Help - computer games freezing/ re-starting - Page 2

FASTXR · 17-07-2005, 09:55 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The MaDDeSTMaN

Ok, have you tried any drivers for your new video card other then the ones which came with it? And what sort of card was the previous one? We'll try making sure it's not a driver issue now

Yep, went to the nVidia site about 10 days ago and downloaded and installed the latest driver (version 77.72). Previous card was a geForce MX440DD.

The MaDDeSTMaN · 17-07-2005, 09:57 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

Yep, went to the nVidia site about 10 days ago and downloaded and installed the latest driver (version 77.72). Previous card was a geForce MX440DD.

Ahh, ok, tried the latest version of the drivers for your motherboard chipset?

Oh, and which exact card is your new 6600GT video card? Brand name etc?

FreezeR · 17-07-2005, 10:08 PM

I had the whole freezing thing with COD as well... Mine was the video card drivers. The first thing i got told too try is to play it in safe mode, where all the graphics are on the lowest it can go.
Try un-installing and re-installing with all the current patches, i think there is even a hotfix for the freezing thing.. Look to see if your card is on the list that the game accepts ..
Ill try and dig up some of the sites and stuff that i went to, which ended up helping me out to fix the problem.

TURBO_GHIA · 17-07-2005, 10:12 PM

im telling you it's the graphics card ,i had the same sort of problems ,with delta force and halflife ,remove all traces of the drivers and start from scratch,start with the oldest drivers you can find for your card and test them all ,i did it with mine and it's fixed the problems ,it use to crash after a while while playing ,very annoying so try that and see if it does anything

Steffo · 17-07-2005, 10:14 PM

There are four possible causes to your issue...

1. CPU Problem

2. Motherboard Problem

3. RAM Problem

4. All of the above.

If it was doing it with the GeForce 4 MX440 and the GeForce 6600GT, the GFX card is not at fault. Personally, I'd take a look at the RAM first. If you have a frient who can lend you some that you know works right, try it in the PC and see if that helps. If not, well.. I'd get a new CPU/mobo and if that didn't fix it I'd go and buy a Dell.

LuvinmyEB · 17-07-2005, 10:31 PM

What a PITA!!

:

Well if your PC isn't restarting you haven't wasted money on the new PSU. It could be so many things I don't know where to start, driver issues, driver/device conflicts, right down to the copy of the actual game. :(

Is there anyone from the forums near where you live that has any IT skills? If you were in Melb, I'd say bring it over and we'll get the damn thing running properly.

FASTXR · 17-07-2005, 10:54 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The MaDDeSTMaN

Ahh, ok, tried the latest version of the drivers for your motherboard chipset?

Oh, and which exact card is your new 6600GT video card? Brand name etc?

Motherboard is only about 3 months old, but still tried to get the latest drivers. FTP is playing up so may have to try tomorrow.
New card is a Gigabyte Nvidia GeForce 6600GT N66T Series Graphics Accelerator (to be precise!).

Quote:

Originally Posted by FreezeR

The first thing i got told too try is to play it in safe mode, where all the graphics are on the lowest it can go.

I've been playing it in nothing but Safe Mode for the last month :o(
Guess I can try the whole uninstall/reinstall thing - God knows I've tried everything else!

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuvinmyEB

If you were in Melb, I'd say bring it over and we'll get the damn thing running properly.

Hey, at the rate I'm going, expect a knock on the door any minute! :nutsycuck

The MaDDeSTMaN · 17-07-2005, 11:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

Motherboard is only about 3 months old, but still tried to get the latest drivers. FTP is playing up so may have to try tomorrow.
New card is a Gigabyte Nvidia GeForce 6600GT N66T Series Graphics Accelerator (to be precise!).

Ahh, cool, thanks for that. I know someone with a similar card, I'll ask them how they monitor the tempreture on it and get back to you, that way we'll be able to discover if the card is getting too hot and causnig these problems or not, although I doubt it personally, it never hurts to rule out these things.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

Guess I can try the whole uninstall/reinstall thing - God knows I've tried everything else!

