Reboots while watching flash movie.. Windows 7 64 bit

[Guest]

I'll start by stating a few facts.

1. System reboots while watching flash movie  here http://www.soundblaster.com/worldofwarcraft/demo/welcome.aspx cool headphones, but not the point of this post.

2. I'm using Windows 7 Ulitmate 64 bit.

3. Firefox (latest version downloaded today) and fully updated windows 7 and IE8.

4. I turned off automatic system reboot on system failure in the System advanced settings

5. Both Firefox and IE8 cause the PC to reboot, but oddly Firefox takes longer than IE8; meaning I can view most of the flash content with Firefox, but IE8 usually crashes/ reboots much faster.  Note IE8 is the 32 bit version, since the flash player doesn't seem to work with the 64 bit version when I try that.

6. Only programs installed are CoDMW and CoDMW2, Batman Arkham Asylum.  No antivirus programs or spyware running.

7.  Happens if I use onboard video or I disable onboard and use my NVida GT210 card.

8.  I used the windows memory checker to see if I had a bad RAM chip, but nothing come back bad.

9. Sys reboot also happens at times when I play COD4, but not frequently.   that is I can play a few hours with nothing happening, but it's crashed 3x in the last two weeks with COD4.

I'm thinking it's windows 64 bit trying to run 32bit apps.   I don't think MS did a good job with making win7 64 running 32 bit apps.

Also, I don't understand why my system reboots when I turned off auto reboot on sys failure as I mentioned.   Is anyone else using Win7 64 bit and can watch the flash video link I posted?   I did recently build this computer system and I'm trying to figure out if it's my motheroboard/ RAM/ Adobe flash or Win 7 64 bit.   Unfortunately I can't swap the OS without wasting alot of money and RAM is pretty expensive to buy if I don't really need it.   Any ideas?

[pwillener]

Can you find any information in the Event Viewer why the system reboots?

[Guest]

I can't say I know enough about Event Viewer to say exactly what is in there, but it did say the source of a critical error was Source = Kernal-Power; Event ID = 41; and Task Category (63).    This happens each time I watch that flash video I mentioned.   I also see two other errors called Source = atikmdag which follow the critcal error by 7 seconds, but I think those have something to do with the onboard video card when that is enabled because it is an ATI onboard video card.   I'd have to confirm by turning it off in the bios though because it didn't show up every time I crashed the computer tonight.   The onboard video was off in the bios earlier, i was just turning it on to see if my Nvidia card could be to blame (and I forgot to turn it back off when I went back to using my Nvidia card).

There is no explanation of what Kernel-Power is except saying the system rebooted without cleanly shutting down first.  It goes on to say this error could be cause if the system stopped responding, crashed or lost power unexpectedly.

I'd say of the 3 options it "crashed" because I can reproduce the error just by playing that flash video I linked.   Usually if the system not responding takes some time, but when I watch the video it only takes moments between the video crashing and the system starting to reboot.  No error messages on screen.

[Guest]

FYI I turned onboard video off and the atikmdag error i mentioned indeed goes away.   One thing I did notice though is that IE8 is running in compatibility mode when I watch the flash video I linked earlier.    I'm not sure how significant that is since the latest version of Firefox also causes this same crash.   I should note that the guys at soundblaster just put that flash video site up within the past month or two, so I would expect them to be using the latest in flash technology.   I kinda doubt it's an adobe flash issue though anyway since this same failure (the instant reboot thing) happened a few times with CoD4 too.  I just think that the flash program just does something to make it happen very frequently compared to CoD4 which I can play for hours without a crash.

