Diagnosing crashing needing hard reset.

Arakazi

Ever since I installed guild wars II around two weeks ago my computer seems to freeze which needs a hard reset. This isn't isolated to guild wars 2 anymore but all games that have intensive 3d graphics. At first, I thought I had some sort of virus and wiped my discs clean. Then I updated my cards drivers and even switched to older more stable drivers. But it still happens. I then replaced my GPU and even upgraded my PSU and yet it still seems to freeze. When doing things like browsing the web or playing videos etc. the computer runs like a dream. But when I start playing a game with anything but the lowest setting.. it will  - without fail, crash my computer within about 15 minutes and it's driving me nuts. I do not want to spend more money on guesswork, I want to know what the heck is wrong and how I can fix it. I only put it toghether a few months back, my fear is that I either fried the MB or CPU which I can't really afford to replace with christmas comming up and the fact that we need to get a new car. Save me!

 

My system is:

 

nvidia geforce gtx 560 ti 1gb

Intel i7 3.5ghz

16 gigabytes of RAM

Gigabyte Z77X-D3H motherboard

Cleffy

Sounds like a memory issue.  Considering it only happens when you have an instance of DirectX open, I am going to assume its an error on how it clears memory.  I think you should do a clean reinstall of DirectX.

Arakazi

I apreciate your answer and I've tried it but no that didn't work. I'm completely stumped.

Silok

Maibe this is your ram (if your lucky because they are cheap if not.. well).

Have you tried to test each ram alone? you said you have 16 gigs so i will presume you have 4 stick of 4gigs each. So try with only one stick of 4 gigs and if it crash try with another stick and goes on. If it still crashing after test all your stick alone, i will presume this is your motherboard. It happen for me once, my pc was shutting down alot when gaming.

Thillian

First, before trying any difficult fixes, run NVIDIA System Monitor and write here the clock speeds of your GPU.

560 GTX Ti is often shipped factory overclocked at 900 Mhz -- which is often unstable.

What was the other GPU you tried ?

 

Arakazi

I've done a stress test for everything but 3d graphics and everything seems fine.

 

The card I currently have installed is a geforce 550 TI 1GB. Will put the other one in again when I have it sorted. I'll check out Nvidia tools right now.

Arakazi

GPU clock is 951.000 mhz

GPU memory clock is 2178.000 Mhz

GPU processor clock is 1903.000 Mhz

 

I hope this is useful and many thanks.

jpnz

Originally posted by Arakazi

GPU clock is 951.000 mhz

GPU memory clock is 2178.000 Mhz

GPU processor clock is 1903.000 Mhz

 

I hope this is useful and many thanks.

This is way OC'ed if the reference board is anything to go by.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2011/01/25/nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-1gb-review/2

820 Mhz GPU clock

1G MHz memory

Arakazi

Originally posted by jpnz

Originally posted by Arakazi

GPU clock is 951.000 mhz

GPU memory clock is 2178.000 Mhz

GPU processor clock is 1903.000 Mhz

 

I hope this is useful and many thanks.

This is way OC'ed if the reference board is anything to go by.

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2011/01/25/nvidia-geforce-gtx-560-ti-1gb-review/2

820 Mhz GPU clock

1G MHz memory

 

My 560 is back in it's box and I'm using the 550ti atm and that was the clocks I posted. 

 

I've downloaded MSI afterburner and kombustion to stress test the GPU  and noticed my fan is barely being used dispite the fact that my GPU temp is hiting 80. There seems to be nothing wrong with the fan control since i can manually control it. Whats going on and how do I fix it?

Thillian

Originally posted by Arakazi

Originally posted by jpnz

Originally posted by Arakazi

GPU clock is 951.000 mhz

GPU memory clock is 2178.000 Mhz

GPU processor clock is 1903.000 Mhz

 

 

My 560 is back in it's box and I'm using the 550ti atm and that was the clocks I posted. 

 

I've downloaded MSI afterburner and kombustion to stress test the GPU  and noticed my fan is barely being used dispite the fact that my GPU temp is hiting 80. There seems to be nothing wrong with the fan control since i can manually control it. Whats going on and how do I fix it?

