Need help. Games keep crashing.

J

jediado

Weaksauce
Joined
Jul 22, 2007
Messages
76
Whenever I try to play a game such as Portal, city of villains, or Need for speed the game will run smoothly for about 6 seconds. Then it'll freeze for about 3 seconds. It'll unfreeze, but then it'll freeze again about 5 seconds later. This'll keep happening until the game crashes.

I have no idea what's causing this or why. I thought it was software related, I formatted my drive. Did a clean install of Windows XP, I'm up to date on all my hotfixes, got the latest Direct X, and the latest video drivers. And I'm still experiencing this. Even before I formatted, I downgraded my video drivers several times, but that still didn't fix it. Sometimes it feels like the computer chooses when to run smoothly and when to not.

Yesterday it ran the entire day fine without any problems, and now today everything is unplayable.

Please any help would be appreciated, I'm out of ideas and this is frustrating cause this is a newly built system and I'm tight on money right now so replacing something is going to be hard.
 
Sounds like you may be overheating... or the memory might be corrupt or even the harddrive.. run a few tests.. and let us know how hot your system is running..

There is a sticky thread in one of the forums that lists a bunch of good tools to use as well. Also what power supply do you have?
 
can you hear if your harddrives are spinning up and down all of the time?was there any problem when you reformmated the drive?do these problems occur on the desktop?
 
True what's been suggested about overheating, good thing to check.

Also remember that your CPU has a limited number of clock cycles to get things done. If you have AIM open, and you're downloading Torrent files, and running Norton AV, and running 7 different pieces of spyware, and so on.... the CPU no longer has the ability to run a game smoothly.
 
DrDoU said:
can you hear if your harddrives are spinning up and down all of the time?was there any problem when you reformmated the drive?do these problems occur on the desktop?
Click to expand...

No the drives are not spinning up and down all the time. The only problem I encountered during install was that some .dll could not be read because the CD was scratched. I just burned a new .iso and that fixed it. These problems do not occur on the desktop.


I'm not sure if this is related or not, but last week I had noticed that there was a cable out of place in my case. I reached in to move it and while I was moving my hand out, I accidentally unplugged the power cable going to my second SATA drive on the raid. At the I wasn't reading/writting anything to the drives. The system BSOD'ed, I shut down, plugged the drive back in and booted up.

BaGGy said:
Sounds like you may be overheating... or the memory might be corrupt or even the harddrive.. run a few tests.. and let us know how hot your system is running..

There is a sticky thread in one of the forums that lists a bunch of good tools to use as well. Also what power supply do you have?
Click to expand...

Corsair 620 HX

Spartacus said:
True what's been suggested about overheating, good thing to check.

Also remember that your CPU has a limited number of clock cycles to get things done. If you have AIM open, and you're downloading Torrent files, and running Norton AV, and running 7 different pieces of spyware, and so on.... the CPU no longer has the ability to run a game smoothly.
Click to expand...

Yup. I've uploaded a screen of my nvidia monitor and the task manager so you can tell if it's too much running. I dont' think there's too much in the background. This is what I'm usually running and just add the game.exe to the mix and there you go.





I ran a test with intel's thermal analysis tool. On idle CPU 0 and 1 are at 43-44 Celcius
Below I've pasted a log from when I was playing need for speed then it crashed.

