Freezing in Team Fortress 2

[genjaguar]

I built my computer several months ago and have been having a weird issue in TF2. Every so often the game will freeze for a second or two, then go back to normal for a second, then freeze again. This happens randomly and I haven't been able to link it to anything.

I don't think it's internet lag because when I talk in vent when I'm frozen like this it sounds fine. Also my music on winamp plays fine in the background. The game completely freezes and if there was a sound going on when it happens it just repeats as though it is crashing.

My specs :
i5 2500k @4.4GHZ
ASRock Extreme 4
GTX 560ti
2x4GB Ripjaw X DDR3 1600

The only new part I did not get when making this computer was my HDD and Power Supply :
HDD : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136218&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=s4dasmq53ltr
PSU : http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139002&nm_mc=AFC-C8Junction&cm_mmc=AFC-C8Junction-_-RSSDailyDeals-_-na-_-na&AID=10521304&PID=4176827&SID=xyebzqo4gvci

Not really sure where to start or what could be causing the issue. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[Hawkeye22]

Does the audio in game cut out too or is it just the video. I've seen this happen with audio when the onboard audio chip can't reserve enough channels to play all the sounds. The game audio will cut out for a few seconds, then come back.

 

[icebreaker125]

I think i updated my audio drivers and video drivers to fix it, not too sure ive forgot -_-

 

[genjaguar]

The audio freezes on whatever the game freezes on. If a person was talking it repeats that sound. If I was firing my gun it freezes on that sound and repeats for the 2 secs it's frozen on. The audio doesn't cut or stop...just repeats whatever was going on at the time.

I had games crash before and restarting my old computer back in the day...it freezes on video and audio and repeats and the computer would need to be restarted. It's like the same thing but only freezes for 2 secs at a time then repeats about 4 times before going back to normal.

 

[Hawkeye22]

Are the chipset drivers installed? Are there any devices with a yellow exclamation point next to them in the device manager?

 

[genjaguar]

All the chipset drivers are installed. The only device with a yellow exclamation point is :
Unknown Device
Device type : Universal Serial Bus controllers
Manufacturer : (Standard USB Host Controller)
Location : Port_#0002.Hub_#0004

Although even this says it has the driver installed.

EDIT : Actually I found out that is my printer and sometimes it doesn't get recognized. I have it unplugged and still getting the same issue.

 

[Hawkeye22]

If it's in the unknown device category it definately doesn't have drivers. Odd it would be the USB ports though. Are those usb ports on a add-in card? If so use the drivers that came with it.

 

[genjaguar]

I posted my edit but maybe too late. It was my printer which has some memory and spots for camera cards which was the unknown usb device. With it unhooked and no unknowns however I still have the same issue.

 

[Hawkeye22]

This works in TFC and I beleive in TF2 also. In game, go to the console and type in net_graph 1. You can also try replacing the 1 with a 2 or 3. net_graph 0 turns it off. You should see a graph of your upload/download speeds and also the choke. This should show you if it's a network problem, possibly the server you play on.

 

[genjaguar]

So I finally just uninstalled Steam and all games and reinstalled everything completely. Still have the same issue. Sometimes it's worse (freezing for 5 secs or more) and sometimes it's very minor. Doesn't seem to be as consistent as before. I have also noticed that sometimes it even freezes my vent(I can't press my vent key to talk like my whole computer is frozen). I will have to double check if my music plays during this time.

From the settings my friends have suggested, I set both cmd and update rate at 33(which is what the game shows I'm usually getting ranging from 30-34 for both) and for rate I have tried everything from 20000 to 60000. My choke always seems to jump randomly. There are times where I stay at 0 but even during minor fights or even just walking out of spawn I see it jump to 10-20. Nothing too big and doesn't seem to cause any lagging...just thought it was weird. When the freezing occurs my choke jumps up to really high numbers...50+. Again I'm not sure if thats just because of all the data it has to catch up on from the freeze.

I have also noticed some freezing in Portal 2 coop. So I don't think the issue is just with TF2. Portal freezing seems about the same as TF2 with the game being stuck on whatever was seen and heard at the time. Sometimes it's worse and sometimes better just like TF2 now.

 

[Hawkeye22]

It's been a long time since I've played with cmd and update rate numbers so I don't really remember what they should be. I used to tweak them in TFC, but left them at default for TF2 with no problems. If you are sure it's not a problem with the server you're playing on, it's still sounds like a chipset driver problem or a lan driver problem.

After you built your computer, did you stress test the CPU and ram? Just for shagrins, I'd run memtest86 and orthos or prime95.

 

[genjaguar]

I ran all of those to test my overclocks. Nothing ever ever came up with errors. The other issue is...this is the second build I am using. The first build was a Phenom IIx4, GTX460, and ASrock Extreme 3 870. Still had the same issue. I have all the drivers for the motherboard as well as the drivers for my video card.

