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General discussion

Games freeze up? Please help!

by bedge Nov 7, 2005 3:26AM PST

Please help!
Ive just built a new pc with the aid of a buddy and i cant get games to play properly - they just freeze up mid play. Ive got an nvidea Geforce 6800 pci express graphics card which i am running on an ATI Axion radeon xpress 200p mainboard with 1 gig (2 sticks) of corsair ram, amd athlon 64 3500+ processor and 120 gig harddrive. Everything works fine until i attempt to play a game, aka Counter strike, Half life 2, Cossacks 2, command and conquer generals, all crash either when loaded or anytime up to 20 mins into gameplay. The screen just freezes, no flickers, no build up, just complete freeze, i cannot even exit the program, i have to switch the pc off in order to re-boot. Ive done a graphics test on source at 120 frames per sec and it didnt crash, i just dont get it. I upgraded my powwer supply from 350w to 600w, but no change. Ive tried the latest drivers, ive even tried beta drivers and still the same with slight improvement. Thing is, initially i purchased an amd connect 3d radeon x800 128mb graphics card and had exactly the same problem. I thought it was the card and sent it back, but now im using a completely different card that uses different drivers and im having the same problem. Any ideas? The withdrawl symptons are just too much.

Discussion is locked

10 Posts
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All new? You have a warranty.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Nov 7, 2005 3:42AM PST

Call the suppliers and ask what they want to exchange.

Can I ask why the 350 Watt supply was attempted? Seems like something from the past given the items you listed.

Bob

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still under warranty but...
by bedge Nov 7, 2005 6:17AM PST

I would like to narrow down or fix if possible. Because the web site i purchased from arent very good in the support department. i sent the other card back and it took 2 weeks for a refund to be processed and another week for the new card to come. (Not to mention the 3 days it took for the RMA request) Its taken a month to get to the stage where i can now ask...so if its not the card or the drivers...what is it? (As im experiencing the same problem as i had with the Radeon X800 card which uses different drivers altogether. I thought maybe someone has experienced similar problems. I ordered the 600w power supply as i noted advice from another forum that the upgrade may work. (i went for 600w as it was same price as 400w and thought i'd chance it.) To no avail..

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Try this. ONE stick of RAM.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Nov 7, 2005 6:36AM PST

As to support, it is worth it to get some...

Bob

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Heat?
by Kees Bakker Nov 7, 2005 4:55AM PST

Can cause the CPU to shut down to protect itself. Can you monitor the temperature? Any difference with an open case?

If not the video, maybe the sound (onboard?). Did you test that? Did you load the motherboard drivers? Latest version? DirectX maybe? BIOS settings - set to defaults, maybe see if new version available.

It's unlikely to be a Windows XP problem. Hardware or drivers, on the first sight. That's a lot, of course, but you seem to have excluded the video.

Kees

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I dont think its heat.
by bedge Nov 7, 2005 5:56AM PST

thx for your reply. The nvidea control centre monitors the heat. I ran a heat check before loading up a game and it came up as 45C. I ran half life 2 for about 10 mins (before allowing time to freeze up on me) and the temp was 48C which I think is ok. Im not sure how to test the sound. I ran the dxdiog and it came up with no errors when i ran the simple tests on there. Not sure about motherboard drivers either. How do i check for these? Bios is set to defaults, (i presume as i havent been into other than to check if running same as graphic card hand book specs - which it was. (i don't know where or what to change on the bios or how to update it). Movies incidently play fine through my media player. Could it also be a memory problem, ive removed a stick and swapped them around but this made no difference?

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You can't know if it's heat.
by r. proffitt Forum moderator Nov 7, 2005 8:38PM PST

Here's why. That temp meter is just one spot on the machine. Rip the cover off, point a fan at the box and see if that changes anything.

Cheers,

bob

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Have You Tried A Game Forum?
by dcmorris Nov 7, 2005 11:06AM PST

Games on a PC is a world unto itself. They are usually very demanding on the system and contain many quirks.
I have found the games I have used have forums. The gamers on these forums are very knowledgeable and willing to share. They are aware of problems and bugs. They have also devised fixes.
It sounds like you have the equipment to handle games so give them a try.
Let us know how you make out.

DC

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games freeze
by MaTechie Nov 7, 2005 5:27PM PST

Hey - i understand games withdrawl - a body has 2 have some fun Wink

coming at this from a different angle - what OS have u got? If XP, have you SP2? There were problems with this making games freeze at one stage - to do with firewall setup if i remember correctly. But that's only if u r playing online.

My gut reaction is that it's the graphics card and/or drivers. This may sound silly but have u tried playing with the casing off and a desk type fan blowing directly on to the graphics card? Plus trying a different driver?
Hope this helps Happy)

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Games Freeze up! Do the Basic
by curtisblue Nov 7, 2005 5:38PM PST

As with most PCs, Always look for compatlible,with the program to the system,the game controller with the game & the system. You said you did the driver thing,But did you go to the game web site,& down load any new up date's the game might have? Also read up on the game to see if they have problems with any operating systems.

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nvida
by chromesn Nov 9, 2005 1:58PM PST

ok, i had this problem running "WoW" with the nvidia card and drivers: went to nvidia site and looked for "preferred bios settings" and got the following page:

http://nvidia.custhelp.com/cgi-bin/nvidia.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=78&p_created=1097619611&p_sid=ZvDPwcUh&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9MTEmcF9wcm9kcz0wJnBfY2F0cz0wJnBfcHY9JnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfZm5sJnBfcGFnZT0xJnBfc2VhcmNoX3RleHQ9Ymlvcw**&p_li=&p_topview=1
(dang! that's long)

anyway, having gone in, changed the bios to the settings recommended (but setting vga aperture to twice the size of the card), it seemed to cure it.
running MCE 2005 myself, your preferred bios settings (the ones not listed) will have to be trial and errored on your part, or left alone. your board is different, cards, so on.

don't mess with the ones that are not video related, and write down what you change, and you should be ok to restore.

hope this helps.

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