Media Files making PC hard lock

[PoopyPants]

ok i am totally baffled by this.

ever since installing my eVGA 8800 GTX any and all video files make my system hard lock. hell even YouTube will lock the system.
mpeg, avi, divx, xvid, mkv, wmv, low res, high res and hd resolutions.
all the same, the system just comes to a wall and stops.

i have reloaded several times, tried MANY different drivers and its all the same thing.
the minute i start a video file, and yes even a DVD using power dvd or windvd, the system hard locks.

sometimes the system will hard lock for 10-15 seconds then start again and lock again, sometimes i can end task on media player or the dvd player and it will go away.

98% of the time i can do nothing, i have to hard reboot the system.

now audio files are doing the same thing with winamp.

one of two things is happening and i dont know what it is.
1)
either my PSU is puking out and locking the system.
2)
the 8800 is trashed and is making the system lock.

my system specs are as follows.

-E6600 ES @ 3.6ghz @ 1.38v
-Asus P5N-E SLI (this too may be part of the issue)
-2GB Gskill PC6400 (any overclock or none it still locks up)
-eVGA 8800 GTX 04/07 Rev A2
bios 60.80.13.00.13
-SB Audigy 2 ZS
-2x 36g Raptors in Raid 0
-2x 250gig Sata II drives
-2x 250gig IDE Drives
-Light on dvd burner
-2 USB 250gig storage drives.
-OCZ 600w SLI Power Stream (this too could be the issue)

under full load using a "Kill-a-Watt" measuring device the system will pull 600w + and 700+ VA.

now the killer here is that 700+ VA (its only slightly over 700 volt/amps). Volt/Amps is what really kills a psu's ability to maintain its output.

now granted its only rated for 600w. but we all know the powerstream psu's have alot of power under the hood with flawlessly unwavering rails.
the 12v 5v and 3.3v dont move more than 0.01v at any given load.


but video is not intensive at all to a system unless you have one helluva crappy system. as you can see i do not.

if i yank out the 8800 and put back in my 7800 GTX i do NOT have any issues.

has anyone else seen this with the 8800 GTX cards? has a bios update fixed it?
has a larger PSU fixed it?
different mobo?

what fixed it ? rma of the card?

someone please chime in as this is just killing my daily usage of the pc.

 

[ViRGE]

The 8800GTX is power hungry, but it's not that power hungry. If your PSU is the problem I doubt it's functioning correctly in the first place, but I also doubt your PSU is the problem. You're best off trying to find another PSU to test on that system, just to make sure.

 

[MegaVovaN]

Disconnect all your crap, extra hard drives, dvd, sound card...leave only the basics and try then. If it works, you have power shortage and need a beefy PSU.

 

[Deinonych]

Originally posted by: MegaVovaN
Disconnect all your crap, extra hard drives, dvd, sound card...leave only the basics and try then. If it works, you have power shortage and need a beefy PSU.

Seconded. If your Kill-a-Watt is showing a power draw of 600W+, not having enough power would be my first conclusion. Your PSU is getting a workout with 6 hard drives as it is.

 

[xtknight]

It may be trying to get video acceleration from the driver and crashing as a result of that? It's probably a codec or software/driver issue.

Check the power thing first though.

 

[MegaVovaN]

Originally posted by: xtknight
It may be trying to get video acceleration from the driver and crashing as a result of that? It's probably a codec or software/driver issue.

Check the power thing first though.

I thought it would be driver issue, but he said:

i have reloaded several times, tried MANY different drivers and its all the same thing.

 

[JAG87]

how about you go back to stock clocks and reinstall windows before you go dismantling and buying new hardware.

 

[PoopyPants]

well i updated the mobo bios and all is well. i had not wanted to do this becuase i had prior to this tested other bios's and overclocking was worse among other things. but this new bios is good.
now i cant guarentee that updating the mobo bios did it but what i did do it left HPET ENABLED!
HPET has, historically, from my other boards, made overclocking harder. so i always turn it off.
this time i turned it on and cranked the holy hell out of the FSB and all is well.

so maybe something for others to keep in mind.