Time:, MHz(Processor 0), MHz(Processor 1), DTS(Processor 0), DTS(Processor 1),
23:06:31, 2666, 2666, 43, 43,
23:06:33, 2667, 2667, 45, 43,
23:06:35, 2667, 2667, 45, 43,
23:06:37, 2666, 2667, 43, 43,
23:06:39, 2667, 2667, 44, 43,
23:06:41, 2667, 2667, 46, 44,
23:06:43, 2667, 2667, 44, 44,
23:06:45, 2667, 2667, 45, 44,
23:06:47, 2667, 2667, 46, 46,
23:06:49, 2666, 2667, 47, 47,
23:06:51, 2667, 2666, 46, 47,
23:06:53, 2666, 2667, 48, 47,
23:06:55, 2667, 2666, 47, 47,
23:06:57, 2667, 2667, 47, 48,
23:06:59, 2667, 2667, 47, 47,
23:07:02, 2667, 2667, 48, 47,
23:07:04, 2667, 2667, 47, 48,
23:07:06, 2667, 2667, 48, 48,
23:07:08, 2667, 2667, 48, 48,
23:07:10, 2666, 2667, 48, 48,
23:07:12, 2667, 2667, 48, 50,
23:07:14, 2667, 2667, 48, 48,
23:07:16, 2666, 2667, 48, 48,
23:07:18, 2667, 2667, 50, 48,
23:07:20, 2667, 2666, 48, 50,
23:07:22, 2667, 2667, 48, 50,
23:07:24, 2667, 2666, 48, 48,
23:07:26, 2667, 2667, 48, 48,
23:07:28, 2667, 2667, 48, 48,
23:07:30, 2667, 2666, 48, 47,
23:07:32, 2667, 2667, 48, 48,
23:07:34, 2666, 2667, 48, 48,
23:07:36, 2666, 2667, 50, 48,
23:07:38, 2667, 2667, 50, 50,
23:07:40, 2667, 2667, 50, 48,
23:07:42, 2666, 2666, 48, 50,
23:07:44, 2667, 2667, 50, 50,
23:07:46, 2667, 2667, 50, 50,
23:07:48, 2667, 2667, 51, 50,
23:07:50, 2667, 2667, 50, 50,
23:07:52, 2667, 2667, 48, 50,
23:07:54, 2667, 2666, 48, 50,
23:07:56, 2666, 2668, 50, 50,
23:07:58, 2666, 2667, 50, 50,
23:08:00, 2666, 2666, 50, 50,
23:08:02, 2667, 2666, 50, 51,
23:08:04, 2667, 2667, 50, 50,
23:08:06, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:08, 2667, 2667, 50, 51,
23:08:10, 2667, 2667, 50, 51,
23:08:12, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:14, 2667, 2667, 50, 50,
23:08:16, 2667, 2666, 51, 51,
23:08:18, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:20, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:22, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:24, 2666, 2666, 51, 51,
23:08:26, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:28, 2667, 2666, 51, 51,
23:08:30, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:32, 2667, 2667, 52, 51,
23:08:34, 2667, 2667, 51, 52,
23:08:36, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:38, 2667, 2666, 51, 51,
23:08:40, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:42, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:44, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:46, 2667, 2666, 52, 51,
23:08:48, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:51, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:53, 2666, 2667, 51, 51,
23:08:55, 2667, 2666, 51, 51,
23:08:57, 2667, 2667, 51, 52,
23:08:59, 2666, 2667, 52, 51,
23:09:01, 2667, 2667, 52, 51,
23:09:03, 2667, 2667, 52, 52,
23:09:05, 2667, 2667, 52, 52,
23:09:07, 2667, 2666, 52, 52,
23:09:09, 2667, 2667, 52, 52,
23:09:11, 2667, 2667, 52, 52,
23:09:13, 2667, 2667, 51, 52,
23:09:15, 2667, 2666, 52, 51,
23:09:17, 2667, 2666, 51, 51,
23:09:19, 2666, 2667, 52, 51,
23:09:21, 2666, 2667, 51, 51,
23:09:23, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:09:25, 2667, 2668, 51, 51,
23:09:27, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:09:29, 2667, 2668, 50, 51,
23:09:31, 2667, 2666, 52, 51,
23:09:33, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:09:35, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:09:37, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:09:39, 2666, 2667, 52, 51,
23:09:41, 2667, 2666, 52, 52,
23:09:43, 2666, 2667, 52, 51,
23:09:45, 2666, 2667, 51, 51,
23:09:47, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:09:49, 2667, 2667, 52, 52,
23:09:51, 2667, 2667, 51, 51,
23:09:53, 2667, 2667, 52, 51,
23:09:55, 2667, 2667, 52, 51,
23:09:57, 2666, 2666, 51, 51,
23:09:59, 2666, 2667, 53, 52,
23:10:01, 2667, 2667, 52, 52,
23:10:03, 2667, 2666, 52, 53,
23:10:05, 2666, 2667, 52, 53,
23:10:07, 2667, 2667, 53, 52,
23:10:09, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:10:11, 2667, 2667, 53, 52,
23:10:13, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:10:15, 2667, 2667, 53, 52,
23:10:17, 2667, 2666, 53, 52,
23:10:19, 2667, 2667, 53, 52,
23:10:21, 2666, 2667, 52, 52,
23:10:23, 2667, 2666, 52, 52,
23:10:25, 2667, 2666, 52, 52,
23:10:27, 2666, 2666, 53, 52,
23:10:29, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:10:31, 2667, 2667, 53, 52,
23:10:33, 2667, 2667, 53, 52,
23:10:35, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:10:37, 2667, 2666, 53, 52,
23:10:39, 2667, 2667, 53, 52,
23:10:42, 2667, 2666, 53, 52,
23:10:44, 2667, 2667, 54, 52,
23:10:46, 2667, 2666, 54, 52,
23:10:48, 2667, 2666, 54, 53,
23:10:50, 2666, 2667, 53, 53,
23:10:52, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:10:54, 2667, 2666, 53, 52,
23:10:56, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:10:58, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:11:00, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:11:02, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:11:04, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:11:06, 2666, 2667, 54, 53,
23:11:08, 2666, 2666, 53, 53,
23:11:10, 2666, 2667, 54, 53,
23:11:12, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:11:14, 2667, 2667, 54, 52,
23:11:16, 2666, 2667, 53, 52,
23:11:18, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:11:20, 2667, 2667, 53, 53,
23:11:22, 2667, 2667, 50, 48,
23:11:24, 2666, 2667, 50, 48,
23:11:26, 2667, 2667, 47, 48, - Game Crashed here

