BSoD problem

[DarkCloud]

Hi,

I've had my current PC for about three years. Around this same time late last year, I had to replace my graphics card as it died out on me quite suddenly. Since I replaced the graphics card, things were working fine up until just recently, when I've been having a random BSoD pop up. Once my system reboots, I get the "Windows has recovered from a serious error" with some crash info:

Problem signature:

Problem Event Name: BlueScreen

OS Version: 6.1.7600.2.0.0.256.1

Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:

BCCode: 116

BCP1: 849863A0

BCP2: 8E41FF80

BCP3: C000009A

BCP4: 00000004

OS Version: 6_1_7600

Service Pack: 0_0

Product: 256_1

Files that help describe the problem:

C:\Windows\Minidump\071510-31044-01.dmp

C:\Users\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-43836-0.sysdata.xml

Read our privacy statement online:

http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?linkid=104288&clcid=0x0409

If the online privacy statement is not available, please read our privacy statement offline:

C:\Windows\system32\en-US\erofflps.txt

To be certain I didn't have any sort of virus or anything, I ran CHKDSK and found no errors. I also reformatted my drive and wiped it clean. Upon completion I still get a random blue screen. I ran the Windows Experience Index, and my score is usually a 3.5, but has now dropped down to 2.0, with the graphics card having the lowest score. I've installed the latest drivers for my graphics card, and when attempting to watch any online videos, play a game, open or close a window, etc., everything is just sluggish. All of the transitions that take place within the windows environment just seem to struggle.

I doubt there's a fix for this, but if there is can someone redirect me? I'm almost certain I'll have to replace my graphics card again.

I know nothing about dump files, but I can post it for someone to look at if needed.

Thanks for any help.

[engmod]

Upgrade your video drivers.

[VideoRipper]

Upgrade your video drivers.

In short:

• Boot in "Safe mode" (press F8 after the "POST")
  
• Uninstall all the drivers of your video-card
  
• Reboot (normal mode this time; you'll get a 256 color low-res screen)
  
• Download and install latest drivers
  
• Reboot
  
• Done

Greetz,

Peter.

[DarkCloud]

I already stated in my OP I had upgraded to the latest drivers. Trust me, I always upgrade everything first after doing a full system format.

So, that didn't help fix my problem. Isn't it a little odd I'm getting a BSoD when the system is idle, especially coming back from a reformat with all the latest updates?

[VideoRipper]

You didn't state the brand and model of your graphics card (if that is

really your problem), but in the past (a long time ago) I had a similar

issue with an NVidea-card that just always gave a BSoD.

In the end I downloaded and installed an older driver and the trouble

vanished instantly...

Just a thought

Greetz,

Peter.

[jaclaz]

In the end I downloaded and installed an older driver and the trouble

vanished instantly...

I am missing the logic...

In short:

• Boot in "Safe mode" (press F8 after the "POST")
  
• Uninstall all the drivers of your video-card
  
• Reboot (normal mode this time; you'll get a 256 color low-res screen)
  
• Download and install latest drivers
  
• Reboot
  
• Done

jaclaz

[CoffeeFiend]

Have you tried updating your video drivers? Just kidding

You have the option of posting a memory dump (preferably a complete dump, although a minidump is better than nothing I guess), or you can have people continue with wild guesses and telling you to update your video drivers some more. Your call.

[DarkCloud]

Have you tried updating your video drivers? Just kidding

You have the option of posting a memory dump (preferably a complete dump, although a minidump is better than nothing I guess), or you can have people continue with wild guesses and telling you to update your video drivers some more. Your call.

I can post a minidump later tonight, but not sure how to get a full memory dump.

[CoffeeFiend]

not sure how to get a full memory dump.

See this

[VideoRipper]

I am missing the logic...

Hehehe

Yeah I know, but I still don't have enough money to buy such

a fancy glass ball like you have

The details given by DarkCloud are pretty limited, so I have

to go on his diagnoses (while it could be entirely wrong).

[DarkCloud]

For those wondering, my system came with an nVidia GeForce 8400GS 256 MB card. Since my original crashed, I upgraded to 512 MB.

I tried doing the whole complete memory dump, but nothing seemed to happen. I looked in my system root folder and found a memory dump from two days ago, so I hope that works. I've attached the file, here.

I've also attached the mini dump, here.

