Troubleshooting Ideas...

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2007-02-20 01:38am

My computer will freeze during game play during BF2, but during games like Supreme Commander, Battlestations Midway, and Oblivion it will freeze usually when I exit to the desktop.

When I reboot after a freeze BF2 won't lock up again until I completely shut down my computer, and turn it on the next day, and play then the cycle will start over again.

One of the strangest things is after these lock ups the cache for my browser is gone. I have to re-enter user names, and passwords, and even game profile can be lost.

Any ideas?

AMD 4800
2 Gigs RAM
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
Creative X-Fi Audio
Nvidia 8800 GTX
Maxtor 300 GB Hard Drive

Latest drivers for all hardware, and all windows updates.

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-02-20 10:16am

Download Memtest and let it run overnight (or while you're at work for the day, or whatever, just as long as it gets to run for at least several hours).

phongn · Post by **phongn** » 2007-02-20 10:25am

Windows Memory Diagnostic is more intensive than any of the Memtest derivatives ... and word on Ars is that Oblivion is actually even more intensive(!) than the dedicated testing tools.

Glocksman · Post by **Glocksman** » 2007-02-20 11:05am

Ironically, a friend I built a machine for had the exact same problem.
It turned out to be the dual channel RAM.
Despite both 1 GB modules being Crucial branded with the same part number, one used Micron chips while the other used Samsung.

That's when I learned to order those dual channel kits instead of just ordering two separate modules with the same part number.

Anyway, the fix turned out to be reversing the order in which the modules were installed.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2007-02-20 11:27am

Thanks for the information. I'll try some of them when I get home from work tonight, but if anyone has any other ideas keep them coming.

InnocentBystander · Post by **InnocentBystander** » 2007-02-20 11:44am

If you mix and match ram its a good idea to put the worst dimm/pair in the first slot. I think most (or all?) boards will run all the ram at the same settings.

Arrow · Post by **Arrow** » 2007-02-20 11:47am

Kamakazie Sith wrote:My computer will freeze during game play during BF2, but during games like Supreme Commander, Battlestations Midway, and Oblivion it will freeze usually when I exit to the desktop.

When I reboot after a freeze BF2 won't lock up again until I completely shut down my computer, and turn it on the next day, and play then the cycle will start over again.

One of the strangest things is after these lock ups the cache for my browser is gone. I have to re-enter user names, and passwords, and even game profile can be lost.

Any ideas?

AMD 4800
2 Gigs RAM
ASUS A8N-SLI Deluxe
Creative X-Fi Audio
Nvidia 8800 GTX
Maxtor 300 GB Hard Drive

Latest drivers for all hardware, and all windows updates.

I use to have a very similar rig as yours (2 7800GTXs and a different HD would be the only differences). It also had hardlocks, CTDs and blue screens. All the individual components ran fine, and continue to (except the motherboard, which is now in the landfill) - Uranium has the CPU, my coworker has the ram and one of the GPUs, my work machine has the other GPU, and my current home machine has the X-Fi and HDs.

Honestly, with the experience I had, I think the problem is the motherboard. The X-Fi never wanted to play nice it in, even after playing musical slots (only had to two to choose from, anyway); most of the blue screens went back to its driver. Windows wanting to share resources between the X-Fi and 7800s didn't help, either. And IIRC, using the onboard audio didn't help, either. I could never determine if it was an issue with the bus latencies and times or with how the board provides power to the cards (neither of which you can do jack about, other than updating to the latest BIOS and hoping for the rest).

The games locking up on exit would point to a resource conflict - the drivers for the 8800 and the X-Fi are probably trying to free the same resources up, causing one or both to freeze Windows. BF2 locking up is probably due to the X-Fi, which goes back to bus timings and driver resources, since it will make more use of the card than the other games; you might want to try using software sound in BF2 for a day and see what happens.

You can try several things:
1) Move the X-Fi to a different slot, and change the resources it gets allocated (go to accessories->system tools->system information to see what resources it and the 8800 share; and I don't care what people say about Windows automatically avoiding conflicts with shared resources, because it doesn't always work).
2) Update the BIOS. If its a bus timing/latency issue or a power issue, a new BIOS might make adjustments to handle that.
3) Reinstall Windows.
4) Build a new system, because IMO, that motherboard, as a product/model, is trash.

Post by **Beowulf** » 2007-02-20 12:03pm

Shoot the MB.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2007-02-20 04:45pm

Arrow, I suspected it might be the Creative card. I tried lowering the hardware acceleration, and that didn't seem to work. I've also suspected that it might be the motherboard, but I ran the memory test that Phongn provided, and it froze during that test so hopefully it is just the memory.

Thanks everyone. I'll keep you posted...

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-02-20 07:24pm

Try removing the Creative card altogether. Yeah, onboard sound tends to suck, but just live with it for a bit and see if that solves the issue.

Personally, I think Creative is a gigantic pile of shit, but that shouldn't be taken as any specific complaint against a specific piece of hardware, especially as I'm a Santa Cruz fanboy myself.

Fire Fly · Post by **Fire Fly** » 2007-02-20 07:47pm

Whenever I used to play BF2, I would get freezes and CTDs. I searched a dozen forums before I found a possible reason: overheating. So, I removed the side panel to my CPU and sat a fan next to it. It worked like a charm.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2007-02-21 01:59am

I moved the RAM to different DIMM slots, and then ran the memory test to see if that made a difference. It didn't freeze during the memory test so hopefully that has fixed the problem.

Again, thanks for all your help.

Kamakazie Sith · Post by **Kamakazie Sith** » 2007-02-21 09:48pm

Moving both RAM sticks to the other DIMM slots seems to have worked for now...

Uraniun235 · Post by **Uraniun235** » 2007-02-21 09:56pm

Fire Fly wrote:Whenever I used to play BF2, I would get freezes and CTDs. I searched a dozen forums before I found a possible reason: overheating. So, I removed the side panel to my CPU and sat a fan next to it. It worked like a charm.

Did you do anything after that or do you still have the side of your case off?

StarDestroyer.Net BBS

Troubleshooting Ideas...

Troubleshooting Ideas...

Re: Troubleshooting Ideas...