Bsods Caused By Video Game? Windows Driver? Nvidia Video Card (or Driver)?

I've been having issues lately with my 4 year old laptop crashing on me with "Blue Screens of Death". These "Blue Screens of Death" have said two things so far: DPC Watchdog Violation and Video Scheduler Internal Error. I play a lot of Lord of the Rings Online (a popular MMO) through the Steam video game program, and the BSoDs only occur when playing this video game. I do not play any other video games lately.

It should probably be noted that my Dell laptop was built with two video cards in it:

• Intel HD Graphics 3000
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 540M

What I've tried so far:

• Removing the Lord of the Rings Online game from my Steam program, reinstalling it separate from Steam, and playing it without Steam instead
• Uninstalling both video card's drivers completely with Display Driver Uninstaller and reinstalling with the latest drivers for each
• Playing the game with DirectX 9, 10, or 11
• In the nVidia Control Panel:
  • Running the Lord of the Rings Online game with the default Auto-select options
  • In Manage 3D Settings: Setting the Global Setting for using the nVidia card (instead of Auto-selecting the 'best' card)
  • Set PhysX Configuration: Setting my nVidia Geforce card to the PhysX processor (as opposed to leaving it at the default Auto-select)
• Playing the Lord of the Rings Online game through Windows 7 Compatilibility mode
• Eliminating malware as a possibility (my system is cleen): http://forums.majorgeeks.com/index.php?threads/possible-infection-askbar.315659/

None of the above have resolved the solution or managed to avoid the issue at all. Playing Lord of the Rings Online through Windows 7 Compatibility mode along with the nVidia Control Panel stuff led to not having BSoDS for two days, but I just now had another BSoD occur even with these two items set.

Of the 3 most recent BSoDs, according to NirSoft's BlueScreenView, the driver that appears to have caused them are watchdog.sys; which appears to be a Windows driver.

The same 3 driver files are highlighted in red with all 3 BSoD memory dump files:

• dxgmms2.sys
• nvlddmkm.sys (an nVidia driver)
• watchdog.sys

It should also be noted: I have once or twice had Lord of the Rings Online itself actually crash (instead of my computer) where it was complaining about something to do with DirectX and I believe the error was numbered 128.

Also, I am unsure as to whether I should also pose this question in possibly 3 additional external forums: Microsoft forums, nVidia forums, and The Lord of the Rings Online forums. I still can't tell if this is possibly a problem with Windows, nVidia's drivers, or the Lord of the Rings Online video game.

These issues did not seem to occur at all before I updated my nVidia drivers and when the Lord of the Rings Online had a recent update to the game.

 

Also, I am using Windows 10 Pro. I have not had problems with Lord of the Rings Online in the past (I've been playing it since 2011). I've been playing it for years on this laptop and have never had problems with it crashing my computer before.

When playing Lord of the Rings Online lately, the game often seems to pause/lag when I am moving around in the main game...it especially seems to do this when the game is having to load other players nearby. This seems to occur a lot less when I am inside a building or other structures in the game.

 

Just had a 4th BSoD occur while playing Lord of the Rings Online.

The error name was VIDEO_MEMORY_MANAGEMENT_INTERNAL.

NirSoft's BlueScreenView says this one was also caused by the driver watchdog.sys. The bug check code is 0x0000010e.

This 4th BSoD DID NOT have the usual nvlddmkm.sys file highlighted in red in NirSoft's BlueScreenView program. But it still had dxgmms2.sys and watchdog.sys listed in red.

All of the previous BSoDs that produced the Video Scheduler Internal Errors have a bug check code of 0x00000119.

 

Just got a 5th BSoD already. I attempted running the game in Window mode and it pretty quickly crashed after just 5-10 minutes of gameplay. This BSoD is the same result as the previous Video Scheduler Internal Error ones when looking in NirSoft's BlueScreenView.

Also, additional update on the What I've tried so far (I forgot this one):

• Playing Lord of the Rings Online with AVG's Internet Security protections and firewall completely disabled.

 

I'm no expert but the latest video drivers are not always the best choice. I would never update drivers unless the old ones simply didn't work.
Check the NVIDIA forum for comments re the current drivers?
Have only ever had to update a video driver twice since the beginning of games...as PC's, and therefore drivers, are normally updated every 3 to 5 years anyway.

 

I normally find that using a system like steam can cause issues with games.Be cause they be come corrupt.When i play MMO i just download the Game launcher it self.This creates less issues to worry about.I personally don't like steam.

Any who

As for your Video Scheduler Internal Error.You will need to completely remove your video cards graphic's drivers.And install a fresh one.

I would recommend using the IObit Uninstaller http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/iobit_uninstaller.html

And for your DPC Watchdog Violation i would recommend the following below.

Method 1: Check Corrupted Hard Drive

You also may try this method to fix dpc watchdog violation blue screen error.

Steps:
1. Open Command Prompt as Administrator.

2. Type CHKDSK C: /F /R and press enter.

https://static.xtremerain.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/b.png

3. Type Y and press enter.

4. Restart your Computer.

Method 2: Safe Mode
This method is one of the most successful method to solve dpc watchdog violation. Just follow the steps-

Steps:
1. You need to turn on your PC in safe mode. So at first turn of your PC.

