Random freezes / system lock ups when playing games or watching vids

[Bluefox06]

Hi all, I've been lurking here for awhile as I've had an annoying problem, and even though similar people seem to have had similar issues everything I have tried is to no avail.

The problem is that I will get a system lock up, or freeze when playing games like Portal 2 or FM2012. The freezes are very random however they occur the most when trying to play Co-op in Portal 2 (say about 80% of the time when trying to play it). However with the likes of FM2012 or other games, I can literally play for hours on end without a crash, but other times a crash could happen within about 5 mins.

I also seem to randomly crash if I watch a HD video in full screen (1920x1080) however I cannot recall such a problem watching it minimized (using VLC). I also used to get random crashes while browsing the internet on certain websites, however I haven't had this issue since upgrading my RAM.

When the PC does crash, the monitor will just black out and if sound was playing at the time it will usually loop or repeat. The only thing I can do is a hard reboot and upon restarting the PC it will say about the unexpected shut down and to start windows normally however I don't seem to get any minidumps. I've had this problem now for quite awhile, and at first it was something I just overlooked as a random occurance but now its starting to drive me crazy!

My system specs are as follows: (built about a year ago)
CPU: i7 2600k
Mobo: Asus P8P67 Deluxe
Ram: GSkill 8 GB (2 x 4gb)
Graphics: XFX AMD Radeon HD 6950
HDD: Seagate 500gb
PSU: XFX 850W Black Edition Modular PSU
OS: Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit

The things I've tried:
Upgrading RAM & PSU. I originally thought it could of been a power problem or possibly a RAM problem, so I upgraded both RAM & PSU as my old ones were cheaper value models. The problems do seem to occur abit less often and I no longer crash while browsing the internet, however I still get the same problem. I could also play Portal 2 more often without it crashing, where as before I could pretty much not play it online.

I've tried Driver Verifier, and did get a BSOD, however found this was to do with Daemon which I have now uninstalled. The problem still persists and driver verifier now shows no errors.

Graphics card drivers are all upto date, as are most other drivers.

Temperatures also seem decent, however I'm not to sure on how these should look so could be wrong.

The only other thing of note would be I can't recall getting any of these problems when I was using my old 17" monitor, but surely my newer 23" wouldn't be causing the problems? It has been about 6 months or so though so my memory could be deceiving me.

Anyhows I hope somebody could shed some light, I've included the requested attachments however the dumps in there are old I beleive and might not of been from the problem I'm having now.

Many Thanks!

 

[Bluefox06]

BUMP, any ideas?

 

[writhziden]

The .dmps included do point to graphics card problems which sound like the likely culprit from what you describe. You can go through the steps in http://www.sevenforums.com/crash-lo...op-0x116-video_tdr_error-troubleshooting.html. One of your crashes was a 0x117 which is nearly identical to a 0x116 and requires many of the same steps.

Also, do you have a friend you could borrow a graphics card from that would be similar in quality to your current card and require the same or less power? See if another card causes the same crashes.


What temperatures are you getting at idle?

What temperatures are you getting under stress?

 

[Bluefox06]

Thanks for the reply!

The only graphics card I could get my hands on would be an old Nvidia 7800 GTX, so I'm guessing this wouldn't be any good.

Heres temps at idle
View attachment 210301

Heres Furmark temps
View attachment 210302
View attachment 210303

I did infact have a crash while checking my email, which hasn't happened in a long time, I checked for a crash dump but again there wasn't any, so I guess it isn't just games or high res video.

 

[writhziden]

It still may be worth trying the other card to see if the problems persist. That would at least rule out the graphics card and point to other issues if you still get crashes. If you do not get crashes, the likely candidates would be your card or your PSU with more likelihood due to the card.

As you add and remove hardware, follow these steps for ESD safety:

1. Shut down and turn off your computer.
2. Unplug all power supplies to the computer (AC Power then battery for laptops, AC power for desktops)
3. Hold down the power button for 30 seconds to close the circuit and ensure all power drains from components.
4. Make sure you are grounded by using proper grounding techniques, i.e. work on an anti-static workbench, anti-static desk, or an anti-static pad. Hold something metallic while touching it to the anti-static surface, or use an anti-static wristband to attach to the anti-static material while working.

Once these steps have been followed, it is safe to remove and replace components within your computer.

 

[Bluefox06]

Yeah I'll give it a try if I still get the crashes. I did abit more playing around yesterday and flashed my BIOS to the latest version (something I neglected to do) and also had a rummage and found a few different sound drivers running, so disabled the ones I didn't need.

I managed to play a few games of Portal 2 with no crashes and a little bit of FM2012 aswel without a crash. But I'm not holding my hopes up, so I'll try the card ASAP.

I'll mark this as solved as I don't think theres anything other than what you suggested it could be. Many thanks!

 

[writhziden]

I think the steps you did are worth testing more before trying the other card. It could be the BIOS flash and/or sound drivers will fix the problem. Both are good troubleshooting steps. The BIOS flash will provide better hardware support. The sound drivers can use the same resources as the graphics card, so updating those may also provide more stability.

