Win 7 x64 freezes at some games

[ziccurate]

Hi,
I have a problem with freezing win 7. I see that i'm not alone in my suffering, have read a lot of posts and have tried a lot of solutions , but none of them works in my case. Windows freezes after playing 5 min. on some games - L4D2, Team Fortress 2, COD, Saint's Row - and needs restart. When playing other games - Medal of Honor 2010 for example- all is fine.
My configuration.
Motherboard Asus P5K SE/EPU
CPU InteL Dual Core 5200 (2.5 GHz)
Video GF9800GT
Latest NVidia drivers vor win7 x64, Latest BIOS
Have tried so far, but with no luck:
- Running game as administrator
- Running game in vista/xp compatible mods
- Removing sound drivers
- Chenging power plan to High Performance
- checking dxdiag for bugs
- removing non microsoft apps from start menu
Pls if anyone have more ideas - help me

 

[henydiah]

L4D2, Team Fortress 2, COD, Saint's Row : DirectX 9 compatible video card with Shader model 3.0. NVidia 7600, ATI X1600 or better
your card GF9800GT is DirectX 10 OpenGL 3.1,.
Actually, most games are still playable on DirectX 9, which is the standard unless the said game is designed to run only a certain DX (few games run on DX 10 only, much less 11 since its barely months old).

 

[ziccurate]

So I should install DX9? Can I do that and keep DX10? Sorry for the question, but I'm "tech- challenged"

 

[henydiah]

install latest microsof directX SDK_Aug09.exe
www.microsoft.com

 

[ziccurate]

no change

 

[verbalizer]

first re-install the correct directx drivers.
how much RAM does your system have.?
your cpu is overclocked, is it the Pent D C2D or CD.?

 

[ziccurate]

cpu intel dual core e5200 (2cores/2threads) - not overclocked
4gb DDR2

 

[verbalizer]

do you have another video card to try for testing purposes.?

 

[ziccurate]

tried on different card - same result

 

[verbalizer]

test RAM now.
what are temps of cpu and unit when freezing occrus.?

 

[ziccurate]

I'm not sure how to check them in the moment of freezing, cause the PC need restart after that. Only think that comes to my mind was to play a game in window mode ad have Everest opened in the background... so all the temperatures - CPU, GPU etc were around 50-56C.
I'll try prime 95 this night to check the CPU, and also will look for new power supply for testing purposes:/

 

[verbalizer]

memtest86

 

[ziccurate]

2 hours of testing with memtest86 - no problems
6 hours on prime95 for the CPU - no problems either

 

[verbalizer]

did you put directx back to it's current version.?
do so and then look for updated video card drivers..

 

[ziccurate]

latest direct x is installed, latest drivers are on...i manage to test also another pair of RAM - no change

 

[verbalizer]

try a fresh install of at least the games that freeze but,
I'd back everything up and clean install of entire OS.
format HDD and then install win7 for a clean start.
then monitor game play after every major software install including major win7 updates.
the clean install will of course wipe out clean any software corruption that you might have now.

 

[verbalizer]

the only thing left after you fresh install win7 is to test the cpu/motherboard and/or power supply.
keep troubleshooting but I think the fresh install would be my next step.

 

[ziccurate]

yep, I'm trying to delay fresh install as much as I can...but sadly this is what i'm going to do tonight. Ladt question before this happens - I have notice that when the freeze occurs all my usb devices are turning off...if this is a hint for the problem??

 

[verbalizer]

ooooohhhhhh.. motherboard at first impression second would be power supply.
try the install first then that's where we'll go next.