Computer crashes during games

[JaredFromTacoma]

Hello everybody. I hate to be this guy, as I generally pride myself in being able to discern what my particular computer problem is, and swiftly stomp it out. However, this particular problem eludes me, and I feel it is in part due to my laziness.

I am frequently crashing while playing games. I mean "a matter of when, not if" frequent. And it's not a crash to desktop crash, it's a "No Signal Found" on my monitor, computer completely shuts off kind of crash. And it happens when I'm playing games. So obviously I think it's my GPU overheating. But even with the side of my case open and a fan blowing directly on the guts of my system, I still get it, though less frequently. So I still suspect overheating, but I just don't know. Any ideas?

Also, yes, I've updated my drivers, no I don't know what my temps are when it crashes, and I don't know how to read crash logs.

Finally, the specs.

CPU: AMD X3 720 running @ 2.81GHz per core.
Memory: 4GB
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 6770

If you need any other info let me know.

 

[BallisticChickn]

Hello everybody. I hate to be this guy, as I generally pride myself in being able to discern what my particular computer problem is, and swiftly stomp it out. However, this particular problem eludes me, and I feel it is in part due to my laziness.

I am frequently crashing while playing games. I mean "a matter of when, not if" frequent. And it's not a crash to desktop crash, it's a "No Signal Found" on my monitor, computer completely shuts off kind of crash. And it happens when I'm playing games. So obviously I think it's my GPU overheating. But even with the side of my case open and a fan blowing directly on the guts of my system, I still get it, though less frequently. So I still suspect overheating, but I just don't know. Any ideas?

Also, yes, I've updated my drivers, no I don't know what my temps are when it crashes, and I don't know how to read crash logs.

Finally, the specs.

CPU: AMD X3 720 running @ 2.81GHz per core.
Memory: 4GB
GPU: ATI Radeon HD 6770

If you need any other info let me know.

I've been battling the same sort of thing for about a week now, (you can see my thread if you really wanted the gory, horrible details) and it's really frustrating. An easy way to view logs is to download WhoCrashed http://www.resplendence.com/whocrashed and then click analyze to see what the crash logs say. It usually only works for hard crashes, but it'll give a better idea of what exactly is happening in your case.

I'm not at all familiar with ATI cards and what application is good to download to check out card temps, usually the CD that arrived with the display drivers on it when you got/built your computer should have an overclocking program or something on it- and that usually has a temp display.

Is there any kind of game you can play that doesn't cause the crash? Is it only happening with pretty recent games or are you getting problems with older ones too? How old is the machine/card and where did you get it from? Basically, is this thing still under warranty?

Other things to make sure of:
1. Go to your applications (usually under accessories) and run the command prompt as Administrator. Type in sfc/scannow to check Windows file integrity.
2. Run an anti-virus scan and a malware scan.
3. Do a simple mem test of your RAM (using windows to do it isn't the best, but if it detects an error then you KNOW you've got a problem here). Control panel -> System and Security -> Administrative tools -> Windows Memory Diagnostic.

I can basically only give you tips based on what I've found out trying to fix my own bug-ridden card, but that's at least a start.

 

[JaredFromTacoma]

Hi Ballistic,
So let's do a quick rundown of things. I downloaded WhoCrashed, and according to the log my hal.dll file triggered the crash due to a "Fatal Hardware Error". So that seems like more evidence that my GPU is not functioning properly.

ATI drivers come with what is called the "Catalyst Control Center", and more or less is the central hub for tweaking and messing with your cards settings. I'll have to give it a thorough once over to see if I can find a "Display GPU Temp" overlay or something, so I can monitor it while I'm in game. I also found a manual fan control; seems my fan was only spinning at 37%. Just increased it up to 80, which might actually help. I'll test it out and report back.

As for games that DON'T crash, Diablo 3 doesn't, or both Borderlands games. A few others don't either, but I'll just say that it seems not EVERY game crashes.

Also, File Integrity was good, no virus or malware, and I'm about to do a memory check, but it requires my computer to restart, so if anything turns up real bad, I'll post about it. Otherwise, assume it went well.

I'm going to attempt to play a few games with the cards fan turned up and see if that has any sort of effect on it.

Thanks again for the info.