BSOD while playing games -- please help!

[henkemeyer]

I'm new here, so please bear with me. I am getting a myriad of BSODs, all while playing Borderlands and Left for Dead (maybe it happens with other games too, but I haven't noticed it yet). What is the process for getting help? I have several DMP files that I can post. Here they are in a zip file.

Thanks for any help you can give me!

 

[H2SO4]

Posting the DMP files is sufficient.

Most of these occur while the OS DirectX kernel is attempting to work with memory buffers supplied by the nvidia video driver. In general, that'll come down to one of:

1) Overclocking or undercooling - make sure your machine is not subjected to either.
2) Bugs in the nvidia driver.
3) Unobvious interference from another driver which is mangling the relevant data.
4) A hardware defect, most likely in the video card itself.

Is the machine overclocked?

 

[henkemeyer]

It's not overclocked. All the settings in BIOS are set to Auto. I'm a bit ashamed to admit that I am fairly clueless when it comes to overclocking, so I didn't even try it. However, in the process of debugging the BSODs, I set the DRAM voltage to 1.65, and the speed is set to 1333 (the DRAM is rated at 1600). Perhaps I should set them back to auto? Or throttle them even more?

Should I fiddle with any of the CPU settings?

Your help is much appreciated. I guess what I'm looking for here is a methodical approach to debugging the issue (for instance, setting the memory speed WAY down, seeing if that makes the problem go away, the slowly moving it back up). What about a call to NVIDIA? Would that yield any results?

Thanks again!
David

 

[henkemeyer]

Quick update. After a BSOD while playing Borderlands last night, I tried throttling the memory speed down to its lowest value (800MHz?), and that didn't help (BSOD again after about 5 minutes or so). At this point, everything was auto except memory speed and memory voltage (1.65v). So, I changed everything back to "Auto" and that helped immensely. I didn't encounter a BSOD for the rest of the night. However, I do know that this was my starting point when I started debugging this problem, so I suspect I will still suffer from the occasional BSOD. I will be sure to post the next DMP file when it happens.

Thanks again,
David

 

[torrentg]

OCZ memory typically needs raised Vdimm (ram voltage.)

Use CPU-Z (SPD tab in it) to find the exact sku number on your memory. Then visit OCZ's site. Adjust your bios timings and Vdimm accordingly to what they are saying.

This is probably your memory but please double check first with CPU-Z.

http://www.ocztechnology.com/products/memory/ocz_ddr3_pc3_12800_gold_low_voltage_triple_channel