New Computer BSoD after 5 to 10 minutes

Hello all,

I got a new Alienware Aurora R4, Intel Core i7-3820, 4.1 ghz, 8 gb DDR3 ram at 2133 MHz, with a Geforge 680 GTX and Soundblaster X-Fi Titanium. Ever since installing CoH I can't play for more than about 10 minutes without getting a blue screen showing a stop at 0x00000116 and mentioning nvlddmkm.sys. I've tried clean installs of the latest geforce drivers (301.42) as well as the latest beta drivers, but those don't help. I've tried disabling the sound card to see if there was a conflict there, but that didn't help either. I've tried adjusting the graphics settings in Coh, but haven't found one that works.

CoH seems to be the only thing crashing. Skyrim ran fine for the hour+ I tested it on max graphics and overheating doesn't seem to be the issue.

Any help you can offer in trying to track the problem down would be greatly appreciated.

My CoH helper info:

---System information gathered by CoH Helper version 0.2.0.2---

DxDiag gathered at June 30, 2012 21:11 (-04:00)
Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_rtm.101119-1850)
System Manufacturer: Alienware
System Model: Aurora-R4
BIOS: BIOS Date: 02/08/12 15:27:32 Ver: 04.06.05
Central Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3820 CPU @ 3.60GHz (8 CPUs), ~3.6GHz
Memory: 8192MB
.Net Memory Report: 6221MB out of 8144MB available
Page File: 13849MB (2437MB currently in use)
C Drive: (ATA ST2000DM001-9YN1 SCSI Disk Device) 1820950MB out of 1898317MB (95%) free
E Drive: (PLDS BD-RE DH-8B2SH SCSI CdRom Device) zero-size drive
Windows directory location: C:\Windows
DirectX: DirectX 11
DirectX Diag version: 6.01.7601.17514 (64-bit version)

Display Notes: No problems found.
Sound Notes: No problems found.

No problems found.

No problems found.
Input Notes: No problems found.

Monitor:
Monitor's Max Resolution: (blank)
Video Device Name: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680
Manufacturer / Chip: NVIDIA / GeForce GTX 680
Video Memory: 4042 MB
Driver Version: 8.17.13.142
Driver Date: 5/15/2012 6:48:00 AM
Driver Language: English

Sound Device Description: Speakers (Creative SB X-Fi)
Driver File: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1348
Driver Date: 7/7/2010 10:16:24 PM

Sound Device Description: SPDIF Out (Creative SB X-Fi)
Driver File: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1348
Driver Date: 7/7/2010 10:16:24 PM

Sound Device Description: Digital Audio (HDMI) (Creative SB X-Fi)
Driver File: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 6.00.0001.1348
Driver Date: 7/7/2010 10:16:24 PM


WMI Information
Motherboard Manufacturer: Alienware
Motherboard Model: (empty)
Motherboard Product: 07JNH0
Motherboard Version: A00
BIOS Manufacturer: Alienware
BIOS Name: BIOS Date: 02/08/12 15:27:32 Ver: 04.06.05
BIOS Version: ALWARE - 1072009
BIOS Release: 20120208000000.000000+000


Registry Information for Current User
Resolution: 1920x1080
3D Resolution: 1920x1080 (Not using renderscale)
Full Screen: Yes
Maximized: No
Screen Position: 0, 0
Refresh Rate: 60Hz
Vertical Sync Enabled: Yes


Physics Quality: High
Maximum Particles: 50000
Max Particle Fill? 10.000
Physics Card Enabled: No


Anti-aliasing: 16x
Anisotropic Filtering: 4x
Texture LOD Bias: Smooth
Water Effects: Ultra quality
Bloom: 1.000 (turned on)
Depth of Field Enabled: Yes
Desaturation Effects (Sepia) Enabled: Yes
Shader Detail: High


World Texture Level: Very High
Character Texture Level: Very High
World Detail Level (Vis_Scale): 1.000
Entity Detail Level: 1.000
Shadows Enabled: No
Shadow Mode: Unknown (5)
Shadow Map Shader: High quality
Environmental Reflections: Ultra quality
Advanced Occlusion Settings: No
Ambient Occlusion: High quality
Occlusion Strength: Strong
Blur: Trilateral
Ambient Resolution: Quality


Gamma Correction: 1.000
Geometry Buffers (VBOs) Enabled: Yes
Suppression of FX When Camera Close Enabled: No
Close Suppression Range: 3.000
Show Advertisements: Yes

Audio Mode: Performance
3D Audio: No
FX Sound Volume: 0.600
Music Sound Volume: 0.600

