Still "freezing" after 45min of play. Cleaned tower as suggested....

[Phil]

Posted this thread few weeks ago.
Freezing up after 45min of game play.
Many recommended "dusting off" the tower... It sounded like "overheat" problem.
Boy what a cloud of dust that was !

Unfortunately it still crashes/freezes. When it happens, the screen goes black.
I do the ALT-CNTL-DELETE and still don't get any responce.
I have to log off by manually turning the puter off...
The tower have temp gauges(3) and all are fine !

I don't think its a connection problem because I play the game "offline" or
simply watch AH recorded films and suddenly my screen goes black/dark !

Not a puter wiz but here is my hardware....

AMD Athlon 64 X 2 dual Core 3.2MHz
Western Digital 250GB Sata 16MB(X2)
Asus M2N-E AM2 PCIE MB
Atrix case
Echo Star 680-watt 24pin dual fan
Corsair ( 2 X 1GIG DDR2-667) Kit
Asus GeForce 7950 HDTV 512MB
Sound Blaster Audigy X-FI Platinum
View Sonic VX922 19in LCD

Software: Windows XP

Flying hardware: CH all around ! Stick/throttle and pedals
                       TrackIRII

Skuzzy can you help me out ?

Phil / OPP7755

[morfiend]

 Phil:
 post a dxdiag for Roy,see mossie thread for directions if ya dont know how.

 also check task manager,see how many programs are running,I suspect your having a conflict with one of the background programs,like antivirus or such.

[Phil]

G'day Sir !

I run FSAUTOSTART everytime I play.
It drops to the low 30's...
Never had any problems with this !

I've read and printed the procedures to run Xdiag etc...

My question is: When it jams/freezes, my computer needs to be restarted/rebooted manually. When I do that, will the right info still be in the XDIAG report ????

Phil

[Ack-Ack]

Do any other programs cause your computer to lock up like this, or only AH?


ack-ack

[Phil]

At this time, AH is the only game played on my puter !
 

Phil / OPP7755

[Skuzzy]

I wonder if the power supply is strating to go bad.

Go into the system BIOS and check the power output levels for the various rails.  What you are looking for are swings in the voltage levels.  At idle they should be almost perfectly stable.  Also check to see if any of the rails are too low.

[Nwbie]

may be a stupid question, but, do you have an automatic shutdown setting after 45 minutes of non use?

look in your energy saver settings, see if there is a shutdown sequence.

Worth a look.

[Yossarian]

This is a bit of a long shot, but look really really closely at your screen the next time this happens, and see if you can see any outlines of what was there before it crashed.

Something like this happened to me a while ago, then I worked out that it was actually just the backlight in the screen failing (it would stay on for a second or two after toggling the display on/off).

<S>

Yossarian

[jaygongin]

I have the same problem only my pc still works afterword.  i just cant pull the game back up without restarting. tried cleaning, brand new power supply, everything is working fine on my pc, and i close all other programs running.  what could it be?

[Denholm]

Did the problem start when you got the new PSU?

[jaygongin]

No, this is the only PSU that ive used in this pc for a month had no other problem with it on anyother games, including those that mine can barely run.  so it is not my power supply

[Skuzzy]

Without a DXDIAG output it is most difficult to know where to start.  Most of the time (keyword: MOST), lockups are resource related, but not always.

Custom sound packs are a huge problem with onboard sound chips, for example.  Using texture sizes too large or settings that compound resource usage.

Vista plus NVidia drivers can also be problematic.

There are a host of things that can cause computers to lockup.  Thereis no gaurantee one cure will fix all ills.

[Phil]

Skuzzy !!!

As you suggested in BIOS mode, you want me to check for some kind of meters...
What kind of numbers should I expect to see when I check the PSU rails ?
What is low numbers when puter is at idle speed ? What numbers are abnormal ?

Will the XDIAG report be good to you when I need to reboot the puter before being able to do the XDIAG procedures ?

Trying to understand, please be patient with me ...
Working night shift at this time.
Will be trying your advice this weekend and will keep you posted.

And to add, my puter freezes when watching AH recorded films. Not even playing
online !!!!!

PSU is fairly new(2yrs). What size should be in there ?

Tks
Phil

[Skuzzy]

All the rail numbers are critical.  Rather than give a guess, go ahead and post them, and be sure to note how far they drift.  You should watch them for a minute or so.

The DXDIAG can be run anytime.

[jaygongin]

I think this is the stuff yall need if not let me know what else

System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 11/20/2008, 19:49:57
       Machine name: TRISTAN
   Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.080814-1236)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
       System Model: Precision 330               
               BIOS: Phoenix ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 A09
          Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 1700MHz
             Memory: 1024MB RAM
          Page File: 520MB used, 1171MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
    DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
     DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.5512 32bit Unicode

Display Devices
---------------
        Card name: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200
     Manufacturer: NVIDIA
        Chip type: GeForce FX 5200
         DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
       Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0322&SUBSYS_31031458&REV_A1
   Display Memory: 128.0 MB
     Current Mode: 1280 x 1024 (32 bit) (60Hz)
          Monitor: Default Monitor
  Monitor Max Res:
      Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
   Driver Version: 6.14.0010.7189 (English)
      DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
 Driver Date/Size: 4/1/2005 15:16:00, 3980288 bytes
      WHQL Logo'd: n/a
  WHQL Date Stamp: n/a
              VDD: n/a
         Mini VDD: nv4_mini.sys
    Mini VDD Date: 4/1/2005 15:16:00, 3454656 bytes
Device Identifier: {D7B71E3E-4062-11CF-FD6B-091100C2CB35}
        Vendor ID: 0x10DE
        Device ID: 0x0322
        SubSys ID: 0x31031458
      Revision ID: 0x00A1
      Revision ID: 0x00A1