WoW causing Blue Screens

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#1

Hello and thank you for helping. I’ve been getting random occasional Blue Screens → forced restarts for the last few months and I’m not sure what’s causing it.

I’ve played for almost two decades and never had this problem. I’ve been using my current computer for about a year (built January 2021). Even then, i didn’t have this problem until about two months ago. It started around October/November. I used to be running an nvidia 1070, but upgraded to a RTX 3070 around Halloween. Also, about two weeks after that, I bought two new monitors, both of them are LG Ultragear Model 32GN63T. I’ve updated Windows Update and also have the current nvidia drivers.

It seems to happen most when I either turn the camera or something flashes (like flight paths to Oribos with the blinding light). But it also happens at other times. Once during a Mythic Plus dungeon. During some cutscenes as well. And once, it happened on TBC classic upon logging onto a bank alt in Silvermoon. I do not recall getting a blue screen in the two weeks between when I installed the new video card and when I attached the two new monitors.

I’m just not seeing any pattern when it’s happening. A friend suggested it might have been a frame rate issue, so I set my Max Foreground FPS to cap at 144 and the Max Background FPS to cap at 30. The Target FPS box is not checked.

If someone could help me figure this out, it would be appreciated. I’m not a techie computer guy, so I might need some talking through stuff.

#2

Hi, I’m a volunteer here on the forum. Blizzard has posted that they don’t offer official support for bluescreen issues because they are not a function of the WoW client, and result from a command issued by your operating system. When this is happening, it indicates a configuration, driver, or hardware issue with your computer.

You may be able to spot what’s happening in the Windows Reliability History tool. You could also look in the Windows Event Viewer under system logs. Some Googling may be required to find out what the errors mean.

For extra troubleshooting steps, the staff has some tips on their help article which may assist you:

#3

For some help you could visit tenforums if you are on windows 10…

https://www.tenforums.com/bsod-crashes-debugging/

#4

I’m going to throw out a random possibility because what you’re describing sounds nearly identical to an issue I had a few years ago.

You might have a bad PSU. I know you said it’s a newer computer, but they way you are describing the random shutdowns and occasional BSOD’s sounds like the PSU is failing and isn’t able to supply the system with the power it needs to run.

I had that issue and for the life of me I could not figure out what it was. It was only while running WoW and it happened more when in a raid/dungeon, but would still happen even in open world. It didn’t always result in a BSOD, but if it did, it would do a memory dump and restart the computer, run an integrity test, then Windows would load fine.

It finally got so bad that it caused Windows (7) boot files to become corrupt and it would get stuck in an infinite boot loop, restarting, welcoming me, then restarting again.

I can’t remember what exactly I read that turned my attention to the PSU, but after I swapped it out, I never had a problem again. It was even a replacement one that didn’t originally come with my rig (custom built), but for some reason it just decided it didn’t want to live anymore. Furthermore, the wattage of the new one is actually 50watts less than the faulty one (from 700w to 650w), so I know it had enough power.

Maybe the combination of bad PSU and new GPU? Could be anything.

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#5

Hadn’t thought of that, but yeah, I guess that’s totally a possibility. I see about looking into it. Thanks!

#6

But it only happens when I’m playing WoW, so there has to be some relation, no?

#7

Not really. It just means the game is trying to use something the computer is denying. I can’t say whether that’s a permission, driver, or hardware problem, since I’m not looking at your diagnostic files and physical PC. A blue screen (and its reason) should be reported in the DxDiag, but you said there’s nothing there? Can also check the MSInfo.

#8

My immediate thought was PSU as well, when you said the problem started, basically, when you upgraded the GPU to a 3070. Those things draw a lot more power than a 1070.

That would be the first place I’d recommend looking as well. I’d recommend an absolute minimum of a 550w PSU. 600-700w would be even better. If you feel like going even higher than that, that’s up to you.

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#9

One more thing to add that just crossed my mind.

Even though you upgraded one Nvidia GPU to another Nvidia GPU, and they use the same driver, it’s very important that you uninstall the driver that you had installed previously, and install the driver again, even if it’s the same version as the one you had.

You can simply uninstall the driver like you would any other application in Windows, but my preferred method is to use DDU to get the old one out, as that is a much more thorough uninstallation process.

There’s a possibility that’s causing your blue screens as well, if you didn’t uninstall the Nvidia driver from before and reinstall it.