[Guest]

Just an FYI for people viewing this thread.   I went to Event Viewer (type "even"t in your search programs under the "start" icon bottom left of screen)

and found a Kernel-Power critical error.   After searching google on this I found others had the same issue.   A microsoft rep. gave two suggestions.   Make sure all your drivers are up to date and two flash your bios.  My drivers were up to date.  The BIOS in my Biostar TA790GX A3 + was from April 09 I believe.   Then I upgraded to the next version from 9/2/09, but still had issues with this Kernel Power error.  Then I tried the bios from 12/2/09.  I thought the issue was gone, but it's not.  Just got lucky to watch the whole video before it crashed again.   I just bought this board last week, but as you can guess they can't update the bios chip on your Mobo every few months despite the fact its 8 months after the first BIOS chips were installed on these boards.  Point being, if your using Win7 64 bit edition and your motherboard manufacturer hasn't updated their bios since Dec. 09 you may have a similar problem to mine.   You will want to check for the kenerl power error and if you have that then upgrade your BIOS.   Hope this helps someone.  You might want to upgrade your BIOS anyway.  It might solve other problems you may be having with Win 7 in general.   If you have an old motherboard, I probably wouldn't upgrade to Win7 since that board may never be supported under Win7.  Check for the lastes BIOS updates before you make the leap to WIN7.

[MS_DaveH]

I am able to run the video you posted on my Win7 x64 box and on my repro environment

with page heap enabled, so the video doesn't seem to be broken.

Crashes caused by user mode applications such as IE and firefox with Flash cannot cause your system to reboot. You are experiencing a different issue. Drivers can cause a system crash as well as hardware. If you can consistently reproduce this error watching a particular video, I would almost think that you are having issues with your video drivers. I would suggest checking for updates from your Video card manufacturer's website.

If you are not seeing a blue screen error before your system reboots and your system is just shutting off, this can be caused by drivers but is usally caused by hardware issues. Power supply issues commonly cause this problem. CPU and GPU overheating are also common causes.

I hope this helps. Thanks in advance for posting your resolution when you find one.

[Guest]

I read two responses from you DaveH.   Just a few points.   I do not get a blue screen of death or a program error.. it just goes directly to the BIOS/POST.

I thought this issue was fixed, but after trying the video a few more times it crashed.   I used an NVidia GT 210 card in my 32bit Vista Machine and never had issues with the same video I linked above.    I moved that GT210 card to my Win7 machine, but even if I just take the Vcard out and use the onboard video I still have the same crash.  Drivers are up to date in my Win7 machine and the Vista Machine.   That's not to say Nvidia doesn't need to tweak drivers for Win7.   I did switch from 64 bit Win7 to 32 bit Win7 and that did not help either.   I can't easily try Windows Vista on this machine but that's about the only thing I could do to rule out flash issues or operating system issues.   It would have to be a hardware issue if it still happened.

As you suggested the CPU temp may be too high, but that never exceeds 42 deg. C according to the temp reported in the BIOS setup and while rebooting.   I can't speak to the temp of the GPU, but this error happens both with the onboard video (video card taken out of the system) and with the video card and the onboard video disabled.

I checked out the links you referenced and I've tried reinstalling flash, but doesn't help.

You also mentioned the power supply.  I took a 500Watt Antec power supply from my Vista machine (same one i took the video card from) and used it in this machine.   That's not to say it can't be the power supply, but Antec is a pretty decent brand.   I may swap out the 500 watt PS I have in the Vista Machine now and see if I still have issues.   It's almost brand new.  I should also mention that I'm not consuming that much power because I only have a video card, hard drive and CDROM in there.   The Nvidia GT 210 also uses less power than my Nvidia GT 7950, which required its own power connection.  Thanks for the reply.  Will post if I find an answer.

[Guest]

I just put in a new RaidMax 630Watt power supply.   It still crashes.  Just thought I would rule out another possibility.   Now I'm down to some wierd driver issue, bad motherboard or bad CPU.   But as noted earlier CPU gets no hotter than 42 deg. C, so it's not a heat issue.

[Guest]

FYI problem appears to be fixed.   Turned G.P.U (green power utility) [Off].   BIOS default was [Auto].   I may still have a RAM compatibility issue or something, but the bottom line is turning the GPU off fixed all my issues.

[Guest]

Hi,

I have the same issues. My computer crashes whilst viewing films / clips in full screen mode using the media player, VLC, Youtube ect.... I have just bought the pc from overclockers uk. Basically it has Amd Phenom quad core, 8 gb Ram, ATI Radean 5770 HD card, gigabit mother board and 650 wat PSU. All my drivers are up to date, then I have downloaded the @bios application to update the bios which it did automatically. I am not very well oriented with bios but it has downlaoded a newer version and had to reboot after (so I hope it did update). Any way, I had read on other posts to right click on the video i would be playing and disable hardware acceleration. This seemed to have worked and trhe system stopped crashing. However just yesterday whilst using SKYpe the system crshed twice and had to reboot. This has made me very frustrated indeed. I have no other help to offer. Any suggestions would be welcome.

