Black screen / sound skipping/ computer freeze

ArtisticAnarchist

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Mar 25, 2012
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Hey guys, I've been doing alot of digging to try and figure out why this issue keeps happening. At first, I thought it might be my GPU overheating or a memory issue. (And it still could be. I know very little about these kinds of problems.) But recently my computer has been really agitating me because when I've tried playing a game like dota2 or deus ex, the issue described in the title happens. Suddenly, and without warning the screen will go black and the sound will begin skipping. At the same time the GPU fan ramps up to what I'm guessing is 100%, and the whole thing freezes. I have to actually restart the computer and then power it off again, then power it up once more to get it running again.

I don't -think- it's a temp issue, as it only runs about 44c or 110f max when it crashes like this, and I've run windows memory diagnostic as well to see if it's a problem with my ram. I'm lost at this point, and I could definitely use some help. Also, my card drivers are up to date, so there's that as well.

Right now my specs are as follow:

Intel core i7 960
EVGA SLI3 motherboard
12 gigs of DDR3 triple channel memory
and finally i'm running crossfire with two AMD radeon HD 6950s

Would appreciate any help trying to hammer out this problem.
 
Solution
Try Memtest: http://www.memtest.org/ in addition to windows memory diagnostic. Run several passes. Also, i do not see your psu on the list of your specs.

ArtisticAnarchist

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Mar 25, 2012
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I have a 920 watt power supply, and after running the memtest a good number of times it came up with a bunch of errors on what is pretty much brand new RAM. 18 errors in total all on test #8 (6 at a time on each pass)
 

ArtisticAnarchist

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Mar 25, 2012
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Er, alright. So, 8 passes on the new memory and it's clean, however the issue is still happening. Is there any way I can report what happened during the time of the crash even though my computer is freezing?
 

kelthic

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Feb 28, 2012
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Well, it no longer looks like they make that psu. I see some AZZA models are 80 + certified and some are not. 80+ certified speaks to the reliability of the psu.

http://whitecapcomputer.com/newsletter/articles/computerfreeze.htm shows some of the most common causes of pc freezes. I think we've ruled out memory and video. You said your drivers are up to date. do you have the most recent BIOS for your motherboard? http://www.evga.com/support/download/default.aspx

Also, use a registry cleaner to clean up any errors you have there. http://download.cnet.com/Registry-Cleaner/3000-2086_4-10844171.html?tag=lia;rcol
 

kelthic

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Feb 28, 2012
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But recently my computer has been really agitating me because when I've tried playing a game like dota2 or deus ex, the issue described in the title happens. Suddenly, and without warning the screen will go black and the sound will begin skipping. At the same time the GPU fan ramps up to what I'm guessing is 100%, and the whole thing freezes.

Does this statement mean your issue only occurs when gaming? If so, try removing one card and gaming on one card only. If that works fine, switch cards and see if you are able to game on the other card. This will better rule out video issues than installing the latest drivers. Could be one card is going bad.
 

ArtisticAnarchist

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Mar 25, 2012
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Alrighty then. Well, it looks like I have alot of options, so, what I think i'll do first is try and post the error here? I was told that it wasn't always the best thing to update your bios, but I can't remember why, but if you think it will help I will after posting the error.