What's causing the CTD/Bluescreens

1 pass of Memtest86+ is not conclusive, you need to test longer.

And that mobo should have no problem running higher memory voltage, I ran my old Twinmoss memory for months at 3.06V real without problems.

Perhaps it is caused by an overlooked component like a harddisk or a failing northbridge fan :confused:
 
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Dutch Guy said:
1 pass of Memtest86+ is not conclusive, you need to test longer.

And that mobo should have no problem running higher memory voltage, I ran my old Twinmoss memory for months at 3.06V real without problems.

Perhaps it is caused by an overlooked component like a harddisk or a failing northbridge fan :confused:
Click to expand...
I'll run memtest overnight tonight. :)

I've updated the bios so I'll now try the games again...
 
Bugger. After the BIOS update, system crashes during gaming and reboots. :(

But, I finally get some sense out of Microsoft:

=========================
Error caused by a video device driver :shock: :shock: :shock:

Thank you for sending an error report to Microsoft.

Error report summary

Error type Windows stop error (A message appears on a blue screen with error code information)

Solution available? Yes

What does this error mean? You received this message because a device driver installed on your computer caused the Windows operating system to stop unexpectedly. This type of error is referred to as a "stop error." A stop error requires you to restart your computer.

Cause A video adapter device driver

Computer symptoms A message appears on a blue screen with error code information:

STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER
- or -
STOP: 0x100000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER_M

Action for you to take

We have analyzed your error report and there are two solutions for this problem for you to choose between.

+ Solution 1: Install the most current driver for your video card

yadda yadda...

+ Solution 2: Manually decrease Hardware Acceleration for your video adapter

This procedure prevents the display driver from programming the hardware incorrectly, but you may lose some display functionality and performance. Although you can increase the hardware acceleration settings higher than None to regain functionality and performance, these settings increase the chance that the issue will occur again. For maximum stability, leave hardware acceleration turned off.

Note: This procedure prevents the display driver from programming the hardware incorrectly, but you may lose some display functionality and performance. Although you can increase the hardware acceleration settings higher than None to regain functionality and performance, these settings increase the chance that the issue will occur again. For maximum stability, leave hardware acceleration off.

Article ID : 11
Last Review : February 28, 2006
Revision : 1.0

Additional Technical Information

Error Message: STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER (Q293078)

===================

Errr.... :shock:

+ Solution 1: Install the most current driver for your video card
Click to expand...
I've already done that...

So which driver out of the millions available shall I go with?...
 
Hi, have you checked in device manager to see if there are any yellow exclamation marks by any devices to indicate a conflict between 2 or more devices in the system. Also, stupid sugestion I know, but are you plugging in the extra power adaptors for the cards, as the radeon has a power connector on it and the 6800 GS got a power connector on it I think.

The 0x0000008E error comes back as a RAM problem though, as if you search in google with the error links: Stop error. Google also brings back the error above as being a faulty video card or faulty driver, which you have tried.

By the way have you tried to revert back to an older set of drivers for the nForce 2 chipset like the ones that come with the mobo on the CD, as maybe some versions are incompatible.

Also check the event viewer under Administrative Tools in control panel to see if any errors are showing up there at around the time of the crashes.

Failing that, the only other alternatives are either faulty graphic card(s), unlikely or the motherboard has a damaged graphic card slot, which I assume is AGP and could mean a new mobo, or check the hard drives out.

Anthony
 
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acharris said:
Hi, have you checked in device manager to see if there are any yellow exclamation marks by any devices to indicate a conflict between 2 or more devices in the system.
Click to expand...
None. :)

...are you plugging in the extra power adaptors for the cards
Click to expand...
Yup. :)

By the way have you tried to revert back to an older set of drivers for the nForce 2 chipset like the ones that come with the mobo on the CD, as maybe some versions are incompatible.
Click to expand...
Worth trying I guess and it's now on my (now huge) list of things to try.

Also check the event viewer under Administrative Tools in control panel to see if any errors are showing up there at around the time of the crashes.
Click to expand...
Nothing scary there...

Failing that, the only other alternatives are either faulty graphic card(s), unlikely
Click to expand...
Unlikely indeed as the previous card (9800 Pro) was 'involved' with the same problem too!

...or the motherboard has a damaged graphic card slot
Click to expand...
Oh please - don't say things like that! :p It's not the expense - it's the hassle! :D

check the hard drives out
Click to expand...
I'd do that but I can't find a utility to do that in Wiindows (can't seem to burn a CD with PowerMax either... )

Cheers. :)
 
*
Sorry to bang-on about this but I'm sure you appreciate - this is mind-bendingly frustrating...