That was the next thing I was thinking - Windows can do all sorts of weird things sometimes. A fresh install of Windows, with the latest drivers, MIGHT fix the problem, if it's software related (Windows, drivers, etc). If you had a spare hard disk lying around, I'd rip both of the ones you've got in there now out, put in the spare, put the Windows CD in, make sure the BIOS is set to boot first from CD and install Windows from scratch on that spare hard disk, making sure that you close to delete all partitions that are on it (even if there is only one) and then formatting to ensure you're starting from a fresh slate, before continuing to install Windows. Then, install the drivers, install the games, and see if it still does the same thing. If it does, then it's a hardware problem still, if it doesn't, well we'd know fore sure that it's caused by software and you could then backup everything on your normal hard disks and reinstall Windows on them.

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

Hey, at the rate I'm going, expect a knock on the door any minute! :nutsycuck

We'd enjoy the challenge of trying to trace and fix the problem, and it would be so much easier in person.

LuvinmyEB · 18-07-2005, 12:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

Hey, at the rate I'm going, expect a knock on the door any minute! :nutsycuck

Well if you're in the mood for a drive. LOL!

The Maddestman has a good point about reinstalling windows though, it does clean off all the old crap, so you have a clean slate to work with. It's just time consuming and a pain you can do without.

So much for plug and play huh?

_

FASTXR · 18-07-2005, 12:07 AM

Yeah, its just a pain; when the motherboard was replaced, I had everything reformatted so obviously had to reinstall all my games, apps etc. This is, as I said, only about 3-4 months ago

ing_sm

The search continues...

The MaDDeSTMaN · 18-07-2005, 12:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

Yeah, its just a pain; when the motherboard was replaced, I had everything reformatted so obviously had to reinstall all my games, apps etc. This is, as I said, only about 3-4 months ago

ing_sm

The search continues...

And it worked perfectly after that, at least for a while, or has it been doing this since the motherboard was replaced?

FASTXR · 18-07-2005, 12:37 AM

It seemed to be ok for a while, but then started playing up about 4 weeks ago

LuvinmyEB · 18-07-2005, 01:27 AM

Long shot, but have you checked for viruses & spyware a full system scan?

FASTXR · 18-07-2005, 10:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by LuvinmyEB

Long shot, but have you checked for viruses & spyware a full system scan?

Yep, I'm running Norton Internet Security, Microsoft AntiSpyware, SpyBot and Ad-Aware

LuvinmyEB · 18-07-2005, 12:48 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

Yep, I'm running Norton Internet Security, Microsoft AntiSpyware, SpyBot and Ad-Aware

Ok, I'll just cross that one off my list. :P

LuvinmyEB · 18-07-2005, 01:02 PM

Ok, another long shot, I'm not giving up until this damn thing is working, but I'm guessing you want your PC working again ASAP. :P

Turn off Nortons, put the drivers on again, keep Nortons off and don't connect to the net, play the game again and see if it crashes.

The MaDDeSTMaN · 18-07-2005, 01:54 PM

Ok, some other things to try:

1. Ensure that there is as little as possible on each power rail. You don't want 2 optical drives on one rail and 2 hdd's a gpu and 3 fans running off the other. In more simple terms, that means make sure that as little as possible is running off each power cable that comes from the PSU. Any chance of a picture of how you've got the power cables wired up, or even just telling us which devices share the same power rails?

2. Download driver cleaner ( http://www.drivercleaner.net ), its not required for newer driver versions but it will clean any traces of old drivers. Try removing all your video card drivers with it, then rebooting and installing the latest ones.

3. Boot into safe mode, go to device manager, show all devices, delete what doesn't exist any more (the old video card is probably still listed there).

4. If using more than one stick of ram try with 1 at a time to eliminate it being a RAM problem. Make sure you are VERY careful here and don't static zap the ram.

6. Re-seat the video card, it may have a bit of grit on one of the voltage AGP pins, causing a lack of voltage through the mobo, this grit could have existed for the old video card as well.

