Random crashes in games, stress tests run fine [solved]

[boxie]

SETUP:
PSU: anteck 750watt
mobo: m3n78-vm (updated bios)
phenom 2 x6 1090T (stress tested)
HD 6950 (furmark + Video memory stress test)
4 sticks, 6gig (memtest)
win 7 64bit SP1 (power settings: high preformance)

I recently upgraded my graphics card, and CPU, and PSU. in that order, over a period of time of a few weeks.
graphics card upgrade: no problems at all, running with a 500watt seasonic, and 5600 athlon x2. didn't reinstall windows or drivers or anyting, probably not a nice or clean set up for it to run on. it ran without errors for a week.
CPU upgrade: had to update my bios for my CPU to work, didn't have problems there. started up some games, they ran for a while, maybe crashed after an hour or so of TF2. Tried other games, 2D and 3D. most 3D games would have problems, 2D games ran fine. crashes to desktop and blue screen of deaths (from majesty 2) started happening more frequently, until I couldn't do anything with a 3D game, cept for crysis 2 demo, which is the only game that seems to run on my system. I looked on forums and google and thought that my aging PSU was the problem.
PSU upgrade: 750watt antec. allowed me to play some games that were crashing to desktop (dawn of discovery). other games continue to act the same, crashing happens more frequently as days pass.

after setting up my new PSU and having no change in the games i want to play (TF2 mainly), i reinstalled windows 7. installed drivers (10.12, 11.2) along with going through the crazy driver installation process that some sites recommended. I had problems installing anything catalyst, the install programs would hit an error "Application Install: install package failure"
I found some forums that talked about this issue, but none with a solution that stopped the error from happening. regardless, i am able to install drivers, but not the CCC, even with the error happening.

I have done testing for my RAM, video RAM, CPU stress tests, and GPU stress tests... my hardware holds out on them, but games that don't even come close to maxing out my hardware will crash. I am a bit clueless.



I can play 2D games, and the crysis2 demo fine.
sims3, TF2, Majesty2 crash to desktop with no error messages after ~10-30 minutes of running.

I thought that maybe there are some errors due to maxing out the vid memory, so i have done tests with low and high texture settings and AA... it doesn't seem to make a difference, the crashes seem to happen randomly. sometimes a game will run for 10 or 20 minutes, sometimes an hour or so before crashing.


Testing:
furmark: card reaches 86 degrees C for 10-20 minutes. no problems or crashing.
video memory stress test: run the 15% test, no errors
hyperPrime: max out all cpus, no problems.

Games: (recorded infromation from AMD system monitor)
sims3: runs for 10-30 minutes, max GPU temp ~77 degrees C. max GPU usage 99%, avg ~55%. crashes to desktop. got BSOD while saving (GPU fan spins up then)
majesty 2: runs for ~60 minutes, BSOD or crash to desktop
TF2: runs for 15-30 minutes, max GPU temp ~74 degrees C. max GPU usage ~41%. crashes to desktop

could really use some help with this. been searching high and low for a solution and haven't been able to find much from what other people have posted on this or other forums.

thanks a lot

 

[boxie]

update:

I was running folding@home and got a BSOD after ~10-30 minutes.
I was monitoring it the whole time, very little CPU usage, and no graphics card usage.


I'm going to run a longer CPU stress test.

 

[boxie]

i found a fix for the "Application Install: install package failure" @ http://www.tomshardware.com/forum/309757-33-catalyst-installer
i'm going to try this method to see if i can install my drivers and CCC without errors.

 

[boxie]

I followed the instructions on how to avoid the "Application Install: install package failure" error during installing ATI drivers from the above link, but the instructions didn't work.

before doing so I ran a CPU stressing utility called "CPUStabTest" it didn't stress my CPU so much, just 85%. I'm going to install the multicore folding@home client and do tests with that.

 

[boxie]

I used this thread to help me install drivers without using the ATI installer.
http://forums.amd.com/game/messageview.cfm?catid=279&threadid=122359&enterthread=y

I have an onboard graphics card on my system, and a spare ATI card on another, i'm going to be doing tests with them today.


