Bluescreens when gaming - GPU overheating?

[OtterCannon]

Hello, I’m having the problem that whenever I play games that are graphics intensive I get the BSOD. I have been trying to monitor the GPU temp and have seen it go above 80°-90°. I have an integrated Nvidia GeForce GTX 960. Is there a way to find out what causes the BSOD for sure? The error messages have been pretty much all over the board although “critical process died” and “unexpected store exception” are the most frequent. I did enable the minidump but I have no idea what to do with that. I am a computer noob, so tell me what other info you need and I’ll post it.

[phillpower2]

Hello OtterCannon,

1. Copy any dmp files from C:\Windows\Minidump onto the desktop.
2. Select all of them, right-click on one, and click on Send To> New Compressed (zipped) Folder.
3. Upload the zip folder using the Attach button, bottom left of the dialogue input box

[OtterCannon]

Hello OtterCannon,

1. Copy any dmp files from C:\Windows\Minidump onto the desktop.
2. Select all of them, right-click on one, and click on Send To> New Compressed (zipped) Folder.
3. Upload the zip folder using the Attach button, bottom left of the dialogue input box

Thank you, this okay?

[phillpower2]

Crash dmps more than two days old are of no use I`m so only the latest two can be relied upon.

No drivers are flagged up in either of the two dmps only memory compression and a Realtek device were.

[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]
If the computer is a desktop can you post the brand and model name or number of the power supply (PSU).

Download then run Speccy (free) and post the resultant url for us, details here, this will provide us with information about your computer hardware + any software that you have installed that may explain the present issue/s.

To publish a Speccy profile to the Web:

In Speccy, click File, and then click Publish Snapshot.

In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.

Speccy publishes the profile and displays a second Publish Snapshot. You can open the URL in your default browser, copy it to the clipboard, or close the dialog box.[/COLOR]

[OtterCannon]

Crash dmps more than two days old are of no use I`m so only the latest two can be relied upon.

No drivers are flagged up in either of the two dmps only memory compression and a Realtek device were.

[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]If the computer is a desktop can you post the brand and model name or number of the power supply (PSU).

Download then run Speccy (free) and post the resultant url for us, details here, this will provide us with information about your computer hardware + any software that you have installed that may explain the present issue/s.

To publish a Speccy profile to the Web:

In Speccy, click File, and then click Publish Snapshot.

In the Publish Snapshot dialog box, click Yes to enable Speccy to proceed.

Speccy publishes the profile and displays a second Publish Snapshot. You can open the URL in your default browser, copy it to the clipboard, or close the dialog box.
[/COLOR]

[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]
The Speccy URL: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/j...anrxQl2dZtgqRD

I am not 100% sure about the PSU, I have this prebuilt desktop PC: https://support.hp.com/us-en/product...ment/c04884050

It says the PSU is:
[ul]
[li]300 W internal ATX E-STAR 6.0 Bronze power supply[/li][/ul][/color]

[phillpower2]

I have an integrated Nvidia GeForce GTX 960.

What you actually have is a dumbed down add on video card that HP have taken and lowered the performance of so that it requires a less powerful PSU which in turn reduced their manufacturing costs.

The underlaying issue that you have is that the GPU is totally inadequate for gaming and is only any good for school or office type use, the 300W PSU supports this as a non HP branded GTX 960 such as from MSI for example requires a minimum of a 400W PSU.

Your Speccy report flags up a couple of issues that will also be causing you issues both with the GPU and with Windows itself, see below;

You use junk aka Driver Booster which should never be used anywhere near any computer but when it comes to brand names such as HP it is even more of a no no, any drivers for your computer must come via HP, your GPU may have an Nvidea platform GPU but HP have modified the card to suit their requirements and the only drivers that you should use must be obtained from here

Power Profile
Active power scheme: [COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]High performance

Change the Windows Power Plan to Balanced, Ultra and High Performance are a form of overclocking that is known to cause stability and overheating issues and the setting should only be used for gaming type notebooks that have a discrete GPU that needs the extra power.

Operating system
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Computer type: Tablet
[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]Installation date: 08.10.2020 09:18:50
Windows Security Center
User Account Control (UAC): Enabled
Notify level: 2 - default
Firewall: Enabled
Windows Update
AutoUpdate: Not configured

Windows has only been updated once since it was installed, this is bad as it puts you at risk of malware attack and means that you are missing patches that could potentially help your system run better, this runs into another issue that you have which is that you are running out of free storage space on the C: partition where Windows lives, the consequences of this are explained below.

Partition 1
Partition ID: Disk # 0, partition # 1
[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]Disk Letter: C:
File System: NTFS
Volume Serial Number: 2A24B84A
Size: 117 GB
Used space: 104 GB (88%)
[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]Free Space: 13.9 GB (12%)

For Windows to be able to run efficiently and to be able to update, on a mechanical HDD you need to have between 20 and 25% of the partition or drive available as free storage space at all times and on an SSD between 10 and 20%, if you don`t you risk Windows becoming corrupt or not being able to update which also puts you at risk of malware attack.

