PC freezing during 3D games/apps

[Nukemann]

Hello,

I have a legacy Dell machine that I use to play older games on, and recently it's been locking up during games or 3D programs. Sometimes the computer freezes completely just 1 second into a game, or once up to 40 minutes while running rthdribl. I kept a GPU-Z log of the computer up to lock ups, and it's extremely variable. In rthdribl, I got up to over 70 Celsius stable, but at times the computer freezes at ~55 Celsius. I tried out Furmark, and was able to get the program running stable for 8 minutes, no graphic artifacts before it died. I've defragged the hard drives, and ran memory tests, and it still locks up. I suspected this is due to a failing power supply, so today I got a 600W Thermaltake ATX to try it out, but it won't even start up, and a blinking orange light shows up on the power button. Don't know if it's a dud. I haven't overclocked anything.

My specs:

Pentium 4 3.4GHz 478
1 GB DDR PC3200 RAM
ATi Radeon X850XT 256 MB
40 + 80 GB hard drives
305 W power supply

Any advice much appreciated.

 

[NewYorksFinest]

You are really in need for a new PC.

 

[Ketchup]

Did that model have active cooling for the CPU or passive with the duct?

If you are getting a blue screen, or freeze, probably a stick of RAM going bad. If it is straight up rebooting, probably a failing power supply.

So does it ever reboot, or just freeze every time?

 

[Nukemann]

Did that model have active cooling for the CPU or passive with the duck?

If you are getting a blue screen, or freeze, probably a stick of RAM going bad. If it is straight up rebooting, probably a failing power supply.

So does it ever reboot, or just freeze every time?

There's a CPU fan that vents outside the box.

When it freezes, the whole computer locks up, and I have to do a cold reboot. There's no record of a system failure at all in the event viewer. In the GPU-Z log, it records data to right before the PC dies. After the computer locks up, it's still on, but completely unresponsive.

 

[Ketchup]

Two sticks of RAM? I would remove one stick at a time, as slow as that might be, and run the PC until it crashes or stays up long enough to implicate the other stick.

 

[Pitboz]

Sorry to intrude but I have the same problem too. My pc freezes when i'm playing mmo games and I have to do a cold reboot. For a week or so stopped doing it after I cleaned it but for the past 3-4 days begun again. Can anyone help? :S I haven't overclocked anything and I am pretty amateur to anything having to do with pc hardware.

My specs:

AMD A8-5600K APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics 3.60Hz
AMD Radeon HD 7560D(graphic card)
8.00 GB ram

I think it has to do with power supply but I said I'm pretty amateur and I don't know how to repair it.

 

[Ketchup]

Sorry to intrude but I have the same problem too. My pc freezes when i'm playing mmo games and I have to do a cold reboot. For a week or so stopped doing it after I cleaned it but for the past 3-4 days begun again. Can anyone help? :S I haven't overclocked anything and I am pretty amateur to anything having to do with pc hardware.

My specs:

AMD A8-5600K APU with Radeon(tm) HD Graphics 3.60Hz
AMD Radeon HD 7560D(graphic card)
8.00 GB ram

I think it has to do with power supply but I said I'm pretty amateur and I don't know how to repair it.

You are welcome to open your own thread for this. It becomes overly complicated to start two conversations in a single thread, when it is very simple for a member to start their own.

 

[Nukemann]

This is very strange. I took out 1 stick of RAM at a time, and it still kept locking up during 3D. But then I ran chkdsk on the C drive, and rthdribl ran OK without freezing. I ran Furmark for 10 minutes, and the GPU got up to nearly 75 Celsius, and the PC was completely stable and didn't lock up. But here's the weird part. I tried running the Source video stress test, and now the first time it runs properly without freezing, but if I launch CSS a second time, it locks up. My video games are stored on the D drive (80 GB), but chkdsk in command prompt didn't detect anything wrong like bad sectors on it. How can I set chkdsk to scan my other drive on startup? Worse comes to worst, I could do a full system restore and reformat the hard drives. I'm starting to think it isn't a problem with my hardware, but something in my hard drives has gone awry.

 

[Ketchup]

Hmm, if you unplug your second hard drive, do you still get the freezing?

 

[Drummerdude]

When you say you ran Memory tests, did you run memtest specifically, or the dell onboard motherboard test? That one is nowhere near conclusive. Also, have you visually inspected your motherboard and video card for bad caps?

 

[Nukemann]

Well, today the problem still kept happening, so I took out the X850XT and replaced it with another card to test. On the other card there was no freezing during 3D at all. But the other card is a Radeon 9600, and it uses a lot less power than the X850XT (there's a 4-pin power connector)? On all the tests I ran, rhtdribl, Furmark, there were no visual artifacts or weird textures. The system was completely stable until recently. Could locking up in-game be a sign of a dying graphics card?

When you say you ran Memory tests, did you run memtest specifically, or the dell onboard motherboard test? That one is nowhere near conclusive. Also, have you visually inspected your motherboard and video card for bad caps?

I've only run MemTest. There isn't anything wrong with the motherboard and X850XT, from what I can see. No bad caps, and the video card fan sounds normal, but is dusty inside.

 

[Virgorising]

Well, today the problem still kept happening, so I took out the X850XT and replaced it with another card to test. On the other card there was no freezing during 3D at all. But the other card is a Radeon 9600, and it uses a lot less power than the X850XT (there's a 4-pin power connector)? On all the tests I ran, rhtdribl, Furmark, there were no visual artifacts or weird textures. The system was completely stable until recently. Could locking up in-game be a sign of a dying graphics card?

