Computer crashes randomly, mostly in games

[wootcat]

My system is a Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 Rev 2.0 motherboard, AMD Phenom II x4 B55 3.21 GHz processor, 4 GB ATI Radeon HD 4850 video card, 12 GB RAM running Windows 7 64-bit.

I'm getting crashes from time to time, mostly in games. The screen just goes black and I need to force reboot it to get it back. I don't even know where to start to troubleshoot this. I'm hoping folks here can help me out.

Thanks!

 

[aviral]

My system is a Gigabyte 890FXA-UD5 Rev 2.0 motherboard, AMD Phenom II x4 B55 3.21 GHz processor, 4 GB ATI Radeon HD 4850 video card, 12 GB RAM running Windows 7 64-bit.

I'm getting crashes from time to time, mostly in games. The screen just goes black and I need to force reboot it to get it back. I don't even know where to start to troubleshoot this. I'm hoping folks here can help me out.

The screen goes black is may be due to your graphics card which might be heating up and after you restarting it again gets saturated until or unless you don't switch to playing your game.

Try to check the cooling of your graphics card.

 

[beefybish]

Have you ensured that you've got the latest drivers for your graphics card?

Out of curiosity, do you do video editing? Just wondering why you have 12GB of RAM. On this note.. have you tried removing some of the RAM or running Memtest86 to look for errors?

HTH

 

[wootcat]

aviral,
It's hard to tell temps, since the card has time to cool down after the restart. When I've done spot-checks using the GPU meter window widget, it's usually running around 125-135 F.

beefybish,
Yes, I always run with the latest drivers. The crashing has been happening ever since installing W7. No, I don't video edit, just like having lots of RAM available

I'll get Memtest86 and let that run through its paces and report back.

Thanks!

 

[wootcat]

I'll be running the memory test overnight. In the meantime, are there any free test programs which will test video card memory?

Thanks!

 

[wootcat]

Memtest has been running for 9.5 hours now...

Iterations: 9
Standard Test
Pass: 7

No errors to report.

 

[aviral]

I possible then try to get your card checked on the other machine and note if the similar problem is occurring or not.

 

[wootcat]

Yeah. It'd be a lot easier if both machines had the same type of card. One is NVidia, the other is ATI.

So are you thinking it's not the memory? Should I stop Memtest?

 

[wootcat]

Yesterday, it crashed 3 times, and once this morning.

One of the times yesterday and the time this morning happened outside of any game. One was right after bootup, and the other was while I was on the desktop.

 

[aviral]

aviral,
It's hard to tell temps, since the card has time to cool down after the restart. When I've done spot-checks using the GPU meter window widget, it's usually running around 125-135 F.

Thanks!

We can say the temperature of graphics card is fine without load.(Increase the fan speed of your graphics card and then post the results I am hoping that your problem might get solved)

Which power supply unit are you using?
Are you using stock cooler for your processor?

Try to get the temperature values under load.The screen going is just the sign of overheating of graphics card.

The crashing has been happening ever since installing W7

Will you brief me the details of your windows/your above quote?

 

[P1g]

Get msi after burner its free. I was having issues with my 7970 with the same issues. After you get after burner go to the bottom right corner of it to go to settings then go to monitoring. After that check these gpu temp and gpu usage. That way you can see if it is hitting high temps. when in games.

 

[wootcat]

We can say the temperature of graphics card is fine without load.(Increase the fan speed of your graphics card and then post the results I am hoping that your problem might get solved)

Sorry for not being clear, the 125-135 F was under load. With no load, it's around 99-110 F according to ATI GPU Meter widget. The 125-135 is what I would see when I Alt-Tab out of a game to check the temps. High end might be closer to 140-145.

Which power supply unit are you using?
Are you using stock cooler for your processor?

Power supply: Corsair CMPSU-650TX
Yes, stock cooler.

Try to get the temperature values under load.The screen going is just the sign of overheating of graphics card.

Do you still think this is the case even though I've noticed lockups now outside of games on the desktop?

Will you brief me the details of your windows/your above quote?

System originally had Windows XP. I did a clean install of Windows 7 on a separate hard drive. I can't remember if I used the Migration Tool or not to move the accounts/documents/settings over from XP. Please let me know what other details you need.

Thanks!

 

[aviral]

Sorry for not being clear, the 125-135 F was under load.

Its ok.No problem at all.

Power supply: Corsair CMPSU-650TX
Yes, stock cooler.

ok.
Your processor temperature reading under load?

Do you still think this is the case even though I've noticed lockups now outside of games on the desktop?

I don't think so that the real issue is with your graphic card.

I did a clean install of Windows 7 on a separate hard drive.

That means you are using 2xHDD.Did you format the Xp installed hdd when you installed the windows 7 on other HDD.

If you have not properly formatted the xp HDD.

Its just a hit and try because having extra memory does not cause any problem so try to use only 50% of your RAM memory and then use your pc and post the results.

 

[aviral]

May be your pcie x16 port will be malfunctioning which results to no visuals on the screen and forcing you with the only option to restart.