According to Nvidia Monitor GPU temps are as follows

GPU 0 - 84 Celcius
GPU 1 - 80

GPU Temps at idle
GPU 0 - 72
GPU 1 - 61


FYI, in my sig it says I'm running 7800 GT's. This current test I did was with a 7950 GX2. I noticed this card tends to run a bit hotter than my 7800's. I had the 7800's RMA'd to XFX so they can see if there's something wrong with the cards.
Usually on full load the 7800's run at 61 and on idle around 49.
 
Your memory voltage seems to be quite high for DDR2.

Try setting all clocks and voltages at stock settings.

Is the machine stable with no overclock?
 
Spartacus said:
Your memory voltage seems to be quite high for DDR2.

Try setting all clocks and voltages at stock settings.

Is the machine stable with no overclock?
Click to expand...

2.1-2.2 is pretty much stock voltage for all memory using D9GMH, regardless wether it's Corsair, G.skill, Crucial etc.

But following along the memory lines and since it seems this step is getting missed way to much around when people build these new systems, I'd like to see the OP run memtest.
 
Spartacus said:
Your memory voltage seems to be quite high for DDR2.

Try setting all clocks and voltages at stock settings.

Is the machine stable with no overclock?
Click to expand...

Oh really? When I built the system I never touched the voltage settings for the memory?

Should I change it?
 
have you tried running memtest to stress memory components.bangs head someone has said that already
 
This might be a wierd suggestion but..... I play BF2 and my comp or game would turn off on me when I played it. I clicked on the start button clicked on run then typed msconfig. Then went over to startup and turned off a think called dumpred 0 -k and it worked fine after that. Also I herd this could be caused by power shortage. Thats what someone said to me but idk. Hope you figure it out.
 
Hrmmm... I'm having similar issues with my system. It worked fine for about the first month or so, and now I'm having serious stability issues when running games. I'm going to start my own thread about this, and if I get any insights that work I'll chime in and let you know what helps.
 
Yeah sure that'd be great. I just have no idea why this is happening. For the first 2 months, my system ran great. It's a badass machine (In my opinion) and then I never made any hardware changes once I got it up and running, then it just starts acting all lame.
 
GPU1 74C at idle? Thats going to be cooking under gaming loads. I bet your vid card is overheating.
 
crashthenet44 said:
2.1-2.2 is pretty much stock voltage for all memory using D9GMH, regardless wether it's Corsair, G.skill, Crucial etc.

But following along the memory lines and since it seems this step is getting missed way to much around when people build these new systems, I'd like to see the OP run memtest.
Click to expand...

Yep, good point about the mem voltage. I see now where his RAM is rated to use higher voltage. I was thinking 1.8v being stock and then 2.2v being on the high side.

jediado, forget what I said about the memory voltage being high. It's still a good idea to verify what the voltage is supposed to be for your exact RAM and set it for that. Check and set timings as well.

