Issue with games crashing to desktop

[roccenstein]

Not sure if this is the right forum page for this, but I'm having an issue where various games will crash to the desktop after 15-20 minutes of play.  A friend suggested checking Event Viewer, and I see error events listed, but I don't know what they mean (though some of them are game/application related).  The most common one is titled Kernel-Event Tracing.  Any suggestions? 

By the way, the crashing issue ONLY happens with games, doesn't happen when running other programs.

[akshay_tk]

Can you post the event ID? And, the OS that you are running?
Maybe I will be able to help you in a better way if you post these details.
Thanks.

[roccenstein]

I'm running Windows 10 Pro and the most common error is listed as 'Event ID 2 Kernel-Event-Tracing'

[Allan]

Please define "crashing to the desktop". EXACTLY what happens? Also, did this just start or has it always been this way?

[roccenstein]

What usually happens (and seems to only happen with two games, specifically 'Destiny 2' and 'Division 2') is I'll be in game and the screen will freeze, and then suddenly I'm back at the desktop (no blue screen).  It usually happens after about 20 minutes of play.  With Destiny there is no error message, it just drops me back on the desktop and the game closes.  With Division I will occasionally get an error that the game has crashed (but not always). 

It hasn't always happened, no.  I upgraded my GPU and PSU a few months back and it seems to have started after that.

A friend suggested completely removing all graphics drivers using DDU but that process sounded a little scary, to be quite honest, at least on one particular walk-through I read.

[Allan]

Well, if this started right after you made hardware changes there's an obvious conclusion to be drawn. Also, in the future when you post a problem please provide all of these details in your first post.

My guess is that either you want to see if there is a more current driver for the display adapter (and if not, perhaps an older one might work) or try a different gpu. Just for the heck of it, you can run memtest - though I think ram is a longshot.

[roccenstein]

I definitely have the most recent GPU driver.  Even if switching to my old GPU solves the problem, that's not really a solution, is it?  I mean I'd prefer to use the newer, more powerful card. 

Are you familiar at all with DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) and/or do you think it might help in this case?

[Allan]

I've used it in the past and it's fine. I just don't believe it will help in your situation. And yes, if your current card doesn't work properly for you then going back to the old one - or getting a different one - may very well be the solution.

But by all means, hang around and see if anyone has some other thoughts for you.