prime95 stable but Company of Heroes causes lockup

[butch84]

I've got my E6300 running at 2.8ghz (1600mhz fsb) on an Abit IP35. I've got no stability issues in windows generally, but Company of Heroes locks up on me. Usually, the audio screeches, and the game just locks up. Once, the video output died. When I reboot, it comes up just fine. I can run Prime95 without errors, so I'm thinking I don't have a cpu/ram problem. Does anybody have any suggestions? Could it be a powersupply issue - maybe the videocard + cpu o/c is bringing my psu to my knees? Crappy Audigy2 drivers?

System specs:
E6300 @ 2.8ghz (1600mhz fsb, default voltage)
Abit IP35 (bios rev 13)
4gb Corsair ddr2 800 (4x 1gb)
x1950xt 256mb (Catalyst 7.11 drivers)
Audigy2 (nomoregoatsoup Vista Driver Pack 2)
Enermax 470w PSU (EG475P-VE-SFMA)
Vista Home Premium 64 bit

Any input is appreciated!
Dave

 

[JustaGeek]

Try a different driver for your Video Card, ar a different Video Card altogether.

Looks like a Graphics Card/Driver issue.

But it could also be a PSU issue, when the Video Card requires more power...

I would try both...

 

[TC91]

try using the 2T command rate for ur ram, or up its voltage one notch, exactly the same thing happened to me, both worked out for me perfectly.

 

[butch84]

I'm currently running the ram at SPD timings and 1.9v (the voltage it's rated for). It failed prime95 almost immediately at 1.8v, so I thought I fixed it by bumping it up to 1.9v. Do you think I should bump it up again to 2.0v?

As far as the videocard goes, I can't swap it out as I don't have any other pci-e videocards. I might try going back to the 7.10 driver. My other thought was to pull 2gb of ram to see if that fixes it. I've heard rumblings that Creative's drivers don't play nice with 4gb configurations. I've also heard that some bios revisions of the IP35 have issues with 4gb as well. I'd rather not have to pull any ram, but I guess I can if bumping the voltage doesn't do the trick.

Thanks for your responses guys,
Dave

 

[imported_spike99]

I've got my E6300 running at 2.8ghz (1600mhz fsb) on an Abit IP35. I've got no stability issues in windows generally, but Company of Heroes locks up on me. Usually, the audio screeches, and the game just locks up. Once, the video output died. When I reboot, it comes up just fine. I can run Prime95 without errors, so I'm thinking I don't have a cpu/ram problem. Does anybody have any suggestions? Could it be a powersupply issue - maybe the videocard + cpu o/c is bringing my psu to my knees? Crappy Audigy2 drivers?

I've got the same problem... I believe its more of a video driver issue. Game pretty much locks up and I have to hard reset PC. I tried everything... installing/uninstalling video drivers... I even went as far as formatting my PC last weekend but no luck.

I'm gonna try it tonight, but you may try right clicking on icon and run it with XP/SP2 compability and run it as admin too... Not sure if it'll work... but it's something to try.

 

[badnewcastle]

Sounds like video card to me... also, check the temps on your GPU core... might be overheating just enough to lock up.

 

[TC91]

yah for me when that happened, company of heroes would lock up, freeze, or even give me a bsod. also check your temperatures out for your cpu and video card like what badnewcastle said. i am not sure if it is creative's issue, but you may also try lowering the audio quality setting in the options too and see if that helps. and also do try 2.0v for the ram. i have to run 2.1v otherwise i will crash out with my current CL3 timings. for ram, 2.1v is a safe voltage, 2.2v is a little high for me when overvolting ram, unless the ram was rated to run @ 2.2v.

 

[VirtualLarry]

bump your northbridge voltage up one notch, perhaps

 

[imported_spike99]

FYI,

As mentioned previously, I right clicked COH icon and changed Compability to Windows XP (Service Pack 2). I also set program to run as administrator.

Today I played two long games with no freeze/crahses.... It will take me about 10 games before I can say that this is resolved.... I need to continue testing this week.

