Please help. Something dying?

[bluejay98]

Hi everyone, sorry to bother you all..

I've been having a frequent and disgusting problem recently.. During certain games, my computer will freeze to the point of no return. The screen will flicker, and all the colors will distort... Sort of like if you were to shoot the screen with a BB gun, if you understand what I mean....

This problem only happens with certain games... Such as World in Conflict, Killing floor, Left 4 Dead.... but never occurs in games like Bioshock and Operation Flashpoint.

This occured with the current version of Forceware, and with beta drivers. A friend recommended rolling back to 180 series of forceware, but I'd like to ask here before doing that. I've asked this question on the Steam forums, and received no help whatsoever.

The problem started occuring when I went to Dual monitors, but I just disconnected my 2nd monitor today, and the problem still happens.

My theory is that the Power Supply unit is dying, i've had it for years now. does anyone have ANY idea what to do? I'm stuck here... My favourite games are practically worthless because I cant play them for longer than 5 minutes anymore....

Intel Core 2 Quad - Q6600
Windows XP 32 bit
4 gb ram (yes I know, I only get 3.3 gb of real memory....)
Nvidia GTX 260
Ultra 600 Watt PSU.

 

[bluejay98]

It COULD be a bsod. I just looked in the event log and found something maybe thisll help me out

DCOM got error "The service cannot be started, either because it is disabled or because it has no enabled devices associated with it. " attempting to start the service upnphost with arguments "" in order to run the server:
{204810B9-73B2-11D4-BF42-00B0D0118B56}

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

 

[aford10]

Try running in safe mode to see if it happens there. If it doesn't happen in safe mode, it's likely a driver. If it does happen in safe mode, it's likely hardware.

 

[bluejay98]

I wish it were that simple. It's not easy to recreate the error... you just have to kinda wait for it..

Btw, Aford... Thank you very much for all your help, I really appreciate it.

 

[aford10]

It's no problem...I'm as curious as you are now.

 

[bluejay98]

Christ... it happens every time i try to open CSS... I'm pretty convinced its a windows problem now... So im going to get into windows 7 as soon as possible..

 

[bluejay98]

Well I took the 'easy' way out. Reformatted... The error was software related, and my conclusion was a virus attack caused a registry error.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[aford10]

Alright, we can go with that. Good that it's fixed.

Sometimes it is easier to wipe the slate clean.

 

[bluejay98]

Sigh... The problem is still happening, although this time.. I believe it's the CPU overheating. I replaced the CPU with a Q9550, cause i had the money, and its reaching temps of 90 - 100 degrees. Im going to assume thats bad, Im about to install a new heatsink.

 

[bluejay98]

http://img193.imageshack.us/img193/6319/shitshitshit.png

Thats the crit error i get.

 

[bluejay98]

Also not overheating. Just replaced the heatsink, temp never exceeds 55 according to coretemp.

Why god, why... Guess i need a new motherboard

 

[aford10]

If you just did the fresh install and you're still having the issues, start testing the hardware. You can run memtest to test the RAM. Boot into the repair console and run chkdsk /r to clean up the hard drive. Also, go to your motherboard manufacturer's website and download their utility to test the hard drive.

 

[bluejay98]

Just ran Memtest, no errors...

Western Digital Diagnostic found no errors...

Ran Furmark Stability test, ran for 1200 seconds, 1920 x 1080, 16 x AA, Max temperature = 78 degrees.

I don't think this is a GPU or CPU error. I believe it is motherboard related, as the computer once crashed while listening to music. Hardly computer intensive.

 

[aford10]

You could try putting a fan on your northbridge. It could be overheating.

If you're pretty sure it's the board, you could bite the bullet and go shopping

 

[bluejay98]

Thats the problem though... whether or not it's the motherboard... I've tested everything extensively.....

My dad said he would give me a loan for the mobo if thats the problem, and i work... but I still dont want to buy something if thats not the problem. As far as im concerned, its down to the motherboard or the GPU..... ive tested the gpu using furmark.. but still.. is there another way to test the gpu?

 

[aford10]

Nvidia's graphics card tool
http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia_system_tools_6.05.html

Nvidia's performance tools
http://developer.nvidia.com/page/tools.html

 

[False_Dmitry_II]

You know that you're supposed to run stability tests for a long time right? By that I mean overnight at least - for each kind. 20 minutes hardly qualifies.

 

[bluejay98]

Ok I ran te test in xtreme burn mode for 3 hours, which is about the longest i can do. I cant run it overnight because the computer is in my room, and it is comparatively loud, and I do need my sleep...

At any rate, for the whole of 3 hours, the temp never exceeded 78, and the computer did not crash.

I'm kind of hoping its JUST the motherboard, because swapping it out shouldnt be too hard for me.

 

[bluejay98]

Ok, now I'm just completely confused. COMPLETELY.

I went and bought a crappy 9500 GT (with the intention of returning it to best buy lol) and the computer functioned PERFECTLY, no crashes, nothing. So I figured it was a GPU issue, seems pretty obvious.

So I went out and bought a GTX 275 to replace the GTX 260, and the CRASH IS STILL OCCURING!!! OVER AND OVER!!! and this time it actually gives me a driver_irql BSOD.

I'm so confused!!!

 

[arrghushakaboorga]

it almost sounds like not enough current is reaching the more demanding video cards but you did say you had tried a different power supply.

have you updated the BIOS?

 

[aford10]

Did you get rid of the old video drivers? Try uninstalling all your video drivers. Use something like revo uninstaller. Then install your new video drivers.

 

[bluejay98]

I used driver cleaner to uninstall everything, no avail.

I have updated the BIOS to the most recent revision.

My PSU is 1000 Watts... current BETTER be reaching the damned thing.