# [SOLVED] PC freezes during games. Help!



## Carclis

Hello, I'm new to this forum. Before I Describe my issue, here are my system specs.

Intel Core i7 870 2.93GHz
2x2GB Kingston RAM
Powercolor HD6870
Seagate Barracuda 500GB
Intel DH55HC Mobo
Thermaltake Litepower 700W PSU

The problem is my pc will freeze up during a game so that the image will remain there, the sound will stop and the mouse pointer will not move. Even ctrl+alt+del does not do anything, a hard reset is required. This can happen during any of my games. I can confirm it happens while playing:

World of Warcraft
Borderlands
Crysis
League of Legends
Half Life 2
Portal
Team Fortress 2
Darkspore

The system can freeze after as long as a couple of hours of gameplay and as soon as five minutes in. Darkspore seems to be the game that causes my system to freeze the most. I even tried running Runescape, a Java game that runs through the web browser and my pc froze during that as well.

To try and solve the issue I have reinstalled windows multiple times, tried a 32 bit version, updated all the drivers I could find. I even ran memtest and found no errors. At one point I ran CHKDSK to check my hard drive for errors. Some errors were found but corrected however the problem persisted. I connected another hard drive I had to check it wasn't faulty but the same problem existed.

I also tried looking through the event viewer to see if there were any errors that could be the cause of these freezes. There did seem to be a message that corresponded to many of the games but did not occur near the time of the freeze. It is as follows

Fault bucket 2040919687, type 5
Event Name: RADAR_PRE_LEAK_WOW64
Response: Not available
Cab Id: 0
Problem signature:
P1: Darkspore.exe
P2: 5.3.0.103
P3: 6.1.7600.2.0.0
P4: 
P5: 
P6: 
P7: 
P8: 
P9: 
P10: 
Attached files:
C:\Users\Justin\AppData\Local\Temp\RDR426E.tmp\empty.txt
These files may be available here:

Analysis symbol: 
Rechecking for solution: 0
Report Id: 25dbf2e0-a0c0-11e0-89e1-a6c5959e52f1
Report Status: 0

I do not know what to do next. If anyone could help me to solve this problem I would be very grateful.

Thanks in advance


----------



## koala

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Hi, welcome to TSF

What are your temperatures and voltages in BIOS and while running a fullscreen game? SIW | System Information for Windows

Your Thermaltake Litepower 700W is a low quality PSU with an efficiency rating of about 60-65%. I would replace it with a good quality 650W unit with 80-85% efficiency.


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Thanks for the quick response Koala.

Surely Runescape wouldn't be stressing my PSU that much..but anyway.

In Bios my Voltages are:

+12V 11.875
+5V 4.851
+3.3V 3.273

Could only find the CPU core temp in bios, was 65°C.

Using SIW I ran Team Fortress 2 for 20 minutes with the following results:

Sensor Value Min Max
JUSTIN-PC
Intel Corporation DH55HC
Voltages
+12V 11.92 V 11.73 V 11.95 V
+5V 4.84 V 4.83 V 4.87 V
+3.3V 3.28 V 3.26 V 3.28 V
+1.5V 1.52 V 1.52 V 1.52 V
CPU1 VCCP 0.93 V 0.85 V 1.22 V
CPU VCORE 1.11 V 0.86 V 1.25 V
VIN1 0.76 V 0.74 V 0.76 V
+3.3V 3.36 V 3.34 V 3.36 V
+5V 5.04 V 5.02 V 5.04 V
+12V 8.75 V 8.70 V 8.81 V
VIN5 0.77 V 0.76 V 0.77 V
VIN6 1.06 V 1.06 V 1.06 V

Temperatures
CPU Die 37 °C (98 °F) 36 °C (96 °F) 78 °C (172 °F)
PCH 59 °C (138 °F) 59 °C (138 °F) 59 °C (138 °F)
Voltage Reg. 45 °C (112 °F) 44 °C (111 °F) 71 °C (159 °F)
Memory 29 °C (84 °F) 28 °C (82 °F) 33 °C (91 °F)
SYSTIN 29 °C (84 °F) 28 °C (82 °F) 33 °C (91 °F)
CPUTIN 40 °C (103 °F) 39 °C (101 °F) 65 °C (148 °F)

