Flickering Screen And Freezing When Playing Games

[PhoenixWright]

so whenever I play games I get flickering and not only that.
sometimes my computer freezes and that only happens when playing league of legends.
but for the flickering it happens with every game I play no matter what. I tried lowering the graphics to the worst but I still get flickering.
I will try to post a video for the flickering if needed and if there is any other information needed please tell me because this problem is disturbing me, I just bought this computer before three weeks and i'm getting a lot of problems.
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Computer Specs:
Processor: AMD FX(tm)-9590 Eight-Core Processor

Manufacturer: AMD

Speed: 4.7 GHz

Number of Cores: 8

Video Card: AMD Radeon R9 200 Series

Manufacturer: ATI

Chipset: AMD Radeon R9 200 Series

Dedicated Memory: 4.1 GB

Total Memory: 4.0 GB

Memory: 16 GB

Operating System: Microsoft Windows 8 Professional Edition (build 9200), 64-bit

Service Pack: 0

Size: 64 Bit

Edition; Professional

Display Maximum Resolution: 1920 x 1080
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[Grimwinder]

When you say flickering do you mean the entire screen or in squares/triangles that flash white or gray?

 

[PhoenixWright]

When you say flickering do you mean the entire screen or in squares/triangles that flash white or gray?

I don't know the best way to describe it but the best way to is to say that the WHOLE screen moves up, then there is black down in the screen then it comes back to the same size.
this happens at the speed of sound(just fast ok?) but I was able to notice it and it always distracts me, and I lose many times because of it.

 

[Grimwinder]

First thing to check is to make sure your cable from the card to the monitor is firmly seated at both ends. Then if you have other cables try them, or if you only have one cable try it in a different port on the monitor and /or card (many will have 2 hdmi ports for example). Without seeing it, my best guess is a bad connection between the card and monitor, be it a bad cable or a bad port, or just something loose.

 

[PhoenixWright]

First thing to check is to make sure your cable from the card to the monitor is firmly seated at both ends. Then if you have other cables try them, or if you only have one cable try it in a different port on the monitor and /or card (many will have 2 hdmi ports for example). Without seeing it, my best guess is a bad connection between the card and monitor, be it a bad cable or a bad port, or just something loose.

im going to try that today and reply to you tomorrow.
hope that can fix it.
but I don't think this has anything to do with the freezing.
I always get freezing when I play league of legends for a long time.

 

[Grimwinder]

For the freezing, assuming you've updated all drivers and software, try taking the side off your case and point a running box/floor fan into it. That will usually let you know if you have a heat issue to troubleshoot.

 

[PhoenixWright]

For the freezing, assuming you've updated all drivers and software, try taking the side off your case and point a running box/floor fan into it. That will usually let you know if you have a heat issue to troubleshoot.

the average temperature for my computer is 40 and it never reached 50 and more.

 

[Grimwinder]

Which temp? If you mean the CPU and/or GPU, those aren't the only things that can overheat. However, if LOL is the only game you're having an issue with, then it's more likely a software or driver problem.

 

[PhoenixWright]

Which temp? If you mean the CPU and/or GPU, those aren't the only things that can overheat. However, if LOL is the only game you're having an issue with, then it's more likely a software or driver problem.

sorry I haven't responded for a long time.
first of all the flickering problem was not fixed, I tried using another cable and it still flickers, I doubt you know this game but it happens when I play a game called osu! and all the circles (when playing a game) moves up with the mouse. sometimes I mess up because of it, and the same for the freezing I tried adding a fan just like that way you said it and it did not work.
can anyone give me more solutions please? I bought this computer just 1 month ago and all the parts are brand new. this is really getting to my nerves..

 

[Grimwinder]

Well, the next thing to do at this point is eliminate drivers and firmware from the list. Even if you have the latest AMD drivers for your video card, completely uninstall them and download and install them again, don't just install over the current ones, uninstall first. Second, check for BIOS updates on your motherboard and your video card on the manufacturer's pages and update them. In addition, on your motherboard page, update your chipset drivers. Unfortunately, unless you can find someone with exactly the same issues, things like this can be a challenge to track down.

Edit: Also, your specs seem to show you have 16gb of RAM. If so, try swapping out sticks and see if the issue continues (if you have 4 sticks of 4 then use one pair at a time, if you have 2 sticks of 8 then use one stick at a time).

 

[PhoenixWright]

Well, the next thing to do at this point is eliminate drivers and firmware from the list. Even if you have the latest AMD drivers for your video card, completely uninstall them and download and install them again, don't just install over the current ones, uninstall first. Second, check for BIOS updates on your motherboard and your video card on the manufacturer's pages and update them. In addition, on your motherboard page, update your chipset drivers. Unfortunately, unless you can find someone with exactly the same issues, things like this can be a challenge to track down.

Edit: Also, your specs seem to show you have 16gb of RAM. If so, try swapping out sticks and see if the issue continues (if you have 4 sticks of 4 then use one pair at a time, if you have 2 sticks of 8 then use one stick at a time).

hey, im going to try your solutions tomorrow and then respond to you. I hope this can fix it.

 

[Grimwinder]

Don't know if this is what you're experiencing, but for what it's worth, from the osu! forums-

http://osu.ppy.sh/forum/t/311155/start=0

 

[PhoenixWright]

Don't know if this is what you're experiencing, but for what it's worth, from the osu! forums-

http://osu.ppy.sh/forum/t/311155/start=0

another late response, about the osu flickering problems, it is completely different that that one.
and also, I tried all the solutions you gave me, and not a single one worked.
I have a note to mention. last month, I had the g.skill ram and I had the freeze problem and it was worse than now. but when I changed my ram to trident X, the problem had gone for a whole month and it started again last week. do you know anything about this?

