Games crashing within 5 minutes of launch

KevinY

Hi,
Every single game I play crashes, usually within 5 minutes of launching. It always crashes back to desktop with no warning. The problem has been occurring for almost a week now, and I'm not sure if its a software/driver problem, or if a piece of hardware is failing. Things I've tried:
-Reinstalling/uninstalling GPU drivers
-Swapping to another GPU
-Re-seated RAM sticks
-Tested RAM with Memtest86 (0 errors)
-Reinstalled Win10 twice
-Updated Bios
-Monitored CPU and GPU temps, which seem to be normal
Any help would be deeply appreciated. Thank you.

PowerSpec_MikeW

Please describe the crash in greater detail. Is this a BSOD, CTD, or black screen? Has the system ever crashed outside of a game?

KevinY

Sorry, when a game crashes it just brings me back to the desktop. It just closes without warning. I had one blue screen in the past week ( Page fault in a nonpaged area), but I'm unsure if thats related to the games crashing.

PowerSpec_MikeW

Okay. So you're getting a CTD ( Crash to desktop ). Please list your full system specs and also list what games you're playing that have crashed. If you could take a screenshot of what's in your event viewer logs at the time of the crash, that would be helpful as well.

KevinY

Win10 2004; OS Build: 19041.329
Motherboard: Asus Prime X570 P 
CPU: AMD 3600x
GPU: MSI Ventus 2080
RAM: Corsair Vengeance 2x8 16gb 3200mhz
PSU: Corsair RM750x

These random crashes happen in every game I play, most commonly in Hunter: Call of the Wild, League of Legends, and Valorant. It's happened in Jedi Fallen Order as well, but after about half an hour of game play, and I've only tested that game once for crashing. As for the event viewer logs, nothing ever pops up in there when I check after a crash under System in Event Viewer. 

PowerSpec_MikeW

It's an application crash, it should have some error under "Application". You can look under Custom Views > Administrative Events" as well. They'll be a lot of stuff there, but you'll see the application error and potentially some other related errors.

KevinY

These are the 2 errors that popped up this time:


I also noticed this error under Application when I launched the game, this popped up:

PowerSpec_MikeW

Try the other games you're having issues with and lets try to accumulate similar data from each of them.

JackKandle

I am having a very similar issue with my PC and a couple Call of Duty titles (BO3 and MW). Have tried similar troubleshooting steps with no good result. Looking forward to seeing how this develops. If it would be helpful I can post information related to my case, but I don't want to hijack OP's thread

PowerSpec_MikeW

I haven't heard from @KevinY in a while. If you could post your dxdiag reports here. Please provide details on what's going on with your games as well. If it's a CTD or a BSOD, ect.

JackKandle

Sure thing. I am experiencing CTD after about 10 minutes playing Black Ops 3 zombies and Call of Duty Modern Warfare (both multiplayer and Warzone modes cause the CTD). BO3 becomes unresponsive and I usually need to End Task from task manager but it appears any active sound effects continue. I activated an in-game song which continued playing like normal after the freeze, but the other active sound effects remained static, indicating to me that the state of the game was not progressing (as if frozen in time). MW will fully CTD and close itself with a DirectX error, typically 6068. I have been having this issue since ~March of this year when last Fall both games were working perfectly. I have not recently updated any aspects of my setup, aside from regularly updating drivers and the troubleshooting steps listed later. System info:

• Intel i7 7700k w/ turboboost active and Cryorig H7 cooler
• MOBO: Asrock Z270 extreme 4
• 2x8 GB G skill ripjaws DDR4-3200 (with proper profile being used in BIOS)
• 500 GB samsung 960 EVO (where OS is installed)
• 2 TB Seagate Barracuda HDD (where games are installed)
• EVGA Geforce 1080ti
• EVGA 750W power supply
  

So far I have tried the following troubleshooting steps with no success:

