Computer Hangs while gaming

[1fox2go]

Having an issue with my laptop and gaming, the games should by no means cause it to hang like this. Even older games like Half life will hang

I will be playing along and the game will hang, or freeze for a few seconds then go back to normal. This is kinda frustrating especially while playing online...

any thoughts? Specs are listed with the exception of 12 gig of RAM

Also a friend of mine has pretty much identical setup with the difference of a 640 gig hard drive where mine is 500, both are 5400 rpm, and his video card is a different model, cant remember the number but notebook check only listed it as a couple % points higher than mine

Thanks, just wondering if I have something running in the background or what

 

[Terronium 12]

Are the drivers up to date? Is whatever games you're playing patched to the most recent versions?

Have you overclocked anything? Is your RAM running at the default settings? If so, download CPU-Z and see what timings and voltage are recommended by the SPD. Or, if it's easier, look on the heatspreader for the same info and input the timings manually.

 

[1fox2go]

Games i am playing are on steam, i would assume they update automatically?

Newb question SPD?

I can use whatever tools necessary to get you output so you can hopefully help resolve my problem

 

[Terronium 12]

Games i am playing are on steam, i would assume they update automatically?

Newb question SPD?

I can use whatever tools necessary to get you output so you can hopefully help resolve my problem

What about your video card drivers, are those up to date?

Download this: CPU-Z, and go to the 'SPD' tab and see what information you receive. SPD, by the way, is Serial Presence Detect. In a nutshell, it provides the data from which programs like CPU-Z (and your boards BIOS) can read.

 

[1fox2go]

Here you go, i have 3 memory slots and all 3 are the same

going to look up drivers for the Video card now

 

[Terronium 12]

Here you go, i have 3 memory slots and all 3 are the same

going to look up drivers for the Video card now

Good, now go into your BIOS and use the timings for 1066 (533MHz). Don't worry about tRC, that you can leave on auto. Your main concern is setting the first five timings: 7-7-7-20 and the DRAM voltage to 1.5.

I might be wrong, but the 609 setting looks like an EPP profile especially considering the native speed is 1066.

EDIT: Wow I am very speshul (yes, speshul ) it just dawned on me you said you were using a laptop. I doubt you'll be able to set the timings manually as it's likely pre-configured. Are you sure it's not overheating at all? Still check the drivers but my advice about the RAM timings....ignore it. Lol

 

[Wishmaster]

This post may be helpful to you, and certainly worth looking through.
http://www.sevenforums.com/gaming/77293-tips-troubleshooting-game-issues.html


If you use Steam for your games, the games themselves should be patched to the latest version already.
There are only a couple of exceptions, with certain games the use GFWL, that a patch may be needed.
However, GFWL will warn you and ask you to patch the game when you start it.

It may also be worth running the "Verify Intergrity of Game Cache" option for the particular game in Steam, just to be sure.



-- Im curious why you need 12GB of RAM though? This is really only helpful for High memory use, 64bit programs or if running multiple virtual machines.
Of course, if you do these things its quite understandable.


However, for gaming, it really does not help.
Most games are 32bit apps, and can only use a Maximum of 2GB system RAM anyway.
This is why many will say 4GB is the sweet spot for gaming, and up to 8GB if you want more.

If you have no specific need for that much RAM, it is possible it could hinder performance rather than help. Depending on the rest of the Hardware.
(Not saying this is the case, just a possibility)

More RAM slots full = More stress. And mixing/matching RAM could potentially cause some issues as well.

 

[1fox2go]

tried to do that it says to close any games and tools, which i did and it still wont verify

also here is the link to the acer site

http://support.acer.com/us/en/product/default.aspx?tab=1&modelId=2468

, if you scroll down to video, it says 6650/6850, i have a 5650....

yes i am on a laptop, i cant see it as overheating, as it makes no difference how long i play...i can play for a couple hours or less than 1 hour and it still randomly hangs for a few seconds. Its caused me to get killed on Killing Floor quite a few times

I think i can rule out network lag because i play Duke nukem forever solo and it still hangs, same with Half life

stumped here as my friend has 0 issues at all

 

[Terronium 12]

That shouldn't matter in the least. Drivers are drivers, if it bothers you that much then download CCC from AMD directly.

 

[1fox2go]

so i can download that driver and update? its saying the date of 11/19/2010 where mine on the system is 4/26/2010

 

[Terronium 12]

That's likely to be Cat 10.11, downloading from AMD's site directly will give you 11.6.

 

[1fox2go]

you are correct, getting the latest from AMD now

 

[Terronium 12]

You say it's still hanging. Does this happen with every game you try to run?

Is DirectX and Visual C++ up to date? What about Windows? It could be anything...I, rather, we need you to be just a bit more specific. How long does the game run before crashing? Is it a CTD problem (crash to desktop) or does the entire system halt and/or blue screen. If it's the latter read the BSOD and see if it identifies a culprit; if it's, and I forget the exact name of the file, atikmdag.sys (I actually think that's it) then it's a driver issue.

 

[1fox2go]

So far its been every game. It does not crash to desktop, rather it hangs for few seconds then carries on like normal. Its completely random, first 10 minutes or after about 30 minutes etc etc.

So the game never crashes its more it pauses then goes on normally. When im playing it plays fine.

Im leaning toward Avast anti virus running now. I am going to turn that off and try it to see if that helps

However, updating the video driver has made my games actually utilize the entire 17 in wide screen instead of having a small black margin on the left and right side. So thanks for that!

Windows is up to date, going to check DirectX and C++ now

DirectX is up to date, how do i go about checking for the C++?

Sorry for the newb questions but im more of a linux guy, just have this laptop for gaming

 

[Terronium 12]

Control Panel > System and Security > Windows Update. From there check for updates.

Another way is to go here: C++ 2010 Redistributable

AV could be a problem, as can a firewall so definitely eliminate either (if not both) as a possibility.

 

[1fox2go]

so far i have dropped Avast antivirus for AVG, so far no issues, I will continue to test to make sure all is well

 

[1fox2go]

Second day of playing and it seems that Avast was causing my issues. Going to play again tonight to confirm so if anyone else is having similar issues they can trouble shoot by changing their antivirus.

 

[digitalrurouni]

I am having similar issues playing the Witcher EE. I have played the game before but then I was in Windows XP x64 IIRC. WIth Windows 7 and latest Nvidia SLI drivers, I keep having random freezes and crashes. I can play the game for only a few minutes at a stretch. I am gonna see if my Directx 9 is all the way updated as well thanks for the tip! But I think its mainly because the game is ancient now and the OS and the hardware and the drivers have just moved on so far ahead, that is what is causing the problem.

 

[1fox2go]

yea mine never crashes, its like something hogs all my resources and it lags.

I know the hardware i have is fine, which is why i posted up here for suggestions. However updating everything certainly did help

 

[digitalrurouni]

yea mine never crashes, its like something hogs all my resources and it lags.

I know the hardware i have is fine, which is why i posted up here for suggestions. However updating everything certainly did help

Tha'ts really great! I am hoping if I go and update my DX 9 which I really have not done in a long time will circumvent the issues I am experiencing. I am surprised DX 9 updates don't show up in the Windows Update service actually.