• PC Crash & Reboots, Only happens in one game and absolutely nothing else; Hardware fault indicated
    13 replies, posted
[b]The Problem[/b] Playing Guild Wars 2, and only Guild Wars 2, Randomly crashes to a black screen with stuck sound, sometimes music plays normally for a few seconds, before the PC reboots itself. It seems to happen when there's more chaos around, IE, World vs World and large boss events, with large numbers of players. occurs anywhere between 5 minutes to an hour, or not at all if I'm just about by myself questing There's zero indication leading up to the crash. No hangs, no slow downs, no artifacts, just instant poof [b]The Errors[/b] -[b]WhoCrashed[/b] [code]On Wed 10/16/2013 6:33:18 PM GMT your computer crashed crash dump file: C:\Windows\Minidump\101613-14523-01.dmp This was probably caused by the following module: ntoskrnl.exe (nt+0x4ADB3C) Bugcheck code: 0x124 (0x0, 0xFFFFFA8004D9A038, 0x0, 0x0) Error: WHEA_UNCORRECTABLE_ERROR file path: C:\Windows\system32\ntoskrnl.exe product: Microsoft® Windows® Operating System company: Microsoft Corporation description: NT Kernel & System Bug check description: This bug check indicates that a fatal hardware error has occurred. This bug check uses the error data that is provided by the Windows Hardware Error Architecture (WHEA). This is likely to be caused by a hardware problem problem. This problem might be caused by a thermal issue. The crash took place in the Windows kernel. Possibly this problem is caused by another driver that cannot be identified at this time. [/code] [b]BlueScreenViewer[/b] [img]http://i.imgur.com/AMhCjaV.jpg[/img] [b]Event Viewer[/b] [code]Log Name: System Source: Microsoft-Windows-WHEA-Logger Date: 10/16/2013 1:34:29 PM Event ID: 20 Task Category: None Level: Error Keywords: User: LOCAL SERVICE Computer: Sabor Description: A fatal hardware error has occurred. Component: AMD Northbridge Error Source: Machine Check Exception Error Type: HyperTransport Watchdog Timeout Error Processor ID: 0[/code] [b]What I've tried[/b] Tested RAM with Memtest, several passes, all clean Tested CPU with Prime 95 and OCCT - Passed, no errors Tested GPU with ATI Tool and Furmark - Passed, no errors Voltages during test with OCCT were rock solid and adjusted themselves accordingly to what was required, and sitting there until the test finished Every driver up to date, except BIOS (It's one game causing the crash, nothing else. Not worth risking a BIOS update over) and multiple video drivers tried with zero differences to the crash Taken everything out of my PC, re-seated it, cleaned out dust, checked for wonky capacitors and leaks, pristine motherboard in this regard Temperatures were good during testing. CPU reached over 60C during OCCT and Prime95, but still didn't crash, never exceeds 55C in Guild Wars 2. GPU never exceeds 65C in Guild Wars 2. Ambient temperatures were 48C and under None of these programs induced this crash, No other game does, either [b]System Info[/b] Speccy Snapshot, HWMonitor and DXDiag are in the .Rar [url]http://www.filedropper.com/sysinfo[/url] Good luck with this one because I sure as fuck can't find a definitive answer Thanks all
Solved. I think. For 3 years almost this went unnoticed and never caused issues, but my CPU is a 125W processor, on a Motherboard that only supports up to 95W
Most 95W motherboards can run 125W processors until they hit that magic 95W power draw from the CPU and then all bets are off. If the VRMs on the motherboard are shit, they just burn. If they're quality VRMs then they switch from continuous to pulse mode and the available amperage drops right off. There are special versions of the Phenom II x4 with a 95W TDP, but they're hard to find and expensive. The cheapest one I found was on ebay: [url]http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955-DeskTop-CPU-Socket-AM3-938-HDX955WFK4DGM-3-2Ghz-6MB-95W-/140750158689?pt=CPUs&hash=item20c55cfb61[/url] It would be the same speed as yours, just with a 95W TDP. I wouldn't bother with trying to fix that machine though, it's a waste of time and money. The Phenom II arch is long dead, if you have the money, I suggest building a new machine. If not, you could try underclocking the CPU to like 2.8 GHz so it draws less power.