You really need to run Memtest to verify your memory.
 
I ran memtest for about 2 hours, it got to 657.3% and there were no errors. Should I run it overnight or something?
 
zoobaby said:
GPU1 74C at idle? Thats going to be cooking under gaming loads. I bet your vid card is overheating.
Click to expand...

I had the same issue with a different video card. The 7800 GTs in SLI. They idles at about 45, and under gaming loads got to 61. So I dont' think it could be the video card.
 
Spartacus said:
Yep, good point about the mem voltage. I see now where his RAM is rated to use higher voltage. I was thinking 1.8v being stock and then 2.2v being on the high side.



.
Click to expand...

Well I checked and it's supposed to be running at 2.1V but right now it's at 2.2V. Went into the bios and changed the voltage to 2.1V.

Here's another question, I was using nvidia monitor to view the voltages, and it says that if a voltage of a component has a red square it's being overstresses. Now that I changed it down to 2.1, the one next to my memory is yellow. But my FSB and PCI-E are at 1.4 V(RED Square). Is that still too high?
 
Are those cards superclocked or something????
I think they are way too hot.
In your first screen you show GPU1 at 74 degrees in 2D correct????
Those cards must hit near 90Degrees at load.

I have SLI'd 7900GTX and they rarely hit 70 degrees at full load.
Heck my 8800GTX SLI rarely goes over 75 Degrees under load.

RivaTuner.
 
magoo said:
Are those cards superclocked or something????
I think they are way too hot.
In your first screen you show GPU1 at 74 degrees in 2D correct????
Those cards must hit near 90Degrees at load.

I have SLI'd 7900GTX and they rarely hit 70 degrees at full load.
Heck my 8800GTX SLI rarely goes over 75 Degrees under load.

RivaTuner.
Click to expand...

Not that I'm aware of. It's an XFX Geforce 7950 GX2, I'm borrowing from a friend. I had my 7800 GT's sent into XFX to have them tested to see if there's something wrong with them.
So would a large majority of people agree that 74 degrees at IDLE is too hot?
 
jediado said:
I had the same issue with a different video card. The 7800 GTs in SLI. They idles at about 45, and under gaming loads got to 61. So I dont' think it could be the video card.
Click to expand...

Ninja edit: Yeah 45C is about right for idle...my old 7800 idled around 52C.

It could still be the GPU though, those temps are pretty high that you are reporting.

Be curious if you can run a game for a bit and see what your temps are. Alt-tab and check.
 
Right now on the 7950 GX2, GPU0 is at 79 and GPU1 is at 74. I managed to get a game running for about 15 minutes before it crashes.
 
Alright so any input on the voltages? I lowered my Memory to 2.1V and in the nvidia monitor it's got a yellow square next to it. But the FSB and PCI-E have red squares and they're at 1.4V. It says that a red square is putting too much stress on the system, should I lower the voltages on those?
 
jediado said:
Alright so any input on the voltages? I lowered my Memory to 2.1V and in the nvidia monitor it's got a yellow square next to it. But the FSB and PCI-E have red squares and they're at 1.4V. It says that a red square is putting too much stress on the system, should I lower the voltages on those?
Click to expand...

Yes, I would set everything for stock: voltages, clock speeds, mem timing, etc.

You should have an "Optimized Defaults" setting in the BIOS setup. Try that. You may need to reset some things for whatever you want/need though.

Try that and then see if the system will run stable.
 
Spartacus said:
Yes, I would set everything for stock: voltages, clock speeds, mem timing, etc.

You should have an "Optimized Defaults" setting in the BIOS setup. Try that. You may need to reset some things for whatever you want/need though.

Try that and then see if the system will run stable.
Click to expand...

Yeah unfortunately there wasn't an "Defaults" in my BIOS. I just lowered the values of everything that was running too high by about 1 or 2 volts.
 
Ok so yeah after lowering the voltages, I'm still experiencing the crashes and hangs. I'm starting to think my hardware may be faulty. :(
 
jediado said:
Yeah unfortunately there wasn't an "Defaults" in my BIOS. I just lowered the values of everything that was running too high by about 1 or 2 volts.
Click to expand...

1 or 2 volts or .1 and .2 volts.

Weird, I am coming up with nothing.
 
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