Random Crashes and black screens

Llyceum

New Member
Messages
5
Hello, I am now to these forums and am my wits end. The computer that I have now, I have had for about a year now, the problem that I am having is that during any game play, and it does it in all games, it will randomly crash, by that I mean the screen will go black, the video card fan will ramp up to 100%, most of the time, music or sound will still play in the background, I need to do a hard restart and it comes back up perfectly fine.

I have run the hardware checker, it checked everything and says that everything is fine with no problems. The video card has been replaced, the new card is identical to the old one. I have replaced the power supply, and went with one that was a little bigger, wattage wise.

The reliability report shows that it is a video hardware problem, I have been dealing with this almost the entire time I have had the computer. Any help I receive will be most appreciated.

pss. I dont believe that there is a complete dump file included, when it happens again, I will upload the new file.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
If it's a video hardware problem and the fan keeps ramping up - then it's likely an overheating problem.

Try the video tests at this link: Hardware Diagnostics
Be sure to use a temp monitor (suggested at the above link) when testing the card. You'll want to know how high the temps get - and how they change when the black screen occurs.

There are no memory dumps in the uploaded reports. Please zip up the contents of C:\Windows\Minidump and upload it with your next post (you may have to copy it to your Desktop before zipping it up).

SSD's were temperamental when they first came out, but their reliability has improved greatly over the last year or two. There are 2 things that MUST be checked on systems with BSOD's and SSD's:
1) That the SSD firmware is the latest available for the SSD
2) That the storage controller drivers on the motherboard are the most recent. They must date from late 2012 or later. This is ALL controllers, not just the one that the SSD is attached to.

Lot's of Live Kernel Events without corresponding BSOD events (suggestive of hardware problems).
Please do the following:
- open Event Viewer (run eventvwr.msc from the "Run" dialog))
- expand the Custom Views category (left click on the > next to the words "Custom Views")
- right click on Administrative Events
- select "Save all Events in Custom View as..."
- save the file as Admin.evtx
- zip up the file (right click on it, select "Send to", select "Compressed (zipped) folder")
- upload it with your next post (if it's too big, then upload it to a free file-hosting service and post a link here).

I don't know if you have AMD OverDrive running, but there are traces of it on your system. Try this:
AMD OverDrive (AODDriver2.sys) is either a stand-alone application, or a component of the AMD VISION Engine Control Center. This driver is known to cause BSOD's on some Windows systems.
Please un-install all AMD/ATI video stuff from Control Panel...Programs...Un-install a program
Then, download (but DO NOT install) a fresh copy of the ATI drivers from Global Provider of Innovative Graphics, Processors and Media Solutions | AMD (in the upper right corner of the page)
Use this procedure to install the DRIVER ONLY: ATI video cards - DRIVER ONLY installation procedure - Sysnative Forums

If the device (AODDriver or AODDriver4.01) remains a problem, open Device Manager, select the "View" item.
Then select "Show hidden devices" and scroll down to the Non-Plug and Play Drivers section.
Locate the AODDriver entry, right click on it and select "Un-install". Reboot for changes to take affect.
Sometimes the driver remains and continues to cause BSOD's. If this is the case for you, post back and we'll give further instructions for safely removing it.

