BSOD with old and new hardware

[melissa59]

Attached is the zip file from the DM Log Collector program on this site.

I inherited my son's old gaming computer a couple years ago. Everything worked fine until November when it started crashing. The BSOD info kept giving me a 0x00000116 error code which appeared to point to a graphics issue. I had my son replace the graphics card and the problem continued. He thought maybe it was a memory issue. I bought new RAM and a few other things. Still got BSOD 0x00000116 errors. I did some research and thought it might be the power supply, so he replaced that. And still there are problems.

New on this computer:
ASUS Radeon RX 460 Graphics card
G Skill Ripjaws DDR3 16 GB memory
Samsung SSD 850 EVO 500 GB hard drive
CD drive (can't recall which I purchased)
Rosewell case
EVGA 750 power supply (not sure the model, but it is a modular type)

Not new:
ASUS M4A79XTD EVO motherboard
AMD Phenom II x4 955 3.2 GHz processor

We are clueless as to what the problem might be and can use some educated suggestions from people who know about this stuff.

Is there any way to determine for sure that the processor and/or motherboard is bad?
Is there anything else we should be looking at before we take the big leap and upgrade the super costly stuff?

Because of the cost involved, I am hesitant to upgrade the motherboard & processor only to find the problem will continue. Plus, upgrading those will require me to again upgrade the RAM as my new DDR3 won't be compatible.

FYI:
Drivers were uninstalled and reinstalled several times to ensure they were not the problem
AVG Free antivirus reinstalled as soon as we got the new SSD drive installed
Windows 7 Home Premium, 64 bit is legit and updated
Computer does not run hot (son had me run Core Temp program for several days)
I am the only one who uses this computer
No pirated software; no porn sites; no other questionable sites

Melissa

 

[mrjimphelps]

Did your son overclock the machine when he was using it for gaming? If so, ask him to reverse what he did, to see if that fixes it.

 

[melissa59]

He did run it overclocked but, at my request, removed the overclocking when he gave it to me. I had him check it tonight to make sure. The bios shows it's running at its base level of 3200 hz -- no overclocking.

 

[mrjimphelps]

In my opinion, overclocking is risky if you don't know what you are doing. I hope he didn't damage something by overclocking it. A BSOD is the sort of thing I would expect to see if someone damaged the CPU by overclocking it incorrectly.

 

[melissa59]

If it was damaged by his overclocking, it took its sweet time to show problems. I used it for about a year (no overclocking) without any issues. I'm not saying the CPU is not bad, but I doubt that it has problems now because of the way he used it two or three years ago.

Is there a way to test the CPU and/or motherboard?
I took it in to Best Buy hoping they'd have some sort of test but they said they don't work on custom-built PCs. They guy also told me that the info they'd get from their diagnostics would likely not be helpful. (Glad I didn't have to pay the $100 diagnostic fee to find that out).

Best as I can tell, the blue screen errors point to a video issue. We've replaced the video card, deleted then dialed back the driver to a 2016 version (along with a bunch of other stuff) and still have problems.

I uploaded the dump files with my original post. Is there anyone still on this site that has the ability to open them and know-how to make sense of them?

BTW, booting is not an issue as it seems to be for many others with blue screen issues. The blue screen always happens after the computer has been in use for awhile, and it happens with a variety of programs including Scrivener (a writing program) and Steam (online gaming site) games such as LA Noire, Civilization V, etc.

 

[mrjimphelps]

I agree with you that if it's been working for a year with no issues, it is doubtful that it is related to the overclocking.

You've already done many of the things that would be suggested as tests of the motherboard or CPU. But here are some other things you could try.

The easiest thing to check is to see if there is a program or service running in the background which is causing the BSOD problem. Run MSCONFIG, and click on the Services tab. Check the box which says "Hide all Microsoft Services". This will cause MSCONFIG to show only the non-Microsoft stuff. Disable all of the non-Microsoft stuff, then reboot the computer. If the problem goes away after you do this, then one (or more) of the non-Microsoft services is the culprit here. Go back into MSCONFIG and re-enable the non-Microsoft services one at a time, rebooting after each re-enable. Then use the computer a bit, to see if the problem returns. If it returns, then the service you just re-enabled is the culprit. Go back into MSCONFIG and disable it again, and leave it disabled. Continue this process till you have gone through all of the non-Microsoft services.

If that doesn't fix the problem, then the problem could be related to overheating, which means one of the following is true:

• There is a bad component in the computer.
• There is a lot of dust in the computer.
• Not enough heat is being removed from the CPU - the CPU can generate a lot of heat, and the heat must be removed from it.

Since you have opened the computer a lot to replace parts, I doubt that dust is the problem, because you would have seen the dust. Still, you could open the case and blow the dust out, just to be sure.

As far as a bad component, here are some things you could do:

• Are any capacitors on the motherboard swollen? If so, they are bad. While this problem usually will cause the computer not to work, I'm guessing that it could also cause BSODs.
• With the computer off and the AC cord unplugged, pull out and reseat everything -- memory, controller cards, etc. Perhaps you have already done this, since you have been replacing things. Doing this will make sure that things are well-connected, and that all metal is scraped clean of any corrosion, because when you pull it out and reinsert it, the contacts are scraped by that action.
• Download and run Speedfan (http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php). See if any of the temps are excessively high. If a component has excessively high temps, it is bad.

As far as not enough heat being removed from the CPU, it may be that when your son assembled the computer, he didn't use a good quality thermal compound to attach the heat sink to the CPU. A poor quality thermal compound will not remove as much heat as a good quality thermal compound. This is probably not the cause of the BSODs, but using a good quality thermal compound can help a lot with temperatures, so I recommend that you remove the heat sink from the CPU, clean the surface of the CPU and heat sink with a good quality of rubbing alcohol, then apply some good thermal compound and reaffix the heat sink to the CPU. Arctic Silver 5 is a good quality thermal compound (https://www.amazon.com/Arctic-Silve...8-2&keywords=arctic+silver+5+thermal+compound). Your son might not have thought about this issue, so this is likely a way you could improve the condition of the computer.

Good luck!