Graphics Card Crashing, not recovering, crashing computer

DCollins52

Estimable
Jul 5, 2014
5
0
4,510
So, I've got a 2009 M17x Alienware. I've got a dedicated Nvidia Geforce 9400 graphics card and a discrete Nvidia GeForce GTX 260m. Besides that, I don't know much. I think 4 CPUs, I know 8 gigs of RAM, and i'm running 64bit Windows 7.

The discrete card turns off if my computer goes on battery, but seems to be turning off more recently. My most recent attempt to fix this involved me going in Bios and changing a couple settings, one of which I thought I needed to change, but do not remember what it is. I believe its the bottom of the four. I pressed F10 to save and exit, and it came up with a box saying something about restore settings or reset. I don't remember. Anyway, I found out that my dad had failed to allocate half my Disk0 space to a drive, so I went from having (c: ) and (f: ) to (c: )(totally new) (f: )(unchanged) and (g: )(old c drive). Someone was helping me fix all this and set it up to keep this new C: drive as the operational booting drive rather than switch it back and risk completely ruining my computer. So, i switched all my personal files and a few programs from (g: ) to (c: ) and formatted (g: ).

Now, the problem. I've been playing arma 2, chivalry: medieval warfare, and arma 3 with no problems until this weekend. Now, anytime I launch, Arma 2 crashes my computer. The game video freezes, with the audio freezing temporarily. I'm able to talk in teamspeak for a few moments, but no keystrokes show onscreen/work(ctrl+alt+del, alt+tab, etc) Then my computer fully freezes, goes black, and then brings up the blue error message screen saying the display driver crashed and failed to recover in the timeout period(or something similar), dumps the physical memory, and reboots. Chivalry does this occasionally but can occasionally "reset" or recover if I instantly press ctrl alt del and take it off the game, then go back.

I checked my drivers through device manager and it says they are all up to date. However, i checked them with a program someone recommended on here for someone else, driver inspector, and it says I have 32 out-of-date drivers. It said all four of my IDE/ATAPI drivers were out of date, yet device manager says they are not.

Is this a driver problem, did I screw up when formatting (g: ), or is it something i simply have no clue about?

Please, give it to me simple. I know enough about computer to install necessary things, run stuff, and do diagnostic scans, but I do not code, put together, or set up computers. :)

--update-- It happened again. When It came back up, an error message window came up with "windows has recovered from an unexpected shutdown" and this was in more information:
Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BlueScreen
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.768.3
Locale ID: 1033

Additional information about the problem:
BCCode: 116
BCP1: FFFFFA800D1E14E0
BCP2: FFFFF88005F7F028
BCP3: FFFFFFFFC000009A
BCP4: 0000000000000004
OS Version: 6_1_7601
Service Pack: 1_0
Product: 768_1

Files that help describe the problem:
C:\Windows\Minidump\070614-119964-01.dmp
C:\Users\D****\AppData\Local\Temp\WER-489546-0.sysdata.xml
 
Solution
First of all, playing with BIOS is not really suggested when you are describing what you changed as "I believe it was the last four". It cannot really screw things at all but it can cause other chain reactions that one cannot really comprehend. You better reverse your settings to the stock ones.

Secondly, I see you are using some apps that require permission to access your drivers one of which is "a program" that you mentioned. Please get rid of them. Only drivers that are required to be updated are graphic drivers and chipset drivers. Even BIOS is not recommended to be updated unless there is a problem in your current version.

About your issue,
1. You can check your Intel Rapid Storage Technology (if you use it) and update or...

SpectreUnleashed

Estimable
Mar 22, 2014
13
0
4,570
First of all, playing with BIOS is not really suggested when you are describing what you changed as "I believe it was the last four". It cannot really screw things at all but it can cause other chain reactions that one cannot really comprehend. You better reverse your settings to the stock ones.

Secondly, I see you are using some apps that require permission to access your drivers one of which is "a program" that you mentioned. Please get rid of them. Only drivers that are required to be updated are graphic drivers and chipset drivers. Even BIOS is not recommended to be updated unless there is a problem in your current version.