• Various game setting tweaks (lowering settings maybe made the games last a few minutes longer before crashing, but tough to claim causality b/c amount of time until crash is somewhat inconsistent, though it typically takes about 5-15 min)
• Underclocked GPU using MSI Afterburner
• Hardware tests (all showed no errors): memtest86, OCCT to test GPU and CPU, Prime95 + coreTemp, windows memory diagnostic, windows chkdsk, intel processor diagnostic tool. Temperature monitoring shows CPU gets hot quickly (~95 C in 5-10 min) when running most stressful OCCT test but rarely goes above 90 when playing games or Prime95. I've read that for 7700k this may be reasonable. Recently reapplied thermal paste which didn't seem to help much. Idle temps around 30 C
• Clean reinstall of all drivers I could find
• Reinstalled Windows 10
• Reinstalled both games (and prior to that ran the file checker deal in Steam)
• Rolled back graphics drivers to known working version from December 2019
• Disabled certain audio drivers
• Windows defender virus scans (full and offline)
  

In case it's relevant - prior to my most recent Windows installation, my system would freeze occasionally on startup or when close to idle like when internet browsing or using Discord (no BSOD, but the PC would become unresponsive and require restart). When playing games or running a stress test, this freeze never occurred. I was having that issue since I originally built this PC (in 2017) but since it did not impact game performance I never bothered to fix it. I have not seen this issue since reinstalling Windows about a month ago.

DxDiag is attached. Thanks for your help.

PowerSpec_MikeW

I don't see any problems in the DXDiag. The problem with the freezing while idle is interesting. Generally with freezing, you think HDD unresponsive. This doesn't apply to NVME drives most of the time, they're running on the PCIe bus, it can freeze but they seem more likely to cause BSOD's. I assume you have a lot of software on the Seagate to save room. Are these games on the Seagate? Could you disconnect the Seagate and test a game on the SSD only?

Have either of the users in this thread experienced artifacting or screen tearing?

JackKandle

You would be assuming correctly - I put these games on the Seagate to save space since they're multiplayer and I don't need rapid load speeds. I will try disconnecting the seagate and reinstalling on the NVME and get back to you with the results.

I have not noticed any screen tearing. One issue I do recall seeing is the cutscenes in the MW single player would stutter a bit visually. I have read some about it online and it seems to have been a common problem back when the game launched, but that occurred months before any games started crashing for me.

For my own knowledge, if this is an HDD issue, why might reinstalling Windows make the freezing while idle issue stop but not resolve the games crashing? Or perhaps are you thinking the issue is still there and I just haven't come across it yet?

PowerSpec_MikeW

Well, based on your original description it sounds like the drive idles.  HDD's go into power save mode and they stop spinning. What it sounds like to me is the drive parks and when the system tries to wake it, it doesn't respond and this results in a freeze. You would probably notice that system was running slow, and that you could still move the mouse, but shortly thereafter it would hard lock, mouse included. Sound about right?

With all the problems you're having between those two things, I don't think a reinstall would help, particularly if the non OS drive is the problem. You can set the drive to never sleep in power options. Fun a full check disk on it. From elevated command prompt: chkdsk /r

JackKandle

That does not sound quite right. I have never noticed that the system runs slow before a freeze, it always seemed to just freeze with no warning (again, have not seen the whole system crash in a while now). When the whole machine would freeze the mouse would lock up, but when I get games crashing to desktop I can still do everything just fine outside of the game.

I reinstalled BO3 onto the NVME drive, disconnected the HDD and tried to play but the crash still occurred - lasted about 7 minutes. Max temps 86 C. I ran chkdsk /r and got the message "Windows scanned the file system and found no problems."

I am certainly no expert but I am inclined to think the CTD and the system freezes are two separate issues since I have not had a freeze in a while. I'm just unsure why a Windows reinstall would (seemingly) fix that.

PowerSpec_MikeW

Would seem that they are, and you've ruled out the data driver at least. I did not read your previous post thoroughly enough. You mentioned that the audio continues and this wouldn't be the case if the drive were involved, so we can rule out the NVME as well. Are there any other games you play and do they crash as well or do they run fine? If so I don't see another step besides swapping in and testing another GPU.
 