 

[wootcat]

Your processor temperature reading under load?
That means you are using 2xHDD.Did you format the Xp installed hdd when you installed the windows 7 on other HDD.

What is the fastest way to get the proc temp? The only way I know how to is to reboot and check it in BIOS, which gives it time to cool off quite a bit.

No, the XP hdd is still there, and I can boot into either XP or 7 during the reboot.

And just to clarify your last request, do you want me to remove half my memory and then run the machine to see if it crashed any?

Thanks!

 

[P1g]

What is the fastest way to get the proc temp? The only way I know how to is to reboot and check it in BIOS, which gives it time to cool off quite a bit.

No, the XP hdd is still there, and I can boot into either XP or 7 during the reboot.

And just to clarify your last request, do you want me to remove half my memory and then run the machine to see if it crashed any?

Thanks!

Someone told me to run this on my pc to see if this was my issue. type Diagnostic Tool in the windows search bar.

 

[aviral]

What is the fastest way to get the proc temp? The only way I know how to is to reboot and check it in BIOS, which gives it time to cool off quite a bit.

Use core temperature software in which enable logging when ever your system reboots you can check the log for the last shutdown.Is the best way to get the temperature of the system.
http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

No, the XP hdd is still there, and I can boot into either XP or 7 during the reboot.

Are you able to access other drives contents when you use any one of os.
(Means if you use win 7 then will you be able to use the Xp installed HDD also for any content exchanging)

And just to clarify your last request, do you want me to remove half my memory and then run the machine to see if it crashed any?

Yes,try it once.

 

[wootcat]

I installed Core Temp, but it doesn't appear to be working. It shows all 4 cores are at 32F and are not changing. The Frequency and Load numbers change, but not the temps.

EDIT: Okay, I got it working...I had to disable some CPU setting in BIOS for the program to read the proc temp.

 

[wootcat]

Yes, I can access the other (XP) drive while Windows 7 is running. All the drives and partitions are NTFS formatted.

 

[wootcat]

Also, crashes are getting worse. A couple times today already, it's locked up before even reaching the account selection screen.

 

[wootcat]

Update. I was able to run the machine for a couple hours playing Skyrim. I quit the game and wanted to check the Core Temp log, I found the log and loaded it up in OpenOffice and as soon as it did and I tried to scroll the window, it locked up. The screen froze, and nothing worked, not even CTRL-ALT-DEL. After that, I went through 4 reboots trying to read the file, but every time the system crashed, restarted or froze. Once before the account select screen, once or twice at the account select screen, and another again trying to load the log file. I then rebooted in Safe Mode with Networking and was finally able to read the file and get on here to post.

According to the log, the proc temp low was 73F, high was 112F and at the last reading was at a bearable 99F.

Any other suggestions?

 

[Mike304]

What is the fastest way to get the proc temp? The only way I know how to is to reboot and check it in BIOS, which gives it time to cool off quite a bit.

Free download SpeedFan.exe, it will give the temperature reading you choose at the task-bar.

 

[aviral]

Update. I was able to run the machine for a couple hours playing Skyrim. I quit the game and wanted to check the Core Temp log, I found the log and loaded it up in OpenOffice and as soon as it did and I tried to scroll the window, it locked up. The screen froze, and nothing worked, not even CTRL-ALT-DEL. After that, I went through 4 reboots trying to read the file, but every time the system crashed, restarted or froze. Once before the account select screen, once or twice at the account select screen, and another again trying to load the log file. I then rebooted in Safe Mode with Networking and was finally able to read the file and get on here to post.

According to the log, the proc temp low was 73F, high was 112F and at the last reading was at a bearable 99F.

Any other suggestions?

A last suggestion try using only 1HDD and remove the other HDD connections.May be HDD's may be giving some issues.

Its seems like a technical fault which is occurring because your gpu , cpu temperatures are working fine, RAM is ok then the only thing which is left is your motherboard.

Just visit any local vendor and get it checked.It is really having a problem which needs a experienced Doctor's .

 

[wootcat]

Okay, I removed the unused HDD and things have gone from bad to worse. Now, it's rare that I get past the POST screen, and when I do get to the "Choose Operating System" screen, I get no options and it just sits there.

To clarify, I used one of the Admin tools to find out which partitions were on which HDD and removed the one which had the XP system on it.

Though, as I said, most times I don't even get to the POST screen. The HDD lights don't light up and nothing happens.

 

[aviral]

Okay, I removed the unused HDD and things have gone from bad to worse. Now, it's rare that I get past the POST screen, and when I do get to the "Choose Operating System" screen, I get no options and it just sits there.

To clarify, I used one of the Admin tools to find out which partitions were on which HDD and removed the one which had the XP system on it.

Though, as I said, most times I don't even get to the POST screen. The HDD lights don't light up and nothing happens.

Why don't you get your HDD's and motherboard checked because they may seem to be in good condition but might not be(malfunctioning).

If every thing is fine then you need to re-install your windows with full formatting of both HDD's properly.Save your contents on some external HDD if content is really required.

A new installing of windows will make things pretty smooth so format your both HDD's and install