Display issues - Crashing in games

Hi,

I would suggest you to uninstall and reinstall Dell recommended drivers of graphics card of your computer. 

To uninstall and re-install the video drivers: 

• Click on “Start” and right click on “Computer”.
• Click on “Manage”.
• Click on “Device Manager”.
• Under “Display adapters”, you will find the video driver listed.
• Right click on it and click on “uninstall”. (Check and make a note of the driver installed on your system and re-install the driver from the below steps accordingly).
• Check the box to delete the software.
• Restart your system and click on the below link: http://dell.to/OukFUO
• Enter the Service Tag of your system and select the operating system.
• You will find the video driver under “Video”.
• Click on the video driver depending on the video card your system has. (Install the same video driver which you uninstalled from “Device Manager”.
• Click on “Download File”.
• Select “For Single File Download via Browser”.
• Click on “Download Now”.
• Save the driver on your desktop.
• Once the driver is saved on desktop, right click on it and select “Run as administrator”.
• Install the video driver by following the on screen instructions.
• Check if the issue is resolved or not. If the issue still persists, update the system BIOS.

Note: Before flashing the BIOS please check the following:-

• Battery should have 10% or greater charge
• Adapter should be connected
• No external devices should be connected.
• All other programs should be closed and documents saved 

You can follow the steps below to update system BIOS: 

• Click on the below link: http://dell.to/OukFUO
• Enter the Service Tag of your system and select the operating system.
• Go to “BIOS” and click on the BIOS available.
• Click on “Download File”.
• Select “For Single File Download via Browser”.
• Click on “Download Now”.
• Save the BIOS on your desktop.
• Once the BIOS is downloaded on the desktop, right click on it and select “Run as administrator”.
• Follow the prompts on screen to install the BIOS.

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Please reply with the findings.

Above directions followed.  Problem still persists.

Hi,

If the issue still exists, I would suggest you to restore your computer to default factory settings and see if it works. 

Note: PC restore will lead to data (pictures, documents, programs, music) loss. Please perform a data backup prior to this step. Please disconnect any external peripherals (printer, scanner or any USB device) as well.

To perform PC restore:- 

1. Restart PC, press 3-4 times when the Dell logo appears.
2. Advanced Boot Options menu appears, ‘Repair your Computer' is highlighted, press Enter. (Use the arrow keys to highlight your choice)
3. Windows is loading files screen appears. Wait for it to load.
4. System Recovery Options prompt appears. Specify the language and keyboard input that you want, and then click ‘Next’.
5. Log in as a user who has administrative credentials; select the username from the drop-down list, type the password and click OK.
6. Choose a Recovery Tool Window appears, select Dell Data Safe Restore and Emergency Backup.
7. The Welcome screen will show 2 options; Restore computer and preserve my new or changed files and Select other System Backup and more options. Select the second option (Select other System Backup and more options) and click Next.
8. The next window shows these options; Backup Files and folders and Restore my computer. Select ‘Restore my computer’.
9. Select the Factory Image and click ‘Next’.
10. The next window shows 2 options; 'Preserve new or changed files before restoring to selected System Backup' and 'Restore without preserving new or changed files'. Select the second option (Restore without preserving new or changed files) and click Next.
11. A prompt appears stating that your computer is about to be restored all data currently on your computer will be deleted and replaced with your selected Full System Backup. If an Emergency File & Folder Backup was created, it will still be saved in the location you selected. Click 'Yes, continue' and click Next.
12. PC restore will initiate. Once done, click Restart.
13. Follow the onscreen instructions to create a user account. 

You can also refer to Article ID: 125843 on support.dell.com. Visit the website and enter the article ID in the search box.

I had crashing while in game issue (Crysis 3) fixed it with updating of video driver. certain NVIDIA drivers are not stable. I have now 296.10 working good.