You bought -- superclocked -- GPU. Factory overclocked, however, if you think factory overclocked are stable and tested, you're wrong.

Most of the manufacturers dont even test them.

As I said before -- most probably, your hard crashes are caused by overclocking and subsequently low voltaige on your GPU, open up NVIDIA Control Panel - go - Performance - Device Settings -  Set your clocks to 833 Mhz GPU clocks, 2004 Mhz Memory clocks (recommended settings for 560gtx ti) -- save it to your profile and make a rule in Profile Policies so it starts up everytime you start your windows. Check tests for 550 ti for the most stable clocks.

833 / 2004 is actually GPU recommended settings - which means, any other clocks are at your own risk, despite the fact that the clocks were overclocked by the manufacturer.

 

80C is no problem for your GPU. 

Quizzical

As others have said, if you've got overclocked hardware and are seeing symptoms consistent with an unstable overclock, try undoing the overclock.

What power supply do you have, and what case?  You said that you replaced your power supply, but replacing one cheap junk part by another isn't necessarily an upgrade.

stayontarget

I have had a computer that had similar crashes and i found that i had 1 bad stick of ram.  Also a bad power supply will also cause this.

waynejr2

Originally posted by Arakazi

Ever since I installed guild wars II around two weeks ago my computer seems to freeze which needs a hard reset. This isn't isolated to guild wars 2 anymore but all games that have intensive 3d graphics. At first, I thought I had some sort of virus and wiped my discs clean. Then I updated my cards drivers and even switched to older more stable drivers. But it still happens. I then replaced my GPU and even upgraded my PSU and yet it still seems to freeze. When doing things like browsing the web or playing videos etc. the computer runs like a dream. But when I start playing a game with anything but the lowest setting.. it will  - without fail, crash my computer within about 15 minutes and it's driving me nuts. I do not want to spend more money on guesswork, I want to know what the heck is wrong and how I can fix it. I only put it toghether a few months back, my fear is that I either fried the MB or CPU which I can't really afford to replace with christmas comming up and the fact that we need to get a new car. Save me!

 

My system is:

 

nvidia geforce gtx 560 ti 1gb

Intel i7 3.5ghz

16 gigabytes of RAM

Gigabyte Z77X-D3H motherboard

So you built this system yourself?  Can you try switching the memory around or try combinations of 8GB at a time.  Also, inspect the to see if any pins got bent when you installed the CPU.

Arakazi

Yeah, I built it myself and it's my first build since I got fed up with crappy HP and Dell computers. I was going to get an alienware but since I heard that vuilding one was cheap and fairly easy I gave it a go.

As for the case and PSU I have a Sharkoon T28 ATX midi tower and the most recent PSU I bought was... I'll copy and paste it.. 

OCZ OCZ600MXSP-UK ModXStream Pro 600W ATX Power Supply

I'll try and lowering my GPU clock speed and if this doesn't work, I'll just send in a pro since I've just about tried everything else that has been suggested. Funny though, I never bought either of my GPU's with overclocked. It didn't say it was overclocked on the website or overclocked on the bo box and I certainly didn't overclock it. Anyway, thanks a bunch for your help guys.

simonwest80

When playing only BF3 on my factory OC'd 560ti (Gigabyte) it would crash often the same as you said after 5-30minutes needing a hard reset.  Clocked it dwon to 851mhz - down from the 900mhz and it runs fine.

Quizzical

Your case should have adequate airflow for a GeForce GTX 560 Ti.  Your power supply is decent but not great, but I wouldn't expect it to be unable to handle your hardware.

You could also check system memory, as others have said.  You've got 16 GB, which is vastly more than you need, so it's easy to pull out one module at a time and see if the crash recurs.  Or better yet, two at a time, so that it only takes two passes and you can still have 8 GB with properly matched channels.  If pulling out one particular memory module makes the problems go away, you've found the culprit.

Alternatively, you could check your system memory with memtest86+.  Leave it running for an extended period of time and see if it turns up any problems.

Thillian

Originally posted by Arakazi

 

I'll try and lowering my GPU clock speed and if this doesn't work, I'll just send in a pro since I've just about tried everything else that has been suggested. Funny though, I never bought either of my GPU's with overclocked. It didn't say it was overclocked on the website or overclocked on the bo box and I certainly didn't overclock it. Anyway, thanks a bunch for your help guys.