Intel Core i7 870
Temperatures
Core #0 39 °C (102 °F) 38 °C (100 °F) 78 °C (172 °F)
Core #1 35 °C (94 °F) 34 °C (93 °F) 77 °C (170 °F)
Core #2 39 °C (102 °F) 37 °C (98 °F) 76 °C (168 °F)
Core #3 37 °C (98 °F) 34 °C (93 °F) 76 °C (168 °F)

Radeon HD 6870
Voltages
VIN0 0.95 V 0.95 V 1.17 V
Temperatures
TMPIN0 40 °C (103 °F) 39 °C (102 °F) 63 °C (145 °F)

Sorry if the post is a bit messy.


----------



## Wrench97

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

+12V 11.875
+5V 4.851

Are both low for a Bios reading when there is no load on the PSU.
While still in spec we've seen issue start around 11.7v on high end video cards.

From within windows
+12V 11.92 V *11.73 V* 11.95 V


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

I had a look at at your PSU guide in your sig Wrench. At the moment I'm thinking the Corsair Enthusiast Series TX750 (80 Plus Bronze Certified) 750 watt.


----------



## Wrench97

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

That's a good choice.


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Just installed the new PSU. The issue has not been resolved.
Voltage on 12V rail is now between 11.92 and 11.97V while gaming. What should I try next?


----------



## Wrench97

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Check the voltages and temps again, the same way as before.


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

After another 30 mins of TF2:

*Sensor Value: Min, Max*
JUSTIN-PC
Intel Corporation DH55HC
*Voltages*
*+12V* 11.92 V, 11.95 V
*+5V* 4.90 V, 4.92 V
*+3.3V* 3.31 V, 3.33 V
*+1.5V* 1.52 V, 1.52 V
*CPU1 VCCP* 0.84 V, 1.22 V
*CPU VCORE* 0.86 V, 1.25 V
*VIN1* 0.76 V, 0.76 V
*+3.3V* 3.39 V, 3.41 V
*+5V* 5.09 V, 5.11 V
*+12V* 8.87 V, 8.87 V
*VIN5* 0.76 V, 0.77 V
*VIN6* 1.06 V, 1.06 V

*Temperatures*
*CPU Die* 35 °C (94 °F), 73 °C (163 °F)
*PCH* 59 °C (138 °F), 59 °C (138 °F)
*Voltage Reg*. 41 °C (105 °F), 66 °C (150 °F)
*Memory* 26 °C (78 °F), 33 °C (91 °F)
*SYSTIN* 26 °C (78 °F), 33 °C (91 °F)
*CPUTIN* 36 °C (95 °F), 60 °C (139 °F)

*Intel Core i7 870*
Temperatures
*Core #0* 36 °C (96 °F), 73 °C (163 °F)
*Core #1* 33 °C (91 °F), 71 °C (159 °F)
*Core #2* 37 °C (98 °F), 73 °C (163 °F)
*Core #3* 33 °C (91 °F), 71 °C (159 °F)

*Radeon HD 6870*
Voltages
*VIN0* 0.95 V, 1.17 V
Temperatures
*TMPIN0* 36 °C (96 °F), 62 °C (143 °F)


----------



## Wrench97

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Lets take a different path, most of the system temps look good, the CPU while not overly hot for a i series is warmer then I would expect to see as compared to the rest of the temps. Are you running the stock Intel cooler or a aftermarket?
check that all 4 legs of the cooler are tight to the motherboard.

FYI "Event Name: RADAR_PRE_LEAK_WOW64" is a memory leak in the game coding, the event means Windows handled the leak.


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Just the standard cooler but I think the thermal compound needs replacing.


