Woes me, another problem! Hard locking when playing any game

NELS

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Jan 25, 2007
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Hi, another problem here and you guys were so useful last time that I thought I would ask again (If you don't remember my last post "No Boot, No Post. ).

Lets start,

My Computer:

Athlon 64 3200+
2 gig Roswell/Crucial DDR 400
EVGA 7800GT ( link to product page ) (Newest Drivers installed)
Winfast NF4UK8AA motherboard. ( link to product page )

Ok well when I bought a new motherboard recently (check my previous post) I thought I might as well upgrade other things, so I bought a new videocard, another gig of ram, a new power supply, and a new fan, as well as my new motherboard.

Well Newegg gets me everything in a timely manner, and I assemble the computer. So everything is working great until I decide to run a game.

PROBLEM:

IGNRORE ALL THIS. When I try to run some games on this computer, it runs for about 20 minutes then I see for about a half second the blue screen. Then my computer restarts. (This was a game specific bug! Sorry.)

(THIS IS MY PROBLEM!) At the start of this it used to just hard lock, the game would start slowly err... slowing down, then just lock. I would have to manually restart. This is what it still does to all my other games...

WHAT I HAVE TRIED:

My computer runs just fine for days without going into games. So this of course led me to believe my videocard was bad, but after testing another videocard that proved not the case.

Other things I have tested,

Memory - I have run multiple memorytest86 passes (4 tests 6 passes each time). It appears the memory is fine. (I have also tested it by running my computer with every stick taken out)

Power supply - I have tested to see how constant the current is, and also have replaced it with a different one, no change.

Hard drives - Not really sure how to test these, but each of my hard drives has an OS on it, so I have taken both out at separate times and no change.

CPU - I don't think it is my CPU even though it was my second choice after videocard. To test the CPU I ran Prime95 (on Maximum heat test) for multiple hours and no problems or anything, also ran SuperPi and everything seemed fine there.

Temperatures - I have a program logging all my temperatures, but in the logs I can find nothing that would suggest its due to heat. For example, the last blue screen, my cpu was at 41 celsius, my system 39, and my gpu 46.

So that would leave my motherboard right? Well I have no idea how to test a motherboard. Bios is set pretty normal, and has been updated to the newest version.

Any help would be greatly appreciated,
Thanks,
Levi Nelson

EDIT: (Added the blue)
Also I was wondering if I were to take my cpu out and test another, would I have to reapply the artic silver compound?
 

cutthroat

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Sounds like it might just be a driver problem, you could try different video drivers. Could be incompatible drivers, or conflict with other devices drivers as well. Clear the automatically restart on error checkbox in the startup and recovery section of your system properties. Then report back what the BSOD is saying.

Temperatures are likely fine, overheating tends to cause the PC to turn off or reboot without a BSOD.

Do you get the BSOD at any sort of regular interval, doing something particular in a certain game, or something similar going on when it crashes? Or is it completely random? Does it ever crash doing anything else other than games? Is it only one game? How does 3DMark run?
 

NELS

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Jan 25, 2007
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Thanks for the reply cutthroat.

OK, you might be right. I cleared the automatic restart. I get "Driver_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL" for the nvmcp.sys file. So it looks like your right! Should I try older drivers?

For you other questions: There is nothing in particular that I will be doing to get the games to crash, so I guess it is completely random. It has never crashed not gaming, and it is every game I try and play (games I currently have installed and have tried: GTA SA, Fear, Oblivion, GRAW, and others. I will download 3DMark and try running it.

Thanks again, Levi.
 

cutthroat

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nvmcp.sys = Nvidia intregrated sound driver. Do you have a PCI sound card? I hope so, disable the onboard sound and install a Soundblaster X-Fi or something, sounds way better anyway. Uninstall anything to do with the onboard sound and get rid of those drivers.

Also stay away from the Nvidia NAM (Network Access Manager) driver, trust me. :xnvmcp.sys

Most definately just a driver issue.
 

NELS

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I am an idiot, looking up on google about the nvmcp.sys told me it was a game specific bug (GTA SA).

But unfortunately going back to other games I still freeze, the original way, everything slows down then locks and then repeats like half a second of sound tell I restart. Any and all games, takes about 5-10 minutes.

