PC freezes when playing games, no BSOD.

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mynameisollie

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Nov 15, 2012
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Recently my PC has been freezing with an audio loop when playing games such as Battlefield 4 and Arkham Origins. I don't get a blue screen and there is nothing abnormal looking in the event viewer. When the computer freezes it shows the last fame of animation with an audio loop of the last half a second of audio. I then have to reset the system.

I have run disk checks on my HDD, memtest 86 as well as the windows memory test. I have also tried Furmark with the 15 min burn in test. All my temperatures seem normal. I replaced the PSU which didn't make a difference. Tried a video memory test. Updated graphics drivers as well as the audio ones.

System specs:
Windows 8.1
AMD Phenom II X6 1055T
Sabertooth 990FX mobo
GSKILL Ripjaws 2x8GB ram
ASUS GTX 470 GPU
Antec 850m PSU
Momentus XT 500gb SSHD

Any help appreciated, thanks.

EDIT: Have also ran full system virus scan with Kaspersky, which I have since uninstalled as I thought it might be causing the problem.
 
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TheLastDoomguy

TheLastDoomguy

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Oct 23, 2013
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It's usually lack of voltage, or unstable voltage or current that causes that.

Of course, too much voltage at any given clock speed will increase the heat, which leads to throttling of the processor... although this is generally better than having the system lock up.

If you under-clock your processor (if you can) and video card (GPU) by say 12.5% to 15.0%, does the problem persist?
 
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mynameisollie

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Nov 15, 2012
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OK. Thanks for the response, I will try that now. Do you think a voltage problem could develop over time? I have had the system for about a year and the problem started happening the last 3 or 4 weeks.
 
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mynameisollie

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Nov 15, 2012
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Well I have tried underclocking the GPU clock by 15% and the system still locked up. I also tried underclocking the GPU memory which also didn't work.

[strike]I will try disabling the Realteck audio driver and use the Nvidia one through my monitor with HDMI.[/strike] Just realised it has a mini HDMI output and I don't have a cable for it.
 
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TheLastDoomguy

TheLastDoomguy

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Oct 23, 2013
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If it happens again, and you suspect that it *is* a hardware device driver / configuration issue, try this:

Run MSCONFIG.
Click on:
Boot (tab).
Advanced Options (button).
PCI Lock (check box, enable it).
Hit OK, Apply, OK, Restart.

It stops Windows from playing around with the settings passed to it by the BIOS / UEFI post various bus configurations Play'n'Play.

It may help, and it's highly unlikely to hurt if it doesn't.
 
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mynameisollie

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Nov 15, 2012
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It still crashes. One think I have noticed though is that it seems to happen when the game is loading something, for example when opening a door or bringing the map screen up.
 
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mynameisollie

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Nov 15, 2012
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Yeah I replaced the PSU two days ago as I thought my old one was the culprit. It's very unlikely that they are both defective. The only thing I can think of is that I still don't have enough power (I went from a 750w to an 850w), however that doesn't explain how I was playing the BF4 Beta a couple of weeks before without any crashing.

Or my old PSU damaged my hardware...
 
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mynameisollie

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Nov 15, 2012
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Thanks I'll have a look. Just last month I put a new fan/heatsink on my CPU along with some new thermal paste, so it is unlikely that it is overheating but you never know.
 
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mynameisollie

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Nov 15, 2012
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Well the first one I got was by Powercool or something like that, so I thought It was probably the PSU. The replacement I got through Amazon (not a seller on Amazon) so it's unlikely that it is a fake.

I do some rendering and fluid sims now and again that work off of the CPU with high loads and haven't had any problems, though not within the last week or so. It's mainly from playing games. I get the rare crash from playing Youtube videos now and again.
 
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mynameisollie

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Nov 15, 2012
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BF4 crashed while the CPU was at 40 degrees. Didn't get a look at the GPU though. However I did run Furmark for 15 mins and it peaked at 90 degrees; It didn't crash or anything either.

Oddly BF4 crashed on the deploy screen which I don't think draws any 3D, but I am probably wrong.
 
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mynameisollie

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Nov 15, 2012
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OK. I have found that if I disable all audio devices, I don't get any crashes. So I am guessing it is an audio device problem? I uninstalled the Realtek HD audio driver and Windows installed its own one, which still gave me crashes.
 
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