Computer Freezes and Infinite Sound Loop

[Atte]

Hello All,

I have had a problem with my computer freezing completely and repeating the last, roughly 2-3 milliseconds of game audio that played before the freeze. Now this has happened on every game that I've played, such as COD: Ghosts, Payday 2, TF2, and CS:GO to name a few. I have updated all of my drivers and as far as my testing results are concerned it is not due to the GPU overclock either. I have monitored my temperatures while under heavy load and have not found any correlation with heat and my computer freezing. During the freeze both screens freeze (I have an external monitor) and the mouse stops moving and the keyboard stops working. I have to force restart it from the power button.

The laptop was built as a gaming laptop back in 2012; "CyberpowerPC Gamer Xplorer X6-9220-W8"

Specs:
CPU: i7 3630QM 2.4 GHZ Turbo Boost to 3.4 GHZ
GPU: Geforce GT 640m 2 GB Overclocked from 700 mhz to 800 mhz
HDD: 750 GB 7200 RPM (2% Fragmentation)
MoBo: No Idea, some generic laptop motherboard (This is a problem because I can't update my BIOS)
RAM: 16 GB 1333 mhz (2x8 GB)

Any Help? Thanks!

 

[i7Baby]

What cpu temp? If over 50C -

Remove what covers you can and blow out your case. Get a laptop cooler

 

[Atte]

It runs 50C Idle... gets to 80 C under load

From my experience on the internet this is normal for a laptop.

And I already have a cooler, Cooler Master U3.

I regularly dust out/vacuum the inside.

This happens independently from the temperatures, it's happened at 60 C in a light game and happened at 80 C in a heavy game.

 

[stokes1790]

80C for a cpu seems pretty darn high. Can you monitor your GPU temps as well? What do they look like? Are your drivers up to date?

 

[Atte]

My GPU goes up to about 80 C like at very maximum but usually 5-10 C lower than my CPU. Also My Mobo is always 2-5 C higher than my CPU. I have reapplied thermal paste. All my drivers are up to date.

 

[Atte]

I've looked around on forums before I posted and found that a few people had the same issue but people were saying it was their sound card. But all of them say they had just bought a new sound card like some Xonar thing but I just have onboard audio.

 

[i7Baby]

80C is too high. It means your cpu and gpu won't be operating at max potential.

You need a better laptop to play those games. The GT640m sucks. You'd be stressing it out and overheating it. Try minimal game settings.

 

[Atte]

TF2 I run maxed out except for AA at 120 fps and CS:GO I run maxed out at 80 fps and COD:Ghosts I have my settings down pretty low and res at 1366x768 but I get it to run at a very stable 90 fps. I know the GT 640m sucks but I run these fine. And the safe temp for it 95 C others say that anything under 85 C is fine. Anyway, back to my original question, I'm 99% sure that the freezing isn't due to heat because my computer has frozen as low as 60 C under light load.

 

[Atte]

Continuing from what I've seen on other forums/threads about maybe the sound card being the issue, it could be. I found out I have some NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device at the same time as the default Realtek High Definition Audio. Could those 2 be interfering with each other? I did some testing by disabling the Realtek from the device manager, (which took out all sound from my computer; I don't know what the NVIDIA Virtual Audio Device thing is then) and I had no freezing at all.

 

[i7Baby]

Your cpu should be running under 50C and GPU under 70C. There is no 'safe' temp. What they are talking about is the shutdown temp. The lower the temp, the better your laptop will perform and the longer you laptop will last.

 

[Atte]

Ok, I can understand that my laptop may be running hot. But still, the freezing issue started about a month ago. The game freezes at 100% random times, sometimes being as soon as I launch it and sometimes after playing for 4-5 hours. (and temps being at 80 C for that long) I used to be able to play games 100% fine before that, even with these temperatures. I just remembered something, too, that it happened a few times 3-4 months ago, but only when I would be talking on skype or teamspeak and playing at the same time. I still think it has something to do with the soundcard/whatever runs onboard audio.

 

[i7Baby]

To change the 'soundcard' you need to change the board. This will cost you more than a new laptop.

 

[Atte]

Yea, I was thinking that maybe the NVIDIA Audio could be interfering with Realtek, but I don't know how to uninstall the NVIDIA Audio Driver. Well I'll explore the idea that it MIGHT be the temperatures. One problem is that in my room it's usually about 30 C, as I live in an extremely hot area and my room's only window faces the sun most of the day. I'll update the temps when I get to my dad's house where we can afford to keep the AC on, making my room only around 20 C.