Computer choking lately

[fustercluck]

Computer has been choking lately during gaming, pretty much every game. It just starts lagging/stuttering like mad out of the blue, and it won't stop for 20 seconds or so (even if I just look at a wall in the game). I guess it's not so much out of the blue either, it happens usually when there's a lot going on on-screen. Still, it didn't do so before (playing the same games), so I think something is wrong, maybe some computer part(s) dying. My video card is the newest part in my system, so I wouldn't suspect that first. Probably ram, but dunno how to check. I do spy/adware/virus scans all the time. Just did a bunch of scans earlier today to find it didn't help with the choking. Probably something I'll just have to deal with but anyone got some advice or recommendations of things to try to fix it or what to look at? Thanks

I could do a Sisoft Sandra performance benchmark thingy and upload the results I suppose.

 

[robisbell]

download and run PC Wizard, and post it's benchmark results.
http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php
and also, post everything that is autostarting and running before you run a game, as well as your free HDD space.

 

[fustercluck]

That looks like it's pretty much the same exact thing as sisoft sandra, so i'll bench with sandra and up the results. It takes a while so I won't do it right now. Also I should of mentioned it's not just during gaming. It's choking on the desktop/internet browsing as well.

 

[oynaz]

"so I think something is wrong, maybe some computer part(s) dying"

Unlikely. The symptoms you describe sounds like a malware problem. Or perhaps one of your HDDs are getting full?

 

[fustercluck]

I went ahead and ran the PC Wizard benchmark. The Sisoft bench didn't really tell me anything, but the graphs between both benchmarks were pretty similar. In Sisoft sandra there was a big spike toward the network performance and nothing else. In the PC wizard benchmark there was a big spike toward Hard Disk. Here is a pic of the PC Wizard benchmark results - I guess my score was 1640.63

I got 97GB free on my main (windows installed) drive. D drive is down to 25GB free but I hardly ever use it anyhow. Let me know if anything in the benchmark results looks suspect. Probably not as well-rounded as it should be.

 

[fustercluck]

back to page 1

 

[robisbell]

looks like there's a big issue with the HDD and RAM. I'd suggest you go to http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ and burn it to a cd, then reboot and run memtest86+ for a minimum of 6 hours, reports back the results, then run the appropriate HDD diagnostics.

 

[practor]

What in the hell are the games your playing?

Direct x9 or X10?

Do you have the new drivers for your vid card?

Your card could be just laying to rest> update it?

Is your sister d/l stuff while your playing. Just angles for you.

your resolution in graphs compared to your in game reso?

 

[dclive]

In the Windows Application & System event logs for the times this is happening, are there any events or items shown?

 

[fustercluck]

Thanks for the replies. I'll try memtest for a while as i'll be out today.

Originally posted by: practor
What in the hell are the games your playing?

Direct x9 or X10?

Do you have the new drivers for your vid card?

Your card could be just laying to rest> update it?

Is your sister d/l stuff while your playing. Just angles for you.

your resolution in graphs compared to your in game reso?

Playing DX9 games, mainly stuff on the Source engine (half life, CS:S, Team Fortress 2) while there were slowdowns here and there before it never had the kinds of longer choppy slowdowns i'm experiencing now. These games all run at 1280x920 resolution or something weird like that (steam's auto-config recommended it), my desktop resolution is 1680x1050. I did update my video drivers yesterday, they weren't super old or anything, but I think it has helped, maybe a lot, maybe a little.

Like I mentioned earlier though these slowdowns occur outside of gaming also, so it's not just gaming related.

I will also check the event logs next time it goes chuggin' along. Thanks.

 

[dclive]

If you'd like, just tell me a time when this happened, and run MPSReports (see my .sig) and send me the resulting computername.cab file.

 

[robisbell]

looks like there's a big issue with the HDD and RAM. I'd suggest you go to http://www.ultimatebootcd.com/ and burn it to a cd, then reboot and run memtest86+ for a minimum of 6 hours, reports back the results, then run the appropriate HDD diagnostics.
I'd also suggest you install PC Wizard http://www.cpuid.com/pcwizard.php and post the temp and voltages and then run it's benchmark test and post that as well.

 

[fustercluck]

Do I really need to run memtest86+ for a minimum of 6 hours? That seems like an awfully long test. I'm never off the computer that long either

All my voltages/temps are normal:

Hardware Monitoring : Winbond W83627HF
Voltage CPU : 1.44 V
DIMM : 1.55 V
+3.3V Voltage : 3.31 V
+5V Voltage : 5.05 V
+12V Voltage : 12.10 V
Chassis Fan : 1205 rpm
Processor Fan : 3308 rpm
Processor Temperature : 43 °C
Processor Temperature (Diode) : 28 °C
Mainboard Temperature : 34 °C
:
Video Monitoring : ATI Catalyst Driver
GPU Temperature : 55 °C
:
Hard Disk Monitoring : S.M.A.R.T

 

[dclive]

If you'd like, just tell me a time when this happened, and run MPSReports (see my .sig) and send me the resulting computername.cab file.