[MS_DaveH]

Andreborg,

You didn't mention whether you tried to update the flash player itself, or other IE addins. I also don't see a crash report, so its hard to say what is happening.

Is flash crashing?

Are you seeing a blue screen?

Are you seeing a message that says you must reboot (this would probably be from some sort of updater you might have installed, in which case, you should pay attention to the name of the application/suite that prompts you to reboot)?

Is your computer just shutting off, straight to black screen, then turning back on?

Is it just the application that stops running, but the rest of the applications on your computer continue to run?

When you say your drivers are up to date, what does that mean? did you download from PC manufacturer site, or did you go through device manager and get all of the device names/manufacturers and the go to the manufacturer's website to download Win7 64 bit drivers?

Some crashes are unrelated, if you fixed the driver issue from crashing your PC, but skype still crashes, this could be an issue with skype, or an old version of flash (which skype uses). even if you have the new version of flash, if you still have old java bits on your machine, then this could interfere with flash, which could then interfere with skype. Were you using a web cam when skype crashed?

For any issues you are still experiencing, please list a complete description of what you were doing at the time, what buttons you clicked inside of what application, etc, and what was the result of the crash <application stopped, blue screen, black screen/reboot> and open event viewer and then copy and paste the event details from the event that occurred at the time of the crash. Please note, we don't need information or warning events, only crash events.

If you need specific instructions for anything mentioned, please, let me know. I'll do the best I can to help you, and the more information you can provide, i.e. specific answers to questions above, the better we will be able to assist.

Thank you.

[Guest]

Hi and many thanks for your reply.

No matter which player I use in Full screen mode the picture turns into a grey striped screen (after a couple of mins) and the computer crashes therefore it will not except any human input to reverse the process (crash). This is why i have no other option but to force boot all the time. No error msgs pops up, I can't switch programs nothing. Just a plain grey striped screen. Some times the audio will still play for a couple of seconds before it stops as well.

As regards to the drivers i have downloaded directly from ATI (video card) and made sure that they are for win 7 64 bit. I use firefox as a browser (latest version), latest Java, latest Flash ( I am a bit of an update freak).

Indeed I was using a cam on SKYpe and i have checked this as well. I am pretty sure its not the video card as when ever i play a game with graphics set to max i never had an iisue nor it seemed to be stressed. Ventilation in the pc doesn't seem to be a problem either. Coolermaster case with multiple large inlet/out fans. Its cool in there.

I will prepare a detailed list of the applications I use at the same time and re test the full screen films in the coming days.

I truly appreciate your kind support.

Cheers.

[MS_DaveH]

Will need to see event viewer details.

[Guest]

I wonder what BIOS you have?  I know we don't have the same motherboards, but mine uses AMI BIOS.   My Phenom is the 965 (125 watt).  If your BIOS is AMI, then turn off the G.P.U.

Another solution I saw from a different user is to disable 1 sound driver at a time until the issue is resolved.  Basically that user indicated he had two conflicting sound drivers.   Are you using onboard sound or a sound card?   If you have a sound card you might want to turn on board sound off in the BIOS.

As far as your BIOS update if you just look to see what the date of the newest BIOS available is you can compare that to your BIOS on boot up.  Also if you search on the word "event"  you should find the event viewer utility.  It should show you the types of errors you have and it may indicate the program that is your problem.

Lastly, if your really motivated there is a website you can check out  http://www.techsupportforum.com  (you want the vista/windows 7 forum most likely)  .  You will have to DL some programs and follow the instructions they give if you want the most constructive support.  Read the sticky thread for info.

Mike

[Guest]

Hi Guys!!

I would like to thank you for your time and support to help me solve this problem. On the 17th of Feb AMD has released a third driver update for the video card.