About your issue,
1. You can check your Intel Rapid Storage Technology (if you use it) and update or re-install it. If you already not have it or it does not work, proceed to 2.

2. Obtain a trusted anti-virus ( a full version please). Run a full scan. If it does not find anything important go search McAfee Stinger Tool. It is a free tool provided by McAfee and it searches for spyware and rootkit. Look to the instructions and run it at the maximum capacity you want it to be. Watch out, Stinger is extremely volatile and mayhaps erase some files of yours; so backup any important data. If does not work; proceed 3.

3. Format your PC. Re-install all your necessary drivers and Windows updates. If does not work, proceed 4.

4. I am not sure but this error may be caused by memory itself. My searches emphasize on a RAM situation. You can try to replace your RAM's in your laptop which would cost you around 60-80 USD. However, I am not sure that would work either.

All solutions I offered are based on probabilities so please be careful about what to expect. Especially McAfee Stinger is a step to be careful. Hope you resolve it.

Also, you can search your BSOD error via typing "1033 BSOD Windows 7" to Google in order to learn more.
 
Solution

DCollins52

Estimable
Jul 5, 2014
5
0
4,510


Thanks a ton. I generally only messed with the BIOS hybrid graphics settings if the discrete card turned itself off, but something I saw on a forum made me think I needed to mess with the last option, with the options like "all, L1, L0" and something else. I want to say it was on L1 and I switched it to all. This provided the change that made me switch the computer back to an older state when I pressed F10, as best as I can tell.

I do not use #1. I have Norton 360(full, paid for for another 3 months) and have run multiple scans lately. Does this count? I know some people say it does not do anything, some people swear by it. I've got a notebook for college, so I'll get all my school files off this and over there and get that Stinger. Will let you know how that goes.

Really hope it doesnt go to #3, I'm pretty sure I upgraded Windows versions a few times, and theres about 350 gig worth of stuff to reinstall.

Do you know of any way to test whether or not #4 is needed? I can probably replace it, but don't want to without knowing thats the right thing to do.
 

SpectreUnleashed

Estimable
Mar 22, 2014
13
0
4,570


You can download Intel Extreme Tuning Utility and via that program you can put your RAM under a stress test. After that program will tell you about RAM stability. That could be a way to identify if your RAM works properly. However, YOU SHOULD NOT TWEAK WITH ANY OF THE SETTINGS AT THE UTILITY, YOU MAY DAMAGE YOUR DEVICE PERMANENTLY.

Also, try to update your Harddisk drivers from your harddisk manifacturers site, it may have an effect too.

About Norton, as I said if nothing's been found by Anti-Virus try to use Stinger. It does not matterif it is Norton ESED or McAfee. Most Anti-Viruses are programmed to find malware and trojan but nothing else.
 

DCollins52

Estimable
Jul 5, 2014
5
0
4,510


Intel XTU will not download. Says I'm on an unsupported platform. Windows 7 home Premium 64 bit is what I have though.

Stinger found nothing.
 

SpectreUnleashed

Estimable
Mar 22, 2014
13
0
4,570
https://downloadcenter.intel.com/Detail_Desc.aspx?DwnldID=19683 Are you sure? Because it is available for Windows 7 64 bit.

Also, since there are no viruses to be found by Stinger.... I am unable to interpret the situation lol :D

OK. Another try. Install GeForce Experience via : http://www.geforce.com/geforce-experience/download
Then using the drivers pane at the application, choose re-install driver. Think it as a repair button instead of a re-install button.

Lets try it. Because re-installing my own drivers worked on me before.
 

DCollins52

Estimable
Jul 5, 2014
5
0
4,510
"Sorry, Nvidia GeForce could not find a driver for this PC." I think I may be a bit outdated now.

I checked the nvidia site, and it told me to download the GeForce 337.88 driver for my computer. here's hoping.
---update---
Downloaded the driver, started installing, and then it says "no suitable graphics hardware detected"...... it may not be a driver thing then.