Show Advanced Graphics Options: Yes
Overall Graphics Quality: 1.000
Reverse Mouse Buttons: No
Save Login Username: Yes
Transfer Rate: Unknown bytes/second
Current Game Version: ?
Installation Directory: C:\Program Files (x86)\NCsoft\City of Heroes

Mod files in the Data directory
.\texture_library\MAPS\city has 2 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\Dark_Astoria_makeover has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Midnight_Squad has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\NewPlayerTutorial has 1 file
.\texture_library\MAPS\Safeguard has 9 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\sewers has 44 files
.\texture_library\MAPS\static has 41 files
.\texture_library\P_MAPS has 2 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\City has 2 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Outdoor_Missions has 9 files
.\texture_library\V_MAPS\Static has 16 files

My Hijack this data:

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.4
Scan saved at 9:14:51 PM, on 6/30/2012
Platform: Windows 7 SP1 (WinNT 6.00.3505)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v9.00 (9.00.8112.16421)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
C:\Program Files (x86)\AlienRespawn\TOASTER.EXE
C:\Program Files (x86)\AlienRespawn\COMPONENTS\SCHEDULER\STSERVICE. EXE
C:\Program Files (x86)\AlienRespawn\Components\DSUpdate\DSUpd.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology enterprise\IAStorIcon.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerDVD9\PDVD9Serv.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\Shared files\brs.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer\Naga\RazerNagaSysTray.exe
C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe
C:\WINDOWS\SysWOW64\Ctxfihlp.exe
C:\Windows\SysWOW64\CTXFISPI.EXE
C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Program Files\Alienware\Command Center\AlienwareAlienFXController.exe
C:\Program Files\Alienware\Command Center\AWCCApplicationWatcher32.exe
C:\Program Files\Alienware\Command Center\AlienFusionController.exe
C:\Users\Chris\Downloads\HijackThis.exe