2. Now press on power button to turn on your PC.

3. After pressing power button, press F8 continuously. (F8 is common key. But sometimes it may not work for some PC/Laptops)

https://static.xtremerain.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/11/bbb.png

4. Now you will see a black screen with some options. Select Safe mode and press enter.

5. Your PC will be opened in safe mode. Now remove all of your external drivers and network drivers. (Most of the time Network drivers are responsible for dpc watchdog violation). To do it you just need to go to Computer/This PC properties > Device Manager.

6. After uninstalling these devices and install them again and update these drivers to latest version.

7. Now restart your PC.

Method 3: Fix System Files
Scanning and fixing system files sometimes works great to fix dpc watchdog violation. To do it –

• Disconnect internet and any network.
• Disable any security software installed on your PC. Example: Antivirus, Internet Security, Third-party Firewall etc.
• Open Command Prompt in Administrator mode.
• Type SFC /SCANNOW and press Enter.
• Wait for a few minutes to complete the process.
• Now restart your PC.

Many windows 10, windows 8 & 8.1 users found this helpful to fix dpc watchdog violation.

These Should help you with this issue.

And i would all so run a few scans of Malwarebytes and SUPERAntiSpyware .

 

Thank you for all of the suggestions. I did everything you mentioned.

Method 1 did not result in any errors found.

Method 3 did not find any errors either.

There were no infections found in the Malwarebytes scan.

The SUPERAntiSpyware scan only found 3 Tracking Cookies it wanted to remove.

I just tried playing the game again and it already crashed again. Sometimes when it crashes the Windows 10 BSoD error screen doesn't even show up (like this latest crash). It simply completely froze the computer with a humming coming out of the speakers (probably from the last sound it froze on in the game). Everything is completely unresponsive when this occurs, including the keyboard. The only thing I can do with these particular crashes is turn the computer off with the physical power button.

Is there anything else I should try?

At this point through process of elimination, it seems to me the most likely cause is either old, faulty hardware; Windows 10 as it is on this computer right now; possible issue with recent implementations of Windows or nVidia drivers; or possibly the game itself right now.

 

Ok let's find out what your current Blue Screen is.

This tiny program is very good.No need for installing just unpack folder and run the program.And than save any info and past it to this thread and we will take a look.

Blue Screen View 1.55
http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/bluescreenview.html

 

Have you tried to re download the game with out steam or is your in-game account connected to steam.

And is this the only game that you are playing that is having this issues.

 

I downloaded the game last night and i can not even play the game in 1600x900 screen resolution.There is some thing wrong with the game.A bad patch or some thing. was reading reports about that in 2014 people where getting these issues.

My games that i play are higher end games that take a lot of video graphics.I can play GTA 5 on my laptop on highest settings and i have zero issues.I can all so play SWTOR this is all so a very cpu and video intensive game.I all so play Star trek online which is in mid range graphics.

I run

Windows 7 64 bit Pro
AMD Radeon R6 Graphics 512.0Mb APU
8 Gigs of ram
AMD A 10-8700P Processor In which case i have a APU cpu that has my VIDEO and Processor integrated into the core.My Quad core runs at 2.53 ghz.
And a 240 gig Kingston SSD

So it not just you that is having issues.Put a bug report in with turbine.

So I would say either can the game and go with another that does not crash or wait and see if it gets fixed with next patch.If it where up to me i would delete the game.And just to let you know i did not use steam.I downloaded the Game launcher it self.I was able to create a character and ended up in the start of prison with strider breaking me out than it crashed.Could not even click on any thing for 4 or 5 mins.

 

I am retracting my state meant.

Correction for me i was able to get to run Perfectly I am currently running the game on ultra settings.No issues.

So either it's steam Causing issues or your laptop.Give me any blue screens you have and i will look further into it.

Try downloading the game with the game launcher And remove the game from steam you should still be able to run the game with your current account.I have a feeling that steam is the issue.

 

It's been a long time since I replied to this post obviously. Apologies for that.

I did some tinkering and eventually discovered what appears to be the cause of the issue: an overheating laptop, likely due to dust buildup. The problem suddenly calmed down more when I opened up the laptop through a little removable panel on the bottom. I sprayed some canned air in it and it became less likely to crash. I cannot recall for sure whether it still crashed or not, but it definitely seemed to be less likely after that. I never received any sort of "your computer is overheating" warning really, but based on this pattern this appears to have been the issue. The laptop was definitely running hot on the air vent when playing the video game. The laptop indeed had not been cleaned out of dust (or at least moved dust around since I can't open the laptop completely without likely causing problems) for a while.

Maybe this will help others in the future. Sometimes a little spray of canned air can go a long way it appears...may as well try that before you start doing a lot of malware scans or other troubleshooting.

 

Glad you got it sorted
Perhaps 'Speccy' could have given answers earlier.
I tend to have it on our PCs as it's an assurance if a fan tends to run a bit faster than normal.

http://www.majorgeeks.com/files/details/Speccy.html

 

If your laptop is overheating buy one of these.It keeps my laptop around 75 F all day long,,I run my laptop 24/7.
https://www.amazon.com/LC05-Cooling...00XKU47Y2/ref=cm_cr_arp_d_product_top?ie=UTF8