Data only storage devices should not be allowed to get any lower than 10% of free storage space of the full capacity of the drive/partition on the drive, this also to avoid data corruption.

Please note that storage devices can physically fail if the amount of free storage space is allowed to drop below the required 10 or 20/25% minimum.

Uninstall as many unused programs, games, videos and music files as you can and get yourself another means of backing up to, post back when you have between 20 and 30% free storage on the C: drive/partition and we can go from there.[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]

[OtterCannon]

What you actually have is a dumbed down add on video card that HP have taken and lowered the performance of so that it requires a less powerful PSU which in turn reduced their manufacturing costs.

The underlaying issue that you have is that the GPU is totally inadequate for gaming and is only any good for school or office type use, the 300W PSU supports this as a non HP branded GTX 960 such as from MSI for example requires a minimum of a 400W PSU.

Your Speccy report flags up a couple of issues that will also be causing you issues both with the GPU and with Windows itself, see below;

You use junk aka Driver Booster which should never be used anywhere near any computer but when it comes to brand names such as HP it is even more of a no no, any drivers for your computer must come via HP, your GPU may have an Nvidea platform GPU but HP have modified the card to suit their requirements and the only drivers that you should use must be obtained from here

Power Profile
Active power scheme: [COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]High performance

Change the Windows Power Plan to Balanced, Ultra and High Performance are a form of overclocking that is known to cause stability and overheating issues and the setting should only be used for gaming type notebooks that have a discrete GPU that needs the extra power.

Operating system
Windows 10 Home 64-bit
Computer type: Tablet
[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]Installation date: 08.10.2020 09:18:50
Windows Security Center
User Account Control (UAC): Enabled
Notify level: 2 - default
Firewall: Enabled
Windows Update
AutoUpdate: Not configured

Windows has only been updated once since it was installed, this is bad as it puts you at risk of malware attack and means that you are missing patches that could potentially help your system run better, this runs into another issue that you have which is that you are running out of free storage space on the C: partition where Windows lives, the consequences of this are explained below.

Partition 1
Partition ID: Disk # 0, partition # 1
[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]Disk Letter: C:
File System: NTFS
Volume Serial Number: 2A24B84A
Size: 117 GB
Used space: 104 GB (88%)
[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]Free Space: 13.9 GB (12%)

For Windows to be able to run efficiently and to be able to update, on a mechanical HDD you need to have between 20 and 25% of the partition or drive available as free storage space at all times and on an SSD between 10 and 20%, if you don`t you risk Windows becoming corrupt or not being able to update which also puts you at risk of malware attack.

Data only storage devices should not be allowed to get any lower than 10% of free storage space of the full capacity of the drive/partition on the drive, this also to avoid data corruption.

Please note that storage devices can physically fail if the amount of free storage space is allowed to drop below the required 10 or 20/25% minimum.

Uninstall as many unused programs, games, videos and music files as you can and get yourself another means of backing up to, post back when you have between 20 and 30% free storage on the C: drive/partition and we can go from there.
[/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR][/COLOR]

[COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)][COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)][COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)][COLOR=rgb(226, 80, 65)]
First of all, thank you for the quick and detailed answer!

Second, I have changed the power plan to balanced, I deleted Driver Booster (lol), I ran a Windows Update and I deleted as much from Disk C as I was confident to.
This is the new Speccy Profile: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/P...ztMsdaxhBCQz7N

Now I have 2 questions, first: do I actually need to manually update drivers or should I let the auto updates handle it? How do I know which ones from the list you send are needed and do I need to “fix” any drivers that Driver Booster downloaded?

Second: I deleted as much of the preinstalled crap apps that I was sure weren’t needed and have narrowed down the thiccest space hogs to the Windows files (obviously) and my documents folder which apparently has a lot of game data, even though the games are installed on my other drive. How can I safely (without losing my save files, or whatever those things are) transfer them over to my D: drive?

Sorry if these are noob questions, I am trying my best, just like my poor, ****** PC [/color][/color][/color][/color]

[phillpower2]

Sorry if these are noob questions, I am trying my best, just like my poor, ****** PC

No worries on either count but can I just say that there is nothing wrong with your computer as long as it is used for the intended purpose, unfortunately it wasn`t intended for gaming

Windows updates, power plan and storage space have all been sorted but still seeing garbage from Iobit on your PC;

Running: IObit Uninstaller Service

Re your two questions;

Once Windows has been installed, you install the necessary drivers for the MB and other hardware and then leave well alone, drivers should not be allowed to auto update and you should never update any driver/s unless the new drivers are intended to resolve a specific issue that you are having, installing new drivers unnecessarily can actually cause you the very issues that any new drivers are intended to resolve and uninstalling the new drivers may not resolve the problem/s that installing the new drivers has caused.