Yeah I tried going through all the legacy and beta ones but nothing worked.  Its a weird issue though.  I only crash once and that's usually 2 minutes or less into a game.  After that one crash, I don't crash again until I put the computer back in sleep/hibernate/shut down.

I'm just going to reformat soon as I probably need to anyways.  I just wanted to know if anybody else had a suggestion beforehand.

Hi Blackarps,

Suggested steps:

1. Check in event viewer for any Bugcheck codes with Red X - Error. If you have any bugcheck codes - possible blue screen errors. - Do let me know the bugcheck code for further steps. If yes try step 2

2. Tap F8 on Dell logo and choose disable automatic restart on system failure.

3. Boot to windows and try playing the game, if it still crashes - might end up in a blue screen - get the error code - if same problem try step 4

4. Open the comp (if its a desktop) - Check whether fan spins on the video card, Reseat the power cable to the video card, reseat the Video card if possible.

5. Uninstall the Video drivers in device manager and uninstall the Nvidia Control Center & Nvidia Drivers from Programs and Features. Download the latest drivers from Nvidia.com and install the WHQL certified drivers only, check 32 bit / 64 bit drivers when you download.

6. Restart the computer - play the game still same issue? follow step 7.

7. Keep the side panel open when you launch the game (to check for possible Heat issues) if the game works then this is a heating issue.

8. Check the game requirements in www.systemrequirementslab.com - type your name of the game in the box and check for any hardware compatibility  issues.

9. Try installing other extra software requirements for the game like Nvidia Physx driver, .NET Framework 4.5 SP1, DirectX Web update, Visual C++ Redistributable, that needs to be installed or updated for the game to work.

10. None of these work then please follow DELL-Chinmay S 's steps to restore your computer to factory settings.

What is the name of the game, model number of PC to help you better. Please try the above mentioned steps before you wipe out your data and restore your computer.

For future use - do not uninstall video drivers only by conventional methods, use Driver Fusion (formerly Driver Sweeper) to remove any leftovers from NVIDIA/ATI drivers, read Geeks instructions, when using this programs be careful what you select to delete. Using only driver uninstall option leaves some crap behind, and this alone might cause you all those problem. Since you are about to reformat, try 296.10 driver first(first uninstall and use Driver Fusion), if no help, well reinstall all...

Its definitely not a heating issue.  The fan spins and I've even tried MSI Afterburner.

The most recent Bugcheck says the following:  

The computer has rebooted from a bugcheck.  The bugcheck was: 0x00000116 (0xfffffa800afe0010, 0xfffff8800faee630, 0xffffffffc000009a, 0x0000000000000004). A dump was saved in: C:\Windows\MEMORY.DMP. Report Id: 103012-20498-01.

I will try steps 2 and 3 now and post back the results.

kisianik, I'll use Driver Fusion the next time.  I've just done everything manually as its my preferred method.

Just found something interesting, it is long read - Windows 7 constantly crashing. Blue screen.STOP: 0X00000116, so cannot comment on content, just substitute ATI for NVIDIA (in that post), and it is also Dell?!

WHQL drivers are only half of the issue.

GPU overheating can be one.

Directx patch June 2010 should be installed BEFORE installing any video drivers.

Power supply ripple could be the other issue.  If you do not have a 750w power supply with 12V and 48 amps.

I do not see a DELL MODEL mentioned.

I do not see an OS VERSION and service pack level aka 32 or 64 bit Service pack 2?

DirectX End-User Runtimes (June 2010) - Microsoft

STOP: 0x00000116 - ????????.sys did not recover from timeout.

A problem has been detected and Windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

Attempt to reset the display driver and recover from timeout failed.

If this is the first time you've seen this Stop error screen, restart your computer.

If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to make sure any new hardware or software is properly installed.

If this is a new installation, ask your hardware or software manufacturer for any Windows updates you might need.

If problems continue, disable or remove any newly installed hardware or software.

Disable BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing.

If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press

F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x00000116

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.

Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further
assistance.