----------



## Wrench97

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Redo the paste, look over the twist lock pins well when you have the cooler off.
Arctic Silver Incorporated - Route to Product Instructions for Arctic Silver 5


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

This will be my first time applying thermal paste. Is it necessary to use arctic silver instead of silicon thermal paste?


----------



## Wrench97

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Artic silver no, as long as it's a good quality paste, you want all the heat transfer you can get.


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

I will be getting some thermal paste and probably a new cpu cooler tomorrow. However I still believe the problem is something else. My cpu temp has never reached 80C and from what I hear 100 is the point at which the system will crash. What would be the next step after reapplying the paste?


----------



## Wrench97

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Around 100c is when the CPU will shut down, it slows itself down before that temp. 
73c is probably not as hot as it's getting but only as hot as we've seen redo the paste and recheck the voltages.


----------



## MasterKnives

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*



Carclis said:


> This will be my first time applying thermal paste. Is it necessary to use arctic silver instead of silicon thermal paste?


To butt in on this I do recommend metallic based paste to the silicon based as it does transfer the heat slightly better. (I've noticed.) I've also had the silicon based stuff dry out on me a few times degrading it's performance and turning one of my machines into a toaster oven. Be careful when handling the processor, and if you are having paste issues, you may experience the heat sink being stuck to the cpu, be very gentle as one broken pin often leads to heartache and tears.

Oh and stay away from ceramic based paste. (Just an opinion) 


Edit: If your PC is freezing but not turning itself off, it's not shutting itself down for temperature related issues. So my money would be it could be a faulty video card. You can try updating (or in some cases) downgrading drivers to see if it's simply a software related issue.


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

I actually replaced an NVIDIA GTX260 with the 6870 because it was doing the same thing so it would be hard to believe that it's a faulty video card.


----------



## MasterKnives

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*



Carclis said:


> I actually replaced an NVIDIA GTX260 with the 6870 because it was doing the same thing so it would be hard to believe that it's a faulty video card.


Have any storms lately? Got surge protection? Can you rule out both the PCI-E slot and the motherboard itself?

At this point, I'd be testing memory as well.


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*



MasterKnives said:


> Have any storms lately? Got surge protection? Can you rule out both the PCI-E slot and the motherboard itself?
> 
> At this point, I'd be testing memory as well.


Had this problem since before there were any storms. I have already tested the RAM, how would i test the mobo/PCI-E?


----------



## MasterKnives

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

The most straightforward way to test is to replace your current motherboard with another one and see if you still experience the same problems.

A low quality PSU can often damage components if power is heavily fluctuating. A year and half or so ago I had a motherboard take a **** on me due to a faulty PSU, it only affected the PCI-E slot of the board, everything else on the board worked. Needless to say motherboards can be replaced fairly easily and cheaply.


----------



## majunix

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

What operating systems have you tried with this setup? I know you mentioned trying 32 bit and 64 bit, but were they both Windows 7 by any chance? The reason I ask this is because microsoft actually found a bug in windows 7 code where one of the applications in the background reserved memory but never released it back when it was finished, thereby holding the memory, gaming seemed to use it the most but after some time too much of them memory would be "held" and would cause a system crash, Microsoft reported that it was fixed in Service Pack 1. Just thought I would mention it as it may be a potential issue.


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Yes both versions of Windows installs were W7. I do recall trying to obtain the hotfix for that but as I already had Service Pack 1 it would not install.


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Just installed the new CPU cooler and so far I've got temps of 20C on idle and 45C during games. It has not yet frozen on me but I've only had an hour to play around with it.


----------



## Wrench97

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Sounds promising, those temps are excellent. What cooler did you get?


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Just went to a local store and got a Coolermaster V8


----------



## Wrench97

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Nice cooler


----------



## Carclis

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Well, looks like the CPU may have been getting too hot all along. There has been no freezes since I installed the new CPU cooler 2 days ago.

Thanks for all the help guys.


----------



## Wrench97

*Re: PC freezes during games. Help!*

Good to hear it's running well


----------