JackKandle

I have experienced this crash in Call of Duty Modern Warfare as well, though with that game the CTD usually comes with a directX error code (6068, most often. I haven't been able to find much online about what that code actually means). I haven't played any other games on PC but I could try some others if you think that would help. I haven't tried a less intense game like Minecraft yet, so that would be interesting to see.

Are you thinking this could be a GPU issue or would that just be your next troubleshooting strategy?

PowerSpec_MikeW

It's possible it's the card. It's also possible that it's an issue specifically with this card and the games you're playing. This could be something that's part of a profile being applied to the card for those games specifically. Another game that is demanding would be a good test here. 

JackKandle

Ok thanks for the info, I'll try a different demanding game. I will post an update once I've had a change to give that a try.

PowerSpec_MichaelB

Looking over this thread, it looks like you've exhausted quite a few troubleshooting options. A couple of things I haven't seen yet involve the CPU (it provides the PCIe lanes you are using for your GPU, so it's not entirely out of the question) and any external devices connected to the system that may also trigger a crash. 

Starting with the CPU, I would advise reseating the processor and in doing so, making sure there are no bent pins or debris in the socket and that the gold contacts underneath  the CPU look clean. Wiping it down with 70% or higher Isopropyl Alcohol is not a bad idea as it would also remove any oils from your skin contact.

With the CPU and motherboard pins physically inspected, take note of the PCIe slot you have the card installed in. Conventional wisdom recommends having the card installed in the top-most PCIe x16 slot as it's typically wired to be full x16 bandwidth instead of x8 or x4. If you are already using this slot, it probably wouldn't hurt to give the next x16 slot a try to rule out a defective slot.

Lastly, try removing all external devices from the system except for mouse, keyboard & monitor. No external storage or unnecessary peripherals (VR headsets, racing equipment, video capture devices, etc). See if the CTD's still occur in your games. The goal is to remove as many variables as possible and rule out whats left.

JackKandle

@TSMikeW I was able to play Rocket League on max settings for 45 minutes with no issue. That's not the most demanding but its more modern than most games I have. Do you think that was demanding enough to really test your hypothesis or should I try another? The only others I have that I think of as demanding are Rainbow 6 Siege and Apex Legends. I may have Destiny 2 as well, though I don't know how much of the game I still have access to since it's changed so much over the years. 

@TSMichaelB Thanks for the additional input! I will re-seat and visually inspect my CPU this weekend as you have described and report back. I do not expect to find any issues since I hadn't so much as opened the case in 2 years prior to having these issues. In regard to the PCIe slots, my MOBO only has one x16 slot and it is the one currently in use. I could try the x8 slot if you think that's worth doing. For peripherals, I have tried this already. The only thing I use besides the monitor and KBM is my wireless headset but the CTD occurs with or without that headset being plugged in. I have tried also disabling the audio drivers for that device as well as unplugging it to no avail.

TSTonyV

JackKandle said:

@TSMikeW I was able to play Rocket League on max settings for 45 minutes with no issue. That's not the most demanding but its more modern than most games I have. Do you think that was demanding enough to really test your hypothesis or should I try another? The only others I have that I think of as demanding are Rainbow 6 Siege and Apex Legends. I may have Destiny 2 as well, though I don't know how much of the game I still have access to since it's changed so much over the years. 

@TSMichaelB Thanks for the additional input! I will re-seat and visually inspect my CPU this weekend as you have described and report back. I do not expect to find any issues since I hadn't so much as opened the case in 2 years prior to having these issues. In regard to the PCIe slots, my MOBO only has one x16 slot and it is the one currently in use. I could try the x8 slot if you think that's worth doing. For peripherals, I have tried this already. The only thing I use besides the monitor and KBM is my wireless headset but the CTD occurs with or without that headset being plugged in. I have tried also disabling the audio drivers for that device as well as unplugging it to no avail.

