# Computer freezes while playing games



## InfernalSolo (Nov 8, 2006)

Whenever I am playing most games, namely Warcraft III, Halo, and EQ2, the computer will at a random time in the game suddenly freeze, and I hear a loud screeching sound in my headphones. The funny thing is, I have never had this problem with Jedi Academy or Guild Wars. Here is my specs:

CPU: 2 gig AMD Athlon 2600 w/ upgraded cooler (ASUS StarIce)
Mobo: ASUS A7V8X-X
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 w/ upgraded cooler (Thermaltake Extreme Giant)
Sound Card: Sound Blaster Audigy 2ZS Gamer
Power Supply: Thermaltake TR2 W0070 ATX 430W 115/230 V

I have good airflow, 3 intake fans, and 2 exaust fans. I also have the latest video card, sound card, and chipset drivers, plus the latest BIOS. Temps are fine. I also run Microsoft Update once a week, and my computer is clean from viruses and spyware. I have no idea what is causing this crash to happen.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

This one might be a little difficult if you have done all that and still have the problem. Give us a hand by downloading SensorViewPro under my signature. Then, run the program when you first start up and see what readings you get for temps, voltages, and fan speeds. Then, rev it up with the games it freezes in and check it while you have the darn thing under heavy stress. That might tell us a lot and lead us in a direction where the problem might be.

In the meantime, look on the side of that power supply and tell us what the rail amp outputs are. For example: 12v = 15 amps....you get the picture. They will be listed on the side or back of the supply.

Post back with questions/concerns/info.


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## InfernalSolo (Nov 8, 2006)

Actually, I have a screenshot of what the side of my PS looks like.










The temps, and fanspeeds are all acceptable, but I am not sure if the voltages are good or not, as I have no experience reading them. Here is what they are:

Without load (at desktop):

VCoreA: 1.68V
VCoreB: 0.00V
+3.3V: 3.30V
+5V: 4.95V
+12V: 12.20V
+5VSB: 5.11V
+VBAT: 4.08V


With load (when playing a game that has a history of crashing):

VCoreA: 1.68V
VCoreB: 0.00V
+3.3V: 3.30V
+5V: 4.95V
+12V: 12.20V
+5VSB: 5.11V
+VBAT: 4.08V

No change at all. The only thing is that at all times +12V changes from 12.00V to 12.20V, and +5V varies from 4.85V to 4.95V.

Tomorrow I will take it for a Prime95 test and see if anything happens.


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## InfernalSolo (Nov 8, 2006)

I did a torture test using Prime95 today for 8 hours, with no errors, or changes in voltage. I find it odd that Warcraft III, Halo, and EQ2 cause the computer to freeze, but Guild Wars and Jedi Academy do not. Also, is there any issue associated with screeching/static noise at the time of the crash? This is the first time I have ever encountered anything like that and I think it is a very bizarre noise.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

Post your temps and fan speeds taken from SensorviewPro. Do the temps for both at-rest and under-stress. Then, we can take another look at some other issues or possible causes.


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## InfernalSolo (Nov 8, 2006)

I apologize for not posting, but due to a tree branch falling, I lost my internet, and the poor maintenince in my city has resulted in it not being restored in a while. Typicaly, my CPU temp is around 40C when idle, and around 45C when in a game, under stress. The rest of the temps in Sensorview are in the mid 30's all the time. The only fan that has a sensor on it is my cpu fan, which I run at about 4000rpm when in games, and 2000 rpm when out of games. The rest of the fans are working, as I have tested them recently.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

Talk to us a little more about your fans, Where located, What direction are each of them blowing? Also, is the heatsink fan blowing down or pulling warm air up?


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## InfernalSolo (Nov 8, 2006)

There are two fans in the middle-back of the case sucking cool air in from the outside. Behind them is the cpu cooler which is the StarIce. The idea here is to have the cpu cooler get the cool air just blown in by the fans. There is an additional fan blowing air in from the lower front, across both hard drives to keep them cool. There are two exhaust fans blowing hot air out of the case on the very bottom, and top of the back of the case, one of them being the power supply's exhaust fan. The video card has a 3 sided wrap heat sink w/ two fans. The fan in the middle of the heat sink is on the bottom, blowing air up onto the heat sink. The one on the side of it is a blower fan which blows air across the heat sink.


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

InfernalSolo said:


> There are two fans in the middle-back of the case sucking cool air in from the outside.
> 
> You need a smooth air flow from front to back, therefore these fans are pointing the wrong direction. Be sure your back fans are PULLING hot air OUT OF THE CASE. Turn those around and you will see a difference.
> 
> ...


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## InfernalSolo (Nov 8, 2006)

I agree with you there. The only issue I would have with that is the cpu cooler can only blow from the back to the front, and if I switched the rear fans, I am not sure what the affect might be on the cooler. To illustrate this, here is what I mean (sorry, I am not very skilled at drawing):










The arrows show what direction the fans are blowing air in. As you can see, the cpu cooler is blowing air in the same direction as the two intake fans in the middle-back. If I reversed the direction of the fans, what impact would it have on the cpu cooler, since the intake fan for it is trying to suck in air that another fan right next to it is sucking in the opposite direction?