R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://AlienwareArena.com
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://AlienwareArena.com
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Local Page = C:\Windows\SysWOW64\blank.htm
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Int ernet Settings,ProxyOverride = *.local
R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Toolbar,LinksFolderName =
F2 - REG:system.ini: UserInit=userinit.exe
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHelperStub - {18DF081C-E8AD-4283-A596-FA578C2EBDC3} - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelperShim.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IAStorIcon] C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology enterprise\IAStorIcon.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RemoteControl9] "c:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerDVD9\PDVD9Serv.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PDVD9LanguageShortcut] "c:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerDVD9\Language\Language.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [BDRegion] c:\Program Files (x86)\Cyberlink\Shared Files\brs.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe Reader Speed Launcher] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Adobe\Reader 10.0\Reader\Reader_sl.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Adobe ARM] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Adobe\ARM\1.0\AdobeARM.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Razer Naga Driver] C:\Program Files (x86)\Razer\Naga\RazerNagaSysTray.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [APSDaemon] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Apple Application Support\APSDaemon.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [iTunesHelper] "C:\Program Files (x86)\iTunes\iTunesHelper.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTxfiHlp] CTXFIHLP.EXE
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-19\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'LOCAL SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-20\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'NETWORK SERVICE')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-21-788443174-657151411-2113607558-1003\..\Run: [Sidebar] %ProgramFiles%\Windows Sidebar\Sidebar.exe /autoRun (User 'UpdatusUser')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-21-788443174-657151411-2113607558-1003\..\RunOnce: [mctadmin] C:\Windows\System32\mctadmin.exe (User 'UpdatusUser')
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\RunOnce: [CTAutoUpdate] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Creative\Shared Files\Software Update\AutoUpdate.exe" /RunFromInstaller (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\RunOnce: [CTAutoUpdate] "C:\Program Files (x86)\Creative\Shared Files\Software Update\AutoUpdate.exe" /RunFromInstaller (User 'Default user')
O11 - Options group: [ACCELERATED_GRAPHICS] Accelerated graphics
O16 - DPF: {682C59F5-478C-4421-9070-AD170D143B77} (Launcher Class) - http://www.dell.com/support/troubles.../Ode/pcd86.cab
O16 - DPF: {D4B68B83-8710-488B-A692-D74B50BA558E} (Creative Software AutoUpdate Support Package 2) - http://ccfiles.creative.com/Web/soft...3/CTPIDPDE.cab
O16 - DPF: {E705A591-DA3C-4228-B0D5-A356DBA42FBF} (Creative Software AutoUpdate 2) - http://ccfiles.creative.com/Web/soft...15/CTSUEng.cab
O16 - DPF: {F6ACF75C-C32C-447B-9BEF-46B766368D29} (Creative Software AutoUpdate Support Package) - http://ccfiles.creative.com/Web/soft...0926/CTPID.cab
O23 - Service: Adobe Flash Player Update Service (AdobeFlashPlayerUpdateSvc) - Adobe Systems Incorporated - C:\Windows\SysWOW64\Macromed\Flash\FlashPlayerUpda teService.exe
O23 - Service: Andrea RT Filters Service (AERTFilters) - Andrea Electronics Corporation - C:\Program Files\Realtek\Audio\HDA\AERTSr64.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\Alg.exe,-112 (ALG) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\alg.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Alienware Fusion Service (AlienFusionService) - Alienware - C:\Program Files\Alienware\Command Center\AlienFusionService.exe
O23 - Service: Apple Mobile Device - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Apple\Mobile Device Support\AppleMobileDeviceService.exe
O23 - Service: Bonjour Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\Bonjour\mDNSResponder.exe
O23 - Service: CyberLink Product - 2012/06/28 06:02:59 (CLKMSVC10_9EC60124) - CyberLink - c:\Program Files (x86)\CyberLink\PowerDVD9\NavFilter\kmsvc.exe
O23 - Service: Creative ALchemy AL6 Licensing Service - Creative Labs - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Creative Labs Shared\Service\AL6Licensing.exe
O23 - Service: Creative Audio Engine Licensing Service - Creative Labs - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Creative Labs Shared\Service\CTAELicensing.exe
O23 - Service: Creative Audio Service (CTAudSvcService) - Creative Technology Ltd - C:\Program Files (x86)\Creative\Shared Files\CTAudSvc.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\efssvc.dll,-100 (EFS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\fxsresm.dll,-118 (Fax) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\fxssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology (IAStorDataMgrSvc) - Intel Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Rapid Storage Technology enterprise\IAStorDataMgrSvc.exe
O23 - Service: iPod Service - Apple Inc. - C:\Program Files\iPod\bin\iPodService.exe
O23 - Service: @keyiso.dll,-100 (KeyIso) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Mozilla Maintenance Service (MozillaMaintenance) - Mozilla Foundation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Mozilla Maintenance Service\maintenanceservice.exe
O23 - Service: @comres.dll,-2797 (MSDTC) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\msdtc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\System32\netlogon.dll,-102 (Netlogon) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (nvsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\nvvsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Update Service Daemon (nvUpdatusService) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\NVIDIA Update Core\daemonu.exe
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\psbase.dll,-300 (ProtectedStorage) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\Locator.exe,-2 (RpcLocator) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\locator.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\samsrv.dll,-1 (SamSs) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: SoftThinks Agent Service (SftService) - SoftThinks SAS - C:\Program Files (x86)\AlienRespawn\sftservice.EXE
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\snmptrap.exe,-3 (SNMPTRAP) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\snmptrap.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\spoolsv.exe,-1 (Spooler) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\spoolsv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\sppsvc.exe,-101 (sppsvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\sppsvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: Steam Client Service - Valve Corporation - C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Steam\SteamService.exe
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\ui0detect.exe,-101 (UI0Detect) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\UI0Detect.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vaultsvc.dll,-1003 (VaultSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\lsass.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%SystemRoot%\system32\vds.exe,-100 (vds) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\System32\vds.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\vssvc.exe,-102 (VSS) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\vssvc.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%systemroot%\system32\wbengine.exe,-104 (wbengine) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbengine.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%Systemroot%\system32\wbem\wmiapsrv.exe,-110 (wmiApSrv) - Unknown owner - C:\Windows\system32\wbem\WmiApSrv.exe (file missing)
O23 - Service: @%PROGRAMFILES%\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe,-101 (WMPNetworkSvc) - Unknown owner - C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Media Player\wmpnetwk.exe (file missing)

--
End of file - 9883 bytes

Kill the AlienFX control programs.

There have been known issues with it and CoH in the past.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

Not helpful but..I feel your pain. Figures its a new super machine too.

I remember a big LAN I went to..The Big Day In, a few years ago. We all get in, set up (300 people I think) and the organisers are welcoming us. They say they can provide tech support..at 500 bucks a minute (a joke obviously) since they were there to just have fun.

Literally 2 minutes after teh event starts..a guy near me got a BSOD. And spent half the 2 days trying to get his machine going

Good luck with the issue.

I haven't a clue based on the specs, but that rig 'feels' like it's been OC'd. Since CoX uses hardware differently than Skyrim, then perhaps that's related?

Like the last posters comment: Are you overclocked at all, even with the BLK ?
I think the 3820 is max. turbo @ 3.8, perhaps you are while being at 4.1Ghz in your original post.
Please clear cmos and then enter bios to just change your Memory frequency then reboot. I'm not suggesting you couldn't even hit higher frequency with proper cooling, it's just a great idea to start with a stable baseline. City might run great at stock, then you could go up from there.