You should be fine to test Destiny 2, a large portion of the game is available as free-to-play anyway so even if it's been a while you'll have access to a lot of areas. Apex Legends would probably also be a good test. Never hurts to have more points of comparison. 

I'd definitely try what Mike B recommended, and let us know the results once you get the chance. 

JackKandle

All, firstly thanks again for all the suggestions and assistance. I have a couple updates. First, I was able to try Apex Legends and it also had a CTD with an error message (I'll attach a screenshot). However, yesterday my friends wanted to play call of duty Modern Warfare so I tried something new: I turned the resolution down from 1440p to 1080p and capped the frame rate at 90. With this configuration, I was able to play for about an hour and a half with no issues. Then, I tried leaving the FPS capped but turning the resolution back up to 1440p and it crashed within 5 mintues. Turned the 1440p back down to 1080 and played another 45 minutes with no issue. Then, I tried turning the FPS cap up to 144 and again the game crashed within 5 minutes or so. I was able to repeat this test with BO3 too - 1080p w/ FPS capped at 85 worked fine for an hour and a half. Turned it back up to 1440p and it crashed in 5 minutes.

I have not yet had a chance to inspect my CPU (need to get more rubbing alcohol) but I plan to do that this weekend and I will report back after I do so. Though having now been able to observe this behavior, it seems even more likely (to me anyway) that this is indeed related to the graphics card in some way.

Edit: one other new behavior I saw - once (before I lowered settings) in MW I was sitting in the menus waiting for my friends' match to end and I got a CTD. Theoretically, not even doing anything computationally intense just literally at the multiplayer menu. This was probably the first time I let the game sit in the menus for any extended period of time which is probably why it's the first time I saw it happen this way.

TSTonyV

That error message looks like it's related to DirectX. Something simple you can try just to rule this out: In the NVIDIA control panel under 3D settings there should be a performance mode. Set it to balanced or maximum and see if anything changes, assuming it's not already.

JackKandle

Is that the "Power management mode" setting (under global tab of Manage 3D settings)? I'm not seeing one that says just performance

Edit: Wait, you may mean the slider under "Adjust image settings with preview"? That one has a balanced option. It was set to emphasize Quality before, I will try it on Balanced and see if that makes any difference.

TSTonyV

I was talking specifically about the power management mode, but honestly setting any of those control panel settings back to their defaults could be a good step to try anyway. 

JackKandle

As far as I know they were on the defaults before, I don't think I've changed them. Anyway, I restored them all to default and then changed the power setting to maximum performance and got the CTD like usual. And since you mention DirectX, I do get DirectX error 6068 from Modern Warfare when it crashes. Also tried playing with the settings in the "adjust image settings menu," and continued to get the CTD with each option I tried.

TSTonyV

Yeah, I'd say this is definitely pointing towards a GPU problem. Michael's recommendations are probably still worth a shot, but popping multiple DirectX errors like that across different games usually points to driver related problems, but we've ruled drivers out at this point with the other things you've already tried. I'm comfortable saying this is a likely GPU problem, Mike and Michael might be able to weigh in more but I think that's pretty much where we've landed

JackKandle

Ok, thanks for the help. I will still inspect the CPU to be sure. So if we suspect this is a GPU problem, do you have any recommendations for ways to prove definitively that it's the GPU (and I suppose also rule out the possibility of a PCIe/motherboard issue)? OCCT does not find any errors but I haven't tried any other tools. My card has a 3 year warranty that expires in the fall so if I can prove there's an issue with it I can cash that in. I'm not sure if the software Microcenter uses to test things would reveal the issue but I'd pay to give that a shot if it has potential.

TSTonyV

The most definitive way would be to test another video card in the system and see if it does the same thing. 

You could always bring your computer to the service desk at your local store and we could run diagnostics on it, but that would be a $39.99 fee. 

JackKandle

I'll stick with finding another video card for now then and if that becomes a challenge I'll just pay for the diagnostic. And I'll still check the CPU just in case this weekend. I'll report back any updates once I have them. Thanks again!