Edited July 17, 2010 by DarkCloud

[cluberti]

It is worth noting what a 0x116 bugcheck means:

Bug Check 0x116: VIDEO_TDR_ERROR
The VIDEO_TDR_ ERROR bug check has a value of 0x00000116. This indicates that an attempt to reset the display driver and recover from a timeout failed. 

Parameters
The following parameters are displayed on the blue screen. 

Parameter Description 
1 The pointer to the internal TDR recovery context, if available.  
2 A pointer into the responsible device driver module (for example, the owner tag).  
3 The error code of the last failed operation, if available.  
4 Reserved.  

If you're getting these and updating the driver doesn't help, it is most certainly a hardware problem (not *always* a video card issue, but it is the most likely culprit).

According to the dump, the nvidia driver did indeed not respond to the reset request after the timeout occurred:

// Stack of the crash showing directx calling out to crash the box on the failure
// of the video driver to respond to an adapter reset request:
0: kd> kn
 # ChildEBP RetAddr  
00 81f26cb0 8e9a0adb nt!KeBugCheckEx+0x1e
01 81f26cd4 8e99ac14 dxgkrnl!TdrBugcheckOnTimeout+0x8d
02 81f26d18 8e9a19cb dxgkrnl!DXGADAPTER::Reset+0xee
03 81f26d28 8d6c02c7 dxgkrnl!TdrResetFromTimeout+0x12
04 81f26d3c 8d6c3573 dxgmms1!VidSchiRecoverFromTDR+0x15
05 81f26d50 82a0e6bb dxgmms1!VidSchiWorkerThread+0x7f
06 81f26d90 828c00f9 nt!PspSystemThreadStartup+0x9e
07 00000000 00000000 nt!KiThreadStartup+0x19

// The pool tag address:
0: kd> dc 849863a0 L1
849863a0  52445476                             vTDR

// Looking at nonpaged pool for the alloc:
0: kd> !pool 849863a0
Pool page 849863a0 region is Nonpaged pool
 84986000 size:   78 previous size:    0  (Allocated)  NV  
 84986078 size:    8 previous size:   78  (Free)       ....
 84986080 size:   40 previous size:    8  (Allocated)  NV  
 849860c0 size:   10 previous size:   40  (Free)       NV  
 849860d0 size:   90 previous size:   10  (Allocated)  CcBc
 84986160 size:   f8 previous size:   90  (Allocated)  MmCi
 84986258 size:   78 previous size:   f8  (Allocated)  NV  
 849862d0 size:   c8 previous size:   78  (Free)       NV  
*84986398 size:  af8 previous size:   c8  (Allocated) *vTDR
		Pooltag vTDR : Video timeout detection/recovery, Binary : dxgkrnl.sys
 84986e90 size:   78 previous size:  af8  (Free )  NV  
 84986f08 size:   f8 previous size:   78  (Allocated)  MmCi

// The bugcheck and it's args (as described previously):
0: kd> .bugcheck
Bugcheck code 00000116
Arguments 849863a0 8e41ff80 c000009a 00000004

// 849863a0 == TDR_RECOVERY_CONTEXT
// 8e41ff80 == pointer to the device driver
// c000009a == error code


// Looking further, 8e41ff80 is in the nvidia device driver - note the start/end
// address ranges contain this address:
0: kd> lmvm nvlddmkm
start    end        module name
8de0a000 8e911fc0   nvlddmkm   (no symbols)           
    Loaded symbol image file: nvlddmkm.sys
    Image path: \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\nvlddmkm.sys
    Image name: nvlddmkm.sys
    Timestamp:        Sat Apr 03 20:37:04 2010 (4BB7DF30)
    CheckSum:         00B0A9B4
    ImageSize:        00B07FC0
    Translations:     0000.04b0 0000.04e4 0409.04b0 0409.04e4

// And the error code:
0: kd> !error c000009a 
Error code: (NTSTATUS) 0xc000009a (3221225626) - Insufficient system resources exist to complete the API.