 

[PhoenixWright]

Any other suggestions? Please
this problem seems to be a hardware problem to me.

 

[Grimwinder]

Well, you've eliminated the obvious, so time to start really digging in. Understand that your issue may be hardware, or it may be some obscure driver issue caused by a seemingly unrelated program you installed a year ago. Such is the joy of troubleshooting PC problems ;-).

Okay then, stress test time, go to this article for instructions and programs to test your main hardware-

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2028882/keep-it-stable-stupid-how-to-stress-test-your-pc-hardware.html

Beyond those, here are a few things to do- update your motherboard BIOS to the latest, in addition to the BIOS- update ALL drivers that they offer (Chipset, LAN, sound drivers, USB, etc), there should be a page full of them on the manufacturer's website for your board. Check your GPU for BIOS updates as well, and if your card is a dual BIOS card, like many these days, try switching between them (there will a be small switch on the card, usually on the edge where it plugs into the slot, only switch when the PC is powered OFF).

If none of these things help, then it's most likely either your power supply not supplying enough "clean" power at load, something defective on the motherboard like a bad transistor or the like (which without a lab and the right know-how can be hard to pinpoint) or a software/driver problem where some program you have installed is causing a conflict likely due to a bad driver. On the last, the best way (which sucks) to deal with this is reformat your drive and start over with a clean install of Windows.

 

[PhoenixWright]

Well, you've eliminated the obvious, so time to start really digging in. Understand that your issue may be hardware, or it may be some obscure driver issue caused by a seemingly unrelated program you installed a year ago. Such is the joy of troubleshooting PC problems ;-).

Okay then, stress test time, go to this article for instructions and programs to test your main hardware-

http://www.pcworld.com/article/2028882/keep-it-stable-stupid-how-to-stress-test-your-pc-hardware.html

Beyond those, here are a few things to do- update your motherboard BIOS to the latest, in addition to the BIOS- update ALL drivers that they offer (Chipset, LAN, sound drivers, USB, etc), there should be a page full of them on the manufacturer's website for your board. Check your GPU for BIOS updates as well, and if your card is a dual BIOS card, like many these days, try switching between them (there will a be small switch on the card, usually on the edge where it plugs into the slot, only switch when the PC is powered OFF).

If none of these things help, then it's most likely either your power supply not supplying enough "clean" power at load, something defective on the motherboard like a bad transistor or the like (which without a lab and the right know-how can be hard to pinpoint) or a software/driver problem where some program you have installed is causing a conflict likely due to a bad driver. On the last, the best way (which sucks) to deal with this is reformat your drive and start over with a clean install of Windows.

there is program called prime95 in that forum, so which torture mode should I choose?

 

[PhoenixWright]

ok, so I used prime95 and I used the blend mode and there were the results:
[Thu May 14 17:10:53 2015]
FATAL ERROR: Resulting sum was -1.47282149738413e+019, expected: 2.14753623059144e+016
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.
Self-test 640K passed!
Self-test 640K passed!
Self-test 640K passed!
Self-test 640K passed!
Self-test 640K passed!
Self-test 640K passed!
Self-test 640K passed!

I got only one error but I don't know if it is the one causes the freezes. do you know anything about this?

 

[Grimwinder]

I would go with the FFT tests there, and then use MemTest for the RAM as it is a more specific test, no need to mix the testing together. It will take longer but you'll get a better result doing one component at a time.

 

[Grimwinder]

What does the stress.txt file show?

 

[PhoenixWright]

ok, so I had prime95 run for 20 minutes and the computer froze. does this give you any hints?
I went to check the results but it didn't show any error before freezing.
prime95 was running on the blend mode.

 

[PhoenixWright]

What does the stress.txt file show?

the stress.txt file doesn't show anything about the error. it just tells you what to do if you get an error.

 

[Grimwinder]

Most likely it's a voltage issue, and most likely it's the CPU (could be the RAM but the CPU is the most likely) that's either not getting enough or slightly too much. This doesn't mean your CPU is bad, just that it's not running stable under load, at the current voltage it's getting.

So, first, if you haven't already, update the motherboard BIOS. If that doesn't correct the issue you'll need to research what the voltage settings should be for you CPU, and then tweak it up and down slightly until the issue goes away. What you're looking for is the vCore voltage, just ramp it up slowly and don't take it past what is suggested (you can find overclocking guides for your CPU that will explain those limits).

 

[Grimwinder]

And here's an old thread that may help, ignore the infighting among the natives-

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2191595/stabilize-9590-freezing-completely.html

 

[PhoenixWright]

And here's an old thread that may help, ignore the infighting among the natives-

http://www.tomshardware.com/answers/id-2191595/stabilize-9590-freezing-completely.html

can you explain what did that guy do to fix the problem?
I didn't understand anything

 

[Grimwinder]

There were a couple of "fixes", some involved turning off certain features in the BIOS, some involved raising the vCore voltage up a bit, one even turned his clock multiplier down some to keep the CPU clock from going so high. You'll have to sift through and figure out which would be best for you, I haven't owned an AMD CPU in a good while so I'm not 100% familiar with all the current BIOS features relating to the CPU.

Personally, after the BIOS update, I would try disabling the CPU features that a couple of the posters in that thread say worked for them, that's the easiest thing to try before you start tweaking voltages. From the results you got with Prime95 it's almost certain your CPU is unstable as it is currently configured (with a lesser chance that it's your RAM, you'll need to run MemTest to be certain that's not an issue).

If I understand correctly, the CPU you have is basically a factory overclocked version of one of the 8xxx series chips, for most this presents no issues, but for others, like yourself, the CPU isn't always stable under load and requires a bit of tweaking to run stable, especially when gaming.