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I hate my pc


uriaheep

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Okay - so it's Christmas and I am sat here thinking 'plenty of serious time for gaming'. Not so because although it's winter I shouldn't be freezing as much as my pc thinks I should.

 

No matter what game I play it locks up within a couple of minutes. Nothing else - just games.

 

Latest, drivers for everything loaded and yet I still can't use it.

 

The odd thing is, it seems to have got steadily worse so that it locks up almost imedietely I begin.

 

If anyone has any ideas please let me know. Other than that there will be an electronic death in the family. ;)

 

 

Oh, and have a good Christmas everyone.

 

 

 

:Intel Core2 Quad CPU Q6600 @ 2.4ghz

3326 ram

Direct x 9

running on XP with all latest drivers loaded:

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I agree. Something's starting to go really wrong with your graphics cards if this happens. The last time this happened to me, turns out the video drivers had disabled (or at least reduced) the graphics cards fans. It overheated.

 

Although, you might still want to check your DirectX. The latest is version 9.0c November 2008 update.

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My computer also freezes if I let it get too hot. See, computers warm up if you give them a bit of a work out; games tend to use a lot more horsepower then... just about anything else. The only reason I haven't thrown out all the defective parts in my case is because I'm not much of a PC gamer.

 

So yeah, I reckon Matri's on the money. Check your cooling fans are all doing their jobs.

 

Sometimes your system temperature monitors will fry, meaning they no longer report anything and the computer decides that means it's at absolute zero. It takes this as an excuse to turn the cooling fans off completely... If you reckon this applies to you, go into your CMOS settings page and disable the "smart" fan control system (or whatever it's called).

 

Another possibility is that the power supply unit is on the way out. This can also cause the cooling fans to underperform.

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Another possibility is that the power supply unit is on the way out.

 

That would be my 2 cents. A couple of years back I built a new rig. Then it turned out that I could only play 2D games. Whenever I tried a 3D game my computer froze. Almost drove me nuts before I found out what was wrong.

So nowadays I never skimp on the PS.

Here you'll see the minimum voltages required for a smooth operation.

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Thanks for all that - I had done most of the things you said anyway, and the machine isn't all that old so I discounted the power supply. I may have tracked the problem down though. I tried the onboard VGA (with the graphics turned down a bit) and ran the hungriest game I could find and had no problems with it albeit a little jumpy due to frame rates so I'm thinking the graphics card has gone down.

Geforce 8600 GT - and I thought they were fairly reliable. I wonder if the fan on the card has gone down?

 

Oh well, I look like shelling out some cash to find out for sure.

 

Thanks again everyone. Have a good New Year.

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Yeah the fans may be running, but they could be underperforming. Powersaving and all that. Monitor the temperatures. nVidia cards with the latest drivers allow third-party software to poll the temperature. Check The Hobby Lounge for a Vista sidebar gadget.

 

It's all down the game you play. Mass Effect on mine pushes it to 100 degress Celsius, then Company of Heroes on DX9 barely gets it past 80. Wierd stuff.

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You may be right on this one Matri, I just ran the machine with the on board graphics and bingo, the damn thing froze so I refitted the GeForce and ran the same game with very low graphics within the game. It ran for a good 40 mins so I upped the graphics and it lasted about 3 mins.

 

Vista Sidebar gadget?? Er, oh right. Not sure what you mean there but I'm guessing I need to find some software to monitor the temp. of the card.

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It seems it isn't the card that is at fault which is strange as turning up the graphics speeds up the failure time.

 

Tried two other cards and the same thing happens.

 

Problem is I have no idea where to look now. I thought it could be the power but I have been told that 600w should run this card easily, so I have to consider that the motherboard is coshed. Personally I doubt that.

 

Oh well.

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I take it you've tried upgrading/rolling back the drivers, did the spybot/ad-aware/virus check dance etc? Could always try popping the battery out of your motherboard, resets the BIOS. Or something. TBH, I haven't got a clue what it does but it worked for me.

 

Perhaps best to wait for someone else to offer an opinion on that one...

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Likely heat related as the others says. If it's not the graphics card, you have to look elsewhere. PSU (Power supply) fan, motherboard fan, cabinet fan etc. are things to check (the ones you got out of the list).

