Need help with PC crashes

[maidofsteel]

Hi all,

My computer crashes once or twice a day and I'm trying to figure out how to fix it. At first, in event viewer, the warning showed up as "Windows Kernel event ID 41 error The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first". I googled it and read a lot of the solutions. I was using a Xion 700W PSU, which has the worst reviews I've ever seen for a PSU (got it from a friend), so I thought it was my PSU that was busted. I invested in a brand new PSU and bought an EVGA 80+ Gold Certified G3 750W. The issue continued to persist, so it wasnt a power issue.

 

The second thing I tried was to upgrade the BIOS' firmware. My mobo is a MSI X99A Raider ATX and I upgraded the firmware from P10 to P50. This definitely did something: my computer crashes a lot less frequently now but I'm getting new errors. Here's the summary of errors that I'm getting now:

1. Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered: only happens while gaming. Screen turns black as the driver fails and restarts.

2. Event viewer WHEA error "event id 19": happens at the same time as the above.

3. Windows Kernel event ID 41 error: same as before, PC still randomly crashes (ingame or out of game, sometime crashes when I'm staring at the desktop with nothing open except the usual background programs)

 

I tried to tackle each of these issues. Here's a list of the things I tried (that I remember, I've been trying to fix this for months now...)

 

1. I tried playing with the TdrDelay, increasing it to 10 seconds. Didn't work.

2. I tried turning off TDR altogether by setting TdrLevel to 0. Didn't work.

3. I tried to disable Realtek Audio Driver and using only the Nvidia Audio Driver. Didn't work.

4. I turned off overclocking and am running the PC at stock. Didn't work.

5. I have DDR4-3200 RAM. I had XMP enabled to run it at 3200 MHz. I turned it off. Didn't work.

6. I'm using a GTX 1060 Gigabyte Windforce 6gb GPU. My friend has the same model and his PC works fine. We swapped for a week to see if the issue was with the GPU. Didn't work. PC continued to have issues even when using his GPU.

7. I set the BIOS options back to the recommended default. Now the back fan is blowing up a storm since the default seems to set it at 1500 RPM. Didn't work.

8. I cleaned up the whole PC (it was already very clean to begin with, I have a good case that's great at keeping dust out). Didn't work.

9. All drivers were already up to date.

 

It's also not a temperature issue. The GPU is running at stock and the temperature is around 50 degrees (stays around 35 degrees when idle). I also had installed a ton of fans in my case for no particular reason. The front has a 200mm fan, the back and bottom have a 140mm each, and the top is loaded with triple 120mm fans. The CPU is at roughly the same temperatures as well.

The only solution that I read that I remember not trying is to underclock my GPU. I didn't really feel like using an underclocked GPU, and I don't think I should need to with my current build. I also plan as a last ditch effort to reformat my PC, but I would like to avoid this option if possible.

Here's a list of all my PC parts

 

1. Intel Core i7-5930K

2. MSI X99A RAIDER

3. G.SKILL Ripjaws V Series F4-3200C16D-16GVK DDR4 3200MHZ 16GB 2X8GB 16-18-18-38 Memory Kit Black

4. Noctua NF-A15x2 PWM Retail Cooling D-Type Premium CPU Cooler Fan NH-D15

5. Phanteks Enthoo Pro Series PH-ES614P_BK Black Steel / Plastic ATX Full Tower Computer Case

6. Asus 250gb SSD

7. EVGA 80+ Gold Certified PSU G3 750W

6. GTX 1060 Gigabyte Windforce 6gb

7. Asus MG279Q Monitor (not that this would affect anything, putting it on the list just in case)

 

Note: I'm also using some old components from my previous PC that are like 10-15 years old, namely the DVD Reader and some old internal 250gb HDD.

Thanks

[ProjectBox153]

If you haven't tried a reinstallation of Windows, that may be your only real option. And please change the formatting. It is not readable in Night Theme. 

[Jurrunio]

Did some research on error codes you have.

 

nvlddmkm is Nvidia's driver. It is known for a long time, with cards as old as 8800GT showing this problem with new drivers. Reverting to old drivers doesn't seem to help though.... Maybe something to do with Nvidia software in the PC too. Remove everything related to Nvidia in the PC and install drivers that comes with the card.

 

No. 19 WHEA error is related to Mobo, CPU, or RAM. I'll suggest swapping the RAM first because it is much cheaper than the other 2. If that doesn't help then pray that Nvidia ****** up your system, not the CPU or mobo.

 

No. 41 Kernal error is related to unexpected shut down of PC. Basically BS.

[BloodyWaters]

Might be that old HDD?

[maidofsteel]

7 hours ago, Jurrunio said:

Did some research on error codes you have.

 

nvlddmkm is Nvidia's driver. It is known for a long time, with cards as old as 8800GT showing this problem with new drivers. Reverting to old drivers doesn't seem to help though.... Maybe something to do with Nvidia software in the PC too. Remove everything related to Nvidia in the PC and install drivers that comes with the card.

 

No. 19 WHEA error is related to Mobo, CPU, or RAM. I'll suggest swapping the RAM first because it is much cheaper than the other 2. If that doesn't help then pray that Nvidia ****** up your system, not the CPU or mobo.

 

No. 41 Kernal error is related to unexpected shut down of PC. Basically BS.

Thanks, I'll do some RAM tests to see if its the RAMs that are faulty

[maidofsteel]

7 hours ago, BloodyWaters said:

Might be that old HDD?

Well, Windows is installed on the new SSD. The old HDD is only used to store my recent downloads before I move them somewhere else. It's not really used for anything of importance. Do you think it could be causing the issue? I could disconnect the Sata cable temporarily to see if it does anything.

[vaiwalker]

i suspect its the ram since programs usually start glitching out and crashing and hanging when the ram fails its duties. would check that before the hdd though, ive had faulty hdds living in my pc for long periods of time before they eventually died completely. they never caused the pc to crash just like that, normally windows would just hang until the read/write is done on the faulty hdd.

[BloodyWaters]

11 hours ago, maidofsteel said:

Well, Windows is installed on the new SSD. The old HDD is only used to store my recent downloads before I move them somewhere else. It's not really used for anything of importance. Do you think it could be causing the issue? I could disconnect the Sata cable temporarily to see if it does anything.

I'd try that. 

[maidofsteel]

On ‎02‎/‎05‎/‎2017 at 0:15 AM, vaiwalker said:

i suspect its the ram since programs usually start glitching out and crashing and hanging when the ram fails its duties. would check that before the hdd though, ive had faulty hdds living in my pc for long periods of time before they eventually died completely. they never caused the pc to crash just like that, normally windows would just hang until the read/write is done on the faulty hdd.

Thanks, I'll try a memtest