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Computer locks up while playing games...

P

Protoss

Member
This problem started a few weeks ago, I would start playing Counter-Strike: Source and after about 10-15 minutes, my computer would totally lock up. I assumed it was the power supply, being as it was a off-brand psu that came from a friends case, and checking the rails with SpeedFan, they were way off. So I bought a Logisys 480W off Newegg, connected it and all, rails seemed a lot more stable, but alas, I recieve the same problem. My computer still locks up while trying to run any game. Can someone guide me as to what other component could be causing this problem?
Specs:
Gigabyte K8NS Ultra-939
AMD64 3200+ (Winchester)
512MB Centon
Nvidia 5900XT

Thnx, Protoss
 
Since you indicate that it seems to run okay for 10 to 15 minutes it sounds as if overheating is a possibility. Are you graphics card, processor, and any mobo chipsets sufficiently cooled?
 
Well my CPU temp is reaching 37C just about where it shuts off. My gfx card has a NVSilencer on it, and the card itself feels pretty cool to the touch. I'll check my mobo chipset...
 
Well the rails are stable, and from the reviews I've read, it seems to be on par with 'on brand' power supplies.
 
Ok after some thorough testing of various components of my computer, I've narrowed my problem down to my video card. I am trying to fiddle with some settings, underclocking and all, to try and stabilize my card. If there is anyone with some suggestions, please share!
 
Hey guys. I actually have the same problem as Protoss and I was wondering if you guys knew anything that could cause it, other than the PSU.

The thing about that is I have a (cheap) 450 Watt PSU that came with my tower, which cost a little over 100 bucks last year. Now I only have a sound card, 2 HDD (30 and 160GB), my 6800 GT OC video card and my A64 4000+ cpu and a case fan, so I think even a not-too-expensive PSU should cut it, but ALL pixel shader-intensive games freeze within a few minutes of playing. (I'm still in the starting dungeon in Oblivion!) Also, my brother has a setup very similar to mine, with the same exact case and PSU, CPU, different mother board (with a PCI Express slot instead of an AGP one) but with a 7800 GTX (256MB). He's never had my problem.

I noticed that turning off Fast Writes Helps. My PC freezes a little later than with fast writes enabled. Games like Oblivion, Condemned and CSS freeze it within a few minutes, where as I can play games like Day of Defeat: Source (not much normal mapping there) and Dawn of War (all flat stuff here too) for hours without any problems. With fast writes enabled, even those games freeze after a while. When it freezes, I need to turn off the power, resetting the PC doesn't work, the monitor still stays off.

Nothing overheats, the mother board, CPU and GPU are all fine when this happens. I also tried changing the CAS latency for the memory to 2, 2.5 and 3ms, but that makes no difference.

Could anything other than the PSU be causing this problem?
 
Originally posted by: Protoss
Ok after some thorough testing of various components of my computer, I've narrowed my problem down to my video card. I am trying to fiddle with some settings, underclocking and all, to try and stabilize my card. If there is anyone with some suggestions, please share!
Click to expand...

Do you have a sound card or are you using onboard? Do you have the latest chipset and video drivers available?
 
Originally posted by: DXBigD
Hey guys. I actually have the same problem as Protoss and I was wondering if you guys knew anything that could cause it, other than the PSU.

The thing about that is I have a (cheap) 450 Watt PSU that came with my tower, which cost a little over 100 bucks last year. Now I only have a sound card, 2 HDD (30 and 160GB), my 6800 GT OC video card and my A64 4000+ cpu and a case fan, so I think even a not-too-expensive PSU should cut it, but ALL pixel shader-intensive games freeze within a few minutes of playing. (I'm still in the starting dungeon in Oblivion!) Also, my brother has a setup very similar to mine, with the same exact case and PSU, CPU, different mother board (with a PCI Express slot instead of an AGP one) but with a 7800 GTX (256MB). He's never had my problem.

I noticed that turning off Fast Writes Helps. My PC freezes a little later than with fast writes enabled. Games like Oblivion, Condemned and CSS freeze it within a few minutes, where as I can play games like Day of Defeat: Source (not much normal mapping there) and Dawn of War (all flat stuff here too) for hours without any problems. With fast writes enabled, even those games freeze after a while. When it freezes, I need to turn off the power, resetting the PC doesn't work, the monitor still stays off.

Nothing overheats, the mother board, CPU and GPU are all fine when this happens. I also tried changing the CAS latency for the memory to 2, 2.5 and 3ms, but that makes no difference.

Could anything other than the PSU be causing this problem?
Click to expand...

Try moving your sound card to a different PCI slot....unless you're positive it's not sharing an IRQ with something important like the video card.
 
What is your CPU temp under full load? If CPU temp is fine with 100% CPU load, try increasing the core voltage (+0.025 to +.05V) and ram voltage a little (+0.1 or +0.2+V).
 
Under 10 minutes of Prime95, my CPU temp gets up to 41C, and that is at 100% load for 10 minutes, so temperature is not a problem...I'll try increasing the voltages and then trying to play a game.
UPDATE: I just got done playing Oblivion, which would usually crash my computer within the first minute. So how come I need to overvolt my RAM/CPU to be able to run games?
ANOTHER UPDATE: I thought I'd try to play some UT2k4, and it locked up after a few minutes.
 
Ok I thought maybe my video card was overheating, so I reapplied the thermal grease, but I still recieve the lock ups. Is the video card dying? Is there a definitive way to test if it is indeed the video card?
 
Ok I decided to try unplugging the molex connector from my card, and it seems to work. The card is clocked down automatically by the drivers w/o the power, but I can still play games. Is there any adverse affect besides not harnessing the full power of my card?
 
You know I've never even considered unplugging that. If that did fix your problem, then I'm guessing it's still related to PSU not being able to handle it or the card having some problem at the default clock speeds.

There has to be some real solution though, cause I didn't get this 6800 GT OC to have it run in 2D mode, slower than my old 9800 Pro. =/
 
Well okay so I just got done with playing some games, and found that my card was extremely hot. I guess the power gives it the extra juice to run the fan at full speed or something, but I've got it plugged back in as I don't want to kill the card.
 
Ok I may have solved my problem once and for all...I underclocked my gpu by about 75mhz, and that has made everything as smooth as ever. Maybe the out of the box OC'ing stressed the card too much, as it is a 5900XT OC. At any rate, it works fine now.
 
Hmm. That would suck. Mine's a 6800 GT OC so in a way that would make sense.

I'll try underclocking it also, maybe to stock GT values, but I don't understand why it wouldn't overheat or show any visual artifacts if this was the problem.
 
Well I think the overheating is causing the lock ups...I'll do some messing with the clockrates, try leaving the GPU the same and lowering just the RAM's rate.
 
Alright well I underclocked my card to stock 6800 GT speeds and low and behold I played Oblivion for a couple of hours without any problems. I haven't tried that many pixel shader intensive games yet, but it seems like the problem's gone.

What's weird is the card's temperature is exactly the same as before, since I only underclocked the memory and core speeds by 20mhz...I guess "OC" cards just aren't stable at OC clock speeds.
 
Ok here is a little update. I have eliminated the Windows factor, this is not a problem with software or anything like that, as the same thing happens whilest playing around with XGL/Compiz for long periods of time on Ubuntu.
 
Alright another update, I've gotten Vista Beta 2 installed, and I try to turn Aero on, and it locks up. I am thinking my card is dieing a slow and painful death, as I keep having to underclock it more and more to get it to run stable. Is there any way to absolutely confirm it is my card and not my PSU?
 
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