[yotuzla]

i have:

MotherBoard: A8V-X ASUS
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 Dual Core 4200
Ram: 2gig
Video Card: ATI Radeon 2400 Pro (AGP256MB D/D/T)
PowerSupply: Zalman ZM400A-APF
OS: Win7 RC 7100

every time i try to run spore or Black&White2 i get a crash and the blue screen of death.

not sure what to do.

b&w - i get to the main menu select new game i get the beginning video and at the end of the video i get the crash. samething happens when i try to skip the video.

Spore - i get the beginning graphic before the menue and boom! crash.


windows recognizes everything. i think i have updated all of the drivers. not sure what to do.

please help.

thanks.

[Bloodyskullz]

First you can post the error message you are getting in the BSOD.

[yotuzla]

i get the Stop code 0x000000116

[Bloodyskullz]

We will need more than that. First off this is Win 7 32bit correct?

Also, you need to uncheck the option of making the computer restart when the error message comes up.

Right click on My computer and go to properties -> advanced settings - under "Startup and Recovery" click settings. A new window will open up, from there look under the category "System Failure" and you should see 3 options.

Uncheck the last option "Automatically restart". Click ok. Next time error comes up, gives us the full message.

[yotuzla]

it is win7 64.

what else am i looking for as far as the error code on the blue screen?
am i looking for all the stuff in the parenthesis?

thanks for your help!

[Rollin' Rog]

Most likely a graphics driver error, but I can confirm this if you upload the minidumps here >>

1 > create a new folder on the desktop and call it "dumpcheck" or whatever you like
2 > navigate to c:\windows\minidump and copy the last few minidump files to that folder. *this assumes 'c' is your boot drive, if it is not, subsitute accordingly
3 > close the folder and right click on it and select Send to Compressed (zipped) Folder.
4 > use the "manage attachments" in the "advanced" reply window to upload that zip file here as an attachment.

This might point us to a non Microsoft driver causing the error, if one exists for it.

If you do not see any minidumps, be sure you are not using any cache cleaner such as CCleaner. Also run sysdm.cpl and select Advanced > Startup and Recovery. Make sure "small memory dump" is the one chosen under "write debugging information" and the location should be %systemroot%\minidump
---------------------------------------

Do make sure you are not overclocking anything, and that you have the latest graphics drivers from ATI.

PS: this is an NVIDIA statement on the issue -- as it has plagued them as well as ATI, and might be worth a read >>

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=65161

[yotuzla]

here are my past 3 minidumps.

i am not sure how to check to see if i am overclocking anything.

[Rollin' Rog]

They are all the same as this >>

BugCheck 116, {fffffa8001a8d010, fffff88004096d9c, 0, 2}

Unable to load image \SystemRoot\system32\DRIVERS\atikmdag.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for atikmdag.sys
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for atikmdag.sys
Probably caused by : atikmdag.sys ( atikmdag+12d9c )

Followup: MachineOwner
---------

0: kd> !analyze -v
*************************************************************************** ****
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*************************************************************************** ****

VIDEO_TDR_FAILURE (116)
Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed.

If you were overclocking something, you would know how to reverse it.

Do make sure you are not overheating --

I would start by updating the Display drivers -- this is a resolution in about half the cases -- but others can be much more problematic.

Check out the Nvidia statement as it applies to your problem just as well.

Also look for game patches if these are related to specific games.

To see if something is conflicting, try opening the Task Manager BEFORE you start the game, and in the processes tab terminate processes with your User Name EXCEPT Explorer.

[yotuzla]

might be a silly question but is there a recomended peice of software out there for temp readings?

[Rollin' Rog]

Not a silly question.

Speedfan is widely used >>

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

Or you can give this a shot, looks good, but doesn't work on my one Intel chipset which supports temp monitoring:

http://www.techpowerup.com/realtemp/

Generally my advice is to look for a temperature rise of more than 35 c from a completely cold boot. You should "stress" test this to monitor -- generally gaming or malware scans will accomplish that -- anything which sends the CPU over 60 %