I've now tried running one stick in slot one (again) and it crashed - this time within a few minutes. Therefore, I'm now inclined to think that it could be something to do with a background event. Some prog or something trying to do something that's pulling the rug from under the CPU and/or memory. Just generally being annoying in a Windows stylee... :roll:

Here's what I have running when gaming:

Red indicates what I can successfully shut down/stop before starting a game. The ones left alone are those that either I can't shut down or won't because I don't know whether I should...

McSheild and CTHELPER definitely won't stop.

bgserv1.jpg


:)
 
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Who the hell said disable system restore? very useful tool in situations like this! Who cares about a few megs of RAM?


If it were me I'd be looking at simplifying the situation. No USB devices, fail-safe BIOS settings (disable any onboard stuff you don't use), no extra software bar what is necessary for windows to actually run the devices. And I do mean NOTHING extra, not even USB devices connected, service packs installed, driver or directx updates, antivirus software... So maybe setup a new partition for this purpose.

These particular bluescreens are generally pointing to a driver or software issue. Like here


If the bluescreens occur in such a basic state then we'll assume that there is in fact a hardware fault, and diagnose from there.


Only hardware-related thing I will note is that you have two HDDs. If these are both IDE and on the same cable, disconnect the extra one. I've seen a dodgy HDD knock out a perfectly good HDD in the past by being on the same cable. Crashing/freezing are the worst problems to troubleshoot, the main thing is detail. WHICH bluescreen (message as well as numbers), WHAT was the PC doing when the bluescreen occured.
 
I'd do that but I can't find a utility to do that in Wiindows (can't seem to burn a CD with PowerMax either... )
Click to expand...

Why cant you get powermax onto a disk? From what i remember its in .iso form so you just burn it using Nero or whatever cd writing program you use. I think getting powermax to work has to be the next step!!

Are the jumpers correct on the harddrive so they are set to master and slave?

Who the hell said disable system restore? very useful tool in situations like this! Who cares about a few megs of RAM?
Click to expand...

Not entirely sure who suggested that one. I personally dont find it useful as its ruined a few installations for me but im sure it can be used in some situations.
 
Rigsta said:
Who the hell said disable system restore? very useful tool in situations like this! Who cares about a few megs of RAM?


If it were me I'd be looking at simplifying the situation. No USB devices, fail-safe BIOS settings (disable any onboard stuff you don't use), no extra software bar what is necessary for windows to actually run the devices. And I do mean NOTHING extra, not even USB devices connected, service packs installed, driver or directx updates, antivirus software... So maybe setup a new partition for this purpose.

These particular bluescreens are generally pointing to a driver or software issue. Like here


If the bluescreens occur in such a basic state then we'll assume that there is in fact a hardware fault, and diagnose from there.
Click to expand...
I got to agree with this, download prime95 or some other stress testing software, do a fresh install with 1 HD, 1 stick of ram and cd/rw and thats it, install prime95, remove cd/rw then let prime run and see what happens ( seems you need a good 5-6 hours min per run to be sure nothing goes wrong ).
then if thats ok add the drivers ( graphics etc.. ) and the game that causes the problems the most and play......
Babyface UK
 
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Thanks once again for your thoughts. Unfortunately, I'm not in a position to afford much time stripping/assembling various components/configurations. :(

Jumpers are correct on the HDs and set to M/S correctly too.

So, I'll have to plug away with my ever-growing list of things to try:

1. PowerMax tests (still unable to boot from CD (all the settings are correct in BIOS) system refuses to see the .iso file and loads straight into Windows. My systemn was able to see the memtest.iso file so no idea what's happening here... :(

2. Remove all USB connections

3. Use single HD

4. Relax the RAM timings (not sure to what to yet...)

5. Lower sound acceleration in DXDIAG from Full to Standard (will that affect sound quality much?)

WHICH bluescreen (message as well as numbers), WHAT was the PC doing when the bluescreen occured.
Click to expand...
Only rarely do I see messages - it either freezes with a sound loop, crashes to desktop or reboots.

Onwards and upwards! :)
 
You cant just put the .iso onto a disk as a file. A .iso is an image of a disk. So for example if you are using nero you need to select 'Burn image to a disk' then in the files type drop down menu select .iso (its right at the bottom of the list) and then just follow the istructions to burn the disk. This disk should then be bootable.
 
I could never find info on what the difference would be as I had a soundcard in the past that required me to lower it, if the game plays and sounds the same lower it further (at least for testing)

Alternatively try a different/newer soundcard if possible.
 
Cheers.

I'm not overly concerned about audio quality on games and I didn't notice any difference when lowering the setting. I'll be trying it later with acceleration off altogether. I don't think it'll make any difference to actual quality - it's just an 'effects'/EAX thing! :)
 
Have you been on creatives website and done the online update? I know they release drivers often and the ones on the original driver disk will be very outdated.
 
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