This is a P 4 system with 1 GB of ram and 305w PSU. Is the GPU U removed the original card?

It seems you have a newer and faster system. How come you can't use it for all yr games? Including the older ones, which R still both CPU and PSU intense and want good RAM too.

 

[Virgorising]

You are really in need for a new PC.

I agree, esp given he is a gamer. It seems he has faster and newer tho, and only uses this system for older games. But, why?

 

[Nukemann]

This is a P 4 system with 1 GB of ram and 305w PSU. Is the GPU U removed the original card?

It seems you have a newer and faster system. How come you can't use it for all yr games? Including the older ones, which R still both CPU and PSU intense and want good RAM too.

I have another computer, except it's hard drive is full, so I keep a spare to play the games I can't install on the new computer. Yes, there is no onboard video, so I had to use another video card when X850XT was taken out. The inside of the GPU fan is quite dusty. I could clean it out, and then try if it keeps locking up. What's strange is if the video card is bad, there are no visual artifacts or problems if it runs 3D apps.

 

[Virgorising]

I have another computer, except it's hard drive is full, so I keep a spare to play the games I can't install on the new computer. Yes, there is no onboard video, so I had to use another video card when X850XT was taken out. The inside of the GPU fan is quite dusty. I could clean it out, and then try if it keeps locking up. What's strange is if the video card is bad, there are no visual artifacts or problems if it runs 3D apps.

O! K.....exactly how big is this full HDD? And, is it filled with junk and clutter and glut and stuff you do not need? Pls get Glary; it's free and pretty amazing. Run it.

http://www.glarysoft.com/

And, is the newer system a desktop? If so, how come you din install a second HDD?

By all means, clean the fan!! And, what do you mean 3D apps? U mean other than gaming, right? Apps which do not stress the card or the other hardware?

I am so happy I am not a gamer. One of infinite reasons the drive I am now in (the one I mostly boot into) is 78% free. And it's a 500GB WD Black.

I do know from fixing my friend's kid's system....he is a gamer, tho only 8 (sigh, I think he needs a console, but I jus shut up), many games are over 5GBs. Even a drive kept free of clutter and junk and defragged, would fill up fast. Even a 1TB one, I guess. But, again, if you have the option to install a second drive in yr newer system, why wouldn't u do that?

I mean, I do it re my desktops, only for backup.

 

[Ketchup]

Well, today the problem still kept happening, so I took out the X850XT and replaced it with another card to test. On the other card there was no freezing during 3D at all. But the other card is a Radeon 9600, and it uses a lot less power than the X850XT (there's a 4-pin power connector)? On all the tests I ran, rhtdribl, Furmark, there were no visual artifacts or weird textures. The system was completely stable until recently. Could locking up in-game be a sign of a dying graphics card?

I think we are down to an overworked power supply. That unit could probably barely run the X850 when it was new, certainly as the power supply has aged with a video card pulling that much power it's probably on its way out.

 

[Virgorising]

I think we are down to an overworked power supply. That unit could probably barely run the X850 when it was new, certainly as the power supply has aged with a video card pulling that much power it's probably on its way out.

Yes, PSU is exhausted.

I still wanna know about the the newer, faster system and why, if you have not, if it's a desktop, you don't install a second drive?

 

[denis280]

I think we are down to an overworked power supply

+1

 

[Drummerdude]

Yes, PSU is exhausted.

I still wanna know about the the newer, faster system and why, if you have not, if it's a desktop, you don't install a second drive?

Agreed. A full hdd is never an excuse to keep an older rig around. You'll waste money on keeping the rig running, when hard drives are cheap. You can buy a quality 1tb drive, anywhere between 79-100 USD. 500gb drives are around 50 bucks. And if you already have a hard drive to spare, throw that bad boy in your newer rig and there ya go, another hdd to run games off of.

 

[Virgorising]

Agreed. A full hdd is never an excuse to keep an older rig around. You'll waste money on keeping the rig running, when hard drives are cheap. You can buy a quality 1tb drive, anywhere between 79-100 USD. 500gb drives are around 50 bucks. And if you already have a hard drive to spare, throw that bad boy in your newer rig and there ya go, another hdd to run games off of.

Absolutely! THROW HIM IN!!!!:biggrin: Hook him up and turn on his controller in the bios!

(We R assuming the newer system is a desktop so we don have to mess with external drives.)

 

[Drummerdude]

Absolutely! THROW HIM IN!!!!:biggrin: Hook him up and turn on his controller in the bios!

(We R assuming the newer system is a desktop so we don have to mess with external drives.)

+1

 

[Virgorising]

+1

Are we sure the second drive won't be female? Are we being politically correct in this thread?:whiste)

 

[Nukemann]

Sorry for necro, but I busted out the PC again, and this time I noticed it only locks up if GPU-Z is running. I started up GPU-Z as a temp monitor, but every time GPU-Z is running in the background, the PC locks up in-game. So I didn't turn on GPU-Z, and everything was fine. I played through a session of TF2 (which is the most stressful game I know for a P4), and it didn't lock up. I even overclocked the X850XT to 540/590, and everything was stable. So I suspected it might be something to do with GPU-Z, so I reinstalled it again, and then the PC froze in-game again. I'm mentioning this in case anyone else knows something about GPU-Z causing lock ups in-game? I never noticed it before, and GPU-Z works fine when monitoring my other rig.

 

[MongGrel]

You are really in need for a new PC.

What he said awhile back.

 

[Ketchup]

Considering the price of something like this ....

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboD...pg&icid=247381

I don't know that the old P4 rig is worth much more effort.