Games freezing, sounds looping

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  1. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
       #1

    Games freezing, sounds looping


    Team Fortress 2 has been freezing mid-game and it starts looping about half a second of sound (maybe less). When this occurs, I try to ctrl+alt+del, alt+f4 and also alt+tab and my computer doesn't respond to anything. The only way to stop it is to just do a hard restart. In the past it only happened in TF2 and I could easily go to the task manager and end it but now that doesn't work. I just installed a new graphics card and now within 5-10 minutes my computer will freeze. I also tried playing Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Grand Theft Auto IV and they did the same thing. My new graphics card is a GTX 460 so I'm sure its powerful enough for these games. I have the latest NVIDIA drivers and Realtek sound drivers. I recently reformatted so there are no viruses (none in the past either). The only thing I think it could be is my PSU which is 500w but the video card box says it only requires 450w. When installing my new video card (and transferring everything to a new case) I also applied a new coat of thermal paste to my cpu. The only thing I can think of that would be the problem is either my PSU not being powerful enough or my CPU possibly having a bad coat of thermal paste.

    My system specs are:
    Processor: AMD Phenom II Black Edition @ 3.4GHz
    Motherboard: Gigabyte 790XTA-UD4
    Memory: 4GB DDR3 (2x2GB) Patriot Memory @ 1333MHz
    Video Card: Galaxy GTX 460
    HDD: Samsung Spinpoint F3 1 TB with 32MB Cache
    Monitor: AOC 23" LCD
    PSU: OCZ 500W
    OS: Windows 7 x64

    I read this thread and the original poster seemed to have the same symptoms but he didn't post if his problem was resolved or not.

    Any help will be appreciated.
      My Computer


  2. Posts : 78
    Windows 7 Pro x64 Bit
       #2

    I had the same problem. The game does not like when the hardware is overclocked. If you are right on the edge of a stable clock speed the game will freeze up. Once I turned down the clock speed on my GPU by 5% every game in orange box work great. What GPU do you have?
      My Computer


  3. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #3

    I turned my clocks down 5% and I played 20 minutes which is longer than I had been playing but it still froze. I have a GTX 460.
      My Computer


  4. Posts : 78
    Windows 7 Pro x64 Bit
       #4

    It seems that I am on the right trak. Make a game profile for the game to have no over clocking. If you play the ga say over 2 hours and there is no problems then you are golden. From there raise the clock speeds in the game profile and play the game. Repeate this untillycan have the maxed overclocking without the game crashing.
      My Computer


  5. Posts : 1,962
    Windows 7 x64 (Ultimate)
       #5

    +1 on the OC and some games. Also, if you just updated your Video drivers w/o uninstalling the old one, you may have some corrupt files. You don't want to update your drivers from Windows Update and you don't want to install newer drivers over the old one.

    Also, if and when you do the updates, make sure you also uninstall the PhysX drivers, then clean any remnants on your registry, restart and do a clean install with elevated Admin rights (Right click on setup.exe and Run as Admin).

    Good luck
      My Computer


  6. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #6

    I seem to have found whats wrong with it. After tweeking some things Ive managed to make my computer somewhat stable when playing games. Now it only crashes to the desktop. The error Im getting now is "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered". Anyone know how to fix this? I looked at this thread on the nvidia site and other people seem to be having the same problem.
      My Computer


  7. Posts : 1,962
    Windows 7 x64 (Ultimate)
       #7

    Sometimes, if you don't read the advise of others, you don't get to fix your problems, other times, if you do but you don't comeback and tell us, we have to continue to tell you to do something or we just walk away.

    Did you or did you not updated your video drivers along with the audio driver for good measure? if not... DO SO

    If you did it, tell how how... you may have done it wrong.
      My Computer


  8. Posts : 8
    Windows 7 Ultimate x64
    Thread Starter
       #8

    Yea. I dled the most current from nvidia, uninstalled current one and then installed the new one. That one didnt work well so I did the same with the beta driver which didnt work well either. Then a new driver came out on the 18th and thats the current one I have installed and Im getting the error I spoke of. Ive also dled the latest audio drivers.
      My Computer


  9. Posts : 42
    Windows 7 Ultimate x86
       #9

    Hi, one hour ago I saw the latest NVIDIA GPU driver and installed it. Now I have the exact same problem as you, both in TF2 and L4D2. It's the new driver. I recommend going back to the previous version, it fixed the problem for me. I have a Geforce 420M.
      My Computer


  10. Posts : 1,962
    Windows 7 x64 (Ultimate)
       #10

    When you uninstalled the Nvidia drivers, did you also uninstall the PhysX drivers? also, did you run their Driver Sweeper? this gets rid of any remnants on your registry.

    Doing the audio drivers would not hurt, sometimes, audio drivers ruin your game even if logically it doesn't make sense.

    I would also uninstall and re install the game, don't forget to install the Directx if they ask you to do so... it won't ruin the one you have installed now and some games add just a little file or part into your DX that is needed for the game to run smoothly.
      My Computer


 
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