#10

Just an update to this original post I made, the problem continued not just with WoW, but with Lost Ark also.

I disconnected the monitor that the game was being played on and reattached my old monitor and have not had the problem since. So right now I’m running one of the LG 32GN63T monitors and one old monitor, and all the gaming is taking place on the old monitor (which defeats the purpose of me buying a new monitor in the first place).

#11

Swap the monitor cable, and if it’s the same cable being used, then you might want to talk to the monitor manufacturer.

#12

Didn’t even occur to me that could be an issue. The old monitor is connected via HDMI, but the new one was connected via a different type of cable (can’t even remember what it’s called. Will try using the HDMI on the new monitor and see what happens. Thanks for the suggestion, will report back.

#13

Oki, replying so you can report back.

#14

So it’s been about a week and thought I’d give you an update, in case this ever happens to anyone ever again they can find this on Search or Google or something.

I hooked the newer larger monitor back up and this time, instead of connecting it with the DP (Display Port) cable it came with, I used the HDMI cable I already had and was using for the smaller, older monitor.

Knock on wood, but it’s been a week so far and haven’t had one Blue Screen since. THANK YOU FOR THE ADVICE! GREAT CALL!

I’m guessing the DP cable for some reason just couldn’t handle the data traffic and it was jamming up and causing the computer to fail. No idea. Maybe someone else can explain it. All I know is it’s working for now, and I’m happy for now. :smile:

If it F’s up again, I’ll be sure to let you know.

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#15

Replying to note that the issue persists, changing the cables to HDMI did not fix it.

Got two blue screens yesterday within one hour, one of them I wasn’t actually doing anything. I was in the kitchen at the time, my character just sitting at the Spires of Ascension entrance waiting to start a key.

#16

Hi there Mopper,

I read through the thread here and am sorry to hear all the trouble you are having with the game. On this, Blue screens tend to be caused by something larger than the game. While the game may be the common link , there is almost always something larger going on. We do try and help where we can but a local tech may be best in the end.

With that bit said, Let’s go ahead and check for Clockspeeds and temp problems. I would like to ask you Download HwMonitor and check your temps and speeds. I would launch the game, run it for 5 - 10 minutes in a city or high particle area, then close the game before a crash.

You should be able to find the spec for your CPU and GPU on the manufacture websites. If you would like us to look though, please upload pictures of the HWmonitor tool to an image sharing site like Imgur.com, and post links here.

Another thing to check would be to make sure there are no other OS errors. You can check with an SFC scan to validate the OS integrity.

Hope to hear from you soon!

/Nathardrick

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#17

I disconnected both of my newer, bigger monitors, hooked my older monitors back up, and then I used HwMonitor to check both idling and while playing for about 5-10 min.

When idling and no game running, the CPU (Ryzen 5 5600x) temperature is around 55 degrees Celsius. The GPU (GeForce RTX 3070) is at around 37 degrees Celsius.

When playing WoW and sitting at the entrance inside the Spires of Ascension dungeon (where I know a blue screen has happened, while just sitting there waiting for the rest of my group to arrive) , my CPU temperature is hovering around 68 degrees Celsius, and the GPU temperature is hovering around 43 degrees Celsius. However, the CPU temperature spikes up to about 75-80 degrees on loading screens, and also in city areas such as Oribos or Hero’s Rest in Bastion. When I went to Zereth Mortis, just flying around the CPU temperature was between 75-82. I fought against Antros - the World Boss - in a 40 man group, and the temperature spiked up and held solid between 85 to 90, spiking as high as 92.

Clock speeds on the CPU are between 3700 and 4600 on all cores
Clock speeds on the GPU are 1815 Graphics, 6801 Memory and 1590 Video

I will run a dungeon and update this, and then I will hook up the newer, bigger monitors and see if the numbers change.

#18

While the max temp is 95C at the temps you are maintaining may be the causw of your issue. You running the stock cooler ?

#19

Yes it is the stock CPU cooler fan, but i’m looking at it now and it’s spinning and there’s no dust flying around in the case, seems ventilated…

#20

The CPU should of came with a Wraith Stealth? Those are not really that great of a heatsink. The do fine at stock clocks with no boost but at 4600 it is not going to cool the CPU enough. The CPU should run at about 72-75 C. I have a Noctua NH-U12 and it works very well. To test try running the CPU at its base clock of 3700 and see if the blue screens go away