It is a common problem with 560 ti and 550 ti cards, if they're shipped overclocked or superclocked. I'm surprised you didnt try that first actually, because it can be tested easily.

cagar

Bad stick of ram. Some company's have lifetime warranties, so check before you she'll out some cash.put in 1 stick at a time and turn on the comp. it starts, do again until you crash at boot

 

Arakazi

I've just checked memory sticks and even tried 4gb and used a memory tester. Everything is fine. Also tried reducing clock speed of my GPU and it crashed again during stress test. This time however, my computer had trouble restarting windows and so I waited 5 minutes to do a cold start. And it's fine again... but I'm still at a loss. Last option is to try an even older gfx card that's in my old system. If that doesn't work I'll just have to get a pro in for repair. 

Cleffy

Blow the dust out of your GPU and manually set the fan speed to 80%.  If it works then you will need to adjust your fan speed profile to properly react to temperature.  If not try a new GPU and use different PCI-e power connector if you have another one.

jfsd88

I have the same problem and have the same GPU, but I think my problem is that I have win 7-32bits, have the same problem with battlefield 3 too.. In order to play GW2 I change my graphics to best performance and then put all the settings to low and it no crashes.. But this need a fix to play with high graphics.. Also you can read this forum there are plenty of options there.. http://www.guildwars2guru.com/topic/54373-guild-wars-2-crashes-quite-frequently/page__st__180 hope this helps and sorry for my english

Arakazi

After doing a lot of fiddling about and doing another clean install I am almost certain it's a software problem and it's related t the fact that it all started with GW2. I base this assumption that I could play other 3D games without any trouble and then the moment I install and play GW2 my sytem begins to crash again. Question now is, what did GW2 change on my system that would make only pragrammes that use 3D graphics crash my computer?

Cleffy

If it has a nasty memory leak then it could permanently be writing to your memory so you would need to do more then just restart it to refree the memory.  However, no game will enter the market with that big of a memory leak.  Might also driver related issues of drivers that shipped with GW2.  When you get a game, it typically always runs some DX setup files initially.

Thomas2006

I would check the temp of your cpu and make sure its getting good airflow. GW2 is a VERY cpu intensive game. No matter what cpu you have its going to stress it and put alot of load onto it.

This could explain why you are having troubles even getting windows to load sometimes. My bet is on your cpu overheating and causing you problems. How and what type of thermal paste did you use and how did you apply it to the cpu. Improper application onto a I7 (a cpu that runs hot) can easily lead to it overheating.

Arakazi

Originally posted by Cleffy
If it has a nasty memory leak then it could permanently be writing to your memory so you would need to do more then just restart it to refree the memory.  However, no game will enter the market with that big of a memory leak.  Might also driver related issues of drivers that shipped with GW2.  When you get a game, it typically always runs some DX setup files initially.

I have 16gb of memory and it has never been passed 70%. 

 

The DX thing is something worth checking though, but I installed DX earlier.

Arakazi

Originally posted by Thomas2006

I would check the temp of your cpu and make sure its getting good airflow. GW2 is a VERY cpu intensive game. No matter what cpu you have its going to stress it and put alot of load onto it.

This could explain why you are having troubles even getting windows to load sometimes. My bet is on your cpu overheating and causing you problems. How and what type of thermal paste did you use and how did you apply it to the cpu. Improper application onto a I7 (a cpu that runs hot) can easily lead to it overheating.

I ran a stress test for about an hour, all cores at 100% and the temp didn't go above 45c.  I pulled this computer apart, checking everything, from lose screws and bent pins and and dusts and even updating bios. I also stressed tested CPU, memory HDD and of course GPU.  I'm pretty satisfied I eliminated all the usual hardware suspects so it has to be software,

I just cleared my disk for the 3rd time and without GW2 on my system, I've been running 3d stress tests without any problems. and later when I have time I will play a few games to test it.. But I bet my last penny if I install GW2 it will start crashing again. So the only explanation I can think of is that GW2 changes something my computer doesn't agree with.