I suggest you do the same and see if you still have problems.

Let me know

 

[butch84]

I'm trying to make sure my video card isn't overheating, but I can't monitor the temp while playing CoH at the same time. Does anybody know if there's a way to log gpu temps to file somehow? Either through ATI drivers or a 3rd party app?

Thanks for the replies everybody!

 

[taltamir]

use rivatuner. It will record temperature over time, when you exit the game it will tell you the temperatures experiences over time... (or alt tab out of the game)

 

[imported_spike99]

OK,

I think i got the solution for my COH crashing...

Nothing to do with hardware or overclocking but with the game.

To resolve my problem.... Go into game, go to options and then graphics settings. Change shawdow quality from Direct3D DX10 to High.

I went to another forum, and this looks like this is a known problem.

I have played several games now and it has not crashed... This seems to resolve my problem. I do need to contiune testing throught the week before can I really say this is resolved.

 

[imported_spike99]

Update:

OK, So I have done plenty COH playing and I have not received any freeze or crashing. Looks like there's possibly a problem with this games DX10 and NVIDIA. I can't believe after so many install/unistalls of nvidia video drivers & formatting my PC, I finally got this resolved. I was starting to think that it was hardware related and I was in the process of RMA'ing video card and MOBO. I have since cancelled RMA's since I have no issues...

Note: I removed setting that I had done previously... Where I set game compability to XP/ SP2. Took this out... It's not needed. I did keep setting where I run game as admin... I don't think I need this either... maybe later I'll take this option off too.

 

[butch84]

I ended up bumping up the voltage on my cpu by one notch, and the northbridge voltage by two notches. Haven't had any stability issues in CoH or otherwise since. I'm curious whether it was the cpu or northbridge that was the problem..... but not enough that I want to lower the voltages enough to start experiencing crashes again.

Thanks for all the suggestions everybody!

 

[imported_spike99]

I ended up bumping up the voltage on my cpu by one notch, and the northbridge voltage by two notches. Haven't had any stability issues in CoH or otherwise since. I'm curious whether it was the cpu or northbridge that was the problem..... but not enough that I want to lower the voltages enough to start experiencing crashes again.

butch84, I'm curious whether you made the change I had suggested below... ?

Go into game, go to options and then graphics settings. Change shawdow quality from Direct3D DX10 to High.

After the above change, I have had no problems. Please let me know

Thanks.

 

[Bigbassfrank]

it has to be related to the Video card.. If it was ram or cpu , it would give u problems erratically at any time.. Not just during a game..

bbf

 

[BonzaiDuck]

Only a footnote to say that there are multiple possible causes for the same symptoms.

I had the same symptoms myself, but it had more to do with HOW I OC'd my videocard. Make sure you use RivaTuner to set the clocks, if you don't re-flash the vid BIOS. My experience leads me to say that "ATI Tool may be a good way to test the limits, but do not make it the means of OC'ing vid-card on re-boot or on a regular basis if the vid card is "nVidia."

Also, I've been fine-tuning and tweaking my Q6600 system as a result of these instabilities, and feel more comfortable now using the multi-core version of PRIME95 than the now-vintage (double-instance) of ORTHOS.

 

[butch84]

I didn't make any changes to the graphics settings in the game. However, I'm guessing no DX10 features would even be selectable since I have a DX9 card. I'm guessing the extra northbridge voltage did the trick. Perhaps it's possible that stressing the pci-e bus in addition to cpu and ram was the straw that broke the north bridge's back?

Dave

 

[imported_spike99]

I didn't make any changes to the graphics settings in the game. However, I'm guessing no DX10 features would even be selectable since I have a DX9 card. I'm guessing the extra northbridge voltage did the trick. Perhaps it's possible that stressing the pci-e bus in addition to cpu and ram was the straw that broke the north bridge's back?

OK

I thought that since you have VISTA, you would automatically have DX10.... But it makes sense... video card must also support DX10.

Thanks for the info.