Constant hangs in any game

[Darth Windu]

Hi folks,

I have a professional build system that I've modified, and am recently running into problems. What's happening is that EVERY time I play any game - including Mass Effect 2, Napoleon: Total War, Civilization IV etc - I'm getting regular temporary freezing. The sound effects will continue as normal, but the graphics completely locks up for up to 30 seconds each time. I've had my graphics card tested and apparently it's fine, so now I have no idea what could be causing the problem. My system is

- AMD 6000+ dual core (two 3 GHz cores) CPU
- Gigabyte M61-PM-S2 Motherboard
- XFX 1GB HD5770 Graphics
- 6GB DDR2 800 RAM
- Windows 7 Professional
- 650W Thermaltake Toughpower QFan PSU
- 1 x 160GB WD Black SATA HDD
- 1 x 250GB WD IDE HDD
- 1 x 1.5TB WD Green SATA HDD

Any help would be very greatly appreciated.

 

[Maziar]

You mentioned that you tested the GPU.How did you test it ? in another system?

 

[Darth Windu]

It was tested by the place of purchase. Apparently it passed all tests

 

[Maziar]

OK,run memtest for at least 4hrs and check if it reports any errors or not.

 

[RazberyBandit]

Hey Darth! How's the weather down unda'? LOL

Have you changed drivers or installed any significant OS patches or perhaps DirectX updates recently? Maybe a new game that forced a DX install, or perhaps some other program to install?

Btw... Looks like you decided to go with an XFX card after that lengthy discussion we had about worldwide warranties almost a year ago.

 

[G33K707]

I do not know if this will work but try to go msconfig and disable "Windows event log".
It fixed the problem you were talking about for me but I only get that problem on GTA IV.
Also try updating your drivers.

Hope this helps,

 

[apache_lives]

I do not know if this will work but try to go msconfig and disable "Windows event log".
It fixed the problem you were talking about for me but I only get that problem on GTA IV.
Also try updating your drivers.

Hope this helps,

GTA IV needs a quad to run smooth or you will get that lag

 

[Darth Windu]

Thanks for the suggestion Maziar, I'll try that out and see how I go.

EDIT: ok total noob question - how do I use memtest?

Hey Darth! How's the weather down unda'? LOL

Have you changed drivers or installed any significant OS patches or perhaps DirectX updates recently? Maybe a new game that forced a DX install, or perhaps some other program to install?

Btw... Looks like you decided to go with an XFX card after that lengthy discussion we had about worldwide warranties almost a year ago.

Ha, the weather's actually pretty nice where I am! We've had a few fires, but nothing too close. At least we're not getting flooded.

The only changes I've made recently was updating the ATI software. Some games I've installed might have screwed with the DX install though, might uninstall both and get clean installs.

As for the card, yeah I got a good deal on the XFX, I think I ended up paying about AUD$180-200 including delivery for the 1GB XFX card. Warranty is only one year but I figure most of them are the same, and XFX are supposed to be pretty good.

 

[swifty_morgan]

Would have been nice to know your modifications right off. My assumption would be that there's a sound conflict. Either go into the control panel and set default sound to whatever it supposed to be..... either on board or sound through HDMI ( ATI )....... or uninstall your AMD/ATI drivers and then do a custom install ( advanced install I think it is ) and take the option NOT to install the ATI sound driver. That should help.

 

[RazberyBandit]

I've heard a few people claim the new Catalyst release screwed things up for them, specifically on HD5000 cards. You might wanna roll back the drivers, or perform the ATI software removal, reboot to Safe Mode, run Ccleaner and it's Registry sweep, then reboot again and install an older version.

I'm using an old HD4890 myself, and I haven't updated my video drivers since Cat 10.5, which was actually the last version I can recall that contained any specific fixes for cards in the 4000-series. Basically, if it ain't broke, don't fix it. And I always read the patch notes when new drivers are released to see if they actually addressed any specific issues with my card in any games I play, rather than follow the incredibly ill-thought advice to "always keep your drivers up-to-date."

 

[Maziar]

Thanks for the suggestion Maziar, I'll try that out and see how I go.

EDIT: ok total noob question - how do I use memtest?


Ha, the weather's actually pretty nice where I am! We've had a few fires, but nothing too close. At least we're not getting flooded.

The only changes I've made recently was updating the ATI software. Some games I've installed might have screwed with the DX install though, might uninstall both and get clean installs.

As for the card, yeah I got a good deal on the XFX, I think I ended up paying about AUD$180-200 including delivery for the 1GB XFX card. Warranty is only one year but I figure most of them are the same, and XFX are supposed to be pretty good.

Download it from here
http://hcidesign.com/memtest/download.html
Open it and type the amount of RAM you have and let it test.

 

[RazberyBandit]

I actually prefer memtest86+, which I get here: http://www.memtest.org/

 

[Darth Windu]

Thanks Maziar, I was getting really confused with all of the 'pre-build', 'ISO' etc labeling.

 

[Darth Windu]

Okay so after using both Memtest and Memtest86, I've found zero errors. Both programs haven't found anything wrong with my RAM.

 

[swifty_morgan]

For me the tip off was the sound problem.... which will cause freezing of video. If you would try my suggestion and uninstall the ATI/AMD drivers, sound included, and then do a reboot and custom/advanced install........ and opt NOT to install the ATI/AMD sound driver along with everything else.

 

[Darth Windu]

Sounds doable. I'll give it a shot and see how it goes.

 

[Darth Windu]

you may be right swifty. I was just playing Alpha Protocol with no problems, though previously it had kept freezing so badly it was unplayable. Cheers

 

[mrjericho1991]

reinstall your operating system.it might fix your problem.if still it does not fix it.then upgrade cpu.