Depending on priority it can take many months before the driver provider releases any fix and depending on the age of the hardware or software concerned they sometimes do not even bother or may have already announced an end of support.

Remember, being a HP brand PC and your GTX 960 also being branded as HP you must get all of your drivers from HP or wherever HP may direct you to, do not download any GPU drivers from Nvidea for your present GPU or the computer will fall over.

I suggest that you leave your C: and D: drives as they are and instead just make sure that from now on you only install Windows updates to C: and save everything else to the D: device and be sure to properly uninstall any programs that you may get rid of in the future.

You are welcome btw

[OtterCannon]

No worries on either count but can I just say that there is nothing wrong with your computer as long as it is used for the intended purpose, unfortunately it wasn`t intended for gaming

Windows updates, power plan and storage space have all been sorted but still seeing garbage from Iobit on your PC;

Running: IObit Uninstaller Service

Re your two questions;

Once Windows has been installed, you install the necessary drivers for the MB and other hardware and then leave well alone, drivers should not be allowed to auto update and you should never update any driver/s unless the new drivers are intended to resolve a specific issue that you are having, installing new drivers unnecessarily can actually cause you the very issues that any new drivers are intended to resolve and uninstalling the new drivers may not resolve the problem/s that installing the new drivers has caused.

Depending on priority it can take many months before the driver provider releases any fix and depending on the age of the hardware or software concerned they sometimes do not even bother or may have already announced an end of support.

Remember, being a HP brand PC and your GTX 960 also being branded as HP you must get all of your drivers from HP or wherever HP may direct you to, do not download any GPU drivers from Nvidea for your present GPU or the computer will fall over.

I suggest that you leave your C: and D: drives as they are and instead just make sure that from now on you only install Windows updates to C: and save everything else to the D: device and be sure to properly uninstall any programs that you may get rid of in the future.

You are welcome btw

What I don’t understand is how I could use my PC for gaming without a problem for 3-4 years (admittedly not always on the greatest graphic settings but still) but now it’s suddenly giving up. Is it just the hardware going the way of dinosaurs? I did run a few recommended diagnostics which all came back clean for the hardware.

I started up Phasmophobia to see if the BSOD problem was still going on and sadly it is. I kept the hardware monitor running to see what was going on with the GPU temp and the first time I got the bluescreen the temp reached about 80°. I did see that the temp climbed a bit more slowly and I could actually hear the fans ramping up for a change. Attached is a pic of the Hardware Monitor just seconds before the first Bluescreen, sadly the minidump for that was lost. I started Phasmophobia up again a bit later and got a bluescreen when the temp was only at 60°. The Minidump for that is attached.

Honestly, I don’t know what else to do, I just need my PC to limp along a bit longer until I can afford to replace it. Do you have any idea what else I might try? Thank you again.

[phillpower2]

Not around for long so need to be quick I`m afraid

Your GPU is way short of even the minimum that is required to play Phasmophobia, see info here

[OtterCannon]

Not around for long so need to be quick I`m afraid

Your GPU is way short of even the minimum that is required to play Phasmophobia, see info here

I do understand that but something obviously changed because I was able to play phasmophobia without a problem until this BSOD-thing started a month or so ago. I even get bluescreens while playing Oxygen Not Included, Stellaris, Rainbow Six or Overwatch. I have over 2k hours on Overwatch with this PC, so what happened?

[phillpower2]

Your GPU meets the requirements of those other games so would be expected to work ok.

Your GPU hitting 80 ° C and above will not help as it will get throttled back to stop it from overheating.

What drivers have you installed for the GPU.

We could do with a screenshot of the top of HWMonitor so we can check any voltage readings.

Regarding the latest crash, see attachment below;

[OtterCannon]

Your GPU meets the requirements of those other games so would be expected to work ok.

Your GPU hitting 80 ° C and above will not help as it will get throttled back to stop it from overheating.

What drivers have you installed for the GPU.

We could do with a screenshot of the top of HWMonitor so we can check any voltage readings.

Regarding the latest crash, see attachment below;

Okay, so attached I have the driver version which says it’s version 27.21.14.5730 from Nvidia.
I also attached reports from HWM, the first is while the computer is pretty much idle, the second just after launching Phasmophobia, the third is when it was getting to the “danger zone” at 75°. Tell me if the reports are okay or if you want the screenshots from HWM.

[phillpower2]

From my reply #8

Remember, being a HP brand PC and your GTX 960 also being branded as HP you must get all of your drivers from HP or wherever HP may direct you to, do not download any GPU drivers from Nvidea for your present GPU or the computer will fall over.

Have you installed the GTX 960 GPU drivers from HP here

[OtterCannon]

Which one of these is it? Or is it all of them?