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PC locking up mid game, anyone got any tips?
Thanks for checking out my problem.
Firstly I am pretty handy around PCs and have built my last 5. However I am having trouble with pin pointing a particular bug.
Issue: So far just in AoC and Call of Duty 4 (single player game) out of the blue the game will lock up and sometimes the sound is stuck on looping. Only solution is to reboot PC. So you can imagine mid raid how fking annoying that is! Normally it will happen just once but today it has happened 4-5 times.
So far I have:
I have updated all my drivers
Set my soundblaster back to default settings and ran a diagnostic which came back clear
Cleaned up registry and cleared out junk, defrag and scanned for bots, which came back clear.
Just hoping someone has had the same problem and can give me some tips.
Thanks again!
Comments
A few thoughts here. Could be an overheating GPU since it is only during gaming? Check RAM with a program called Memtest and see if you get errors. My last thought would be a bad PSU. I have a PSU tester but otherwise those are hard to really diagnose short of swapping it out with another.
Keep us updated.
Good luck!
95% of all percentages quoted on the internet are made up on the spot 50% of the time.
I have had issues in the past with the PSU. Basically the PC would reboot by itself but I am pretty confident its not that as I have installed a top end Corsair 850w PSU. Going to check memory and heat issue. I thought it was AoC specific but now its happened in CoD4 so I know its not just an individual game. Thanks for the feedback!
AOC and COD4 have really good graphics and have alot going on, so it would put a load on your GPU and memory. I would do the memtest, and check your GPU's heat, if it isnt either of those then i have no clue.
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If Memtest and your GPU/system temps seem to be in order, come back and post your system specs for us. This might help us narrow down some items for you.
95% of all percentages quoted on the internet are made up on the spot 50% of the time.
Oh yea good point:
Off the top of my head,
* quad core 9450
* Corsair 750watt
* DDR3 Ram
* 2 sata drives
* 8800gt 512 Nvidia
* Asus maximus mobo
* creative sound card x-fi
BTW I just downloaded coretemp and my pc idles around 50c with nothing going and then levels out at 60 when AoC is running in the background. Slightly dips when I close all the other programs. Going to run a memory test soon.
I am leaning towards the PSU however I know it can handle what I have. However I may start unplugging unnecessary bits of hardware and see if it occurs. Plus I am going to try and remember when it cuts out. From memory I think it was when there was a ton of stuff going on. So its possible the PSU just peaks with all the bits and pieces I have installed.
Your CPU temps seem normal.
Not to overwhelm you with a bunch of other things before we finish testing the earlier ideas, but I am leaving the house for awhile and wanted to leave a few more suggestions.
Try grabbing a program called RivaTuner from guru3d, or another program called HWMonitor (first link on gooogle search), and monitor your GPU temps. HWMonitor will allow you to view your GPU temps and your system temps together while RivaTuner is just for your GPU. The 8800GT runs fairly hot on stock settings, so don't be surprised if you are in the 60c-70c range at load. Any higher than 80c you might be burning up!
I don't know how often you update your graphics drivers, but do you use a driver cleaner first when you do? If not grab one of those and reinstall the latest Nvidia drivers. I have had an issue like that once, causing weird random lockups.
For laughs and giggles you might try uninstalling and removing the sound card from the system and see if the games still lockup. I have heard of soundcards causing issues but TBH I have never seen it personally.
Is your OS up to date? Did an OS update get applied right before the lockups?
I need to run for now, but I will check in on you shorly
Ps. Nice Rig!
95% of all percentages quoted on the internet are made up on the spot 50% of the time.
Hey Ziif, we might be on to something here. I downloaded Rivatuner and man that is a awesome tool! It seems my CPU is running at a comfortable 50-60c. However when I monitored my GPU it idled at 60-65 and when AoC was turned on it climbed up to 75-80 and at one stage it peaked at 90 but then dropped down and sat on 80ish. I am thinking at this stage my GPU in the middle of raids etc is peaking so high the screen locks up.
Thing is I am surprised because I am not really into OC anything too much. Have around 4 fans including GPU and CPU fan. I am even using an external modem with a USB plugin so I dont have a network card stuck to the Video card. Maybe I need to set the fans higher or look at the airflow at the back of the PCk, its slightly restricted...
Ok progress I think. The HWmonitor is a great tool also. The GPU sits on 60 but AoC forces it up to 80 and around 90 on occasion. I tried fixing the fan at 50% and the sound is bearable still but that helped keeping the card down to 70-74ish. However I think the key issue is that the bottom half the PC at the back is blocked and that is where the card is. I need to raise it so its really open. See if that has any affect. BTW when it was down around 70-74 I had zero crashes on AoC.
Thanks for pointing out those tools and advice, never had an issue with the GPU's so its the first time I have come across this.
Will keep you posted on how it goes!
As soon as you said out of the blue the game will lock up and sometimes the sound is stuck on looping, I knew what was wrong.
It is your video card overheating. When a game locks up like that and you hear the sound still playing or looping it is because of a overheating issue with the GPU or a memory error on the GPU. High overclocks can cause it and so can heat issues. Most of the time it is from heat though.
I suggest you run a GPU benchmark to test the cards memory and GPU for a few hours before you do anything further.
Use rivatuner to underclock the GPU and memory slightly by 20MHz to start, this should solve the issue if you can't get a new cooler on it or find a better cooling configuration.
Good luck.
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If your worried about the noise from the stock cooler you should think about getting a aftermarket cooler for you PC
Anyone of these will do, + add some more case fans for airflow
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835106112
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835118037
Awesome news! Sounds like everyone pretty much agrees it is the GPU overheating.
I had the 8800gts previously and decided to "upgrade" my case for better airflow, because that sucker was running hot. Changing to a case with better airflow made a big difference for me.
My wife thinks it was just an excuse for me to play around with more computer parts though.
Some of the posts above me have great points. If clearing some room in the back doesn't seem to help much with temps, go for the aftermarket cooling devices. Also, don't be afraid to run that fan at 80%-100% in the meantime in order to keep that card cool (just pretend you have an airplane in your room taking off).
Props to the other contributers!
Good luck!
95% of all percentages quoted on the internet are made up on the spot 50% of the time.
Hey Tyres, I actually did that today amongst other things.
Using Rivatuner and HWmonitor (which Ziif pointed out alsoI saw my GPU idle on 65-70 and then peaked at 90 when AoC was on. Now I have it down to 50 on idle and when AoC or CoD4 is on it hits 70, maybe 75 at the most.
I did the following:
* Mounted my PC by 6 inches because the fan was blocked now it has clear air.
* I tried reducing the video card by 20mhz or so but I tried setting the fan on manual to 50% first. The increase in noise is minimal.
So far no crashes except for one this morning prior to turning the fan up. Been on the entire day and I played AoC for about 4 hours with no problems.
Just shows how important heat is when taking into account OC'ing etc.
Thanks for the huge help, those two programs, HWmonitor and Rivatuner are awesome and I didn't know about them before.
i met a similar problem, and i'm bad at pcs, thank you for your information, i will try it