BSOD While Playing Most Games; Formerly Not An Issue

[Allinardo]

So for the longest time I had absolutely no problem running almost any game on my computer, even if it was a little too graphically intensive for it. It would just run at a low framerate, then crash. But within the past few months, after not updating any hardware and without the presence of any malware on my computer, many games just seem to lead my computer to a BSOD without an easy explanation that I could find. I tried analyzing the dmp files myself, and it told me that "ntoskrnl.exe" was the cause. I looked up many different forum posts, even some on this website, with the same issue but without being able to find a solution that helps my case.

I've been trying for weeks now to figure something out on my own, but I think I'm at my wit's end. Any help would be appreciated by now.

 

[Allinardo]

Bump? Any help is appreciated.

 

[alphaniner]

From the log dump (eventlog.txt) you provided:

Event[55745]:
  Log Name: System
  Source: Microsoft-Windows-WHEA-Logger
  Date: 2016-05-04T17:25:58.327
  Event ID: 18
  Task: N/A
  Level: Error
  Opcode: Info
  Keyword: N/A
  User: S-1-5-19
  User Name: NT AUTHORITY\LOCAL SERVICE
  Computer: Voldemort
  Description: 
A fatal hardware error has occurred.

Reported by component: Processor Core
Error Source: Machine Check Exception
Error Type: Cache Hierarchy Error
Processor ID: 2

There are several events like that, as well as numerous post-BSOD events indicating code 0x00000124 (which also seems to indicate fatal hardware error).

The only easy troubleshooting step I can suggest is to make sure your CPU isn't overheating, or at least that the fan is functioning properly.

Beyond that, do some research on the BSOD code, as well as some of the information provided in the event above. "Microsoft-Windows-WHEA-Logger", "Machine Check Exception", and "Cache Hierarchy Error" seem like good search queries to start with.

 

[Allinardo]

Thank you for your reply! Overheating is definitely not the issue, and I had formerly thought it could have been as well. However I checked out all of my computer's fans and even replaced the processor's thermal paste.

Now...I looked into many different ways to find out what I could specifically do to fix the hardware error, or to find out what may be causing it, and a lot of the time it comes back to "update your motherboard's bios" which seems to be impossible because I checked asus's website and there were no downloads, and every one of there tutorial videos seemed to expect me to already have their program installed...which I do not and cannot find.

Apart from that I can't seem to find anything else too viable. All of my ram is in good working condition(I did a memory test and got 8 passes), and I recently replaced the power supply too.

At this point...is there anything else I should do?

 

[Allinardo]

Bump? Can anyone help with this?

 

[axe0]

   Warning

Programs that claim to update your drivers install either the wrong or corrupted drivers.
If you have installed any driver with DriverNavigator & DriverToolkit, please remove them as it may cause trouble.

WHEA is the Windows Hardware Error Architecture mechanism, the mechanism that detects hardware errors which are reported by the CPU, hence why you see Machine Check Exception which is the old version of the 0x124 WHEA Uncorrectable Error.

It is noticeable that all errors of this month are on core 2, either a read error or a write error that involves the L1 cache of the CPU, a possible chance of a faulty CPU.

Diagnostic Test

 CPU TEST

Run Prime95 to stress test your CPU. Prime95 - Stress Test Your CPU - Windows 7 Forums

   Warning

Your CPU temperatures will rise quickly while under this stress test. Keep a keen eye on them and abort the test if overheating occurs.

===============================================================================
Section 2     : x86/x64 MCA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Descriptor    @ fffffa800851aa08
Section       @ fffffa800851ab90
Offset        : 664
Length        : 264
Flags         : 0x00000000
Severity      : Fatal

Error         : DCACHEL1_DRD_ERR (Proc 2 Bank 0)
  Status      : 0xb65a200000000135
  Address     : 0x0000000176f72c80
  Misc.       : 0x0000000000000000

===============================================================================
Section 2     : x86/x64 MCA
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Descriptor    @ fffffa800847c908
Section       @ fffffa800847ca90
Offset        : 664
Length        : 264
Flags         : 0x00000000
Severity      : Fatal

Error         : DCACHEL1_DWR_ERR (Proc 2 Bank 0)
  Status      : 0xb60040005d000145
  Address     : 0x000000002fd3b200
  Misc.       : 0x0000000000000000

 

[Allinardo]

I tried a number of different programs to monitor my CPU's temperature, but apparently none of them are compatible with my processor apparently. Is there another way to monitor CPU temperature?

 

[alphaniner]

http://www.sevenforums.com/hardware...cpu-temp-monitor-post1936862.html#post1936862

 

[axe0]

I tried a number of different programs to monitor my CPU's temperature, but apparently none of them are compatible with my processor apparently. Is there another way to monitor CPU temperature?

What programs did you try?

 

[Allinardo]

Thank you alphaniner, Core Temp managed to work. After running the stress test for 2 hours no errors came up. I even decided to then re-run the memory test and there were still no errors there either...are there any other possibilities?

 

[axe0]

What are the min & max temperatures when you run the stress test?

 

[Allinardo]

Minimum was 80C while maximum was 89C. Tj. Max is 90C.
It was almost constantly just below that...does that make overheating the issue after all?

 

[axe0]

Yes it may be the issue, what cooler do you use? If it is the stock cooler then you may want to replace it.

 

[Allinardo]

Ah yes it is, I guess I should look for a replacement then. Any recommendations?

 

[axe0]

Possibly the Cooler Master Hyper TX3 Evo, I have no experience with it but it looks like a nice one to me and isn't too loud.