WoW Stutters/Freezes W7

[Lalafinckle]

Hey guys

I know there are lots of posts on the web about World of Warcraft freezing randomly but I haven't managed to solve my problem. Apologies if this is a repeat thread topic.

I haven't noticed the problem with any other games. Although I spend most of my gaming time on wow.

When Playing wow it will sometimes it will freeze up/stutter for a second then be ok. Other times it will freeze up totally and the only way to unfreeze is to Crtl ALt + Del, or Alt Tab out and back in again. This is the same for windowed mode and for full screen. It is playable but very very annoying. I'm starting to think maybe my graphics card is faulty?

Heres a list of things I have tried:

Running with no addons.
Running at low graphics settings.
Resetting Interface and WTF folders/ WoW repair.
Reinstalling WoW.
Running as administrator
Running in windows xp and vista compatibility modes.
Many graphics/motherboard W7 drivers, as well as some vista drivers.
Updating sound drivers.
Disabling Aero.
Running from System Disk and non system disk.
Stopping any other programs running whilst playing.

My machine consists of:

Windows 7 x64 Ultimate
XFX nForce 750i
XFX Geforce 9800GT 512mb
Core2Duo 8400
4Gb PC6400 OCZ Ram
650w Power Supply

Has anyone come across this at all and have ideas?

Cheers

 

[sanford]

My wife's PC has the same issue.... really just started a week ago or so...

Since the PC does not actually freeze (hard reset/boot not needed just c-a-d to destop) and the event viewer is "clean" I am leaning toward some sort of issue/bug with WOW itself verses the hardwhare or Windows 7?

 

[Lalafinckle]

Well from what I have read on the wow forums, all the blue posts say there is absolutely no bugs/problems with W7 and WoW, so i'm thinking more hardware related.

 

[hybridfan]

Where are the files stored for WOW, are they placed in C:Users/public/games/World of Warcraft?

 

[Lalafinckle]

Yes they are I made sure of that, after I had problems updating

 

[TGSoldier]

3D Mark could help you at identifying if your card is faulty or not.

Run it.

 

[Lalafinckle]

Thanks i'll download and try it tonight.

 

[sanford]

Typically video card issues will be accompanied with some manner of graphic corruption (strange colors, lines, artifacts, etc). Thats why I am thinking software

 

[LordWolF]

hmmm Verify 2 things your cpu usage video card and cpu temperature and download ForceWare Coolbits 2.0 download from Guru3D.com

 

[Lalafinckle]

Well I had an interesting night.

I updated to the new 196.75 drivers for my Geforce 9800gt

I ran 3DMark and it BSOD'ed my machine. My graphics card seemed to have overheated (it was so hot I could barely touch it.) I then had a very hard time getting the machine back up and running once the card had cooled down. I had to reset the CMOS of my motherboard to get it up and running, as well as a repair of windows. I also had to uninstall the new drivers I had installed to stop the machine from shutting off without warning.

Anyway im using the default drivers W7 installs at the moment just to make sure the thing is working ok. Once I'm happy I will get you some usage and temp numbers. Although usually CPU temp is around 40 degrees and graphics card is about 60ish degrees when playing WoW.

 

[TGSoldier]

i think you're going to need a new video card sir.

 

[Lalafinckle]

Yea thats what I was thinking. Any suggestions that you have good reports on? I have kinda lost touch with what models are what recently.

 

[TGSoldier]

Depends on your budget.

 

[Lalafinckle]

I can probably spend up to and around £100ish not sure what that is in dollars. Not sure whether to go Nvidia again or ATI.

 

[LordWolF]

I can probably spend up to and around £100ish not sure what that is in dollars. Not sure whether to go Nvidia again or ATI.

depends on your budget actually use Newegg.com - Computer Parts, PC Components, Laptop Computers, Digital Cameras and more! to know witch card to buy

 

[bobby carrizal]

yeah i have windows 7 in gaming 18 wos haulin crashes and freezing for my pc

 

[Lalafinckle]

I just read "Some major problems being reported with these new WHQL 196.75 drivers. Cards overheating and possible damage due to fan control problems" in the driver section.

So my card wasn't in that bad shape before using these drivers. Obviously there might have been an underlying problem with my card but its now fried and worthless...... I'm now using a cheap 8400GS while I buy a better one. Unhappy at nvidia right now.

 

[hybridfan]

Depends on your PSU I'm afraid if you can fill out your system specs that would help a lot. Ever thought about getting a ATI card. This one isn't too shabby....

PowerColor HD 4850 PCS 1GB GDDR3 DVI VGA HDMI PCI-E Graphics Card - Ebuyer

 

[bobby carrizal]

my game peformance wasn't playing game called nvidia geforce 196.25 stopped working crashes and freeze but i will removal windows 7 ultimate editon and return to windows xp better gaming peformance