 

[robisbell]

yes memtest86+ needs to run at least that long to fully test out the memory. video card temp is kinda high for no load on it.

 

[fustercluck]

i assume memtest makes a log somewhere? I'm obviously not going to sit and watch it the whole time. Even so I don't know if I could learn anything from the test.

 

[seemingly random]

memtest doesn't have to be monitored - just start it up before you go to sleep. If there is even one error, there is a problem.

orthos can be used in windows to test memory. It's not as comprehensive as memtest.

The processor fan at 3308 rpm seems odd. Can you hear it - is it really loud?

When was the hd reformatted and os reloaded? If over a year, it might be a good time to do this after backing up - this would also take care of the malware possibility.

 

[fustercluck]

Originally posted by: seemingly random
memtest doesn't have to be monitored - just start it up before you go to sleep. If there is even one error, there is a problem.

orthos can be used in windows to test memory. It's not as comprehensive as memtest.

The processor fan at 3308 rpm seems odd. Can you hear it - is it really loud?

When was the hd reformatted and os reloaded? If over a year, it might be a good time to do this after backing up - this would also take care of the malware possibility.

Computer is right next too my bed, and yes the fan is pretty loud, so it'd make it a little hard to sleep. Plus my lan card flashes a big green light on and off which is hella annoying (wonder if I can somehow disable that without disabling my internet...but It wouldn't matter when running memtest and other hardware type tests anyways I suppose). Will probably be watching football most of the day today so maybe I'll be able to run memtest. Hmm, where did I put that ultimate boot CD...I can always burn another one.

I just got this hard drive I'm using now (only using one) from newegg 3 or so months ago. It's a 400GB western digital. I have defragged C a lot since. I reformatted and reloaded my OS when I got it (since I pretty much had to). The drive is under warranty...as is the memory probably, most memory seems to come with a lifetime warranty. Is there a specific test for western digital drive on the ultimate boot CD or should I just download a utility directly from the WD site (assuming there is one)?

 

[dclive]

In the Windows Application & System event logs for the times this is happening, are there any events or items shown?

 

[robisbell]

The UBCD has specific diagnostics for the HDD, but you need to do the memory test 1st.

 

[seemingly random]

Why is the cpu fan going full blast? Isn't it temperature controlled by the mb? What case is being used and what case fans?

The latest memtest .iso can be downloaded from the memtest site and used to create a bootable cd.

The lan/internet cable can be disconnected from the mb while running memtest. In fact, the pc, monitor and kbd could be moved out of the room for the test. The monitor can be turned off also.

Either method of testing the hd is ok - as long as one is used. Even hdtune could be used to make a sanity check in windows. The same is true with orthos for ram.

Did you send dclive the stuff he requested? I think this might be more important than the other tests at the moment.

 

[fustercluck]

I ran memtest86+ for about 7 hours and it found no errors. Other than that I didn't really notice anything about the test. The WD hard drive test from the UBCD didn't load up correctly for some reason, it didn't even start. I'll try to download something directly from the WD site for testing the HD.

Originally posted by: seemingly random
Why is the cpu fan going full blast? Isn't it temperature controlled by the mb? What case is being used and what case fans?

The latest memtest .iso can be downloaded from the memtest site and used to create a bootable cd.

The lan/internet cable can be disconnected from the mb while running memtest. In fact, the pc, monitor and kbd could be moved out of the room for the test. The monitor can be turned off also.

Either method of testing the hd is ok - as long as one is used. Even hdtune could be used to make a sanity check in windows. The same is true with orthos for ram.

Did you send dclive the stuff he requested? I think this might be more important than the other tests at the moment.

AMD cool and quiet feature is turned off since the CPU is overclocked. So that's why the fan is on full probably. I have nothing to send dclive as no errors seem to show up when the problem occurs, doubt it's an application problem. I thank dclive for trying to help though, and I'll send him some info if it ever shows up.

 

[robisbell]

have you tried not overclocking the hardware and testing a game out? what make and model of PSU are you using?
I'd like to see the video benchmark results from PC Wizard after you've reset the CPU to it's normal speed.

also, a list of games that you have been having issues with, would be helpful too.

 

[fustercluck]

Now I'm at the point where I'm lucky to boot into windows. I've tried two different WD diagnostic tools and neither of them were even able to start. Looking at the western digital site I couldn't find any other diagnostic utilities. I guess WD doesn't specifically make any HD checking tools themselves, so I'll have to try and use a generic one. Any recommendations as for programs (to diagnose my HD)? This would be the 4th HD of mine to die in 6 months =/ - The other 3 were fairly old, this one is only 4 months old but it wouldn't surprise me at all if it's dying already.

CPU could be dying also, it ran without any problems @ 2.7 ghz for about a year, then I had to take it down to 2.4 ghz recently to keep it from locking up. But that might be all unrelated.

edit: It seems like all of the HD tests detect no hard drive. That's never a good sign - but right after it doesn't detect the hard drive, I boot right into windows. I never have any normals computer problems. It's also possible the UBCD is messed up, nothing I burn ever turns out right.

 

[dclive]

Can you run mpsreports (see my .sig) and send me the resulting computername.cabfile, please?