computer crashes but I'm still having the problem with the black screen. I've just finished playing a game and as soon as I closed the game client down the screen said there was no video output or whatever it is that it says then the power switch went orange again. It's definitely doing this more on the new drivers that I installed the other day, haven't had it happen so many times as it does over the last day or two. Could this be a driver issue? I'm not getting any error messages and my computers running fine, I don't need to restart my computer at all, just turn my monitor on and off. Not really sure what to try tbh, was thinking of looking to see if there are updated drivers for my monitor and if that doesn't help to roll back to my previous drivers where I wasn't getting the black screen as much as I am now!

Any suggestions? Again help is very much appreciated

EDIT: I just tried to download my monitors drivers and the zip file seems to be empty of the actual driver. Will have to contact them regarding newest drivers to see if that resolves the issues. Not sure tbh where to go from there!

 

[zigzag3143]

No, thank you for the help I'm very inquisitive so I use Google a lot when I don't know what something does which has helped me in the past, however it's knowing the cause of the problems to search for that I'm quite useless with, if you hadn't have mentioned the gdrv.sys I would never have searched about it on google, so it's thanks to you that I've learned something new and I really hope issues with BSOD will go away now!

Just a little update, haven't had any computer crashes but I'm still having the problem with the black screen. I've just finished playing a game and as soon as I closed the game client down the screen said there was no video output or whatever it is that it says then the power switch went orange again. It's definitely doing this more on the new drivers that I installed the other day, haven't had it happen so many times as it does over the last day or two. Could this be a driver issue? I'm not getting any error messages and my computers running fine, I don't need to restart my computer at all, just turn my monitor on and off. Not really sure what to try tbh, was thinking of looking to see if there are updated drivers for my monitor and if that doesn't help to roll back to my previous drivers where I wasn't getting the black screen as much as I am now!

Any suggestions? Again help is very much appreciated

Update the video driver and use these instructions if you still get the black screen look in event viewer as directed.

When upgrading your graphic driver you MUST remove all traces of the current driver. In order to do that we recommend using Guru3D - Driver Sweeper

When it is removed then download and install the fresh copy.

Event viewer

There are several ways to find what the problem is. The best is to go into event viewer (type eventvwr in search). Go to the windows log>application tab.

You want to look for critical errors (they have red in the left column ).

When you find them you want to look for critical errors that say app hang, app crash, or anything that relates to the problem.

When you find them please note the event ID, and the source codes and tell us what they are.

Let us know if you need help with any of this.

Ken

 

[Rhia205]

Heya and thanks for getting back to me so quickly!

I always use driver sweeper when I update my graphics drivers, it's something I learned quite a while ago when I was having graphics problems, turned out to be a faulty component on my mobo but it's something I always do now when updating my graphics. I did this a couple of days ago with the new Nvidia drivers that were released, I could try to do an uninstall and reinstall of the drivers later on but I'm not sure whether that will help. If you think it's a good idea to try and I will do so though

I had a look in the event viewer but I could find no critical errors whatsoever around the time the black screen occurred so I can't give you an event ID, I'm sorry Now I'm wondering if this is because my monitor may be on it's way out, if it was the graphics card, or the drivers wouldn't there be an error in event viewer?

The only way I can describe it when the black screen occurs is it's like my monitor is being forced into standby for some reason. When I turn it off and on again the screen comes back awake and everything is working as normal on my computer. I have looked at the menu options of my monitor but there's nothing to suggest that it's being forced into standby. I'm totally flummoxed as to why this is happening!

 

[zigzag3143]

Heya and thanks for getting back to me so quickly!

I always use driver sweeper when I update my graphics drivers, it's something I learned quite a while ago when I was having graphics problems, turned out to be a faulty component on my mobo but it's something I always do now when updating my graphics. I did this a couple of days ago with the new Nvidia drivers that were released, I could try to do an uninstall and reinstall of the drivers later on but I'm not sure whether that will help. If you think it's a good idea to try and I will do so though

I had a look in the event viewer bit I could find no critical errors whatsoever around the time the black screen occurred so I can't give you an event ID, I'm sorry Now I'm wondering if this because my monitor may be on it's way out, if it was the graphics card, or the drivers wouldn't there be an error in event viewer?