But now what does that sound like?

Thanks (and sorry), Levi
 

cutthroat

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I googled it too to find out what driver it was, but I don't see anything about it being game specific, however Sim City 4 seems to have lots of problems with it, with a solution on thier support to disable the onboard sound, or hardware acceleration, neither of which are viable options. Your best bet is to try different drivers that are WHQL certified (no guarantees there). Or splurge for a PCI sound card, which is my suggestion cause it sounds SO MUCH better.

PS Nvidia drivers generally suck.
 

NELS

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Well I guess we can rule out the audio card, disabled in the bios, my games still crash. Fear crashes in about 2 min, Oblivion 5, GRAW 6.

I might be able to on command now though, when I access the graphics option in FEAR, its frozen twice. Also, when I access the load screen in GRAW it has happened twice.

Any ideas?

Levi
 

cutthroat

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do you get the same BSOD with the same file? Or does the BSOD reference a different file and error each time? If it's always nvmcp.sys you still have a problem with the driver, just cause you disabled the onboard sound in the BIOS does not necessarly mean the driver is still not causing trouble.

If you cannot get it stable relatively quickly I would suggest reinstalling Windows, and very methodically installing only what you have to for drivers, then test, then install more etc. Until you can figure out where the conflict is for sure.
 

NELS

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No after disabling and uninstalling my audio card, Grand Theft Auto San Andreas does not crash to the blue screen. But it will still hard lock.

I am not getting the blue screens anymore, I was only getting them through one game (GTA SA). The hard locking is totally random, last time I tried Fear froze on the intro to the main game.

Thanks, Levi
 

cutthroat

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OK, I'd go with the reinstall option next. I still think you have driver issues. Maybe even an incompatibility with an app such as symantec or something. Incompatible drivers cause trouble in the strangest ways, the best way to troubleshoot is to isolate them by installing as few as possible and testing.

eg.

-make sure RAM video card etc is firmly seated and all connections are OK just to be sure.
-disable onboard stuff you don't absolutly need to install windows in the BIOS (sound, LAN, USB ports you don't need, etc)
-Install Windows
-Install minimal chipset drivers only if necessary, if XP installs them don't bother with the ones on the disk yet. Check your device manager for devices that don't have any drivers installed. I had horrible troubles with the motherboard drivers for my NForce4 board, I have disabled the Nvidia Network controller, and I don't use the Nvidia IDE controller for my root drive. I do not install NAM, ever.
-Install video drivers.
-Install a game and test play. If you have trouble now you may have a small hardware defect, could be the video card or something, I'm thinking this is unlikely though.
-If you can play now without trouble start turning things on, and installing the drivers one at a time, then testing for stability.

This sort of problem can be very difficult to troubleshoot on your own if you don't have spare parts to test. Hang in there.

PS. when you say you have the latest video drivers installed, what version would that be? I have had numerous troubles with drivers for my 7800GTX, the 93.71 WHQL on the Nvidia site work OK for me, not perfect though.

I know nothing about your motherboard, have you searched for compatibility issues with the 7800GT? Possibly there is a common problem like that which I am not aware of.
 

lexluthermiester

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I've seen something like this before. You are most likely having a DirectX issue. Even for games that run OpenGL, the DirectPlay API is still being accessed. Download a FRESH copy of DirectX9c and install but don't restart. Reinstall with a fresh copy of the most current NON-beta drivers and THEN restart. You should be ok after that.
 

NELS

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Ugh.. I tried everything you guys told me (bios update, reinstall directx, reinstall windows) and when I was trying to reinstall Windows my computer crashed, and was not able to get it to boot again.... Anyway, thanks guys, RMAed my board, hoping the next one is better (getting away from the nvidia chipset).

Thanks for your help guys...

Levi
 

NELS

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Jan 25, 2007
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Well I got my new motherboard (ATI chipset) and guess what? Everything works like a dream. I left a game running for 6 hours and no freezing!

While I was researching my problem, everyone that had the same problem as me had a Nvidia chipset. So I guess if your going to get a EVGA 7800gt don't get a Nvidia chipset mobo.

Thanks again for all the help!

Finally a stable computer!

Levi