I ran dragon age 2, and it had a BSOD after 1.5 hours.
ran sims 3 a lot with lowest graphics setting and it crashes... it crashes instantly when i change my card settings VIA CCC, such as setting the fan speed to 100%. why would my fan speed have an effect on stability?

is it possible that my 12V rails are not providing enough amps to my card? they are 25A per rail

 

[boxie]

I'm testing with my onboard video card, 8200. sims 3 crashes to desktop with that too.

 

[boxie]

i'm starting to think that my problems could be a result of the different ram chipsets that i'm using. I took out one set, down to 4gigs, but with only 2 chips that are from a ram kit.

 

[heyy]

Random crashes can be more associated with...

1) RAM failure
2) Overheating
3) PSU Failure

Since your PSU, depending on how old it is, seems less likely to be causing the problem because there is no way that PSU is having a problem driving a single HD6950. I would do a full RAM stress test with memtest. I would DEFINITELY use only 1 stick of known good RAM see how long this lasts you before freezing. I would also use CoreTemp and cpu-z to monitor the CPU. Is the cpu overclocked? Are you using an aftermarket cooler? Did you apply the thermal compound yourself? I know you say you have tried messing with the drivers but im really leaning towards a driver issue, It is very important to COMPLETELY remove your old drivers and reinstall them. You can google how to do this as it is very popular with HD 5000 and HD 6000 GPUs

 

[boxie]

my PSU is new. was using seasonic 500watt, now using antec 750watt.

there is no overheating, i monitor and record the temps of my runs (game runs and stress tests). the games i play are really not stressing my cpu or graphics card, both remain cool. never going much over 80 degrees C.

the crashes to desktop are happening with 2 different graphics cards, the ATI and onboard nvidia. also, with the ATI card i have done driver cleaning using driver sweeper.

this has also been happening through a clean install of windows 7.

I'm now setting up a new computer with a new motherboard. i don't think i can use my 1090T on it. I'll first try with the cpu that is on the mobo (athlon ii 250) and see if i get crashes with that, with a clean install of windows 7.

I don't know how i would test the ram, since i don't think i can run windows 7 with just 2 gigs, and that's my smallest chip size.

 

[boxie]

I think i discovered why my system is unstable. my motherboard does not support all of the phenom II x6 processors.

I need to get a new motherboard.

 

[fury_7s]

Hi. My specs are at bottom.

I'm having the same problem. But my comp hangs in games, with sound still present but a screaching sound.
I also ran prime95 torture test on my cpu, which uses 100% of the cpu (all cores maxed usage). My comp will hang at that too.
So I read on the internet, http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=1516251. This guy is having the similar problem like me.
In his post he said that he found south brige drivers from the amd site. btw it is a north brige driver for me, I never noticed anything so far with the nb driver. In the last post he said that he had to downclock his ram. I downclocked my ram from 1333 ddr3 dual channel to 800mhz. Which fixed the problem. I think that it is your ram. try to downclock it. with a your current mb and see if it solves the problem. after I downclock my ram to 800mhz. I didn't have a hangs with starcraft 2 ultra settings. Also no hang with the prime95 (cpu testing program with all cores maxed out at 100%). I'm still not sure if the problem has be handeled/gone because of downclocking my ram but, I set my mb ram settings to auto, to see if it was something else. But the comp crashed again in starcraft 2 after about 1.5 hours. I never did the prime95 test so far to check if the comp hangs.

I'm thinking it was my ram not supported at 1333mhz speed with my mb or cpu. Plus not supported by the mb or cpu.

MB: ASUS M4A88TD-M
GPU: ASUS HD 5850 DIRECTCU
CPU: PHENOM II X6 1090T
RAM: MUSHKIN DDR 3 DUAL CHANNEL 1333MHZ.

I think it is your ram not supported by your mb or cpu. Plus at the max frequency.

 

[Mousemonkey]

This topic has been closed by Mousemonkey