After downloading the lastest driver the problem has vanished. Thanks for your help and support, I am surprised how it did't come at a price and I assume that you help others too.

Cheers and I wish you all the best to your life and carears.

Thanks

[MS_DaveH]

You are most welcome sir. I hope your Win7 experience significantly improves.

[Jenersharma]

Hello to richet andre and daveh,

Its nice to see the effort put here and i appreciate it. Well I do have a similar issue with my system. i.e. It crashes without a bsod when playing warcraft or any other games. It sometimes crash even when watching online video full screen or movies with vlc. I checked my sys temp with speedfan and cpu temp is normal for me with avg 50 C. Cannot say for the onboard video i have. I also checked ram with memtest86 and its fine.I have a D945gccr intel mobo with dual core intel at 1.6 ghz, 1 gb ram win xp sp2., onb video and onb audio.earlier it wasnt like this. this issue has been occuring since last few weeks and its getting frequent.checked event viewer and two errors [ 1.The following boot-start or system-start driver(s) failed to load:
bdftdif. 2.The HP CUE DeviceDiscovery Service service hung on starting.] but thats not the reason for reboot. Now why does system reboot even after auto restart turned off. and system is also sluggish after watching movies or heavy apps but i guess thats cos i have less ram to handle it.

I am searching for a solution for this and want to resolve it before i decide to buy a new mobo.

Hoping to get answers and Keep going

jener

[MS_DaveH]

I'd start by checking the Event Viewer to search for errors that correspond to your blue screen (search for

Event Viewer errors <Enter Operating System: Vista, Windows 7, XP> in your favorite search engine). In windows 7 you can press the 'Start Button' and type in Event Viewer. Go to administrative events, sort by type, look at entries marked error and then find the one that corresponds with a reboot.

Look to see which driver file was blamed. Find out who's driver that is and up date it. I wouldn't be suprised if this comes back to the video driver.

It's also a good idea to update your drivers anyway. If you're running an up to date version of windows, and old drivers, there is a good chance that the drivers you are using were not intended to be run on your system's configuration. Also, the manufacturers may have discovered bugs and other issues which are fixed in the latest versions of their drivers.

I typically go to Device Manager (in 7 or vista you can press start and type in 'device manager' and then hit enter) and get the names/ model numbers of my hardware. I then go to the manufacturer sites and update to the latest version of the driver they have available for that device (Example: for Nvidia 9800GS, go to http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index5.aspx and search for the corresponding driver). Common devices I regularly update are Video/Graphics card, LAN/NIC, Wireless adapter, Monitor (if installed), Audio card (if installed). Even an onboard graphics device is likely to be Nvidia or ATI, so finding out which one it is and updating it would be a good start.

[shuxclams]

Having a difficult time working this issue out. The computer while browsing the internet will all of a sudden reboot. This did NOT happen on Windows XP, and I didnt notice when I first installed Win 7 64 on a different hard drive, but that was for a day and it was a minimal install. I have tried to blame it on the C300 as the problem but the updated BIOS has not changed this particular issue and the issues with the C300 aren't this sort of issue. This is reminding me of an issue years ago that I had with Flash.. but I can't recall what it was. This literally happens as soon as some item loads in a web-page or I click a web-page. It is NOT a BSOD so there isn't something to post from C:\WINDOWS\MiniDump, it just reboots right then and there, it's causing havoc with my applications... and the OS keeps causing a 'Kernel-Power' after a reboot. Logs are clean, it just doesn't know why the system was shut down unexpectedly... 😉 The hardware is all good, ran various OS's without any issue, it's just been with Win 7 64 bit.

CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Rev RB-C3 (Default Speed)
MoBo - MSI 790FX-GD70 rev 00 (v1.13 BIOS most recent)
RAM - 2x2GB Kingston Hyper X T1 PC3-10700 DDR3 (Default Timings)
Video - XFX 8800GT (8.17.12.5896 drivers most recent)
HDD0 - Crucial C300 128GB SSD (BIOS 0002 most recent)
HDD1 - 2xHITACHI HDS721050CLA362 RAID 1 on SATA 7/8
Power Supply - Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W
OS - Windows 7 Professional 64bit

I will say that this OS was loaded from a Ghost Image I made when it was on a WD Raptor. So there is a lot's to guess about. 🙂 This can be replicated if I try and view MLB.TV, so Flash is a suspect.