 

[RexFeral]

Computer crashes/freeze when watching video

http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-...ock-ups-when-playing-games-watching-vids.html

Exact same problem. I WOULD contact the member but I cannot. I am so frustrated because I tried so much and nothing works. Its not the ram, I am not even sure if its the graphics card anymore. I only freeze instantly when I am watching high resolution videos, lower ones tend to take a few mins to really crash... I think!

I play Battlefield 3 and other games and I rarely have a problem. Sometimes if I alt tab or try to exit the game, click on the window on bottom of the screen it would then crash. I tried different browser but that does not help for youtube. I tried reinstalling the adobe flash stuff that does not do it. I tried running windows media player instead of VLC (which oddly works better but still crashes). I tried removing and putting back in the graphics card, I tried testing ram, I tried reinstalling graphics card drivers (which seems to work for a short while)... I am out of ideas.

I have a windows 7 Home Premium 64 bit Service Pack 1

Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i7-3820 CPU @ 3.60GHz
Ram: 16 GB

The graphics card is Geoforce GTX 670




total information from the IBuyPower asshats. If I did not include something important, here it is below. I contacted IBuyPower and I ended up sending it in. They send it back not fixed at all. I do not want help from them anymore and asked what the process of getting a refund is, but I would prefer to get this fixed instead if I can!!!


1 x Case (Thermaltake Armor Revo Full Tower Gaming Case - Black)) 1 x Case Lighting (None)) 1 x iBUYPOWER Labs - Noise Reduction (None)) 1 x iBUYPOWER Labs - Internal Expansion ([6-Port] NZXT Internal USB Expansion System)) 1 x Processor (Intel® Core™ i7 3820 Processor (4x 3.60GHz/10MB L3 Cache) - Intel Core i7 3820)) 1 x iBUYPOWER PowerDrive (None)) 1 x Processor Cooling (Corsair Hydro Series H60 Liquid CPU Cooling System - ARC Dual Silent High Performance Fan Upgrade (Push-Pull Airflow))) 1 x Memory (16 GB [4 GB X4] DDR3-1600 Memory Module - G.Skill Ripjaws X)) 1 x Video Card (NVIDIA GeForce GTX 670 - 2GB - Single Card)) 1 x Video Card Brand (Major Brand Powered by AMD or NVIDIA)) 1 x Motherboard (ASUS P9X79 Deluxe -- 2x Gb LAN, 4x PCI-E x16, 4x SATA 6Gb/s, 4x USB 3.0, On-Board Bluetooth)) 1 x Power Supply (1200 Watt - Corsair CMPSU-1200AX)) 1 x Primary Hard Drive (2 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200rpm, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive)) 1 x Data Hard Drive (3 TB HARD DRIVE -- 64M Cache, 7200 RPM, 6.0Gb/s - Single Drive)) 1 x Optical Drive ([12X Blu-Ray] LG BLU-RAY Re-Writer, DVD±R/±RW Burner Combo Drive - Black - FREE Upgrade to 14X LG BLU-RAY Re-Writter)) 1 x 2nd Optical Drive (None)) 1 x Flash Media Reader / Writer (12-In-1 Internal Flash Media Card Reader/Writer - Black)) 1 x Meter Display (NZXT Sentry 2 Touch Screen Fan Controller & Temperature Display)) 1 x USB Expansion (None)) 1 x Sound Card (3D Premium Surround Sound Onboard)) 1 x Network Card (Onboard LAN Network (Gb or 10/100))) 1 x Operating System (Microsoft Windows 7 Home Premium + Office Starter 2010 (Includes basic versions of Word and Excel) - 64-Bit)) 1 x Keyboard (Logitech G510 Gaming Keyboard)) 1 x Monitor (None)) 1 x 2nd Monitor (None)) 1 x Speaker System (Eagle Arion 2.1 Soundstage Speakers w/ subwoofer & remote - Black)) 1 x Video Camera (None)) 1 x Case Engraving Service (None)) 1 x Warranty (3 Year Standard Warranty Service)) 1 x Rush Service (Rush Service Fee (not shipping fee) - No Rush Service, Estimate Ship Out in 5~10 Business Days)) 1 x Advanced Build Options (Tuniq TX-2 High Performance Thermal Compound - The best interface between your CPU and the heatsinks))




edit:

God, I thought it said I was making a new topic because this topic was to old so I did not bother to check if it was solved. Making new topic, sorry for bump

 

[Bluefox06]

Thought I'd bump this instead of making a new topic as I am still having the same problem.

I have been getting some dumps, however these are in Live Kernel Reports / Watchdog folder.

The problem is still the same, my system will freeze up at random, however it usually happens while watching HD streams, with it seeming to happen more when it is played in full screen. However it does happen at random still aswel, from playing games to browsing facebook.

Steps I've tried since original post:

• Reinstalled graphics drivers, updated with newer drivers and tried older ones aswel
• Bought a new sound card, and disabled the onboard RealTek sound
• Reseated the card, making sure it was properly connected
• Tried all steps in the 0x116 thread

I currently have a ticket open with XFX support, however there service seems dreadful.

Could anybody maybe shed some more light on the issue? I've uploaded some more dumps from the latest crashes if these are of any help.

 

[Bluefox06]

After some more testing today, it seems that it doesn't crash while in safe mode with networking, however I've tried a diagnostic startup and it still crashes with them settings. Would this mean it is certainly a driver or software error rather than a faulty GPU??

Any advice would be much appreciated