 

[xtknight]

The new BIOS fixes the media player freezes? BTW is this XP or Vista? Vista is supposed to make it so codecs can't hard-lock the system (although a HW problem can still cause anything). The only codecs that could lock-up XP however are kernel drivers such as video capture drivers, AFAIK.

Weird about HPET. It's supposed to be an alternate high-precision timer on your board that replaces the TSC of an SMP system (since the TSC can get out of whack between two CPUs). If you don't need it I guess there's no reason to leave it enabled. It's certainly not crucial.

 

[PoopyPants]

yeah thats what i thought, wierd about the bios update, but that is ALL i did.. flashed it, rebooted, reset the bios, redid the overclock, 475x8 @ 1.38v (beat that!)
and went into windows, grabbed one of the HD WMV movies i converted the day before, which was locking my system, and she didnt miss a beat, then played several others and all is well.

prior to this bios and other boards too, leaving HPET enabled made overclocking harder, but maybe it was just me,, i dont know
but she's purring right along.

 

[zotsklots]

Finally!!
After 4 months of having problems with my ASUS GeForce 8800 GTS which nobody could explain; I found a forum where somebody had just the same s#!T with his 8800 as I did!! (Well allmost... as I can play .mov and have no trouble with audio files.) But the feeling that I wasn't alone anymore, was a big relief! While reading through the suggestions (most of which were very sensible, but already tried by me) a bad feeling came upon me...
And that feeling was that before I would be at the end of the topic, I would again be the only one having problems with playing video files...

- First I have to add: I have no problem with playing music
- I do have the problem that the video starts flickering and if I ain't quick; Windows freezes, waiting for me to reset the pc... (with older graphics drivers, XP crashed immediately, like you described)
- No video files can be played in MediaPlayer 8, 9, 10 or 11
- No video files can be played PowerDVD, CrystalPlayer, MediaPlayer Classic, not even in Adobe Premiere
- .mov files *can* be played in QuickTime (what? yep... but wait it gets better...)
- but (the strange part!!) Pinnacle Studio can play all types of video files, even full screen, without any problem!
- 3D Mark crashes XP after running 3, 4, maybe 5 demos
- Have tried all of this in Vista too and the only difference is that Vista just tells me there was a problem with my Graphics device and that it has be restarted succesful

So I:
- Bought a bigger PSU
- Updated the BIOS of my mobo until there was no newer (beta) version (most recent is almost a year and a half old)
- Tried almost every driver (official and "less" official) that was released for this card in the past 4 months
- That includes removing the previous driver (and everything the uninstall doesn't remove), over and over again
- Searched for bios updates for the 8800
- Took out (almost) every part of my pc (only the 8800, 1 HDD, a keyboard and the nobo were left)
- Tested the card in a friends pc, with the same result, although I have to mention that his PSU was to weak. So we used my desktop for the power supply... which makes this a briliant test -at first-, except that we still cannot be sure because even my new PSU could cause the trouble.

Why did I bought a PSU I am not really sure of? When I posted this problem the first time; everybody told me that I needed a PSU of at least a 400W. I never had thought that there was anything more to a PSU than making sure you have enough cables comming out of it! So I went out, bought myself a 500W. (Thinking that all would work fine now. What a disappointment...) Later I discovered there was even more required from the PSU; 12V current rating of 26A. The box of my new PSU didn't mention anything about ampere. But searching for a PSU which can supply 12V with 26A has learned me that there are very few units for sale that comply to this requirement. I am very new to all of this PSU things happening, but I wonder if everybody who bought a 8800 already had a PSU which supplied 12V current rating of 26A. Or do I see things wrong? So far I have found only one unit which seems to deliver 12V with 25A. (Check at the bottom of the page.)
But I can't help wondering: "do all other 8800 users really have this PSU or something very equal???"
If I buy this one and the result still isn't any different, then its another 90 euro to add to the price of this card and the money spend on the other PSU... Makes it a very expensive card...

