Troubled computer

patful

patful

Charter Member
My new rig ran fine for four months, P3D v4 was perfect. Windows 10 Pro updated on August 11. Right around that time I noticed ground textures (especially roads) were a little blurry, so I upped the Texture Resolution and it seemed to help. The blurriness got progressively worse to the point that textures were finally popping into focus right under the aircraft in external view. Even the color seems off. It doesn't matter if I have my settings maxed out or bare minimum. I get 35-40fps over NYC with settings near max, Active Sky ASP4/ASCA, UTX/GEP3D, and A2A Connie, no stuttering, just blurry textures. Updated Nvidia drivers, no help. I reinstalled P3D v4 and left out the addons, no change. Last week I had the screen freeze up a couple of times while running Chrome (not video content). Yesterday I started to get blue screens, errors in dxgmms2.sys, ntoskrnl.exe, and win32kbase.sys. All three of these were updated with Windows 10 on the 11th. I've run RealBench and Superposition and saw no problems with temps, voltages, or screen glitches (highest CPU temp ~60, GPU 69). I ran the Intel Processor Diagnostic Tool and the Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool, no problems noted. Samsung Magician says my SSDs are fine. I've run logs of temps and voltages during varying tasks, everything seems okay.

I'm hesitant to start over and reinstall Windows fearing a shutdown during installation, then I'd have nothing to analyze. Anybody have any ideas what could be wrong? Thanks.

Pat

i5 7600K 3.8/4.2 GHz with Cryorig H7 cooler, Gigabyte GA-Z270X Gaming 5, Gigabyte Windforce 2 GTX 1060 6GB, G Skill Ripjaws V 16GB DDR4 2400, Corsair RM750X, 2 x 250GB Samsung 850 EVO SSDs, 1TB WD Black HD
 
I've just moved this from the Toy Room forum as it had very few visits and clearly Pat has a serious problem.
 
Your symptoms sound suspiciously like a bad video card/drivers issue. Have you tried rolling back your video drivers to see if that helps?
 
Could it be your graphics card overheating...the fan isn't bunged up with fluff or such-like?
 
Thanks, guys. My first thought was the card as well, but it's not overheating, it runs between 37-40C running Chrome when it shuts down, and never over 66C over NYC in P3D (I have an on-screen display going), and 69C during Superposition benchmark and Realbench stress tests. No dust on it at all. I was using Nvidia 382.53, then tried the newer 385.41, and even the older 376.33. Realbench locked up each time with 376.33 during the OpenCL test, but worked fine with the others, guessing it didn't like the outdated drivers.

I've moved my work over to my backup computer, so I can play around with this now. I'll probably disable the GPU and run on the Intel graphics, but can't really test it in P3D that way, not powerful enough to run it. At least that way I can see if Chrome shuts it down again. If not, then it likely is the graphics card?
 
The win32kbase.sys can mean any number of hardware or software related issues... but as has happened to a number of folks after a Win10 update it is rather common to see this error when OS device drivers become incorrectly configured, old, or corrupted. Of course, the dxgmms2.sys is related to DirectX Graphics but it, too, is another sys file. And ntoskrnl.exe, like win32kbase.sys, is another "catch-all" system error.

Based upon what you say about the hardware (in good condition and running well before the Win10 update) and the fact that reinstalling P3Dv4 made no difference, the OS update on Aug 11 seems to me to be the primary suspect. Do you have a restore point/image back-up you can use to troubleshoot or return the system to?

Good luck,

Greg
 
Thanks for the process info, Greg. I never dig into this stuff until forced. :adoration: I do have restore points previous to the update, but I uninstalled all of my addons since that time, not sure restoring would work now. I could roll back the offending update, but won't Windows eventually put it right back on my system even if I delay its return? That's why I was considering a fresh install of everything. Decisions, decisions, just glad I didn't give away my backup computer!

Pat
 
patful said:
I could roll back the offending update, but won't Windows eventually put it right back on my system even if I delay its return? That's why I was considering a fresh install of everything.
Click to expand...

I used the registry method to prevent MS from auto updating my wife's Win10 computer. Here's a website that explains that option and the Local Group Policy Editor method: https://www.windowscentral.com/how-stop-updates-installing-automatically-windows-10

I still believe your computer is healthy and that your OS is fouled-up. I'd roll back the update before reinstalling the OS... worth a try and won't cost anything. You seem to have been thorough in troubleshooting the issue... but if I were in your position I'd try a couple last ditch (easy) items before reinstalling the OS. Firstly, reinstall the motherboard chipset drivers then reboot and check the sim. Failing that, use Display Driver Uninstaller (in Windows Safe Mode... you can start the process in Windows, choose Safe Mode, and DDU will reboot into Safe Mode to do the cleaning) then install a set of nVidia drivers you know are good for your system and P3Dv4. DDU is here: https://www.wagnardsoft.com/

Whether you roll back the update or choose to reinstall be sure to use one of the methods above to gain some semblance of control over MS forcing an update on you.

Hoping for the best,

Greg
 
Thanks for the help, Greg. I had already used Group Policy to make Windows 10 ask for permission to install updates, and I blocked driver updates. I didn't, however, set feature updates to Current Branch for Business. Maybe that was my downfall. Anyway, after trying just about everything, I ended up reinstalling Windows. Everything seems fine other than the blurry roads in front of the plane in external views. Maybe they were always like that with my GPU? I usually just stay in the VC. Actually, P3D is running better this time around since I didn't install some of the hardware's bloatware, eventually set all of the autogen settings all the way to the right, no stutters at 35-40 fps over LA and NY. Just installed the monthly Windows update this morning, no problems. Flying again! Woohoo!

Pat
 
If anyone ever has a problem with the textures not being clear until you're nearly on top of them, I did find a fix of sorts. Adding TEXTURE_SIZE_EXP=9 in the TERRAIN section of Prepar3D.cfg worked wonders on my machine. Doubles the loading time, knocks off 2 fps in NYC, and increases GPU memory usage from 1.5GB to 2.5GB, but it's worth it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top