BSOD - with one programme only

philmo · 11 Mar 2013 at 10:22

For starts if I should be posting this elsewhere, apologies.

I have started get BSOD with Sim City (no other programmes yet).
I know this has many issues - but I think this is getting into game in first place not game its self.

I have looked at the dump reports, and after some advice it was suggested it was my Xonar DG card or drivers giving issues.

I have hence removed drivers and taken out card to test, and still had a blue screen (always during game - sometimes after 5 mins - sometimes 2 hours).

Error dump files included reference to ntoskrnl.exe.

Last error had reference to mkm.sys ( nvlddmkm+19800e ) - is this Nvidia drivers ?. So updated them and then another BSOD - this time:

MACHINE CHECK EXCEPTION with reference to hal.dll file.

Just desparately looking for points, should I post dump file or any other info ?.

If hardware of machine is failing (new when O/C sept 2012) I want to get there before something nasty happens.

Any help greatly appreciated.

Doomedspeed · 11 Mar 2013 at 10:34

Do you know what the bsod code is. It'll be something like: 0x00..

then you can google that an it will give you a solution.

philmo · 11 Mar 2013 at 10:45

Doomedspeed said:
Do you know what the bsod code is. It'll be something like: 0x00..

then you can google that an it will give you a solution.

Got this from top of dump file:
Unable to load image \SystemRoot\system32\ntoskrnl.exe, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for ntoskrnl.exe
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for ntoskrnl.exe
Windows 7 Kernel Version 7601 (Service Pack 1) MP (4 procs) Free x64
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS
Built by: 7601.18044.amd64fre.win7sp1_gdr.130104-1431
Machine Name:
Kernel base = 0xfffff800`02c02000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0xfffff800`02e46670

I am not sure where I will see the info you refer to, have tried googling generally and bit of a mine field.

Help...thanks

Devrij · 11 Mar 2013 at 10:46

ntoskernel is just saying "something happened to do with windows" and is the most frustrating thing to see. I think that is an nvidia driver, and those generally pop up with an unstable overclock on the gfx card.

Is your system overclocked? It might be unstable. If so, return to default clocks and volts and see if the issue persists.

Devrij · 11 Mar 2013 at 10:48

philmo said:
Got this from top of dump file:
Unable to load image \SystemRoot\system32\ntoskrnl.exe, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for ntoskrnl.exe
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for ntoskrnl.exe
Windows 7 Kernel Version 7601 (Service Pack 1) MP (4 procs) Free x64
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS
Built by: 7601.18044.amd64fre.win7sp1_gdr.130104-1431
Machine Name:
Kernel base = 0xfffff800`02c02000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0xfffff800`02e46670

I am not sure where I will see the info you refer to, have tried googling generally and bit of a mine field.

Help...thanks

What stop code does it show though (0x0000008 for instance)? Bluescreenview should show you the stop code and associated parameters

illuz · 11 Mar 2013 at 10:54

Get WhoCrashed and get the stop code, this will give you an indication of how to fix the issue.

philmo · 11 Mar 2013 at 10:56

Devrij said:
ntoskernel is just saying "something happened to do with windows" and is the most frustrating thing to see. I think that is an nvidia driver, and those generally pop up with an unstable overclock on the gfx card.

Is your system overclocked? It might be unstable. If so, return to default clocks and volts and see if the issue persists.

Thanks for taking the time to reply.

My system is not overclocked in any way.

philmo · 11 Mar 2013 at 11:04

Devrij said:
What stop code does it show though (0x0000008 for instance)? Bluescreenview should show you the stop code and associated parameters

Ok, have looked via Bluescreen view, and last crash was:

MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION
Caused by address: hal.dll+12818
Crash address: ntoskrnl.exe+75c40
Bug check code: 0x0000009c

Does that help ? .

Thanks

philmo · 11 Mar 2013 at 11:21

illuz said:
Get WhoCrashed and get the stop code, this will give you an indication of how to fix the issue.

