General Gaming/Graphics/System-Problem

[privatemeta]

Hi,

I have a problem when gaming. Either one of two problems occur when playing a good portion of my games:

1st: When enabling Anisotrope Filtering or Antialising, the game freezes quickly (5-30 minutes). The video stops (still visible), sound keeps going, the game stops reacting but you can kill the game and resume the system.
Games: e.g. Fallout 3, Trine

2nd: Without any special settings, the game freezes after 30-120 Minutes. The video is gone from all screens, the sound starts to stutter (quite fast) and the entire system has to be rebooted by a hard reset.
Games: e.g. Burnout Paradise, Left 4 Dead

Both types of incidents leave no trace in the event logs. Any idea what I can do?

 

[Frostmourne]

1) Update DirectX

2) Update all your drivers

3) Update all your firmware

4) Flash the BIOS

5) Update all games to the latest patches

6) Clean out your case

7) If you have a cheap and nasty PSU buy a proper one

8) Ensure the RAM timings are matched

9) Run chkdsk

10) If chkdsk passes, run Disk Defrag

11) Run Seagate Seatools Short DST - if it fails, replace the HDD.

12) Monitor temperatures - CPU under 50 degrees, GPU under 80 degrees, HDD under 50 degrees (although it should be no more than 35 if that.

13) Run Memtest86+ for a couple of passes

14) What antivirus are you using?

Post back results of RAM + HDD tests and if this issue is fixed.

 

[privatemeta]

1) DirectX11 according to dxdiag, Installed DX redist from Feb 2010
2) Old NVidia Driver from Mid January, now installed driver from March 2nd
3) & 4) will have to wait, these are last resorts for me
5) Games all run via Steam, they are all updated
6) Did that, can do it again
7) It's a proper Cougar 700W PSU
8) That will take some time, I'll look into it with memtest
9) Runs regularily, manual rerun did not show errors
10) Runs regularily too
11) Short DST passed, I'll try longer ones
12) That will take some time
13) That will take some time
14) Microsoft Security Essentials, I can try running the games with deactivated antivirus, but That will take some time

All Updates or Changes need time to confirm if they helped at all

 

[WDAexodus]

Sounds to me like you have a video card/PSU problem maybe due to insufficient power/overcurrent. What's your amperage rating on your +12v rail. If it is low that could be the cause. Over time with your card/CPU heating up under load it will draw more current which could start giving syptoms like you describe. Hopefully it's something more simple such as a dirty heatsink.

 

[Frostmourne]

1) DirectX11 according to dxdiag, Installed DX redist from Feb 2010
2) Old NVidia Driver from Mid January, now installed driver from March 2nd
3) & 4) will have to wait, these are last resorts for me
5) Games all run via Steam, they are all updated
6) Did that, can do it again
7) It's a proper Cougar 700W PSU
8) That will take some time, I'll look into it with memtest
9) Runs regularily, manual rerun did not show errors
10) Runs regularily too
11) Short DST passed, I'll try longer ones
12) That will take some time
13) That will take some time
14) Microsoft Security Essentials, I can try running the games with deactivated antivirus, but That will take some time

All Updates or Changes need time to confirm if they helped at all

Good work - I don't think its the PSU. Try the other steps first.

 

[privatemeta]

I've managed to do a MemTest86+ Run. I don't have all the time, so I only finished it until halfway through Test 8 (skipping Test 9 which takes 3 Hours)

It shows 14 Errors in Test 5, Block Move, according to the error log in the Area between 1600MB and 1700MB. I will try to switch around the memory banks or at least try to rerun Test 5 and take out single RAM modules trying to find out if there is one that's responsible.

Any idea if that might be a problem with the memory timings as well?


Edit:
Interestingly enough MemTest86+ killed my MBR, I can't boot anymore

 

[Frostmourne]

I've managed to do a MemTest86+ Run. I don't have all the time, so I only finished it until halfway through Test 8 (skipping Test 9 which takes 3 Hours)

It shows 14 Errors in Test 5, Block Move, according to the error log in the Area between 1600MB and 1700MB. I will try to switch around the memory banks or at least try to rerun Test 5 and take out single RAM modules trying to find out if there is one that's responsible.

Any idea if that might be a problem with the memory timings as well?

Replace all the RAM. That should fix the issues. I'd also contact Corsair regarding warranty.

 

[Wishmaster]

4X2GB sticks?
Your RAM might actually be fine.
Pull 2 and just 2x2GB and re-run the test.

You can go as far as test 1 stick at a time. ((This is what I would do at this point)) Pinpoint the issue.

If they are all good OR it passes with 2x2 its a NB issue.

Bump the NB core voltage 1 or 2 notches to stabilize the chipset with the additional load of 4 DIMMS.


You may also want to try lowering the RAM speed slightly.If the MOBo says its rated for DDr3 1600 for example, that doesnt always mean it can do 1600 with all 4 slots full. It may run fine at 1333 however.

Or need NB voltage, or a combo of both.

1st things first, make sure the RAM itself is good. 1 stick at a time would be my reccomendation so you can pinpoint the exact cause..

 

[privatemeta]

I will try. It will take some time though. I'm not sure I will touch memtest86 again, as it just killed my boot manager on my win7 installation, so for now it'll be "Pull out a stick, play, wait for it to freeze, ..."
if that doesn't help I will have to actually have to use memtest86 and repair the damaged boot manager again. (Yeah, I know, Memtest should be non-intrusive, but tell that to my boot manager)
I'll come back with the results

 

[Frostmourne]

I will try. It will take some time though. I'm not sure I will touch memtest86 again, as it just killed my boot manager on my win7 installation, so for now it'll be "Pull out a stick, play, wait for it to freeze, ..."
if that doesn't help I will have to actually have to use memtest86 and repair the damaged boot manager again. (Yeah, I know, Memtest should be non-intrusive, but tell that to my boot manager)
I'll come back with the results

Memtest can't break the boot manager. It only interfaces with the BIOS. I would look for malware.

 

[privatemeta]

For the sake of finding out the exact faulty RAM module I tried the MemTest86+ test again, the entire suite, 3 passes, no error. I've got no idea what the problem was. It could've been a temporary fluke.
If I can't find a specific faulty RAM module now I can't go to the vendor and change it. Also, I don't know anymore if the RAM module was the problem.

 

[privatemeta]

Memtest can't break the boot manager. It only interfaces with the BIOS. I would look for malware.

The system reserved partition of Windows 7, I just found out, was suddenly accessible with a drive letter, it contained exactly the Boot Manager File that was missing from my Boot partition and it also contained a memtest exe file. So I don't really care if it theoretically can't break the boot manager, it all points to memtest.

 

[privatemeta]

As to Problem 2, it seems like it crashes very quickly in case a I've got a video running on the second monitor while playing. I can play the same game (3 hours) without a video playing.
Any Idea?