[QUOTE=GiGaBiTe;42550733]Most 95W motherboards can run 125W processors until they hit that magic 95W power draw from the CPU and then all bets are off. If the VRMs on the motherboard are shit, they just burn. If they're quality VRMs then they switch from continuous to pulse mode and the available amperage drops right off. There are special versions of the Phenom II x4 with a 95W TDP, but they're hard to find and expensive. The cheapest one I found was on ebay: [url]http://www.ebay.com/itm/AMD-Phenom-II-X4-955-DeskTop-CPU-Socket-AM3-938-HDX955WFK4DGM-3-2Ghz-6MB-95W-/140750158689?pt=CPUs&hash=item20c55cfb61[/url] It would be the same speed as yours, just with a 95W TDP. I wouldn't bother with trying to fix that machine though, it's a waste of time and money. The Phenom II arch is long dead, if you have the money, I suggest building a new machine. If not, you could try underclocking the CPU to like 2.8 GHz so it draws less power.[/QUOTE] I was about to ask if I could underclock/undervolt to keep it within a 95w TDP constraint as a temporary solution. I quite enjoy my rig and don't want to get a new one just yet so I'm looking at a new motherboad instead. As this PC has been running for almost 3 years, I'm guessing the Mobo has pretty good VRMs, and I know it has a heatsink Using a calculator I can lower the vCore to 1.2v, and underclock from 3.2ghz to 3.0ghz, and it's within the constraints of a 95w TDP, but is 3ghz too much for 1.2v I wonder. Is there a tool that can do this? I really don't want to set the vcore in the BIOS in case it goes wrong and not be able to boot Also looking at supported CPUs for my motherboard on ASUS' website, there is a 125w Processor listed, even though the Mobo is 95w. is it possible that updating the BIOS may help? Though I don't see the 955, not even the 95w version, listed Alternatively I suppose I could just use Overdrive to underclock as you suggested
A BIOS revision isn't going to fix hardware limitations. The problem with CPU TDPs is that they're not precise. They're a measurement of an average nominal maximum load. CPUs in reality can pull far more than their TDP. I've seen Intel Sandy Bridge quads pull up to 150W and Phenom II x4s pull up to 170-180W You can safely lower your VCore, the only thing it will do if the CPU doesn't like it is make the machine spontaneously reboot, crash or freeze. You'll have to load the CPU down to max with Prime95 for several hours (8-12 hours or a day to be sure its stable.) If it does do the above with a lower VCore, just back off the clock in like 100 MHz increments.
Underclocking to 78% (Ouch) maxes the vcore at 1.28v. Since this thing regularly pulled in 1.38v without issue I'm going to set it at around 85%, or 2700mhz, while playing GW2 (only thing that causes the issue, even playing stuff like Battlefield 3 and 4 was fine) and that should suffice as a temporary solution until I get a new motherboard. Appreciate the help. This is a fucking stupid problem and a huge mistake on assembling the PC. I guess when the 955 was pulled off the rack, the wrong version was grabbed
Retailers almost never distinguish between different revisions of a product if the manufacturer doesn't do it for them. Not that it would have mattered in this case because the 95W version of the PII 955 was released over a year after the 125W version and only in limited quantities.
Well this didn't solve the crash issue. The CPU was pulling in 78w under load and holding, 1.28v, and it still crashed. Adjusted speed using AMD Overdrive. So much for a temporary solution
Well you could go for broke and downclock it to the lowest possible setting and see if it still happens. If it does, then it indicates a hardware/driver problem.
Alright, I have just one more question. If I go for a new motherboard, and it does support my CPU, but only after a certain bios update, how am I supposed to update it? There's a pretty big chance of it not even getting to post
If you're lucky, the motherboard will boot and say "Unknown CPU installed" In which case, you can flash the BIOS. If you aren't lucky, the motherboard will refuse to POST. In this case, you'll have to buy/borrow a CPU it does support in order to flash the BIOS (or get a ROM burner, but this is expensive, fantastically complicated and dangerous so I won't get into it.) You can still pick up dirt cheap Sempron processors if you don't want to gamble: [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819103888[/url] These can sometimes be unlocked to dual core processors (I was able to unlock one I bought.) In either case, you'd have a spare system to use if you got some other parts for it.
[url]http://support.asus.com/cpusupport/detail.aspx?SLanguage=en&p=1&m=M4A78LT-M%20LE&cpu=Phenom%20IIX4%20955%20(HDX955WFK4DGM),3.2GHz,125W,rev.C3,SocketAM3,Quad-Core&pcb=ALL&sincebios=0503&memo=[/url] Am I reading this correctly? My Processor is supported by this motherboard after all, but only with and after 0503 Bios version? Despite the 95w/125w difference. I go back to the main supported CPU for that board and it isn't listed at all. I guess it's just a bullshit Puts anything that's in the link type of link Google gave me. I've got a new Mobo inbound, decided to go with [url]http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131795[/url] as it is almost identical to my Mobo in every way, with the exception of a couple minor things and the requirements for my CPU. So again, thanks
I think their website is bugged, I don't know why it lists that CPU by itself as supported because it isn't. I still think you should grab that Sempron too so you can build a spare machine for something.
Well I got my new motherboard in. Reformatted, everything's up to date, Exact same crash Component: AMD Northbridge Error Source: Machine Check Exception Error Type: HyperTransport Watchdog Timeout Error Processor ID: 0 Exact same bugchecks: 0x00000124 (0x0000000000000000, 0xfffffa8004e557c8, 0x0000000000000000, 0x0000000000000000) Everything's up to date. Chipset, Bios, Windows, Video, Sound. If it has a version number it's updated. Completely new install of Windows after deleting the partitions on the HDD as well
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