If overclocking, please stop. Remove the overclock and return the system to stock/standard values while we're troubleshooting. Once the system is stable again, feel free to resume the overclocking.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1Pro - Finally!!!
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Samsung/NP780
    CPU
    Came with the laptop (i7 of some sort)
    Motherboard
    Pretty sure that it has one, but haven't checked inside the case!
    Memory
    upgraded to 12 gB from 8 gB
    Graphics Card(s)
    has switchable - Intel/ATI - Used wrong drivers, now ATI card is inop :( Will have to fix it soon!
    Sound Card
    I'm nearly deaf, so this isn't used often
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Touchscreen on laptop/32" Toshiba on HDMI (laid the Sharp TV on a mouse and cracked the screen!)
    Screen Resolution
    800x600
    Hard Drives
    One Samsung 1tB drive - 5400 rpm. Gonna switch to a 7200/10000 rpm or an SSD (if I can find $500 for a 1tB SSD!)
    - Switched to 500 gB Samsung 840 series SSD - WOW!!!
    PSU
    Why do we ask this for laptops?
    Case
    Silver with a neat Samsung logo
    Cooling
    sub-par, gotta get around to working on it soon Worked on it - still sub-par! :(
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural - the same one I've used since it orignally came out around 1995
    Mouse
    no Mouse - Trackball!!!!
    Internet Speed
    too slow when I'm waiting for a download to finish
    Browser
    Yes, I use this (Firefox mostly, w/IE next most)
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Windows Firewall
    Other Info
    I'm handsome and a snappy dresser :0)
I will work on this momentarily, just now getting home from work, This computer is only about 1 year old, I started having this issue when I got it and it was new, I don't think it's an overheating problem, I have had this case open 2 dozen times, it's clean inside.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
ok, I ran the video test, I had used that one before, temps topped out at 80C. I uninstalled all of the ATI stuff, then installed the new video driver per that forum post to directed me too. here is the newest dump info, from this morning (9/20/13). I will look into the SSD drivers. I will test it out and see if there are any changes.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
Here is the newest one, just happened a few minutes ago.

As far as a lack of reports, when the screen goes black, the computer is still running, I have to do a hard reset to stop the video issue, it's not technically creating any errors that I can tell

I couldn't find anything on a ssd firmware update, it's a dell computer, from what I was reading, I have to use a firmware update from them, Samsung apparently locks the drives up so you can't use a standard firmware unless it's from Dell.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
And yet again......

PS. I had no issues at all with the video test, it ran perfectly, no errors or crashes.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8
From the Admin Event Log - the EventID 41 entries aren't associated with BugCheck entries (for the most part). As such I'd have to suspect that this is a low-level error that Windows doesn't recognize. Please run these free hardware diagnostics: Hardware Diagnostics

There's more than 1 video test at the link I provided ( Hardware Diagnostics ) Did you run them all?
Here's some more video suggestions:
Video TDR Timeout - 0x116 + 0x117 - Sysnative Forums

The next test is to try another, known good video card. If you don't have one that you can use, I'd suggest purchasing one that you can return (if it's not needed).
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Win8.1Pro - Finally!!!
    Computer type
    Laptop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Samsung/NP780
    CPU
    Came with the laptop (i7 of some sort)
    Motherboard
    Pretty sure that it has one, but haven't checked inside the case!
    Memory
    upgraded to 12 gB from 8 gB
    Graphics Card(s)
    has switchable - Intel/ATI - Used wrong drivers, now ATI card is inop :( Will have to fix it soon!
    Sound Card
    I'm nearly deaf, so this isn't used often
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Touchscreen on laptop/32" Toshiba on HDMI (laid the Sharp TV on a mouse and cracked the screen!)
    Screen Resolution
    800x600
    Hard Drives
    One Samsung 1tB drive - 5400 rpm. Gonna switch to a 7200/10000 rpm or an SSD (if I can find $500 for a 1tB SSD!)
    - Switched to 500 gB Samsung 840 series SSD - WOW!!!
    PSU
    Why do we ask this for laptops?
    Case
    Silver with a neat Samsung logo
    Cooling
    sub-par, gotta get around to working on it soon Worked on it - still sub-par! :(
    Keyboard
    Microsoft Natural - the same one I've used since it orignally came out around 1995
    Mouse
    no Mouse - Trackball!!!!
    Internet Speed
    too slow when I'm waiting for a download to finish
    Browser
    Yes, I use this (Firefox mostly, w/IE next most)
    Antivirus
    Windows Defender and Windows Firewall
    Other Info
    I'm handsome and a snappy dresser :0)
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