I just finished building my own gaming PC the other day. And yesterday my computer BSODed while playing Just Cause 2, and today it did again while playing the same game. The Event Viewer says it's an Error 41 (Kernel-Power). I really have no idea what to do. All my drivers are up to date, my power supply is defiantly big enough, and all my hardware is more then enough to handle anything I'm doing. What should I do? EDIT: I should clarify that I know it's not a problem with overheating as well. My video card (Radeon 6950) has stayed under 60(c) the whole time, as well as my processor (AMD8150 8 core) staying under 40(c).

That's the problem right there. Yes, for sure. All this time I took for granted that Optimized Defaults were set in the bios already. You likely solved it then...enjoy. As far as the motherboard not attached properly....well honestly, I can not tell you that is a good thing, is the best I can say it. (Doesn't mean bad, doesn't mean good..... could mean bad.) No, not a short, but lack of conductivity could be a problem. I think it's already fixed though.

Oh, I also forgot to mention that I went into BIOS and disabled AMD turbo boost. It was boosting my CPU to 4.2GHz, now it's running at the stock 3.6GHz. Could that make a difference or was that pointless?

I re-inserted the RAM, and the capacitors looked fine to me, but while I was poking around I noticed that the motherboard isn't completely screwed into the case. Apparently the case doesn't have all the screw holes in the right places for the motherboard I bought, so on the upper right corner where the RAM and the connector for the 24 pin power cord goes is just sort of hanging there. Could that be causing a short?

It is very rare for a game to be the root cause of a bsod. So if it happens to you on more than one game at all, then by odds alone we can rule out the problem being a specific game. That being said, your Steam install might be troublesome because as I said, every crash lately has been one of the cores of your processor refusing to process driver functions and it's hanging - the associated file has always been steam.exe or similar - whatever it's exact name is. I know Steam auto updates itself, but it can't hurt to check the website to see if there is any newer version to install. You should pull out the RAM for good measure than put back in. While putting in, of course be careful enough not to damage anything - but also be firm about it too. If you have a hair dryer or compressed air can, spray out the slots. (If hair dryer, use lowest heat and do quickly so not to overheat parts.) Make sure the arms lock down the memory firmly too. While there, inspect the motherboard capacitors. See if any are leaking brown electrolyte near the base or top. Also see if any are rounded at the top and not perfectly flat. If you find any leaking or rounded top capacitors on the motherboard, then that is the cause of the issues. You can touch them to feel if they are flat or raised. They are responsible for regulating the voltage to the cpu. If bad, the cpu will receive erratic voltage which would be responsible for the hang. Refer to this website (right side examples) if you aren't sure what you're looking at: http://www.badcaps.net/

Computer keeps Blue Screening, can't figure out why

Answer accepted by question author

Anonymous

Just FYI - sometimes lower level drivers (such as AMD Overdrive or Gigabyte EasyTune) can cause systems to act as if there is a hardware problem. So, we're still not certain if this is hardware or software - so please continue to run the diagnostics suggested previously.

AMD OverDrive (AODDriver2.sys) is either a stand-alone application, or a component of the AMD VISION Engine Control Center. This driver is known to cause BSOD's on some Win7 systems. If doesn't appear to be installed on your system, then it may be a part of the Gigabyte EasyTune6 program (another one that's known to cause BSOD's on Win7 systems).

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Please uninstall all AMD/ATI video stuff from Control Panel...Programs...Uninstall a program

Then, download and install a fresh copy of the ATI drivers from http://www.ati.com (in the upper right corner of the page)

Select the "Custom" installation option and don't let it install AMD OverDrive or the VISION Engine Control Center (if present)

Then use the ATI uninstall manager to uninstall the Catalyst Control Center (CCC). This is a separate issue and isn't required for the AMD OverDrive removal.

If the device (AODDriver or AODDriver4.01) remains a problem in perfmon /report, open Device Manager, select the "View" item.

Then select "Show hidden devices" and scroll down to the Non-Plug and Play Drivers section.

Locate the AODDriver entry, right click on it and select "Uninstall". Reboot for changes to take affect.

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Sometimes the driver remains and continues to cause BSOD's. If this is the case for you, post back and we'll give further instructions for safely removing it.

If overclocking, please stop. Remove the overclock and return the system to stock/standard values while we're troubleshooting. Once the system is stable again, feel free to resume the overclocking.

Also, please uninstall the Gigabyte Easy Saver - mobo power utility driver and the Gigabyte EasyTune6 program (it may contain the AMD Overdrive program). Both are known to cause BSOD's on some Win7 systems.

I am suspicious of the Applecharger program also, but have no firm evidence for it. Please just keep an eye on it for now.

If that doesn't stop the BSOD's, please run Driver Verifier according to these directions: http;//www.carrona.org/verifier.html

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BSOD BUGCHECK SUMMARY

Loading Dump File [C:\Users\FUBAR\jcgriff2_\dbug\_Kernel__\051912-22464-01.dmp]

Built by: 7600.16988.amd64fre.win7_gdr.120401-1505

Debug session time: Sat May 19 16:39:43.993 2012 (UTC - 4:00)

System Uptime: 0 days 0:31:58.600

BugCheck A, {6, 2, 0, fffff80003095a93}

*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for win32k.sys

*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for win32k.sys

Probably caused by : ntkrnlmp.exe ( nt!KiTimerWaitTest+e3 )

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

BUGCHECK_STR: 0xA

PROCESS_NAME: System

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: X64_0xA_nt!KiTimerWaitTest+e3

Bugcheck code 0000000A

Arguments 0000000000000006 0000000000000002 0000000000000000 fffff80003095a93

BiosVersion = F7

BiosReleaseDate = 10/13/2011

¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨``

Loading Dump File [C:\Users\FUBAR\jcgriff2_\dbug\_Kernel__\052012-25287-01.dmp]

Built by: 7601.17803.amd64fre.win7sp1_gdr.120330-1504

Debug session time: Mon May 21 00:00:30.836 2012 (UTC - 4:00)

System Uptime: 0 days 0:29:47.101

BugCheck 101, {19, 0, fffff8800316d180, 7}

*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for win32k.sys

*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for win32k.sys

Probably caused by : Unknown_Image ( ANALYSIS_INCONCLUSIVE )

BUGCHECK_STR: CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_8_PROC

DEFAULT_BUCKET_ID: VISTA_DRIVER_FAULT

PROCESS_NAME: System

FAILURE_BUCKET_ID: X64_CLOCK_WATCHDOG_TIMEOUT_8_PROC_ANALYSIS_INCONCLUSIVE

Bugcheck code 00000101

Arguments 0000000000000019 0000000000000000 fffff8800316d180 0000000000000007

BiosVersion = F7

BiosReleaseDate = 10/13/2011

¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨¨``

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Computer keeps Blue Screening, can't figure out why

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