[Blue Screen] 55+ hours in, Arma II: OA starts causing crashes, no clear reason.

[Surael]

I've searched this forum for even vaguely related issues, but I've only found two threads regarding BSODs and Arma II: OA, one of which was locked and directed to the other, and the other was not a similar issue. I have also checked "if already posted," but do not expect my naming scheme to be common.

About a week ago, I started playing Arma II: OA. Getting hooked on Day Z, I spent the next several days accumulating 50+ hours of playtime, without a single issue. Being that most, if not all, of my time had (up to this point) been wholly consumed by playing, no software or hardware changes were made to my machine. Around the 52-55 hour total playtime mark, I'm beginning my play session for the day and within 5 minutes, receive a blue screen. Not to be deterred, I ignored it and carried on. Stuff happens, right?

Everything goes well until the next day, where I receive another the first time I start playing (again after a short time of playing perfectly). Now mildly concerned, but still undeterred, I continue playing until the next day, where the blue screens are continuous. One happens as normal, then every time I play for more than 3-5 minutes, crash. This includes playing the Single Player campaign, Multiplayer via Day Z (on multiple servers), and in various Boot Camp scenarios.

I update my video drivers. Problem continues. I verify the OA integrity through Steam. One file (1.4kb) is downloaded each verification, so I figure it's nothing important. Problem continues. I reinstall Arma II. Problem...ceases. Until today.

This is a .rar of all available related minidumps.



tl;dr

Arma II: OA blue screens consistently after 55 hours of problem-free play with no system changes occurring. Reinstalling Arma II fixes/reduces frequency for a few days (~10 hours playtime).

Notes:

1. Some minidumps available here.
2. Crash only occurs while playing Arma II, Arma II: OA, and Arma II: Combined Operations.
3. Arma does not need to be active (can be minimized) for crash to occur.
4. Problem began before updating video drivers, continued after updating video drivers.

System:

Motherboard: ASUS M4A87TD EVO
Processor: AMD Phenom II X4 965 (~3.4GHz)
RAM: G.SKILL Ripjaws 2x2GB
Video Card: GeForce GTX 460 (1GB, 256-bit, v301.42)
OS: Windows 7 64-bit (6.1, B.7600)
HDD: WD Black 500GB / 1TB

[[FRL]Myke]

Any chance of getting the BSOD error code? Usually it says which module (.dll) caused the crash.

Also, is A2 (all versions) the only game that caused a crash so far? Can you measure CPU and GPU temps?

[Surael]

Any chance of getting the BSOD error code? Usually it says which module (.dll) caused the crash.

Also, is A2 (all versions) the only game that caused a crash so far? Can you measure CPU and GPU temps?

I can remember a few of the BSOD codes I noticed, but not all of them had any. I can also remember some of the specific "error" names.

BCCodes: fe, 2c, (others I cannot recall, but could reproduce if demand is high enough)
Errors: USB_BUGCODE_DRIVER, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, others, others including BSODs with no such message

I have not noticed a trend in the crashes indicating specific .DLLs, but rather various .sys that I can recall. I can (hopefully) get specifics if I induce the crash more, but I want to avoid as many crashes as I can. If it's vital, I can do so anyway.

Yes, A2 is the only thing that causes the error. Other games, other programs, everything else works just fine. I have had a similar problem with ANNO 2070, but it exhibited in significantly different ways and persisted as long as the game was installed regardless of running or not, so I do not believe it is related.

EDIT: Sorry, forgot about the temperature request.

I initially expected overheating as the cause. There are zero artifacts in graphics (as I understand it, this is a common symptom of video card overheating). The crashes exhibit a brief freeze in computer function before the crash proper, nothing else. I don't know the primary symptoms for other components overheating, though.

That said, I monitored the temperatures for a few crashes and they did not fluctuate even slightly. I can provide specific numbers on request, but I would need to measure again.

[Leon86]

A BSOD is usually defective hardware or a driver problem.

I've never seen a game being able to bsod an otherwise stable pc.

try some stability tests, 100 runs of LinX with mem on "all", 8 hours of consecutive prime95 will determine if the cpu/memory is stable

for the gpu I recommend the unique heaven benchmark, it runs in a loop so you dont have to do anything to keep it going. run that for a few hours too.

If you're confident the PSU is more than powerfull enough you can do 3 threads of prime + unique heaven.

[[FRL]Myke]

USB_BUGCODE_DRIVER, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Hmm...this one points to the USB drivers. Check the Website of your motherboards manufacturer for BIOS and Driver updates.

Might also be a harddisk failure announcing himself. Crystal Disk Info might help to check this.


If possible and not demanded too much, please post highest measured temps and also, if possible, some more reports from BSOD, like which file caused it.

[Surael]

Hmm...this one points to the USB drivers. Check the Website of your motherboards manufacturer for BIOS and Driver updates.

Might also be a harddisk failure announcing himself. Crystal Disk Info might help to check this.


If possible and not demanded too much, please post highest measured temps and also, if possible, some more reports from BSOD, like which file caused it.

This is a composite screenshot of the readings from CDI. They look good, but I don't know how to read this program, so if you need additional information from it, please let me know.

I will register temperatures and record BSOD information now, but due to the crashes and length of time each takes to instigate/recover from, it will be a short while before I have that information for you. I expect no more than 30 minutes.

A BSOD is usually defective hardware or a driver problem.

I've never seen a game being able to bsod an otherwise stable pc.

