Crashing in Games - Any Pointers ?

[[SKR]Abe]

Ok, heres the spec.

A64 XP3000+
Asus K8n4E-Deluxe.
2x Maxtor SATA 80GB HD.
1x Pioneer DVDRW.
PCI-E Geforce 7900 GT OC (BFG)
2x 512MB PC3200 Crucial RAM.
Antec Sonata II - 450W smart power supply.

The PC is rock solid when decoding/encoding DVD

Memtest runs perfect - no errors.

I keep getting random freezing during games though

It can range from 10 mins to 1 hour.

Game hangs, sound stutters in a loop and I have to hold the reset switch to reboot.

Tried the usual drivers thing, just doesnt seem to make a difference.

Reinstall made no difference.

Hard Drive? Ram ? PSU ?

Help !!!

 

[Defcon5]

Is anything clocked?

 

[Bezinator]

Ok, heres the spec.

A64 XP3000+
Asus K8n4E-Deluxe.
2x Maxtor SATA 80GB HD.
1x Pioneer DVDRW.
PCI-E Geforce 7900 GT OC (BFG)
2x 512MB PC3200 Crucial RAM.
Antec Sonata II - 450W smart power supply.

The PC is rock solid when decoding/encoding DVD

Memtest runs perfect - no errors.

I keep getting random freezing during games though

Graphics card drivers?

Cooling prob?

It can range from 10 mins to 1 hour.

Game hangs, sound stutters in a loop and I have to hold the reset switch to reboot.

Tried the usual drivers thing, just doesnt seem to make a difference.

Reinstall made no difference.

Hard Drive? Ram ? PSU ?

Help !!!

 

[[SKR]Abe]

Everything is at standard speeds.

Although my RAM says its at 201mhz. ?

Its running cool as a cucumber too - so not heat related.

Tried using 1x HD and 1x stick of RAM - same happens.

Tried swapping the HD and RAM around in different combos - still happens.

 

[OzZie]

Fastwrites on/off?

 

[[SKR]Abe]

No option for fastwrites in the BIOS.

 

[t31os]

I thought fast writes was for AGP, we're talking a PCI-E system here.

To the Original Poster.

Does it do it in all games?.....

Start > Run > dxdiag , run the 3d tests and see if it freezes during them tests.

Could be a simple driver issue, do you have all the latest drivers, and have you tried older drivers.

Do you leave anything running in the background when you're playing a game?

 

[PieEater]

Sounds possible that the gfx card is overheating, I'd take it out and give it a clean to get rid of any dust (I use an artists paint brush but compressed air would be better if you can get it). Refit the card and make sure the fan is spinning OK and keep an eye on the temps.

Best way to confirm heat as the problem is to get the side of the case off and have a desk fan pointing at the motherboard / graphics card etc.

 

[shimy182]

have you run direct x test? go to start run then type in "dxdiag" and see if it tells you anything.

 

[[SKR]Abe]

dxdiag passes all tests.

Happens mainly in LOTR battle for middle earth, flight sim 2004, age of empires 3, BF2 etc.

The card is clean - only been in the rig for 2 months.

Nvidia control panel tells me the temp is 54'c when i come out of a game.

I wish I could get a blue screen of death to give me some ideas.

Running in the background while playing is MSN Messenger and NOD32 - I have tried stopping both and guess what - still freezes.

 

[manveruppd]

Dumb question, I know, but got the latest motherboard/graphics drivers? If yes, maybe try a BIOS update if there's a newer one available?

 

[rxmac]

Aren't there issues with 7900gt reliability??

Some info here

http://forums.overclockers.co.uk/showthread.php?t=17601302

Might just be adodgy gfx card, if possible borrow a mates and try a different gfx card.

 

[Ghuraba]

I had this problem with HL2 and CSS. I was using on board sound. I went into dxdiag, sound and turned the sound accelarating down to 'basic' and for those two games the problem went away.

Michael

 

[[SKR]Abe]

Turned down the setting in dxdiag as described and it appears to be ok.

Will test it good and proper over the next few hours.

Will I see any difference slowing the soundcard acceleration at all ?

 

[[SKR]Abe]

Well, by jingo I think its sorted !

Just played LOTR battle for middle earth against the computer - 8 player map, 7 CPU players.

All the settings to the max and it played flawless - except a little slowdown when a 4 way massive battle was underway !

Now I just wish I popped in here BEFORE formatting the HD and reaching for the winxp CD.

Oh well, time to install install install.

Thanks for the help guys - Im happy again

 

[Ghuraba]

That's good to hear.

I'm not sure exactly what turning down the sound acceleration does but I notice no difference in game play between full acceleration and standard acceleration.

Michael