where is 'My Computer'

To open the Event Viewer you can press Win+R, type eventvwr.msc in the text box, and then press Enter.

@and31415 I get an error i.imgur.com/z0ua3Iw.png

Have you got any restore points?

@and31415 nope, it is turned off

Open a command prompt as administrator, and run this command: sfc /scannow

@and31415 Beginning system scan. This process will take some time. Beginning verification phase of system scan. Verification 100% complete. Windows Resource Protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. Details are included in the CBS.Log windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log. For example C:\Windows\Logs\CBS\CBS.log The system file repair changes will take effect after the next reboot.

@Vader Restart Windows, and run the command again. Then report back.

@and31415 Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.

@Vader Do you still get the same error when trying to open the event viewer?

hi

I can still not open the event viewer

how do I verify that the service is running?

Run this command: sc query EventLog

SERVICE_NAME: EventLog
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        STATE              : 1  STOPPED
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 4201  (0x1069)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

Did you disable it?

not that I know of

All right. Run this command to make sure it's enabled: sc config "EventLog" start= auto

[SC] ChangeServiceConfig SUCCESS

event viewer is still not working

By the way, the WIN32_EXIT_CODE displayed above was set to 4201 (0x1069), which translates to ERROR_WMI_INSTANCE_NOT_FOUND: "The instance name passed was not recognized as valid by a WMI data provider." Source

Yes, I wasn't expecting it to work.

I appreciate your knowledge

You'll need to restart Windows to apply the changes. But first, run this command: winmgmt /verifyrepository

It needs to be run from an elevated command prompt.

WMI repository is consistent

^^

brb rebbot

back

SERVICE_NAME: EventLog
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        STATE              : 1  STOPPED
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 4201  (0x1069)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

Same error.

yeah

it's all a mystery to me

I've found a related article which contains a possible solution: Fix Event Log Service Error 4201 the Instance Name Passed Was Not Recognized

alright, looks like I have to start in safe mode for that to work

When you're done, check whether you can start the event viewer application or not.

In the latter case, check this article: vistax64.com/tutorials/110886-event-viewer-error-4201-a.html

works

event viewer is working

now how do I find the crashes

I think they would be called BSOD

Blue Screen of Death, yeah. Wait a sec, though.

Please run sc query EventLog once more.

looks like I got 1 critical event recently

Kernel-Power

Thing is the event log might have been stopped while the issue occurred.

@Vader What's the output of the above command?

SERVICE_NAME: EventLog
        TYPE               : 20  WIN32_SHARE_PROCESS
        STATE              : 4  RUNNING
                                (STOPPABLE, NOT_PAUSABLE, ACCEPTS_SHUTDOWN)
        WIN32_EXIT_CODE    : 0  (0x0)
        SERVICE_EXIT_CODE  : 0  (0x0)
        CHECKPOINT         : 0x0
        WAIT_HINT          : 0x0

Up and running as it should.

The exit code is 0 (i.e. no error).

@Vader When did that Kernel-Power event happen?

Also, what's the description?

I am not sure where to find the description

what does Kernel-Power mean?

The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly.

this is under the general tab for this event

^ That.

well I know my gpu overheated one the 2, 3, 4 event

not sure what happened @ 1 (today)

Is the GPU overclocked? What's the model? Which driver version are you using?

any way to get more information on this specific evnt?

There should be a Details tab or similar.

standard clock, nvidia gtx 580, new drivers, playing games when it crashed, crashed at 102C

this means nothing to me

Yeah, kind of cryptic, isn't it?

Here's an official troubleshooting article: support.microsoft.com/kb/2028504/en-us

@Vader The bugcheck code is 278, which is 0x116 in hexadecimal.

Bugcheck = BSOD

the article does not provide a means by finding out the reason it crashed in the 1st place

Actually it does explain something.

Anyway, the code 0x116 translates to VIDEO_TDR_ERROR: "This indicates that an attempt to reset the display driver and recover from a timeout failed." msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/…

It's a GPU-related issue.

ohk

Which exact driver version are you using, just in case?

337.88

Here's a troubleshooting article which is geared towards the same BSOD: mikemstech.blogspot.it/2011/12/…

And another one: sevenforums.com/crash-lockup-debug-how/…

Please read all the articles I linked carefully, and report back.

I gtg

thanks for your help I will try this in the morning

Me too.