PC crashing when playing Help!

[songorocosongo]

Yesterday my PC crashed 4 times, all of them while playing MW2. It freezed, the image stayed there, the sound
went off. This also happened to me when playing BF3 a couple minutes ago.

Downloaded software to check temps, here are the results:
GPU got to 52- 59.5 C
CPU got max 50 C

Is that GPU too hot?
What could be the problem?


AMD Phenom II x4 970 (stock) / Sapphire 6850 / G. Skill 8gig low voltage / Samsung 1TB HDD / ASUS m5a87 / Corsair cx600 v2 / Rosewill Challenger

 

[alyoshka]

No, both the temps seem to within the acceptable range. The problem lies elsewhere.
Could be a HDD delay in sending data or something of the kind.

 

[IQ11110002]

Have you changed any drivers recently?
Did you have to do a hard reset? By that I mean nothing works except to hold down power button on case to reboot.
If it's a hard reset then it could be heat issue or not enough voltage, Although those temps you post are not high at all. Has the pc always been like that or only just started happening? Have you tried to do a simple system restore, Maybe system files have become corrupted or a new program you may have installed is conflicting with something else.
Start off with simple things first and work your way up, Try a system restore first, Then if it is still happening open side of case to let some cool air in and see if it still happens, worst case backup your data/game saves/email etc and format hard drive and reinstall windows fresh, without installing everything at once do one program or game at a time and see what happens, After all that if it is still happening then it is hardware issue and you will need to go over those 1 by 1, power supply can be a likely culprit to start with,or your graphics card is on the way out perhaps. Are there any strange noises you have noticed lately coming from your case or fans seem louder etc etc?
You sure nothing is overclocked,cpu or even a software overclock on your graphics card.
Google the power supply and see if others are having any issues when gaming with freezes/crashes/audio looping etc etc, Might need a bigger unit?

 

[alyoshka]

Could be the PSU, it doesn't show up in the certified list, the Corsair CX600 seems to have a lot of negative remarks about it, the CX600 V2 seems a little better and then the GS600..... so actually you could be experiencing a power drop during gaming due to the continuous draw in voltage and that PSU not being able to cope with it.

 

[songorocosongo]

Have you changed any drivers recently?
Did you have to do a hard reset? By that I mean nothing works except to hold down power button on case to reboot.
If it's a hard reset then it could be heat issue or not enough voltage, Although those temps you post are not high at all. Has the pc always been like that or only just started happening? Have you tried to do a simple system restore, Maybe system files have become corrupted or a new program you may have installed is conflicting with something else.
Start off with simple things first and work your way up, Try a system restore first, Then if it is still happening open side of case to let some cool air in and see if it still happens, worst case backup your data/game saves/email etc and format hard drive and reinstall windows fresh, without installing everything at once do one program or game at a time and see what happens, After all that if it is still happening then it is hardware issue and you will need to go over those 1 by 1, power supply can be a likely culprit to start with,or your graphics card is on the way out perhaps. Are there any strange noises you have noticed lately coming from your case or fans seem louder etc etc?
You sure nothing is overclocked,cpu or even a software overclock on your graphics card.
Google the power supply and see if others are having any issues when gaming with freezes/crashes/audio looping etc etc, Might need a bigger unit?

that's exactly what I have to do to turn it off. The problem started yesterday.
I'll try the process you listed and come back at night and list the results.

I have never ocerclocked, nothing at all. But I didn't know there existed software oc, otta check that
btw the newegg psu calculator said my system needs only 466w so right now i have plenty.

and i wrote the psu name incorrectly, it's the CX600 V2

 

[songorocosongo]

update:

when i tried to do the restore it freezed. it was during the restart when it says "starting windows"

btw it has windows 7

 

[songorocosongo]

I'm turning it on with all fans and the HDD unplugged. Now the DRAM red LED is on and nothing is happening. just the cpu and gpu fans on.

UPDATE:

now i tried to boot with only one memory stick. the first one didn't work, the second one did.

do you guys think that could be the problem?

 

[alyoshka]

Check if the BIOS is set to the right Voltages for those RAMs, you've mentioned Low Voltage... make sure they are being supplied the required low voltage and not the usual 1.5V...
You can check it CPUz if you boot into windows and have it on the rig.

 

[songorocosongo]

i checked the voltage with CPUz and it was good, then I tried to use both dimms but the system won't boot and the DRAM red light is on once more

 

[alyoshka]

Voltage was good? we need to know what it was and what your RAM specifically needs.
That means either the slot is bad or the RAM....

 

[alyoshka]

Have you tried pressing the MemOK button , which is next to the RAM slots on the Mobo.?

 

[songorocosongo]

nope, i know where it is but i didn't even know that was a button. so what should I do? just press it and that's it?

Should I try testing the good dimm on the other slot?

 

[alyoshka]

Yes, first try testing the good stick in the other slot.
Then just read thru the Manual of the mobo, it has a guide, so to say, about the memok button and it's usage.

 

[songorocosongo]

the good dimm worked perfectly on the other slot.

After reading the info about the button I held it down a little just how the manual said. It was supposed to check/tune up the timings and other stuff and after the end of process the system should have boot. But it did not. I turned it off, disconnected the PSU for ~12 seconds and turned on again but the same thing happened. The component seem to be working but nothing appeared on the screen.

I took out the bad stick and right now the PC is working wonderfully.

Will I have to go RMA with it?

the truth is I don't notice any difference between 4gb and 8gb of memory, but the again I paid for it

 

[alyoshka]

Yes, RMA it immediately. If you bought it in a set, then you need to RMA the set so they send you a complete set back and don't end up with other compatibility issues.

The difference between 4gb and 8gb might be that prominent at the moment, but as time goes by the rig will start to slow down immensely with more and more applications running simultaneously it will start to become more and more obvious.

 

[songorocosongo]

Best answer selected by songorocosongo.

 

[IQ11110002]

Good to see you narrowed it down, Does indeed sound like a ram issue if pc works flawlessly when you take out the other ram stick.
Either faulty stick or in some cases certain motherboards don't work well with all ram slots filled even though it may be the same ram used.
A pain in the butt when you have random crashes or freezes,It can be any number of things to try and narrow down. Just take it easy step by step, If you get frustrated take a break and come back to it when your head is clear.
The good thing is the more you deal with these problems the easier it gets in future when building/upgrading or if a friend is having problems,Straight away you can tell them what could be wrong. Self taught by trial and error is the best way to learn in pc world!