Strange occurance with SOME games... A real stumper...

[DefDC]

Here's a strange one...

Athlon 2100+
Asus A7N8X-Deluxe (ver1)
1GB Kingston VR PC2700
Geforece 4 TI
WinXP Pro SP1

I am having problems with SOME games that until just recently played ok. As the game starts, it might run ok for 1 second, but freezes, (CPU maxes) and stays that way for about 20 seconds. Then maybe a half second it is fine, but then freezes again. It will keep doing this. The clincher is , these games ran fine not long ago... And it only affects SOME games. I can task out and end the process. No problem while in Windows...

I haven't made any hardware changes, and I have removed all software changes since then. I've gone ahead and replaced all drivers: video, sound, motherboard, NIC, and IDE. I have also reinstalled DirectX fresh from MS. I just ran Detonator RIP and reinstalled the video drivers. I went into MSCONFIG is disabled ALL background apps. No virus scan running or anything...

Games affected:
BF1942
Splinter Cell
C&C: Generals

Not effected:
Impossible Creatures
Jedi Academy
Freedom Fighters Demo

I reinstalled BF 1942 and I still have the problem. Every so often I get a grafx glitch on Splinter Cell along with the slowdown.

Does anybody have any suggestions on what might be the problem? I can't imagine it's hardware, or EVERYTHING would be affected... I havent had any other strange occurances...

Thanks!

(Edit: Can't type and chew gum at the same time. Stupid typos...)

 

[Looney]

Have you tried different, older video driver versions just to make sure it's not the drivers?

But it's hard to say exactly what the problem could be... it does sound video related. Any chance the games affected have options that are on that the games not affected don't have? Like AA/AS, certain filters, etc?

 

[DefDC]

Yeah, I backed up on the drivers. (I tested 3) And disabled AA and anything else that could be caused within the video card properties... I guess I am due for my annual "Let's blow away Windows" session. Maybe I should just designate New Years and the 4th of July... 🙂

This is making me nuts! These games worked fine just a few weeks ago, and like I said, I haven't made any major changes!

(Edit: Mo typos! Time for bed!)

 

[egale]

By chance is the fan working properly on the video card? I know when overclocked or overheated, video will sometimes freeze and unfreeze similar to that. Is there another video card you can use to test with?

 

[DefDC]

That's a thought. I didn't bother to check the hardware since it works in some games, but it's worth a shot.

 

[acemcmac]

Originally posted by: egale
By chance is the fan working properly on the video card? I know when overclocked or overheated, video will sometimes freeze and unfreeze similar to that. Is there another video card you can use to test with?

my thoughts exactly

good luck :beer:

 

[azntiger0586]

-make sure you have some good airflow in your case.

if temps are fine, what power supply are you running?

 

[DefDC]

420W AMD approved that came with my Chieftek "Old Alienware" case. Airflow shouldn't be a problem, unless there are dead fans, and I think I would have noticed the noise difference.

I'm very curious to check out the fans when I get home from work, but I don't think that going to be the problem. I just spent the weekend finishing up Jedi Academy in a marathon session, but earlier in the week I couldn't get Battlefield or the Armed and Dangerous demo to run. I had no probs whatsoever with JA.

But, it's got to be something!

 

[Camofrog]

what specific driver version are u using, the Nvidia 52.** drivers had probs in Bf1942 and C&C Generals not sure about splinter cell tho (but that is as DirectX8.1 game) make sure you use the 53.03 drivers, and see waht happens

 

[DefDC]

Crud... I had already installed the 53.03 and no dice. But thanks for the tip.

I just went home for lunch and surveyed the hardware. All fans are functioning properly. Good airflow, but just to check, I open the side and pointed a BIG fan and cooled that sucker down. I powered off, let cool, and fired it back up and tested, and still no go... Boy, I am really stumped.

I noticed that I might be able to flash my mobo bios, so I think that will be the next step, but that still leaves me with no idea what might have happened to cause this. If that doesn't work, I'm going to get a spare HD and reinstall Win and the games and see if it's HW or SW... This is crazy...

 

[DefDC]

Last night I cleaned up a drive and installed XP, DirectX, and 53.03 Detonator drivers and got the same thing. I think I know what the problems is. I rolled back to 2 previous video drivers, but that was before I ran RIP.

I'm going to run RIP again and install some older video drivers, and I'll bet that will solve the problem... I sure hope so... I'll be at a total loss if that doesn't work... 🙂

 

[DefDC]

After MUCH research, I found some other people with simalar problems. The most popular solution besides replacing the drive was to UNDERCLOCK the card. I lowered it down with a tweak util and now it works fine. No real noticeable drop in frames, either... Very strange....