Listed in order of probability, worth a try, none of this will cost you anything asides from time

Good luck!

LuvinmyEB · 18-07-2005, 02:13 PM

Once you've tried all of the above, if that game still doesn't work properly, The Maddestman and I will come over and personally perform some percussive maintenance on your PC!

:

: :hihi:

SileNceR · 18-07-2005, 07:31 PM

www.memtest.com

run memtest for at least 20 passes, even leave it on overnight.

if it shows graphical errors etc, the ram is rooted
if it reboots itself do an oww- test by hand on all heatsinks (if it burns, it's too damn hot)

motherboard may have itself too tho? I know you havent changed anything to lead up to it but happens we seem to be forever replacing motherboards at work....

FASTXR · 18-07-2005, 08:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by SileNceR

www.memtest.com

All it shows me is a heap of advertising crap - nothing useful.

:

Quote:

Originally Posted by SileNceR

motherboard may have itself too tho? I know you havent changed anything to lead up to it but happens we seem to be forever replacing motherboards at work....

As I said earlier, motherboard has been replaced about 3 months ago

The MaDDeSTMaN · 18-07-2005, 08:14 PM

Tried any of our suggestions mate?

M14A-Mclaren · 18-07-2005, 08:39 PM

Correct link for memtest is

www.memtest.org

FASTXR · 18-07-2005, 10:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The MaDDeSTMaN

Tried any of our suggestions mate?

Sorry, had indoor cricket tonight, so just compiling the full list and getting ready to work my way through them all!

:

FASTXR · 18-07-2005, 10:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by M14A-Mclaren

Correct link for memtest is

www.memtest.org

Ok, forgive my ignorance but which of those files should I download?

The MaDDeSTMaN · 18-07-2005, 11:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

Sorry, had indoor cricket tonight, so just compiling the full list and getting ready to work my way through them all!

:

Ahh, fair enough, good luck with it mate, hope one of our suggestions does the trick!

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

Ok, forgive my ignorance but which of those files should I download?

Depends what you plan on using. Memtest needs to be booted from a bootable media of some kind - it doesn't work from within Windows. So you'll need to download a copy which suits which media you are going to use it from.

If you're going to put it on a CD, you'll need to get http://www.memtest.org/download/1.60...+-1.60.iso.zip then unzip it and use a program such as Nero burning ROM to create a bootable CD from the ISO image. If you need help with this, feel free to ask.

If you're going to use a 3.5" Disk, you'll need to get http://www.memtest.org/download/1.60....60.floppy.zip

If you're going to use a USB memory stick, you'll need http://www.memtest.org/download/1.60...+-1.60.exe.zip

The 3.5" Disk option is probably the easiest, however if you don't have a 3.5" drive or some spare 3.5" disks handy, the CD option might be more appropriate.

FASTXR · 19-07-2005, 07:31 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by The MaDDeSTMaN

If you're going to put it on a CD, you'll need to get url]http://www.memtest.org/download/1.60/memtest86+-1.60.iso.zip[/url] then unzip it and use a program such as Nero burning ROM to create a bootable CD from the ISO image. If you need help with this, feel free to ask.

Hey Maddestman, in Nero do I select "Make data CD" or "Make bootable CD"?

The MaDDeSTMaN · 19-07-2005, 07:37 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

Hey Maddestman, in Nero do I select "Make data CD" or "Make bootable CD"?

You using the Nero express wizard?

FASTXR · 19-07-2005, 07:42 PM

Nero StartSmart - but yeah, the wizard is part of that

The MaDDeSTMaN · 19-07-2005, 07:47 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by FASTXR

Nero StartSmart - but yeah, the wizard is part of that

In the smartstart, ensure it's got CD selected up the top, select Copy and Backup, then click burn image to disk, then select the .ISO, and off you go

FASTXR · 19-07-2005, 09:09 PM

Just ran it and it gave me no errors. Will leave it running overnight and see what it says in the morning