 

[Hawkeye22]

Ok, just a shot in the dark here. Run chkdsk x: /f where x is the drive you have steam installed to - couldn't hurt to do all drives. Also, it sounds like something is competeing for resources and stealing the CPU away from the game. If you are using antivirus software, try disabling it or even uninstalling it temporarily.

 

[genjaguar]

Ran chkdsk, here are the results :
Microsoft Windows [Version 6.1.7600]
Copyright (c) 2009 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.

C:\Windows\system32>chkdsk d: /f
The type of the file system is NTFS.
Volume label is Stuff.

CHKDSK is verifying files (stage 1 of 3)...
51200 file records processed.
File verification completed.
59 large file records processed.
0 bad file records processed.
0 EA records processed.
0 reparse records processed.
CHKDSK is verifying indexes (stage 2 of 3)...
55024 index entries processed.
Index verification completed.
0 unindexed files scanned.
0 unindexed files recovered.
CHKDSK is verifying security descriptors (stage 3 of 3)...
51200 file SDs/SIDs processed.
Security descriptor verification completed.
1912 data files processed.
Windows has checked the file system and found no problems.

163839999 KB total disk space.
119586952 KB in 14153 files.
6508 KB in 1914 indexes.
0 KB in bad sectors.
122159 KB in use by the system.
65536 KB occupied by the log file.
44124380 KB available on disk.

4096 bytes in each allocation unit.
40959999 total allocation units on disk.
11031095 allocation units available on disk.

C:\Windows\system32>chkdsk d: /f

I have nothing running in the background except vent, winamp, and maybe aim or msn. But I have turned aim and msn off and still had the same issue. I don't have any antivirus software running.

 

[genjaguar]

Also did some more tweaking. Finally enabled my onboard sound and used it over my USB keyboard sound. Still having the same issue. It seems very random...sometimes it will come frequently and sometimes I can play for a long time until it happens. Also sometimes it only freezes for a sec or less and sometimes for a few secs at a time.

Also I've monitored my temps. My hottest core goes up to 55C and my video card up to 58C during gaming...nothing that seems high.

 

[Hawkeye22]

You may want to temporarily disable your overclocks. At this point, not sure what else it might be.

 

[genjaguar]

The only overclock I have is my CPU at 4.4ghz...but I will try it and see.

 

[genjaguar]

So from a friends suggestion of checking the event log for errors, I got another idea. Here is what I found :

Whenever my TF2 freezes, the event log shows Application Experience either starting or stopping. The service also starts/stops at other times during gameplay but doesn't always seem to cause freezing. I will need to make sure of the exact times...but from the simple checks I did, the times match up fairly well with this service starting/stopping.

From what I found, Application Experience is used by Windows for older programs that might not be compatible. Not sure what to do or if disabling it would cause even more problems. Haven't been able to find much on the subject.

 

[Captainhero]

Bit of an odd suggestion this but people have been having similar probs with spacemarine and bfbc2. The fix that worked for these 2 was to remove all traces of C++ Runtime 2005. No idea if it will work for tf2 but worth a try and you can always re-install it.

 

[Hawkeye22]

So from a friends suggestion of checking the event log for errors, I got another idea. Here is what I found :

Whenever my TF2 freezes, the event log shows Application Experience either starting or stopping. The service also starts/stops at other times during gameplay but doesn't always seem to cause freezing. I will need to make sure of the exact times...but from the simple checks I did, the times match up fairly well with this service starting/stopping.

From what I found, Application Experience is used by Windows for older programs that might not be compatible. Not sure what to do or if disabling it would cause even more problems. Haven't been able to find much on the subject.

Windows application experience was giving me problems in other areas. I have mine disabled now and have had no problems since, so this sounds valid.

 

[genjaguar]

I removed C++ 2005 as well as disabled Windows Application Experience and the freezing continue so I doubt it's related to either of those. Now I am out of ideas

 

[genjaguar]

Been playing and checking the event log for the past couple days. Again nothing shows up during the freezes except Application Experience(although sometimes it starts/stops a bit after or before the freezing occurred).

The freezing seems to be very random. I've had it freezes for 5secs if not more...while other times it's just a minor half second freeze. And what confuses me even more...sometimes I can play for hours with no issue.

 

[Hawkeye22]

Above, I suggested disabling your OC. Did you try it? Also, did you say this is the only game it freezes in or are there others?

 

[genjaguar]

It was also freezing in Portal 2 when I played a bit back...but I have not played anything but TF2 in a while.

Also remember that my previous build had the same problem. I'll try without the overclock but I'm fairly sure the problem is something with the software.

 

[genjaguar]

I underclocked my GPU and put my CPU at the default 3.3ghz...still having the same issue.