Pages: 1

 

2008-07-26 09:31:16
hiberNative
7.62x54R
+21|6010|sweden
the prologue
i'm not asking anyone to break their backs digging around this. i'm just wondering if anyone has had something similar.
still getting the problem after nuking my harddrive.

the system (after reinstalling everything):
windows xp sp3
nvidia nForce 3 (k8n neo2 atx) mobo
amd 3500+/2.2 GHz (have had it clocked but was unstable)
4x512mb ram (have had it clocked but was unstable)
x1950pro (problem stays with different drivers)
x-fi xtrememusic (tried reinstalling driver)

the problem
the thing is that at a random time while in-game, the screen goes black and the sound kind of blips around. like if i'm in a tank and it happens, i only hear the tank engine, and then it might switches to like an ambient water sound and so on.

when i hard reboot, some interesting things have happen on my desktop:

  • my quick launch icons (down right next to the clock) are all visible. i usually have them hidden behind the < arrow.
  • the quicklaunchbar (icons next to the start button on the desktop) have been disabled.
  • sometimes, but not always, the desktop color has gone from 32bit to 16 bit.


some say it's an x-fi issue that there's no fix for.
others claim i've damaged my ram but i've run memtest86 without any errors.
i'm curious of what you think it might be, or if anyone knows what's wrong.

cheers

Last edited by hiberNative (2008-07-26 09:35:30)

2008-07-26 10:14:44
TheEternalPessimist
Wibble
+412|6835|Mhz

Could be one of te few random cocks ups that were in sp3, you tried doing a sys restore to before SP3 and seeing if it runs ok?

It's unlikly to be damaged RAM or CPU, it's seriously hard to actually damage anything OCing these days.

Possible faulty sound card, possibly corrupted drivers, but a re-install should have fixed that, unless it's a compatibility issue between the x-fi drivers and sp3 if they're older drivers. Try a driver update, if they're new drivers, try the old ones on the CD.
2008-07-26 10:30:50
Scorpion0x17
can detect anyone's visible post count...
+691|6981|Cambridge (UK)
The symptoms sound like the GPU is crashing.

If you're lucky (sometimes this feature is available, sometimes it isn't (even on the same card)), if you go into Catalyst Control Center and enable VPU Recover it may help.

But, ultimately it could be caused by either an overheating or a power supply problem.

Last edited by Scorpion0x17 (2008-07-26 10:31:50)

2008-07-26 11:47:30
hiberNative
7.62x54R
+21|6010|sweden

TheEternalPessimist wrote:

Could be one of te few random cocks ups that were in sp3, you tried doing a sys restore to before SP3 and seeing if it runs ok?
i had the problem before getting sp3 was released. so it's probably not that.

Scorpion0x17 wrote:

The symptoms sound like the GPU is crashing.

If you're lucky (sometimes this feature is available, sometimes it isn't (even on the same card)), if you go into Catalyst Control Center and enable VPU Recover it may help.

But, ultimately it could be caused by either an overheating or a power supply problem.
my videocard is somewhat fresh.
i did however buy a new power supply when my old one popped. didn't really do much research about it since i thought it wasn't that important.
power supply: atrix psu 520w
could it be that it's not distrebuting power evenly? how would i know?
i know that some x-fi users have had similar problems with their soundcards, but it's too random to blame. i play games like bioshock without any crashes...

i have the vpu recovery ticked. should i disable it?
2008-07-26 11:57:00
Scorpion0x17
can detect anyone's visible post count...
+691|6981|Cambridge (UK)

hiberNative wrote:

my videocard is somewhat fresh.
i did however buy a new power supply when my old one popped. didn't really do much research about it since i thought it wasn't that important.
power supply: atrix psu 520w
could it be that it's not distrebuting power evenly? how would i know?
i know that some x-fi users have had similar problems with their soundcards, but it's too random to blame. i play games like bioshock without any crashes...

i have the vpu recovery ticked. should i disable it?
VPU recovery should be ticked. And the fact you already have it ticked is suggestive that it's not a GPU crash as I suspected.

CPU crash is also possibility. But that can be caused by a billion and one different things!

Re: PSU - hmm... 'atrix' is not a brand name I recognise. How to test it? Primarily with a volt-meter - check what voltage you're getting on the 12V an 5V lines by probing a spare molex - first they need to remain within 5% (3% ideally) (either-side) of the nominal voltage, secondly, they need to be stable (i.e. not fluctuate a lot).
2008-07-26 12:00:38
hiberNative
7.62x54R
+21|6010|sweden

Scorpion0x17 wrote:

Re: PSU - hmm... 'atrix' is not a brand name I recognise. How to test it? Primarily with a volt-meter - check what voltage you're getting on the 12V an 5V lines by probing a spare molex - first they need to remain within 5% (3% ideally) (either-side) of the nominal voltage, secondly, they need to be stable (i.e. not fluctuate a lot).
sinc ei don't have a voltmeter, would this be sufficient to run while playing?
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Sys … lert.shtml

or perhaps this:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/CPU- … CooL.shtml

Last edited by hiberNative (2008-07-26 12:05:36)

2008-07-26 12:16:50
Scorpion0x17
can detect anyone's visible post count...
+691|6981|Cambridge (UK)

hiberNative wrote:

Scorpion0x17 wrote:

Re: PSU - hmm... 'atrix' is not a brand name I recognise. How to test it? Primarily with a volt-meter - check what voltage you're getting on the 12V an 5V lines by probing a spare molex - first they need to remain within 5% (3% ideally) (either-side) of the nominal voltage, secondly, they need to be stable (i.e. not fluctuate a lot).
sinc ei don't have a voltmeter, would this be sufficient to run while playing?
http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/Sys … lert.shtml

or perhaps this:
http://www.softpedia.com/get/Tweak/CPU- … CooL.shtml
Your motherboard should have come with software that will display the voltages.

All these software monitors are prone to (unavoidable) inaccuracy, but they're better than nothing.

Ideally you need to find one that will log the voltages whilst you're playing, so you can look out for voltage drops whilst under load.
2008-07-26 12:25:10
_Dominiko_PL
TITS or gtfo.
+97|6736|Polish state of EU
It may sound silly, but maybe its something with sound? Uninstall AC97 drivers if you have them and make sure you set 'game mode' console on x-fi when playing bf2
2008-07-26 12:44:52
hiberNative
7.62x54R
+21|6010|sweden
yeah. i'll look around for legit software that logs voltages.

_Dominiko_PL wrote:

It may sound silly, but maybe its something with sound? Uninstall AC97 drivers if you have them and make sure you set 'game mode' console on x-fi when playing bf2
i don't think i installed the ac97 drivers this time around since i had a soundcard. and the console is running in game mode.
someone on the x-fi forums talked about an unresolved eax issue. it's all just a long headache.
2008-07-26 16:01:42
hiberNative
7.62x54R
+21|6010|sweden
bump

used a program called mbmlog

all it showed me was that the ram (yellow line) took a dive when teh computer hung itself at 00:42... who knows whether it's the ram or the psu?

https://img145.imageshack.us/img145/6616/43659635cy3.jpg

other graphs like "voltage" and "fans" didn't work. will look for another program.

 

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