But... You left me with one option I haven't tried yet! And I am not even sure what you are talking about, when you mentioned "HPET ENABLED". Nut after this, I am going to reboot and find out!
And if that doesn't work; in little more than one week I have a couple of weeks off so I'm gonna jump in my car, and drive to the internet retailer with that card under my arm and have them demonstrate to me that the card works fine...

 

[xtknight]

zotsklots: Since some videos play, it's probably coming down to which video players use which method of video playback. There are a few ways, including Overlay, DirectX7, and DirectX9. I'm suspecting the 8800 series have issues with DirectX9 media playback and acceleration, seeing as they're very new. But I wouldn't be able to tell you because I don't own an 8800.

You say no files play in WMP. Well, goto Tools->options->performance->advanced and then toggle the "high quality mode" boxes (from whatever they were last time). Do they play now? Media Player Classic also has video output options that you can try switching (mainly Overlay, VMR7, VMR9).

 

[Slugbait]

The nVidia 600-series started out corrupting data on SATA drives, primarily reported on the 680i. There were sporadic reports about stability issues with the 650i, but the visibility was a huge spotlight on the 680i.

Although the BIOS update in February fixed the corruption issue with the 680i, there are still some sporadic griping that stability isn't optimal.

Even tho' you have a 650i, I'm pretty sure updating your BIOS was the right thing to do.

 

[PoopyPants]

xtknight

that doesnt work,

its either a power issue, a bios issue, or the infamous video bug that has plagued the 8800 series since the beginning. that being not being able to play HD content properly.
this was a known bug i havent seen too many people complaining about lately though.

@zotsklots

your friend who told you a 400w psu was good enough for an 8800 GTS has no clue wtf he's talking about.
tkae my word for it, even i know my PSU is REALLLLYYYY getting pushed the hardware i have.

here is was i recommend.

8800 GTX - 700-750w+
8800 gTS 640meg - 600w
800 GTS 320meg - 500-600w 600w prefered.

people have NO CLUE, and i mean NO CLUE how much power their system truly pulls unless they have a device like i do to test wattage, voltage, amperage, and volt/amps draw directly off the back of the PC.
its called a killawatt and its invaluable!

go get one, you can find them on sale around the internet for 20-25 bucks.

if your power draw in watts is CLOSE to what your PSU is rated for then you need a bigger psu. and i mean close like 50w less than what its rated for.
why?
becuase wattage is important but what you need to look at, and the killawatt will tell you this, is the volt-amps.
this is the real kicker when it comes to power draw.
my system is pulling 700+ volt amps and 600+ watts. this is peaking my PSU....

do i need a bigger one? you bet i do, or i need to lower my overclock, and remove 1/2 my other hardware.

hard drives, sound cards, cdroms dont use jack shit for power for dont even worry about those.

the killer is the mobo itself, the cpu the video card, and how hard your overclocking the ram.

even if you dont change ANY voltage options in your bios, if you overclock it WILL pull more power than if it was running at stock mhz.

so dont take for granted that you have enough power.

the 8800 series is very power hungry.
not nearly as much as the new ATI cards though,, thank god!!

 

[PoopyPants]

Originally posted by: Slugbait
The nVidia 600-series started out corrupting data on SATA drives, primarily reported on the 680i. There were sporadic reports about stability issues with the 650i, but the visibility was a huge spotlight on the 680i.

Although the BIOS update in February fixed the corruption issue with the 680i, there are still some sporadic griping that stability isn't optimal.

Even tho' you have a 650i, I'm pretty sure updating your BIOS was the right thing to do.

i can 100000% agree with you on the 680i, i had the eVGA 680i board and it was horrible, sata and raid wouldnt work for shit as it was always corupting data.
i had it for a week, rma'd it, ha it for another week then sold it.
went and took a chance with the Asus P5N-E SLI and have NEVER EVER EVER EVER
had ANY data corurption issues. not even a hint of one.


the only problem with the asus is that you MUST,, i repeat MUST do the vcore droop mod.
but.. its asus,, wtf do we expect!,, asus ALWAYS has crap droop on their mobo's.
ever since they first started making mobo's.