Computer Lock-Ups During Games (HELP!)

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by Elendius, Oct 17, 2010.

  1. Elendius

    Elendius Private E-2

    I recently purchased a new gaming PC. The PC has liquid cooling and is running on a 256gig SATA SSD. I have attempted every catalyst driver from 10.6 and up (10.5 and below always fail to install.) The games seem to lock up seemingly at random. Sometimes I can play them all day and have no issues. Other times it can freeze anywhere from 3 minutes into the game or an hour in.

    What is really odd about it all is that when it freezes, it's like I'm staring at a screenshot. The sound cuts out, there is no looping, and I can't do anything. alt-tab, ctrl-alt-delete, nothing works, and there's no sound when I hit a key. It's like I turned my sound off. I have to manually reboot. Also note that the power does not shut off or anything. Everything stays on.

    The computer never locks up/freezes on windows desktop, and I've tried stress tests on the computer with several programs and it runs fine. Memtests came up with no issues, the HD seems fine, and the computer is not getting hot. When the games do work they run extremely smooth, no artifacts, nothing. Just how you'd want them to be. And there are no warning signs before the lock up hits.

    Here are some games that lock up which I have tested:
    Lord of the Rings Online
    Left 4 Dead
    Left 4 Dead 2

    The following games do not lock up:
    Final Fantasy XIV (all settings on max)
    League of Legends
    Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion

    Computer Specs:
    MB: Gigabyte X58A-UD7
    PSU: Corsair CMPSU-950TX
    RAM: Corsair 2gb 1866 MHZ DDR3 x3
    HDD: Solid State Drive A-DATA 256GB S596 x2 (not Raid 0)
    GPU: ASUS ARES 5870X2 4GB LE PCI-E
    CPU: INTEL i7-960 3.20ghz 8m
    OS: Windows 7 64bit
    Onboard 7.1 Audio

    Any help is greatly appreciated!
     
    Last edited: Oct 17, 2010
  2. gman863

    gman863 MajorGeek

    Are the lockup issues random or do they tend to happen at specific points in a game?

    If random, I suspect the issues lie within the ATI GPU drivers. Check the Action Center (flag icon) at the bottom right of the screen: Does it show an issue with ATI drivers? Action Center won't always catch this, but it's an easy first start.

    No matter how much AMD and ATI swear they have fixed their 64-bit drivers, the truth is (although they have made them better) they're still prone to occasional freeze up issues. Check the ASUS support website; download and install any updated drivers available. In my experience, Win 7 rarely catches new ATI drivers in the automatic update process.

    Although a longshot, there is a chance your GPU could be overheating even if the CPU and case temps are in a safe range (this is especially true if the freezes happen after long periods of intense GPU activity). If you have room, a PCI slot cooling fan placed beside the GPU may help.

    If the games repeatedly freeze at a specific point, the data on the drive(s) may be corrupted. I haven't personally used SSDs yet; however I have heard testing them can be an iffy process. If you have a standard HDD that is in good shape, do a trial install of Win 7 and the games without the license codes on the standard HDD (do not clone the SSD; any corrupted data will transfer as corrupted). If this eliminates the problem it's likely an issue with the SSD(s).

    Good luck - hope you solve the problem soon. :)
     
  3. Elendius

    Elendius Private E-2

    The computer crashes seemingly at random. Action Center isn't finding any issues either. I tested this morning how the card performs if I start up a game immediately after turning the pc on (trying to see if it freezes before it can get hot.) I froze 1 minute into an l4d2 match.

    I then, out of curiosity, turned of the Catalyst AI setting. I left my game on for several hours while I was running errands and it did not freeze or have any issues. Turned AI back on and it froze almost immediately when I started the game.
     
  4. gman863

    gman863 MajorGeek

    Glad you found the problem. I'll file this in my book of tricks in case a client has this issue.
     

MajorGeeks.Com Menu

Downloads All In One Tweaks \ Android \ Anti-Malware \ Anti-Virus \ Appearance \ Backup \ Browsers \ CD\DVD\Blu-Ray \ Covert Ops \ Drive Utilities \ Drivers \ Graphics \ Internet Tools \ Multimedia \ Networking \ Office Tools \ PC Games \ System Tools \ Mac/Apple/Ipad Downloads

Other News: Top Downloads \ News (Tech) \ Off Base (Other Websites News) \ Way Off Base (Offbeat Stories and Pics)

Social: Facebook \ YouTube \ Twitter \ Tumblr \ Pintrest \ RSS Feeds