// A quick look at the memory overview would indicate that this is not due to an
// actual system memory resource problem:
0: kd> !vm

*** Virtual Memory Usage ***
	Physical Memory:      524110 (   2096440 Kb)
	Page File: \??\C:\pagefile.sys
	  Current:   2096440 Kb  Free Space:   2063756 Kb
	  Minimum:   2096440 Kb  Maximum:      6289320 Kb
unable to get nt!MmSystemLockPagesCount
	Available Pages:      365283 (   1461132 Kb)
	ResAvail Pages:       478944 (   1915776 Kb)
	Locked IO Pages:           0 (         0 Kb)
	Free System PTEs:     373448 (   1493792 Kb)
	Modified Pages:        22960 (     91840 Kb)
	Modified PF Pages:     22959 (     91836 Kb)
	NonPagedPool Usage:     9358 (     37432 Kb)
	NonPagedPool Max:     386046 (   1544184 Kb)
	PagedPool 0 Usage:     21191 (     84764 Kb)
	PagedPool 1 Usage:      4347 (     17388 Kb)
	PagedPool 2 Usage:       108 (       432 Kb)
	PagedPool 3 Usage:       101 (       404 Kb)
	PagedPool 4 Usage:       129 (       516 Kb)
	PagedPool Usage:       25876 (    103504 Kb)
	PagedPool Maximum:    523264 (   2093056 Kb)
	Session Commit:         6930 (     27720 Kb)
	Shared Commit:         39407 (    157628 Kb)
	Special Pool:              0 (         0 Kb)
	Shared Process:         1806 (      7224 Kb)
	PagedPool Commit:      25892 (    103568 Kb)
	Driver Commit:          8280 (     33120 Kb)
	Committed pages:      202439 (    809756 Kb)
	Commit limit:        1048220 (   4192880 Kb)

	Total Private:         93834 (    375336 Kb)
         0e94 WinSAT.exe       22406 (     89624 Kb)
         05e4 svchost.exe      15963 (     63852 Kb)
         03b0 svchost.exe       9256 (     37024 Kb)
         084c explorer.exe      6277 (     25108 Kb)
         01d8 csrss.exe         4978 (     19912 Kb)
         03d8 svchost.exe       4504 (     18016 Kb)
         0424 audiodg.exe       4215 (     16860 Kb)
         08d8 SearchIndexer.    3659 (     14636 Kb)
         034c svchost.exe       3603 (     14412 Kb)
         05d0 svchost.exe       2296 (      9184 Kb)
         0534 svchost.exe       2022 (      8088 Kb)
         01c4 sppsvc.exe        1449 (      5796 Kb)
         0450 TrustedInstall    1442 (      5768 Kb)
         05b0 spoolsv.exe       1161 (      4644 Kb)
         01fc services.exe      1077 (      4308 Kb)
         0478 svchost.exe        977 (      3908 Kb)
         04ec mscorsvw.exe       830 (      3320 Kb)
         07dc nvvsvc.exe         794 (      3176 Kb)
         0288 svchost.exe        769 (      3076 Kb)
         06bc dwm.exe            742 (      2968 Kb)
         020c lsass.exe          642 (      2568 Kb)
         0554 taskhost.exe       612 (      2448 Kb)
         031c svchost.exe        605 (      2420 Kb)
         0994 SearchProtocol     550 (      2200 Kb)
         0770 WUDFHost.exe       407 (      1628 Kb)
         02d0 winlogon.exe       396 (      1584 Kb)
         08c4 svchost.exe        302 (      1208 Kb)
         0194 csrss.exe          301 (      1204 Kb)
         02e8 nvvsvc.exe         282 (      1128 Kb)
         0214 lsm.exe            280 (      1120 Kb)
         01cc wininit.exe        266 (      1064 Kb)
         0ea0 conhost.exe        260 (      1040 Kb)
         09b0 SearchFilterHo     252 (      1008 Kb)
         0638 svchost.exe        179 (       716 Kb)
         010c smss.exe            68 (       272 Kb)
         0004 System              12 (        48 Kb)

The only thing left would be a memory issue on the card itself, which would make more sense. I see WinSAT was running, which does test the timeout/resume of the video driver (and thus, the card itself), and any hardware or software failures there will cause a bugcheck (you'd probably get the same sort of crash after hibernating or perhaps even entering standby for a long period of time). You can take a look here as well for some video adapter stress testing techniques as well, although if it was working fine for awhile with this particular card and then just started failing, and you've since already done a driver upgrade, the hardware is the 1st place to look for suspects. It's not likely at this point that it's the driver, although it's always worth investigating if you want to be thorough.

Edited July 19, 2010 by cluberti
Looked at the dmp file, updated post