Freezing while playing games

[harvomark]

My computer is freezing while playing games, the only way to start the comp is to reset.

Q6600
N7AD-SLI
4GB Corsair XMS memory
XFX 9600GT 512MB graphics card
vista 32 bit.

Any ideas what to check for or what can be done?

Thanks

 

[swifty_morgan]

How long has this been going on.....?

did you try and remove the side of the case to see if the extra cool air would help. ..? May just be a heat problem.

do you keep the dust bunnies off all your heat sinks and do you blow air through the exhaust port on the video card to blow dust out of it ?

 

[Groveling_Wyrm]

Also, are you overclocking? That could be an issue.

Is one of your memory sticks failing? Test your memory to check this.

Is your GPU failing? Are you seeing artifacts?

Then, there are the software related possibilities....Is there another program interfering with the games? Is there a program loading up your ram and causing memory lock?

....just some possibiliites that I would look into....

 

[harvomark]

Not overclocking, Tested memory no errors, doesn't seem to be a heat problem,fan on GPU working, card doesn't seem too hot, games just freezes and looping sound the only way to get the comp working is to hit the reset button. the comp works fine with 8500Gt only got issues with the 9600 gt card.

 

[swifty_morgan]

xfx 9600gt....... as a couple of other vendors, had problems with over clocked cards. Try under clocking the card a little. It should help.

 

[gamerk316]

NVIDIA driver version?

I've seen a TON of 9000 series cards have freezing issues as of the 180 (and to a lesser extent, since 175) drivers came out...My GX2 has the choice of the sometimes stable 181.20 and 174.24 for instance, and I know around 10 people between this forum and Guru3d's forum with the same issue (ie, I can confirm its driver related).

Don't know if thats your particular issue (its 9800's i usually see), but it might be worth going back to 178.24 drivers to see if that helps stability for you.