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## Tumbleweed36 (May 14, 2005)

Hi,

Don't worry about the air flow with the CPU fan. If it is blowing ON the heatsink, it will take care of itself. You must have those rear fans sucking HOT air out of the case. Without that, basically, you have no cooling.


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## InfernalSolo (Nov 8, 2006)

I reversed the direction of the two fans in the back, so they blow air out. The temps remain about the same, although I think there IS a bit more airflow. It still does the crash, however. I am still trying to figure out what makes it play that screeching/static sound in my headphones when it crashes.


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## Tiber Septim (Feb 9, 2006)

Hi, this is a complete shot in the dark but you could try running the game with the sound card removed (i take it you know how to do this from your knowledge of your system).
There are quite a few games that just don't agree with certain sound cards and that could be causing the crashing, though there are usually fixes in updated drivers some problems can still persist.
As i said, it may not work but it is a (unlikely) possibility.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Troubleshooting Display Adapter Problems

http://www.playtool.com/pages/troubleshooting/intro.html



> Fix #3: Disable Your Sound
> When people's computers are crashing only while playing games, they tend to blame their display adapters. Most of the time they're right. But one of the things that changes when you're playing games is how your sound hardware is used. When you're not running a game, the sound hardware only uses a very basic sound interface which is simple and reliable. But once you fire up a game, the sound is often generated using lots of complex calculations running on the sound hardware. It's not uncommon for the advanced part of the sound drivers to be a bit buggy and to cause system crashes. So if you're having crashes during games, it's a good idea to temporarily disable your sound hardware while you're troubleshooting. That way you know for sure that it's not the sound system which is responsible for your problems. If you're running Windows 2000 or XP, you can disable your sound hardware by going into the Device Manager, right-clicking on the sound hardware, and selecting "Disable". If you're running Windows 95, 98, or ME, you can disable it by going into the Device Manager, right-clicking on the sound hardware, selecting "Properties", and then selecting "Disable in this hardware profile". If your crashes stop after the sound is disabled, then you should update your sound drivers. New drivers are put out to fix bugs and compatibility problems so getting the latest drivers may solve the problem. If you have a sound card then the drivers can be downloaded from the web site of the company which made the card. If your sound is integrated into the motherboard, then the drivers can be downloaded from the company which manufactured the motherboard or from the maker of your computer.


really worth a read plus *ALL *the links to other pages.


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## InfernalSolo (Nov 8, 2006)

Hmmmm.... I never really thought about my sound card. It could have corrupt drivers I guess. That could explain the weird noises I hear when it crashes. I will update them and see what happens.


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## InfernalSolo (Nov 8, 2006)

It turns out I have the latest drivers. However, I did some research, and found that this is a very common problem for the audigy 2 zs gamer sound cards called "The Screetch of Death." I have not had any luck finding a fix to this problem, although there seem to be people who have fixed it. I will post any info I can get on how to fix this if I can figure out how, as there are many people who would benefit from this.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

InfernalSolo said:


> It turns out I have the latest drivers. However, I did some research, and found that this is a very common problem for the audigy 2 zs gamer sound cards called "The Screetch of Death." I have not had any luck finding a fix to this problem, although there seem to be people who have fixed it. I will post any info I can get on how to fix this if I can figure out how, as there are many people who would benefit from this.


Good luck with the research and look forward to hearing about the fix.


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## Tiber Septim (Feb 9, 2006)

From what i've read around the net it seems that the drivers can sometimes conflict with certain codecs. Namely DivX but there are many others too.

If you have DivX installed try removing it and see if that has any effect.
That is, if you haven't figured anything out yet.

Edit: There were quite a few people that fixed the problem by simply formatting their hard drive and reinstalling Windows and the drivers.
It is a bit extreme but if nothing else works it could be a last resort.


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## InfernalSolo (Nov 8, 2006)

Actually, I took an even more extreme step and ordered a new sound card. I can't wait 'till it gets here!

I was looking into the option of reformatting and all, but I read the creative forums, and it seems that only works for a small percentage of the population (that has audigy sound cards). Besides, I have had it with the audigy drivers. One solution that Creative suggested was switching the card to PCI slot 4 or 5. I tried that and the drivers would either not recognize the card, or the driver programs (e.g. volume, EAX, speaker settings, etc) would not work properly. Again, I looked on the Creative forums, and Creative's audigy drivers have a reputation for being badly written. I am using 3rd party Kx drivers for the moment until my new card gets here. They do not offer EAX support, and I still get the crash, but at least I have sound. My conclusion is to stay away from audigy cards.


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## Tiber Septim (Feb 9, 2006)

Ah, well, glad to hear you got it sorted out and nice choice with the new card, Fatal1ty are a good brand.

Happy gaming!