 

Anyway, steps to take:

- Download diagnostics (I suggest the Dell one even if you're on a non-Dell system): https://ftp.us.dell.com/diags/cdd_1291.iso (then burn it to a CD with a CD writing program that supports ISO, boot from the CD and start the diagnostics)

- Download Ubuntu Linux and boot it from the CD. Test some demanding applications. If they do not crash the system, it's likely software related): https://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download

- Check for fan statistics in BIOS (or with a program like the kitty suggests ;))

- Reset CMOS (CMOS being the memory storage for BIOS, witch is the basic hardware settings etc. for your computer). Clearing CMOS will set your system back to what it was when you bought it (so if processor speed or something has been set too high for some reason, it's set back to "safe settings"). This may cause slower performance however (setting the system back to "safe settings"), so do it at your own risk :)

 

Those are some of the diagnostics / software steps. For hardware:

- Check all fans as suggested (that they spin fast and that there are no dust or other obstacles in their blades)

- Check the capacitors in the PSU and motherboard (faulty capacitors will cause all sorts of errors, freeze / hang being one of the more common): https://home.earthlink.net/~doniteli/index27.htm

- Reseat all components (video card, cables, other cards etc.). You'd be surprised how often that can solve problems (having worked for support myself, I know!)

- Test your system with various components disconnected (DVD, video card etc.)

 

If none of this gets you closer to solving the problem, let me know.

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- Reseat all components (video card, cables, other cards etc.). You'd be surprised how often that can solve problems (having worked for support myself, I know!)

 

This shouldn't be an issue unless your PC has been moving around a lot more than you do.

 

And if that's the case, may I suggest a laptop instead? ;)

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This shouldn't be an issue unless your PC has been moving around a lot more than you do.

 

And if that's the case, may I suggest a laptop instead? ;)

Not entirely correct. Heat can make components and cables move. It will not make them pop out of their sockets, but it may cause them to not be properly seated. This can cause more trouble than you'd imagine!

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I take it you've tried upgrading/rolling back the drivers, did the spybot/ad-aware/virus check dance etc? Could always try popping the battery out of your motherboard, resets the BIOS. Or something. TBH, I haven't got a clue what it does but it worked for me.

 

Perhaps best to wait for someone else to offer an opinion on that one...

 

Yep done all that but the battery but the machine isn't all that old, so I discounted that - maybe it's worth a try.

 

 

 

This shouldn't be an issue unless your PC has been moving around a lot more than you do.

 

And if that's the case, may I suggest a laptop instead? ;)

No, the machine has stood where it is since I put it together and worked almost faultlessly until now. It's less than a year old with all new parts.

 

 

 

If none of this gets you closer to solving the problem, let me know.

 

Thanks for that - I will try all these things and keep you posted.

 

Last night I fitted a similar graphics card with a little less spec. and the freeze happened in almost the exact same time as the original card so it would seem the card isn't at fault but it is noticable that lower graphic settings allow it to run longer. Odd ain't it - power?

I read somewhere that these GeForce cards had their own power supply rather than from the slot but mine doesn't seem to have this. Just a thought.

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Yep done all that but the battery but the machine isn't all that old, so I discounted that - maybe it's worth a try.

Removing the battery and placing it back has the same effect as a reset of CMOS. Has little to do with the battery itself.

 

Thanks for that - I will try all these things and keep you posted.

 

Last night I fitted a similar graphics card with a little less spec. and the freeze happened in almost the exact same time as the original card so it would seem the card isn't at fault but it is noticable that lower graphic settings allow it to run longer. Odd ain't it - power?

I read somewhere that these GeForce cards had their own power supply rather than from the slot but mine doesn't seem to have this. Just a thought.

Not the video card then. Could be the slot it's placed in, but that shouldn't affect the integrated video card. Power supply or other cooling is still prime suspect as you suggest.

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I may be getting somewhere. I downloaded the Nvidia tools and checked the cpu temp, now I'm no expert but 48 degrees fairly normal to me. With no great load the cpu's run at around 35 but when a game is running they climb to 43 with the #1 cpu running at 48.

 

But - I put a dirty great fan into the case and tried again, the game ran fine for almost 80 mins but then it froze. I checked the temps and once again the cpu temps were in the mid to high 40's which doesn't seem that bad but the extra fan certainly seems to help.

 

Could this be it and other than buying water cooling systems or bigger fans how do I solve this problem I wonder?

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