The only way I can describe it when the black screen occurs is it's like my monitor is being forced into standby for some reason. When I turn it off and on again the screen comes back awake and everything is working as normal on my computer. I have looked at the menu options of my monitor but there's nothing to suggest that it's being forced into standby. I'm totally flummoxed as to why this is happening!

Ok since there isnt anything in event viewer and device manager looks good you can start looking at PSU (maybe heat, or vibration). You can download cpu-z and gpu-z to keep track of the temps and voltages (they are both free btw).

If not that we can get aggressive with it {grin}


Ken

 

[Rhia205]

Okay I'm not sure whether I've done this right but I've attached two files, one from the cpuz and one from the gpuz. Hope this is what you were asking for!!!

EDIT: Okay it's not letting me attach the cpuz file for some reason. Am I only allowed to attach one file at a time? Ah it's saying an invalid file!!!

 

[Rhia205]

Another little update. I have no idea how to save the file for cpuz, the only option it gives me is .cvf, however when I try to upload the file it's saying it's invalid and won't let me.

I had a response from Hanns.G regarding my monitor and it looks like they are going to RMA the product, whether it means that they think the monitor is faulty I don't know but it seems strange that I don't get no error messages. I only emailed them regarding the drivers for the monitor and explaining why I wanted the drivers, I don't know maybe it's a common thing that can happen to these monitors or something, just found it a bit strange that they are RMA'ing the monitor without really trying to solve the issue first. Apart from the times that my monitor does this I don't have any other problems with it. In fact it's one of the best monitors I've ever owned! My husband is convinced the problems with the monitor are hardware related as there are no error messages whatsoever. I hope to Gawd it's not my PSU or GPU they are relatively new and if I have to RMA them I'll be without a computer for about a week or so while they're tested for faults! At least if it is my monitor then at least it'll be a doorstep collection and swap so I'll still have my computer!

Oh is it worth testing another monitor (like my son's monitor) to see if I still have the problems? I think I'm going to anyways, just curious as to see if the problem remains the same when I use his monitor!

 

[CarlTR6]

Hi Rhia. ZigZag is off line right now as I was off line when he posted. We try to work as a team in the BSOD section.

Okay I'm not sure whether I've done this right but I've attached two files, one from the cpuz and one from the gpuz. Hope this is what you were asking for!!!

EDIT: Okay it's not letting me attach the cpuz file for some reason. Am I only allowed to attach one file at a time? Ah it's saying an invalid file!!!

You can only upload specific types of files. Try to zip the files and upload the zip file. It should upload with not problem.

Another little update. I have no idea how to save the file for cpuz, the only option it gives me is .cvf, however when I try to upload the file it's saying it's invalid and won't let me.

I had a response from Hanns.G regarding my monitor and it looks like they are going to RMA the product, whether it means that they think the monitor is faulty I don't know but it seems strange that I don't get no error messages. I only emailed them regarding the drivers for the monitor and explaining why I wanted the drivers, I don't know maybe it's a common thing that can happen to these monitors or something, just found it a bit strange that they are RMA'ing the monitor without really trying to solve the issue first. Apart from the times that my monitor does this I don't have any other problems with it. In fact it's one of the best monitors I've ever owned! My husband is convinced the problems with the monitor are hardware related as there are no error messages whatsoever. I hope to Gawd it's not my PSU or GPU they are relatively new and if I have to RMA them I'll be without a computer for about a week or so while they're tested for faults! At least if it is my monitor then at least it'll be a doorstep collection and swap so I'll still have my computer!

Oh is it worth testing another monitor (like my son's monitor) to see if I still have the problems? I think I'm going to anyways, just curious as to see if the problem remains the same when I use his monitor!

They must know about some defect since they are so willing to RMA the monitor without testing. That is a good thing; you get a new monitor and new warranty.

