PC black screening when I boot up a game

Question

PC black screening when I boot up a game

Cyrus 20

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck. The bugcheck was: 0x00000050 (0xfffff00b89966474, 0x0000000000000002, 0xfffff8014bc60ced, 0x0000000000000002). A dump was saved in: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump\071726-6625-01.dmp. Report Id: 95f26f3d-8c48-475e-812b-2b167ccb5f0e.

I've just updated a game I frequently play and now it's, not even really blackscreening. Just full restarting my PC without any prompt when I try and launch it.

If anyone can check these dmp files and get back to me on why it's doing that, it'd be greatly appreciated

https://1drv.ms/u/c/c1b817254cf99461/IQArUJdT_hyHQLpO6184qyupAT8oyKUML01-Tt6FZAhWrWY?e=4QRBJh

0 comments

Answer accepted by question author

David-M 126.2K Independent Advisor

Thanks for the clarification.

It is clear where the problem lies.

The good news is that your Windows installation is healthy, and none of your hardware is physically broken. What is happening is a conflict between a sensitive kernel-level driver and your processor's power stability, which is a very common and fixable issue.

Some important details I found in the minidumps for you to be aware of:

The crash is directly caused by tvk.sys, which is the Tavern Anti-Cheat driver used by Dark and Darker.
The error code is PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA, meaning a driver tried to access an invalid memory address.
Your system is running an Intel Core i7-14700KF on an MSI PRO Z790-A MAX WIFI motherboard, using a BIOS version from January 10, 2024.

Intel 13th and 14th Generation CPUs have a well-documented stability issue where default motherboard settings push too much voltage, leading to silent memory corruption and calculation errors. This almost always triggers a crash when highly strict kernel-level drivers, like game anti-cheats, are initialized. Because your BIOS is from early 2024, it does not have the critical microcode updates released by Intel later in the year to fix this behavior.

To resolve this issue, please follow these steps:

Go to the official MSI support page for the PRO Z790-A MAX WIFI. Download and flash the latest BIOS version using the M-Flash utility. This is the most critical step to stabilize your CPU.
After the BIOS update is complete, enter the BIOS settings again, find the CPU power/cooler tuning option (usually prompts on first boot), and select Intel Default Settings to enforce safe power limits.
Once back in Windows, go to the MSI support page for your motherboard and install the latest Intel Management Engine (ME) driver, followed by the latest Intel Chipset driver.
Go to the Dark and Darker installation directory, run the uninstaller for the Tavern Anti-Cheat, and then use Steam or the Blacksmith launcher to Verify Integrity of Game Files to force a clean reinstall of tvk.sys.

Once these updates are in place, your processor will have the correct voltage instructions and should handle the anti-cheat initialization without any issues.

Please let me know how it goes and if you need help with any of these steps.

Feel free to ask any questions you may have.

Cyrus 20 Reputation points

2026-07-18T13:29:26.9033333+00:00

Hey, sorry it took so long to reply. Couldn't find a USB so had to go to the store today and get one but I followed your steps and for the most part, any games that I've had an issue with in the past are working fine now. There were a couple other games that wouldn't boot sometimes due to the same issue but after updating my BIOS and installing the latest Intel Chipset driver everything is booting up and running smoothly, thanks a ton for the help!
David-M 126.2K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-18T13:32:17.16+00:00

Great! Glad to help.

If everything looks good on your end, feel free to mark the answer for this thread. Otherwise, please let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.

1 additional answer

Your answer

Cyrus 20 Reputation points

2026-07-18T13:29:26.9033333+00:00

Hey, sorry it took so long to reply. Couldn't find a USB so had to go to the store today and get one but I followed your steps and for the most part, any games that I've had an issue with in the past are working fine now. There were a couple other games that wouldn't boot sometimes due to the same issue but after updating my BIOS and installing the latest Intel Chipset driver everything is booting up and running smoothly, thanks a ton for the help!
David-M 126.2K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-07-18T13:32:17.16+00:00

Great! Glad to help.

If everything looks good on your end, feel free to mark the answer for this thread. Otherwise, please let me know if there's anything else I can help you with.

Answer 1

David-M 126.2K Independent Advisor

Hi. I'm David, and I'm happy to help you.

Both minidumps specifically mention the driver tvk.sys as the cause of the crashes. According to my search, this driver is the kernel-level anti-cheat driver associated with the game Dark and Darker (developed by Ironmace).

Does the crash occur specifically when you launch Dark and Darker, or does it happen with any game you launch?

If it happens with any game, do you have, or have you ever had, Dark and Darker installed on your PC?

Looking forward to your reply.

Cyrus 20 Reputation points

2026-07-17T13:50:36.3433333+00:00

Dark and Darker is the game that I mentioned that I play frequently.

I haven't had the issue with any game other than Dark and Darker with the most recent update. Whenever I launch the game my screen will go black and my PC will restart.