Lockup issues - finding the culprit

[Sephy]

Been getting lots of lockups and freezes lately in games, namely World of Warcraft.

Previously, and occasionally I will get a bluescreen with a STOP 0x8E error, in the nv4_disp.dll. I have tried swapping drivers with no luck.

Specs:
A64 3000+
1GB Buffalo RAM
eVGA 5900SE
Antec SL400 PSU

I have a feeling one of these things is the culprit. RAM, PSU, or Video. I have had instances in the game where as I'm going along, the game freezes for 20 seconds or so, then continues. It has also become choppier lately.

Also, I've had some weird issues lately with power. Months ago, when my PC was plugged into a surge protector on one side of the room, every so often my computer would just completely power down, and be unable to turn back on. Swapping slots in the surge protector helped, and when I finally relocated the plug to the other outlet in the room, it was fine. Recently, the problem happened again. However, just changing slots didn't help. I had to get a whole new power cord. Does anyone know what this could be?

I'm going crazy here, and I just want to play my favorite game The STOP errors used to occur in FIFA games as well, but I haven't played them since, due to the error. Any troubleshooting help is welcome.

 

[Sephy]

Night time bump. need answers!

 

[imported_Phil]

Have a look here and here.

 

[Sephy]

I've diagnosed the stop error. Changing drivers doesn't help. The stop error is actually infrequent, the crashes and lockups are much more common.

 

[Sephy]

One last bump before I give up

 

[KGB]

Sephy,

What MB are you using?
Have you tried running Memtest86 on your Buffalo DIMMs?

Don't give up yet!! :shocked:

 

[Sephy]

I have indeed run Memtest overnight, all is well on that front.

MSI K8T-Neo2 FIS2R is my MB.

 

[theMan]

is it prime95 stable? it really seems like a driver issue. did u use Driver Cleaner to clean the old drivers before you installed?

 

[Sephy]

Originally posted by: theman
is it prime95 stable? it really seems like a driver issue. did u use Driver Cleaner to clean the old drivers before you installed?

I believe when I ran Prime on it awhile ago, it was stable overnight. I have used Driver Cleaner, yes. I've tried so many different drivers, to no avail.

Very frustrating.

 

[Sephy]

This is odd...
Earlier today, I was running at about 49-50C idle, and 57-58 full load. I disconnected my broken DVD drive, blew out my case with compressed air, and dropped my CAS from 2.5 to 3, and my idle temp is now 30C and about 34C full.

Is this even possible? Is there some malfunction? My PC wasn't abnormally dusty or anything.

Don't know if this helped anything or not.

 

[Sephy]

Just had another STOP 0x8E. It isn't heat. It isn't RAM. It has to be either MB, PSU, or Video. I have no way of knowing which one, though. I have an extra PSU, but I don't know if it is beefy enough to support everything.

Someone help, I don't get it

 

[Sephy]

Ugh, another bump

 

[Muscles]

I don't know what to tell you. Unfortunately when you have a problem like this it's difficult to troubleshoot without having spare parts laying around (PSU, vid card, etc). Does sound skip repeatedly when your system locks up? In my experience if that occurs, an overheating CPU or Vid Card is usually the culprit. What brand and watts is your spare PSU? Unplug all your optical drives and anything else that isn't needed to run WoW to conserve power consumption and try the spare PSU to see if it solves the problem. If not I would borrow a vid card from a friend or something. Also to try and eliminate overheating you can open the side of the case and stick a floor fan next to it blowing directly on the motherboard and all the components to see if that helps any.

 

[Sephy]

Come to think of it, I have had skipping sound. I get it when I'm randomly playing the game, the sound will skip repeatedly for 4-5 seconds, then go back to normal. I could see my video card potentially overheating. The sound has certainly skipped on bluescreens in the past.

My spare PSU is a Liteon 300W which is a tank, but only 12A on the 12v. I have another video card somewhere as well, but God only knows if it will run WoW.

 

[furballi]

I'd reset the BIOS/CMOS to default and retest. If problem persists, then you may want to try a +450W Enermax or Fortron power supply. I suspect there exist a driver issue with the video card, so you may want to try a known good video card.

 

[Sephy]

Originally posted by: furballi
I'd reset the BIOS/CMOS to default and retest. If problem persists, then you may want to try a +450W Enermax or Fortron power supply. I suspect there exist a driver issue with the video card, so you may want to try a known good video card.

BIOS was reset when I flashed it, and nothing changed. I'm going to try my old 4200 tonight. It seems my GPU only gets to about 74C in game.

 

[Sephy]

LOL, I don't even know what to rely on anymore. After a reboot, my CPU is running at 48C. Arrrgh!

 

[Oyeve]

Maybe your HD has a loose connector or is about to die. I had simular issues on a system once and it turned out to be a loose/bad molex on the HD.

 

[jelifah]

Hey Sephy and Muscles, I nominate you both for possible savior of the day.

Unbeknownst to both of you, I've got another thread going complaining of random errors off a STOP: 0x0000009C problem as well, which does in fact have a problem of the sound skipping in games. It all seemed to start after I'd replaced my RMA'd PSU from Antec, the old one had just magically stopped working from one night to the next morning.

All weekend the problem would happen randomly, but most notably popping in and out of games. After updating the BIOS and drivers Monday things 'seemed' to be stable, but of course I've been working with the case open as I was searching things out.

According to calculations my system specs out at below 300 Watts usage so the PSU 'should be ok. But I just realized that when I RMA'd my PSU I'd loosened the screws of the cooler on my video card. Long story, but I couldn't OC my video card one mhz, and people had suggested that it was possible to overtighten the screws and thus the contact wouldn't hit the memory. So I'm recalling that when I took the PSU out I was like, 'Well, while I've got this open...'.

I'll check it out when I get home. Not trying to hijack your thread, just sending a note of appreciation. and Sephy, you're not alone.

Now my only thought is if I hurt my video card in the 3 days I've used it, but I would guess that's why I was blue screening. Windows may have been protecting me from myself... Ya think?