Huge, annoying problem...

[Xcobra]

Hey guys,

I don't know where else to turn to but I am having this really annoying problem with my computer. I don't know what is causing it but it seems to me to be a video problem (video card is an EVGA 260 GTX 216SPs).

I was on Windows XP when this started happening.

What the problem basically is that my computer locks up. That's it. Whenever I run a game such as L4D, it locks up. Sometimes whenever I run a movie or video, or even a web page with lots of images, it does the same. Here are some pics of what it does when it locks up:

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Now, I have tried to isolate the problem, don't get me wrong. I initially thought that it could be my OC (an Intel Q9550 with a Gigabyte P43 mobo, RAM is 4GB of the Corsair XMS series) so I set everything to default in the BIOS. This didn't do anything.

Another thing I tried was to repair XP, maybe it was some weird thing the OS was doing was my thought. Nop, nothing helped. The last thing I turned to was just to Upgrade to a copy of Windows 7 I had. I thought it was maybe a virus and so this should be rid of it. Again, i get the same problem but now, after maybe 5 hours from installation, it won't even let me log on!! As soon as I enter my password, it locks up.

Sorry for the long post but this is really annoying as I can't do anything on it atm. Could it actually be a graphics card problem? Anyone has had this happen before? I would really appreciate if anyone has any clues about this.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

The first thing I think of given your symptoms is your GPU is overheating. Playing a game or video is going to raise the heat significantly.

 

[Xcobra]

Originally posted by: MagnusTheBrewer
The first thing I think of given your symptoms is your GPU is overheating. Playing a game or video is going to raise the heat significantly.

That's the weird thing, it only started doing that about a week ago. I've had this card for like 6 months now and there were no problems before. On top of that, its getting cold around here so ambient temps shouldn't even be an issue. I would read some temps but I can't even log in. Ugh...

 

[zebrax2]

Maybe its your ram? test it with memtest86+ one stick at a time

 

[Billb2]

Dust bunnies in the fins of the CPU and/or video heatsinks

 

[TemjinGold]

I would try using a program such as RivaTuner to ramp up the fan speed on your video card.

 

[2March]

Had exactly the same problem with my XFX GTX 260 BE.

It happened wheneven the vid got under a lot of pressure. Have been accounting the problem to FSX untill it started to occur during Crysis with lots of smoke/transparencies.

It's either a heat issue or power/OC related. I managed to cure the problem by downclocking the 260 from 666 to 550 MHz but I also saw reports of people having the same problem because of the card drawing too much power (PSU problem)

Check it out.

 

[frozentundra123456]

What is your power supply and how old is it??
As others have suggested, I would suspect overheating or PSU.

 

[Xcobra]

It seems to be a heating problem. Just booted it up this morning and it started fine. Ill check into downclocking it to see if that helps. Also, the PSU is an OCZ Powerstream 520W. It shouldn't be a problem in terms of having enough power.

EDIT: should I try RMA? I removed the serial on the box the card came on for rebate purposes but Im not sure if that voids the warranty.

 

[Xcobra]

UPDATE: just did a two pass test with Memtest and it did fine. I'm leaning towards the faulty video card issue. I dont know why overheating would be a problem if it's NOT overclocked and in fact, underclocked it a bit and still has the same problem. *shrug* I will RMA with EVGA.

 

[distinctively]

If you haven't already done so, you really need to take care dust bunnies, as stated by Billb2 earlier. You'll need to open the case to your video card and get to the fins. I see this problem all the time.

 

[CurseTheSky]

Download a program to monitor your GPU temperatures (I think GPU-Z does this, as well as HWMonitor and several others). Then download Furmark.

Run the program to watch your GPU temperatures and let it sit for about 30 seconds. This is your idle temperature. Then run Furmark and let the temps ramp up. Wait until it either hits a steady maximum or crashes.

Then come back and let us know what your idle temps and load temps are. As long as it doesn't crash or start artifact, don't be too alarmed about high temperatures - GPUs run MUCH hotter than CPUs, and 100C+ isn't uncommon under the high-stress of Furmark.

 

[bryanW1995]

I just had a weird gtx 260 problem last night. I played nwn2 for aoubt 6 hours yesterday. I left the screen paused for a few hours for dinner, baths for thekids, put them to bed, etc, and when I came back computer had shut off. nbd, sometimes the seti 24/7 makes weird things happen, I just reset computer. after firing up nwn2 again, it sounded like a helicopter was taking off in my case. I already have gpu-z, I checked it out, temps were fine but fan would not get off 100%! The specific area I was in was the bandit camp around fort locke, so nothing any more challenging than the rest of the game. I played that area the other day with no problem in fact. Anyway, I messed with it for 15-20 minutes, tried forcing the fan 55%, 60%, 65%, etc and temps got very close to 100c. eventually, I restarted the comptuer and...everything went back to normal. no crazy fan speeds, no crazy temps, I played through that area and have played another 4 hours or so since then, no probs at all. cue twilight zone music.

 

[Xcobra]

Interesting bryan. You see, the computer can't be on for that long because it locks up. For example, I booted up last night to make a bootable cd to run Memtest and after about 20 mins, it locked up and couldn't log back in because it would lock up. It seems that once it gets to its normal "operating" temps it's when the problem occurs.

@ distinctively, I have taken the computer apart and checked the video card, there was little dust in there and even blew some air into it to see anything was clogging the fins and I found nothing. Could it be possible that all of a sudden the card just gave up? I mean I downloaded EVGA's precision software and it's idle temps showed low 40's. Haven't been able to check stress temps since it won't let me. I will try to do so later today. Thanks all!

 

[MStele]

I have a 260 216 and had the same problem with some games. There is a bug in the fan controller on some cards where the fan will not ramp up properly in some cases. There is a simple work around. Download Riva Tuner (or your preferred flavor of OC software) and create a new fan profile suited to what you want. I found that if you bump the idle fan speed to abour 40 (its default is 30) you'll eliminate most problems right off the bat. After that, you can set it to go up as it hits certain threshholds. It will take a few minutes to set up but once its done you wont have to worry about heat anymore. As for your lock ups, if its not heat then the other culprit is likely power.