SHUX

[shuxclams]

PS: Just looked in the BIOS and all the Green POwer items were already disabled. So that wasnt it. 😞

SHUX

[shuxclams]

OH, and the OP's link causes the reboot as well. So I have an entirely different set of hardware save the Phenom II X4 955.

SHUX

[shuxclams]

It just dawned on me, I had this issue with a ASRock 939Dual-Sata2. I am remembering that Cool & Quiet should be disabled, DRAM needed a bump and something else had to be tweaked in the BIOS. Going to try and look that up.

SHUX

[shuxclams]

It was 1T / 2T and later on a BIOS update resolved it. So, I am going to post more over at the MSI website.

SHUX

[shuxclams]

Having a difficult time working this issue out. The computer while  browsing the internet will all of a sudden reboot. This did NOT happen  on Windows XP, and I didnt notice when I first installed Win 7 64 on a  different hard drive, but that was for a day and it was a minimal  install. I have tried to blame it on the C300 as the problem but the  updated BIOS has not changed this particular issue. This literally  happens as soon as some item loads in a web-page or I click a web-page.  It is NOT a BSOD so there isn't something to post from  C:\WINDOWS\MiniDump, it just reboots right then and there, it's causing  havoc with my applications... and the OS keeps causing a 'Kernel-Power'  after a reboot. Logs are clean, it just doesn't know why the system was  shut down unexpectedly... 😉 The hardware is all good, ran various OS's  without any issue, it's just been with Win 7 64 bit.

CPU - AMD Phenom II X4 955 Rev RB-C3 (Default Speed)
MoBo - MSI 790FX-GD70 rev 00 (v1.13 BIOS)
RAM - 2x2GB Kingston Hyper X T1 PC3-10700 DDR3 (Default Timings)
Video - XFX 8800GT (8.17.12.5896 drivers)
HDD0 - Crucial C300 128GB SSD (BIOS 0002)
HDD1 - 2xHITACHI HDS721050CLA362 RAID 1 on SATA 7/8
Power Supply - Antec TruePower New TP-750 Blue 750W
OS - Windows 7 Professional 64bit

I  will say that this OS was loaded from a Ghost Image I made when it was  on a WD Raptor. I did have a similar issue years ago with a ASRock  939Dual-Sata2, there were a bunch of tweaks that were needed in the BIOS  like disabling Cool  & Quiet, changing 1T to 2T and a bump in  DRAM.... So there is a lot's to guess about. 🙂 This can be replicated  if I try and view MLB.TV or this http://www.soundblaster.com/worldofwarcraft/demo/welcome.aspx, so Flash is a suspect, Motherboard is a suspect.... and the C300 is a suspect..

SHUX

[MS_DaveH]

I'm assuming since you posted to a flash forum and thread that this happens when flash content is on the page. Flash cannot cause your computer to reboot. At worst, if flash crashes, IE will crash. I'm not saying that flash isn't a problem, but it's not what's causing this problem.

Since this is not a BSOD, I'm not going to immediately assume driver, but they are still suspect; you might want to have your power supply tested and check all connections.

I'd look into drivers for all hardware starting with GPU and sound card (if any) since this happens when graphics and sound are in use. Make sure you download 64 bit drivers for Win7.  After updating all hardware drivers, if issue persists, try flashing a BIOS update again.

Depending on your computer manufacturer, you might not be able to find 64 bit drivers on their site, which is fine. I'd suggest going to the hardware manufacturers' sites for updates anyway. It looks like you have the names for all your hardware, so finding the latest drivers shouldn't be too tough.

Is there anything posted to the event log other than the Kernel Power after reboot that may have been logged b4 the PC shutdown, or right after startup. Any details in the Kernel Power message that might help?

My guess is that the ghost image you used to create this install to Win7 x64 has old drivers that you need to remove from the system and replace, especially if they're 32 bit or originally for another OS (like you had them installed, then updated to Win7 instead of a clean install...)

BTW, i didn't have any problems viewing the vid you linked.