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## Hjalp (Nov 22, 2006)

Hi, I'm having the same problem. Can't play games normally, always freeze after some time. Except The Godfather, finished it without freezing one time. Do you think I should also get a new soundcard? My soundcard came on the motherboard, Realtek AC'97 audio.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

Disable it and play one of the games that crashes ..


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## Hjalp (Nov 22, 2006)

This is very weird. Vampire - The Masquerade Bloodlines freezes with the soundcard disabled, BUT Company of Heroes runs fine... Should I start another thread about my problem?


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

one of the programs requires the sound card to do complex calculations wjilst the other one doesn't.
So if they both crashed when the soundcard was enabled , borrow a BETTER soundcard and install it, then try your test again


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## Hjalp (Nov 22, 2006)

Hmmm, I guess I'll just have to buy another sound card. I don't know anyone who owns a soundcard I could borrow, my friends only use Onboard soundcards. But isn't it unlikely its my RAM or CPU if I can play Godfather but not Warcraft 3 without freezing?

List of freezing games: Total Overdose (few times) Warcraft 3, Imperial Glory, Call of Duty 2, Company of heroes and the worst case: Vampire - TMB. I always freeze after playing for 1-30 min.

My computer can play all of those games (Nvidia 7900GT , AMD 4200+, 2 GB RAM, Abit AN8 SLI). I just don't get it why I can play The Godfather but not games like Warcraft 3. I also don't get it why Vampire TMB froze with the soundcard disabled... When the computer freezes I get this screech like InfernalSolo.

(I'm from Iceland so please forgive me for grammarerrors.)


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

PLaytool, Troubleshooting Display Adapter Problems

take a good look at this site ... 

http://www.playtool.com/pages/troubleshooting/intro.html

note item #3 on the page ..



> Fix #3: Disable Your Sound
> When people's computers are crashing only while playing games, they tend to blame their display adapters. Most of the time they're right. But one of the things that changes when you're playing games is how your sound hardware is used. When you're not running a game, the sound hardware only uses a very basic sound interface which is simple and reliable. But once you fire up a game, the sound is often generated using lots of complex calculations running on the sound hardware. It's not uncommon for the advanced part of the sound drivers to be a bit buggy and to cause system crashes. So if you're having crashes during games, it's a good idea to temporarily disable your sound hardware while you're troubleshooting. That way you know for sure that it's not the sound system which is responsible for your problems. If you're running Windows 2000 or XP, you can disable your sound hardware by going into the Device Manager, right-clicking on the sound hardware, and selecting "Disable". If you're running Windows 95, 98, or ME, you can disable it by going into the Device Manager, right-clicking on the sound hardware, selecting "Properties", and then selecting "Disable in this hardware profile". If your crashes stop after the sound is disabled, then you should update your sound drivers. New drivers are put out to fix bugs and compatibility problems so getting the latest drivers may solve the problem. If you have a sound card then the drivers can be downloaded from the web site of the company which made the card. If your sound is integrated into the motherboard, then the drivers can be downloaded from the company which manufactured the motherboard or from the maker of your computer.


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## InfernalSolo (Nov 8, 2006)

Note: this may sound like an unconstructive post, but it is not. It is the only solution because these are faulty sound cards.

Do a google search for squeal of death. There are hundreds of thousands of websites with people asking for a solution, but there are none hat have any sort of fix. The problem is that creative audigy cards are plagued with a problem known as the squeal of death. There is only one solution that actually works for the squeal of death: this one. I know this sounds bad, but the thing is, the creative audigy cards cause this crash, and there is nothing you can do except get a new sound card. If you do not believe me, just read the creative forums.


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## Done_Fishin (Oct 10, 2006)

What was done in that video was highly irresponsible and STUPID.
If you burn a pcb and components like that you are creating and releasing a nice toxic substance into the air which will do no-one any good , least of all idiots that are standing around watching the flames.

I DO NOT RECOMMEND THAT ANYONE COPY THE ANTICS IN THAT VIDEO!


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## Tiber Septim (Feb 9, 2006)

In addition to recommending never doing that, this would not work, as Hjalp's sound is onboard AC'97, therefore having nothing to do with Creatives conflicting drivers problem.

Hjalp, i would recommend starting a new thread in the Hardware section under Sound Card, or Motherboards, BIOS and CPU.
Although this is related to gaming you will probably get a better response from the Hardware team.

Good luck!


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## Indoril Nerevar (Jan 7, 2006)

Hi,

Before we jump to burning sound cards and such, let's try a couple of other things.

1. Read the "Common Game Issues" thread in my signature, and run through each of the steps there. Each is very important, so don't skip any.

2. The latest NVIDIA drivers cause problems, so try back-dating to the 84.21's (read the NVIDIA Drivers thread in my signature).

Post back with results.


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## Hjalp (Nov 22, 2006)

Still freezes with 84.21 drivers  I'll start a new thread in the Hardware section after tomorrow.

Thanks for helping.


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## Indoril Nerevar (Jan 7, 2006)

Did you try everything in the "Common Game Issues" thread?


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