I would certainly test another monitor just out of curiosity. Let us know what you find when you test it.

 

[Rhia205]

I found this earlier and I think that it's possible that my monitor may be faulty.

This monitor meets the Green monitor standards as set by the Video Electronics Standards Association (VESA) and/or the United States Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and The Swedish Confederation Employees (NUTEK). This feature is designed to conserve electrical energy by reducing power consumption when there is no video-input signal present. When there is no video input signal this monitor, following a time-out period, will automatically switch to power saving mode. This reduces the monitor's internal power supply consumption. After the video input signal is restored, full power is restored and the display is automatically redrawn. The appearance is similar to a "Screen Saver" feature except the display is completely off. The display is restored by pressing a key on the keyboard, or clicking the mouse.

It looks like my monitor is meant to do that but it's doing it at times that it shouldn't be doing it. i.e the times it's doing it when my computer is idle the monitor is working as it should do, but when it does it during game play or when I shut a game down it's not working as it should do. Hence probably the reason why Hanns.G have started an RMA for me....

EDIT: My husband has the same monitor as mine and his goes into standby when he leaves his computer idling, but he's never experienced the black screen and standby mode as he's playing games or shutting down games. Am going to test my son's monitor on my computer in a bit, but kind of getting dinner ready atm so will get back to you as soon as I've had a chance to test his monitor out

 

[Rhia205]

Heya and thank you very much the both of you for your help, it has been much appreciated!! A little update, whilst I was preparing dinner I switched over to my son's monitor, loaded in the game that causes the black screen every time I play it and whilst dinner was cooking had a little play on it. I then left it idle for about 40 mins whilst we ate dinner and then went back to playing on the game for about another 30 mins. After that I shut down the game to see if I got the black screen and I didn't. It looks like it's either the drivers or my monitor that is causing the issues! I have let Hanns.G know that I've tested my computer using another monitor and not had any problems so I'm now waiting to hear back from them. Hopefully I'll have the monitor replaced quite quickly and then my problems should be resolved! If I've managed to sort this out and the BSOD's with your brilliant help then I'm a very happy camper

Thank you once again

 

[CarlTR6]

You are very welcome for the help. It appears you have solved your BSOD problem and found the cause of your black screen and freezes. Good troubleshooting on your part. Let us know how the new monitor does. Keep us posted.

 

[Rhia205]

Heya all

Little update, have had my new replacement monitor, my old monitor was HDMI and they've replaced it with VGA and boy you can tell the difference, the screen is all blurry and horrible (think this is because the refresh rate only goes up to 60 Hertz). I phoned them back up and they are sending the correct monitor to me on Friday (think they were trying to pull a fast one on me!!!!). So it's only just under 2 days that I have to put with horrible VGA eugh! Don't think I can go back to VGA now after enjoying HDMI for nearly 12 months!

Edit: Oh I forgot to mention, people using the ESET Uninstaller should back up their systems like the warning message tells you to. I'd been meaning to do a newer back up on my machine for a while but I hadn't done so, the ESET Uninstaller took my machine out not sure what it did but it seemed to completely take out my network, even uninstalling the drivers and reinstalling them didn't work like they say should work if the network failed. In the end had to revert back to an update I did a couple of months ago. I was lucky, I was able to back up important stuff in safe mode but really ESET shouldn't be issuing an uninstaller that can take your computer out like that! It was really stupid of me not to make a recent back up before using the uninstaller so it's completely my fault but just thought I should mention it!

Thanks again for the help, since uninstalling easy saver my system does seem to be running smoother and I haven't had any more BSOD's yet, I didn't get them very often and only whenever I played LOTRO so hopefully they are a thing of the past!

 

[CarlTR6]

Rhia, that is great news about no more BSOD's and you are very welcome for the help. I am sorry they short changed you on the monitor; but I am glad they are making it right. Thank you for the information about the Eset uninstaller. I have not heard this before.

Please let us know when you get your new monitor and if everything is running smoothly, we will ask the moderators to mark this thread as solved.