Computer freezes/crashes when running games.

[smitty260]

Computer freezes/crashes when running games.

Hello.
I am currently having a little technical issue with my computer when I run games.
My computer specs are attached or you can go to http://220.245.216.180/computer.html to see.
It is a bit different with different games.

Soldier Front: Can do 1/2 a game up to 2 game until it freezes.
Left 4 Dead: Get 1-10 seconds into the game and then freezes.
S.U.N.: Choose character and then 5-20 seconds later it freezes.
A.V.A.: Rarely ever freezes. Once or twice so far.
Runescape: Anywhere between loading and just after login it freezes.
Godwars Online: Freezes at server select screen.

My computer can run other applications but not games.
I installed Norton 360 as my AV. I scanned the whole system, enable firewall and auto-protect but it still does it.
I repaired all system registry files.

Can anyone please give me any ideas on how to fix?

Kind regards,
-Smitty.

 

[sirkillalot]

well its hard to say the only thing to do is start by eliminating 1 thing at a time
are your graphic card drivers up to date?
is your directx driver up to date?
did you install the game patches?
do you over clock your pc?
it looks like your main problem is the internet, what connection speed do u use?

 

[smitty260]

well its hard to say the only thing to do is start by eliminating 1 thing at a time
are your graphic card drivers up to date?
is your directx driver up to date?
did you install the game patches?
do you over clock your pc?
it looks like your main problem is the internet, what connection speed do u use?

are your graphic card drivers up to date?
- Yes. I re-installed the latest update to double check that there were no errors.
is your directx driver up to date?
- Yes. I installed DirectX 10 today but didn't help it.
did you install the game patches?
- Yes. I had them installed on my old hard drive but I tried re-installing them.
do you over clock your pc?
- I do not know what that means haha.
it looks like your main problem is the internet, what connection speed do u use?
- I use TPG ADSL+2. Very good connection.

The weird thing is that they all worked perfectly on my old computer which was much worse except for A.V.A. which needed a better graphic card which is why I got a whole new computer but now no games work except A.V.A. which rarely freezes.
Please reply.

Kind regards,
-Smitty.

 

[Nick_C]

I can't see the computer spec, but have to ask: how capable is your PSU? Crashing under CPU load is common if vCore drops because the CPU can't handle the whole PC running near capacity. Also, bear in mind that a cold PSU will handle more power than a hot PSU, prompting crashing after a period of time.

 

[smitty260]

I can't see the computer spec, but have to ask: how capable is your PSU? Crashing under CPU load is common if vCore drops because the CPU can't handle the whole PC running near capacity. Also, bear in mind that a cold PSU will handle more power than a hot PSU, prompting crashing after a period of time.

My RAM is 3GB so I think that is fine, my PSU is fine and the temperature is stable.
Btw my main specs are:

Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2
Asus P5KC
Intel Q9450 @ 2.67GHz
4Gb DDR2 (2x 2GB)
Nvidia 9600GT

 

[sbdragon89]

I had problem while back which resulted in me needing new Graphics Card, it got to certain temp, or certain load and boom, i had to run actual load test on my card to find out it was that, oh yes and check your running correct drivers hey, (funny enough that can do it) and also faulty ram can do it, but you will have to run memory test for that

 

[Confused Stu]

If your PC is able to run other applications, but crashes on gaming (as you've stated in your opening post) that implies the problem lies with your graphics side of the PC, rather than RAM or CPU.

The symptoms you've described are exactly those I've faced when I had my PSU wired incorrectly to my (2) graphics cards, so the cards were being starved of power when they needed it and caused the PC to freeze the display, still play some sound for a few seconds, then go completely blank and stop responding to anything. That's why it sounds to me like your PSU is not supplying your 9600GT with the power it needs.

Which PSU are you running, and what is the maximum ampage that the PSU can supply on the 12v rails? That's the bit that will be supplying the graphics card and your symptoms are perfect for this figure not being up to your card's requirements.

 

[smitty260]

I had problem while back which resulted in me needing new Graphics Card, it got to certain temp, or certain load and boom, i had to run actual load test on my card to find out it was that, oh yes and check your running correct drivers hey, (funny enough that can do it) and also faulty ram can do it, but you will have to run memory test for that

The RAM is not faulty. I already tested all that and it is fine.

Kind regards,
-Smitty.

If your PC is able to run other applications, but crashes on gaming (as you've stated in your opening post) that implies the problem lies with your graphics side of the PC, rather than RAM or CPU.

The symptoms you've described are exactly those I've faced when I had my PSU wired incorrectly to my (2) graphics cards, so the cards were being starved of power when they needed it and caused the PC to freeze the display, still play some sound for a few seconds, then go completely blank and stop responding to anything. That's why it sounds to me like your PSU is not supplying your 9600GT with the power it needs.

Which PSU are you running, and what is the maximum ampage that the PSU can supply on the 12v rails? That's the bit that will be supplying the graphics card and your symptoms are perfect for this figure not being up to your card's requirements.

I will check that stuff and then edit this post with the outcomes.

Kind regards,
-Smitty.

 

[swifty_morgan]

Two things come to mind. First is the video card. Some of the factory over clocked cards go hot quick and caused problems. I think BFG was one of them. Run EVGA Precision and lower the clocks a little.
Secondly, the drivers. Some of newer drivers from nvidia that are also Windows7 capable cause problems on some machines. I ran across this myself. Find a pre Windows7 driver and see if that makes a difference.

 

[smitty260]

Two things come to mind. First is the video card. Some of the factory over clocked cards go hot quick and caused problems. I think BFG was one of them. Run EVGA Precision and lower the clocks a little.
Secondly, the drivers. Some of newer drivers from nvidia that are also Windows7 capable cause problems on some machines. I ran across this myself. Find a pre Windows7 driver and see if that makes a difference.

I lowered the clocks so I will see what happens.

I don't have Windows 7 and I had the latest driver but went back a few versions again but still didn't help.

Kind regards,
-Smitty.

 

[smitty260]

Ok. I got the problem fixed.
It was the graphics card.. Faulty or something..

I bought a NVIDIA 9500 GT 1GB RAM. I am happy with it.'

PROBLEM SOLVED!
Thanks guys.

Kind regards,
-Smitty.

 

[justinheir]

Nice, yeah I had similar problem before, and after replacing my video card, it solved my problem. It was also working fine... but I had to swallow my pride and replaced it.

It went well after that.

 

[AdamantForce]

A.V.A. is a gaming nightmare for GPU's. I had i running on my rig, Dell T7400 with dual quad-core XEON's, with that same P.O.S. GPU you mentioned. The Ge(Force it to work) 9600 is awful. It overheats at 67c. And it reaches 67 quickly. I had to take it apart, and redo the OEM seating of the heatsink, and automatically thats dropped the temps by15c at idle and throttling. Also Nvidia lies, the box the card, both read 512MB of vid memory. WRONG!!! the Nvidia control panel, gpu-z read that it was only 256MB video memory. And, (even worse) there is a tiny sticker on the bottom of the card that lists the full cards info. Where it normally read 512MB, this one was black marked out.

I have a dual card setup now, but guess what. For time to time, AVA will still hang. The PC is alive on the other monitors. But the games monitor will be a nice still frame of what I was last doing in game.

Im currently trying to trace any issues of this to a memory leak if any. Or to the CPU "burping" and causing it to loose focus. (if you alt+tab in AVA you will 90% hang your game)



Just wanted to give a bit more insight to that GPU and gaming, considering I Google'd AVA hangs while in game play. And found this article.

Ciao,

WebGameGuy

 

[Mousemonkey]

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