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Unusual freezing

S

Scott9027

Junior Member
Hi everyone, I'm new to the forums here. I was wondering if anyone could help me with a hardware problem I am having. When playing a computer game my computer freezes completely after about 1-5 minutes. I think the problem might be my video card which is an ATi Radeon 9800 Pro. I was thinking that perhaps my PSU is not sufficient and therefore I am experiencing various problems. The only problem with this theory is that I think my power supply is more than sufficient. It is an Antec SmartPower 450W, which has 20v on the 12v rail. My CPU should not be having any problems as it is new and I am not overclocking it or anything like that. If anyone has any suggestions as to what the problem may be I would appreciate your help. Thanks in advance.

Scott
 
Welcome to the Forums 🙂 What's the complete spec list of your system, what drives, cards, motherboard and CPU? Is your case well-ventilated? Is the fan on the video card verified to be running after lockup?
 
Thanks for your speedy reply. Sorry for leaving out my full system specs. I have the following:

Processor- AMD Athlon 64 FX 53
Motherboard- MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum nForce 250
Memory- Corsair XMS3200 (2 GB)
Video Card- ATi Radeon 9800 Pro
Hard Drive- Western Digital Caviar (80 GB)
Optical Drive 1- ASUS DVD-ROM
Optical Drive 2- ASUS CD-RW
Power Supply- Antec SmartPower 450W
Case- Kingwin KT-424

I apologize if I've left anything out. Unfortunately I do not think my case is very well ventilated, I could use some tips in that department but I have done the best I can so far. I will be sure to check the fan on my video card the next time it freezes, but if you could tell me what to do in either case that would be very helpful.
 
Another question: are you using onboard sound, or a PCI sound card?

The problem sounds pretty repeatable, so you could test whether the video card is overheating by taking the side panel off the case and aiming a house fan into the side. If the lockups go away, then it would be logical to think they were being caused by something getting too hot.

That looks like an easy enough workload for a SmartPower450. I do have one other suggestion: if the memory modules are on AUTO for voltage, raise that to 2.7 volts. AUTO often results in 2.5 volts, which may not be quite enough for PC3200. But from the time-delay nature of the freeze-ups, it does make a guy think more about overheat.
 
I tried the fan and it did not help. I upped the memory voltage to 1.7 and while I was in there i noticed that the agp voltage might be a problem, so I raised it to 1.6 from 1.5. Can you think of anything else to try if this does not work?
 
I have upped the voltage, opened the case, blown a fan on it, checked my cpu with prime95 for 15 odd hours. I still have not found any problems...other than the fact that it freezes. If anyone knows what else i can try I would be glad to hear them.
 
Interestingly enough only while playing Call of Duty it freezes. All i have for comparison is UT2k4 demo but it does not freeze while playing that
I will try updating my drivers
 
Originally posted by: Scott9027
Interestingly enough only while playing Call of Duty it freezes. All i have for comparison is UT2k4 demo but it does not freeze while playing that
I will try updating my drivers
Click to expand...

Download 3DMark01 and run it in looping mode for a few hours (and you can give 3DMark03 and 05 a shot if you want, too). If that doesn't freeze up, you're probably having issues with COD.
 
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