First time for everything. I've tried every other game on my system, some with higher system demands, some with lower, but no others cause this problem. I'm sincerely hoping it is caused by A2, because if it is not, it's a much more serious issue.

try some stability tests, 100 runs of LinX with mem on "all", 8 hours of consecutive prime95 will determine if the cpu/memory is stable

for the gpu I recommend the unique heaven benchmark, it runs in a loop so you dont have to do anything to keep it going. run that for a few hours too.

If you're confident the PSU is more than powerfull enough you can do 3 threads of prime + unique heaven.

I have performed stability tests in the past, and they have all passed perfectly, but this was several months ago. I will consider the tests as a last resort, due to the significant time investment, and shall hope it does not come to that.

[BoogieManFL]

BSOD in my experience has been most closely associated with some kind of hardware failure, and once it was perhaps a connection that wasn't seated quite enough and was resolved by disassembling the PC and reassembling.

However from what I have learned it can also be caused by buggy/corrupted drivers or software trying to access memory in a way that is improper or that they don't have permission to access, causing the error. Some people have claimed Anti-Virus software was the culprit (Norton specifically) as well as programs like uTorrent.

If I were you, I'd ensure every extra program possible is closed and run as few processes as possible. And then since it mentions USB, I'd remove all non-essential USB devices and try again. If it still occurs and you still have USB devices connected (mouse, keyboard, etc) I'd try with a non USB device if possible. If none are available I'd try using different USB ports. I'd also try disabling various/all USB ports through the BIOS.

I HAVE noted some games being able to trigger these problems more commonly than others, though still the route of the problem was still the hardware. Years ago (maybe 2001) I ordered a new PC from Alienware. It took a lot of frustration but I discovered that the CPU was defective and some games only rarely caused the blue screen, while others triggered it constantly. For example I was able to play Tiberian Sun for hours fine, but when I loaded up Earth & Beyond it blue screened constantly. I also later discovered that the Sound Blaster Audigy card I had at the time was also defective (also from Alienware) and games that made use of EAX blue screened my PC like crazy, while ones that didn't use it at all played fine.

[Surael]

This is a composite of HWMonitor screenshots.

1 2 3
4 5 6

1. Idle temperatures with 4 Chrome tabs.
2. Arma II opened and loaded into Boot Camp.
3. 2 Minutes Later
4. ~2 Minutes Later
5. ~2 minutes later, the crash occurred. This is the initial reading immediately after restart (hence the window size.)
6. The same reading as 5, but resized and several (15-20) seconds later.

I missed the error code, and it did not produce a minidump, but the offending file was usbohci.sys.

Performing crash two.

[BoogieManFL]

This is a composite of HWMonitor screenshots.

1 2 3
4 5 6

1. Idle temperatures with 4 Chrome tabs.
2. Arma II opened and loaded into Boot Camp.
3. 2 Minutes Later
4. ~2 Minutes Later
5. ~2 minutes later, the crash occurred. This is the initial reading immediately after restart (hence the window size.)
6. The same reading as 5, but resized and several (15-20) seconds later.

I missed the error code, and it did not produce a minidump, but the offending file was usbohci.sys.

Performing crash two, will edit updates into this post.

usbohci.sys deals with USB devices as well, so that's helpful for narrowing your cause I think.

I'd also try updating/reinstalling motherboard drivers, and especially looking for new USB drivers. I'd then go to this website and perform a windows scan: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929833

[Surael]

I caused crash two, but it exhibited interesting tendencies that I have not seen before.

I intended to take a photo of the blue screen, in case I could not get the information in time, so I went into the Armory and drove a vehicle around Chernarus for awhile with just my keyboard. After 10+ minutes of this, nothing had happened, so I decided to go back to boot camp and try the normal way.

Within a minute (at the firing range using both keyboard and mouse), I caused another crash. This time, REFERENCE_BY_POINTER and BCCode 18 (or at least 0x00000018). This would lead me to believe that it's being caused at least in part by the mouse, or at least further suggests a USB issue.

The reason I am reluctant to believe in that result is that

A) the problems only exhibit with A2.
B) If it were the mouse, playing Diablo III would surely trigger it as well, as I use the mouse more in that game than any other.

I am running a System File Check, as per BoogieManFL's suggestion, and the results are available in the log file here.

Additionally, after some research on the new error, I ran a basic memory diagnostic as well (mdsched.exe), and no errors were found. I can run memtest86+, but I don't expect it to get different answers.

I checked on my motherboard drivers. Everything is still up to date, save my BIOS. I haven't updated my BIOS because I'm concerned with the possible danger it represents, but if it ends up being the solution, it must be better than going without. In the meantime, I will reinstall them (just in case) and incur another crash.

EDIT:

I HAVE noted some games being able to trigger these problems more commonly than others, though still the route of the problem was still the hardware. Years ago (maybe 2001) I ordered a new PC from Alienware. It took a lot of frustration but I discovered that the CPU was defective and some games only rarely caused the blue screen, while others triggered it constantly. For example I was able to play Tiberian Sun for hours fine, but when I loaded up Earth & Beyond it blue screened constantly. I also later discovered that the Sound Blaster Audigy card I had at the time was also defective (also from Alienware) and games that made use of EAX blue screened my PC like crazy, while ones that didn't use it at all played fine.

This is interestingly similar to the problem I had before, except that other games do not rarely cause the blue screen, but rather never cause it. The only other example would be ANNO 2070, which would cause the blue screen, and then after reboot, it would happen again after X amount of time, in which X got smaller with every successive reboot until I severed power entirely for several seconds. The current problem does not exhibit these behaviors, but the "cause" of the BSODs does seem to vary as they did before.

I eventually RMA'd my motherboard for this and it worked fine when they sent it back.