Solved BSOD under load during games

[zeet]

Just recently built two computers for my wife and I. One system runs flawlessly and mine (of course) has had a spree of BSODs.

I get the following error:

***STOP: 0x000000F4 (0x0000000000000003, 0xFFFFFA800DFAE510, 0xFFFFFA800DFAE7FO, 0xFFFFF80002D8B510)

Usually this occurs while playing a game, from The Witcher 2 to Counter-Strike: Global Offensive, and even then, sometimes it runs flawlessly. I usually get booted from the game and Windows locks up for about 30 seconds, with a BSOD to follow.

zip file contains all the required info plus the dump files.

 

[zeet]

Been working on this for the past day or so trying to figure out if this is a hardware related problem.

The BSODs aren't any more or less frequent, I typically get about 2 each day. Today's BSODs occured when playing CSGO and later I received one while just browsing the web, so they occur very randomly, even when the system isn't under any stress.

I've swapped out the GPU and PSU (I built the exact same PC for my wife) with the other computer and still get these problems.

Also, I have been monitoring my CPU and GPU temps just to check out my temps. and haven't seen anything out of acceptable ranges (low 30s C on both, up to 40C if i'm multi tasking), under load it gets higher, but still within range.

Checked my thermal paste on the CPU at the request of some advice and found no overflow.

Still running on empty with these problems, but I'll update the thread as I come up against any issues.

I've attached the most recent dumps for 8/29.

 

[zeet]

Nothing's solved yet, still having some major BSODs. Now they appear to happen a bit more at random. Went to get a drink an hour ago while the computer was idle in Skype and came back to the dreaded BSOD.

I'm beginning to suspect the motherboard, but I can't be sure. I uninstalled the mobo drivers to check and still get the BSOD.

***edit: I've also updated the BIOS for the mobo. no changes, still BSOD

Ran memtest86+ last night (and about 3 days ago as well), and at 6 passes, I get zero errors. Gonna run one stick at a time tonight and see what turns up, but I'm having doubts that it is the RAM.

Here are the dumps (so far) for 8/30.

 

[zeet]

Went ahead on a whim and reinstalled my mobo drivers and was able to find a reasonable amount of stability. Played DOTA2 and TF2 for awhile with plenty of success. However upon exited from game, I experienced another BSOD.

Now the CPU_LED lights up on the mobo and the system won't POST. I went ahead and sent off for a mobo repair and I'm going to add the CPU to the list.

Sometimes you get a great system, other times everything falls apart.

No dump this time, can't get into the system.

 

[zeet]

Been dealing with some other stuff this month but I managed to get all my parts back and assembled the system again. No more LED errors on the mobo but I'm still running into BSODs. Using the windows debugging tools I compiled a list of the errors from 9/18 to 9/19, i'll post the dumps later today after I swap out the RAM between the two computers.

9/18 : x64_0xF4_IOERR_IMAGE_csrss.exe
9/18 : x64_0xF4_c0000005_IMAGE_csrss.exe
9/19 : x64_0x7a_c000000e_nt!_??_: : FN0D0BFM [this also showed up in the BSOD; DISK_HARDWARE_ERROR)
9/19 : x64_IOERR_IMAGE_csrss.exe [KERNEL_LOG_FAILING_PROCESS]

 

[centaur78]

Could you post a snapshot of the HDD smart value using this

 

[zeet]

Okay, here you go!

Went ahead and posted those dumps as well. Dates are 9/18 to 9/26.

 

[Vir Gnarus]

Just so you're aware, OCZ drives have a relatively high rate of failure compared to other SSD drives, which is kind of the price you pay for high performance. If you have not already, you'll want to update your BIOS, update your chipset drivers (especially ones related to disk controller) and finally but most important any firmware update available for your OCZ drive. If none of that proves to resolve the problem, you may just have a drive that's dead.

The other possibility for these IO errors would be memory, but you already tested that and it came up clean. It could be the mobo too, but you replaced that as well. Your only other option is that OCZ drive, which I assume you have Windows installed on for performance reasons.

 

[zeet]

BIOS for the mobo has been updated to the latest version (3402) and all chipset drivers are at the latest versions.

OCZ firmware won't update unless your OS install is on another drive, but I can reformat win7 to my HDD and then use the firmware to my SSD, reformat the HDD and install the OS to the SSD. Bizarre process, but I'm out of options.

And I'll note that I've already replaced the OCZ SSD after the first one was DOA. That and the SSD in my wife's computer is the same make and model. It runs without issue.

 

[Vir Gnarus]

You don't have to reformat to install Windows 7 on the HDD. You can install a separate Windows 7 on that drive that you can dualboot into.

As I've mentioned before, OCZ has a high ROF. I've seen people replace their OCZ drive 3, 4 times before they got a good one, and others received a good one for their first. It really depends.

 

[zeet]

Went ahead and updated that firmware. I also did a full format and did a clean install. I'll update if there are any issues.

 

[zeet]

No dice. Walked away from the computer minutes ago and I got another BSOD. I'm not quite sure what happened on this one. Anyway, here's the dump file.

 

[Vir Gnarus]

I had a feeling it'd come to this. It's another "drive does not exist" error, which eventually caused an I/O error, all of this the same as the previous BSODs. It looks like you just have a bad SSD. If you wish to confirm further, disconnect the SSD and run solely on the Windows installed on the HDD for a while. If it's stable, the SSD is certainly bad.

 

[zeet]

I'll definitely confirm this today with the HDD. At this point, I'm hoping it's the damn SSD because I've pretty much swapped out everything else. OCZ might make a grown man cry.

 

[zeet]

I don't want to say for sure, but unplugging the SSD and running solely on the HDD seems to have stopped my BSODs. I'll give the computer another 24 hours before I go ahead and say the problem is solved.

 

[zeet]

And it appears that removing the SSD solved all of my BSOD woes. Time to cry on the phone with OCZ! Thanks for the help.

 

[Vir Gnarus]

No prob mate. Sorry to hear you had to go through all the trouble replacing everything else first. At least now you know more about this for future endeavors.