I'd recommend lowering the graphics settings to the minimum and then adjusting them one at a time and testing to see if the system runs stable.

Don't crank AA to 16x.

I'd recommend leaving Ambient Occlusion set to Off.

Also, some people have been reporting having problems with City of Heroes and Steam lately. Shut Steam off completely (Services included) and see if that helps with the problems.

If you still haven't found the source of the problems after that, launch the game in Safe Mode and run it for a while to see if it does the same thing. To launch the game in Safe Mode, right-click the game entry in the NCLauncher and select Properties. On the Properties page, put a checkmark in the box labeled Launch in Safe Mode and then click OK. Then launch the game.

Skyrim runs on DirectX and City of Heroes runs on OpenGL. Two different graphics engines run the games so comparing how they run is useless.

The machine is overclocked out of the box. This is my first overclocked machine, so I'm going to have read up on overclocking before I start tinkering with the Bios. I know basics, but I'm not comfortable tinkering with more advanced Bios settings.

I was able to play with no crashes in safemode. I switched off safe mode and turned the graphics slider to the Performance setting, with 1920x1080 resolution and slowly moved up to 16x FSAA (haven't tried going up to max FSAA). I've been able to play at Performance for about two hours total with no crashes, so it appears to be stable. Moving up to the next step on the graphics slider (Recommended) results in crashes within a few minutes.

This was all without adjusting the Steam service. Overlooked that part before.

Wait. You're running Steam?
Why didn't I see that in there?

If so, turn it OFF and launch the game normally through the NCSoft Launcher.

Currently Steam's overlay is known for causing issues with the current builds of CoH.

Clicking on the linked image above will take you off the City of Heroes site. However, the guides will be linked back here.

I launch the game through the CoH launcher, and I don't have Steam running when I play, but someone pointed out that the Steam Service is running in the background services.

if the rig was purchased that way and you're not a 'tinkerer' like some of us, then by all means don't mess with it to be safe. I dont' know what to look for when it comes to steam, but with many problems listed this year alone, I concure with the rest. Somewhere in the forums there is a guide to graphics settings. I'd look that up so you can get an idea of what to turn up/down and to what levels.

Currently I have a high end system that plays this game flawlessly. My ingame settings only differ from having FSAA on 2x and Enviromental Reflections are on second to last setting @ 1920x1080. Again, it's completely reasonable for your CPU+GPU+RAM to give spectacular results even in ULTRA mode, even on Full TPN, BAFs etc etc
For such a wonderful game especially in ULTRA settings (even on full League trials) I'd never personally accept inferior performance with great technology. BSOD errors are only great in one regard you can ultimately find exactly what is causing them and implement a fix.
A few things I tend to do are 1. Update the OS 2. Update Drivers 3. Test for stability and run general benchmark software/s with a focus on scores. Most benchmarks will make it easy to show if your scoring in concurrence with your specific hardwares.
If the above showed stability I'd assume my specific application/game/software was the culprit and resintall.
Final thought:
No matter what game, no matter how high ingame settings a properly configured pc would not just BSOD. I'd accept a crash back to OS/ Windows perhaps.
Good luck and fantastic pc!

At the suggestion of CoH tech support I tried disabling all non-Microsoft services, including the Steam service, and still got the same crash, so it doesn't appear to be Steam. I've also tried a fresh install of CoH, that didn't help either. Windows is up to date. I haven't tried a fresh install of Windows, but I did restore it to the factory default image (though if there were an error in the original image then that wouldn't help) before I did the fresh CoH install. I've run various Alienware and Dell diagnostics, but none of those detected anything. I ran Windows Memory Diagnostic, but it didn't detect any problems either.

I'm going to try playing around with the graphics setting to see if I can figure out if there is one specific slider that's causing the problems.

I played around with the graphics setting. Any level of environmental reflections causes a blue screen. Shadow Quality above "lowest" causes a bluescreen. Any level of Ambient Occlusion causes a blue screen. It looks like I can turn the other graphics settings up with no problems. This was all while running FSAA at 16x.

I ran the Furmark benchmark (which I understand is a fairly brutal OpenGL benchmark), to see if that would result in a crash, but was able to run the Burn-In test just fine and got a score of a little under 4000.

As long as Paragon Studios QA knows they can work with nvidia if its a problem with the GTX 680 and CoX.

I wanted to add an update in case other Alienware owners stumble across this thread. Finally resolved the problem. The crashes started occurring more frequently and in other games. Turned out the video card was bad. Alienware replaced the card and now everything runs fine on max settings. Also, the game appears to run fine with the current versions of the various Alienware programs (command center, alienfx, alienrespawn, etc). So if you are having problems, the Alienware programs are not necessarily at fault.

Thanks for the update.