Hi - I have done this and the reports it shows for the last BSOD are:

MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION
Bug check code 0x9c
Probably caused by hal.dll

Doomedspeed · 11 Mar 2013 at 12:22

Im pretty sure 0x0000009c is a Hardware error.

The first thing i would check is the RAM, one of the RAM slots may have a problem. Try switching which slots your using and/or run memtest.

That would be what i'd do first..

If that fails, try updating your mtherboard BIOS, unless it already is upto date.

philmo · 11 Mar 2013 at 12:38

Doomedspeed said:
Im pretty sure 0x0000009c is a Hardware error.

The first thing i would check is the RAM, one of the RAM slots may have a problem. Try switching which slots your using and/or run memtest.

That would be what i'd do first..

If that fails, try updating your mtherboard BIOS, unless it already is upto date.

Thanks for your reply.

My mobo is Z77-D3H , which I think has DDR3 DIMM sockets (I have Corsair Vengeance Blue Low Profile 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 PC3 fitted).

I note 2 of the sockets are blue, 2 white - does it mater which are used to sit modules (pressume I have to use either both blue or both white>?).

Also for sort of novice, can you please suggest any links to a guide for memtest.

My BIOS version is American Megatrends Inc. F14, 31/05/2012 - (Z77-D3H).

Gigabyte sites show versions F18 - nervous about this stuff as never flashed my BIOS before.

Thanks for the help....sorry about all of the questions.

Doomedspeed · 11 Mar 2013 at 13:08

Firstly try the RAM. Yeah they both need to sit in the same coloured slots so if they are in the blue move them to the white and vice versa..

Looking I the over locking and cooling forum. There a few memtest related threads there.

pastymuncher · 11 Mar 2013 at 13:46

According to this handy list posted by Nickolp1974, 9c is QPI/VTT voltage, sometimes vcore.

Flashing the bios is easy with Gigabyte boards. Download the newest bios to a usb stick and unzip if neccessary. Rebbot, enter the bios and use Q-Flash to flash the bios.

On another angle, is'nt Sim City buggy as hell at the moment?

Devrij · 11 Mar 2013 at 14:06

pastymuncher said:
According to this handy list posted by Nickolp1974, 9c is QPI/VTT voltage, sometimes vcore.

Flashing the bios is easy with Gigabyte boards. Download the newest bios to a usb stick and unzip if neccessary. Rebbot, enter the bios and use Q-Flash to flash the bios.

On another angle, is'nt Sim City buggy as hell at the moment?

Make sure it's a FAT32 usb stick (format it if it isn't) or qflash won't see it. It really is dead easy though. I think f18 is still beta for that board (I may be wrong, but it'll say if it's a beta driver), but f17 should be fine.

0x9c is a hardware issue, so try removing one stick of RAM at a time to see if there's a faulty module. If that doesn't solve the problem, try loading optimised defaults in the BIOS just to make sure everything is at stock.

It'd be very unlikely that you have a faulty cpu, so I'm leaning towards RAM. Memtest is a good place to start, but I've known it to miss problems with faulty RAM, so a clear run doesn't mean it's not faulty. An error means it definitely is though.

philmo · 11 Mar 2013 at 14:08

pastymuncher said:
According to this handy list posted by Nickolp1974, 9c is QPI/VTT voltage, sometimes vcore.

Flashing the bios is easy with Gigabyte boards. Download the newest bios to a usb stick and unzip if neccessary. Rebbot, enter the bios and use Q-Flash to flash the bios.

On another angle, is'nt Sim City buggy as hell at the moment?

Thanks for the reply, vcore is foreign to me.

My machine is not overclock if that helps.

Will look at flashing BIOS after looking at RAM.

You are quite right that Sim City is buggy - but just feal that issues it has thown our are machine specific. But not seeing issues with other software so might be a pointer.