Display Problem / Graphics Problem

[fields999]

Hi,

I have a problem, for some reason when im playing games such as cod4 or gta4 or something. Il be playing fine for quite a long time, certainly a few hours but then randomly the screen will just stop, and the whole computer will freeze.

I noticed that on the frozen screen small parts of it had small purple lines going round them.

Well the only way to get out of this is to do a hard boot and start up my pc again.

Im wondering why this happens as i have all up to date drivers and my pc easily meets the requirements to play the games im playing.

Any help would be greatly appreciated, thanks.

 

[The Cool Guy]

Check the GPU temperature, and if there is enough room for the fan.
It could even be a problem if the card isn't inserted properly or something.

Cheers..

 

[AstaLaVista]

Heat could be a problem, more so if you say it only happens after a long period of time playing the game.

Also, corruption of a driver could easily make trouble for you... I usually try a new fresh install when this happens just for good measure.

One more thing I would check is your Monitor Driver, if it is recognizing your monitor, no problem but, if all you see is "Generic or Std PnP or Non-Pnp monitor" you should seek a newer driver for it.

 

[The Cool Guy]

Download HWMonitor and post a screenshot here so we can see all the values.

Cheers,
Madhan

 

[archie123]

At last ........ everybody blames heat for every issue with a gpu , finally somebody with symptoms that actually point to a heat issue Or your cards ram is overclocked too high or its faulty

 

[fields999]

Ok i ran some tests, i did it with the hwmonitor one and with pc wizard.

The temperatures seemed fine to me, and i my pc had been on all day, under the same conditions its under when it sometimes compeltely freezes like i said about.

Aswell none of my cpu or graphics cards have been overclocked i should mention.

Thanks

 

[archie123]

yes mate but thats your core temp (you also need to monitor it ingame as it'll get alot hotter) , im talking about about your onboard memory possibly being either faulty or getting too hot , there a a few common related symptoms to games freezing/ locking up , most commonly it a ram issue (system memory not gpu memory) but if you also get graphical abnormalities as your getting it points to your cards onboard memory that MAY be at fault.

How to help you troubleshoot the issue is a problem , you can only do so much over forums i can spend hours asking you to do this that and the other and it'll turn out to me something silly , computers are like that , you always tend to overthink the problem so first job make sure your card is correctly seated and is plugged into any relevant supply correctly.

I would clock back the ram a little and see what happens , if you get no joy the only other altenative is to strip the card down clean it with an alcahol based cleaner the reseat the ram heatsink/s with a decent heatsink paste such as arctic silver (but i realise this can sem a bit daunting if you have never done it before)

start with the obvious , make sure its pluggen in properly give it a good blow out and make sure the fans clear then clock back the ram just a wee bit

Its not still under warrenty by any chance is it?

 

[fields999]

I think the first thing il do is clean it outand check its all connected propperly, ive had it for about a year or so and ive switched it over from my old pc to my new one.

I dont think it would be a problem with my system memory, i mean there all new sticks of ram 3x 2GB and 1x 1GB all DDR2.

thanks

 

[archie123]

as i said ,

simple freezing - system memory

freezing with graphical abnormalties - GPU memory .. read the post!!

Oh and i cant remember how many "new" sticks of bad memory ive had in the past there have been so many :P

 

[sygnus21]

Hi fields999,

Looking at your system specs, I'd say look at your memory configuration. With four dimm slots, I wonder what config you're running to have 7 (seven) gig of memory???

I'm guessing 3 two gig modules + one 1 gig module? That could be a problem in itself. I'm also guessing these aren't matched.

Try running with just 4gig (2x2gig) and see what happens?

 

[fields999]

Im not sure that id want to downgrade back to 4gigs of ram, but when i get home il clean out all my gpu as i think it may be pretty thick with dust etc.

Il see what its like after that and il see how hot it gets while ive been playing a game for quite a while.

 

[archie123]

oh hang on , your using one of those hybrid motherboards , im not sure how they work do they automatically clock up the gpu when a game is detected or do you do it manually?

This could be a fault with the "geforce boost technology" whatever the hell that is

im ducking out of this one , the problem most likely exists in there somewhere ive never had any experience with it , all looks a bit hit and miss to me :P

 

[sygnus21]

Hi fields999,

Looking at your system specs, I'd say look at your memory configuration. With four dimm slots, I wonder what config you're running to have 7 (seven) gig of memory???

I'm guessing 3 two gig modules + one 1 gig module? That could be a problem in itself. I'm also guessing these aren't matched.

Try running with just 4gig (2x2gig) and see what happens?

Im not sure that id want to downgrade back to 4gigs of ram, but when i get home il clean out all my gpu as i think it may be pretty thick with dust etc.

Il see what its like after that and il see how hot it gets while ive been playing a game for quite a while.

I think you're missing my point, but ok.

 

[archie123]

what sygnus is trying to say and what ive been saying is 99% of the time issues like this are related to your ram not your gpu (or your gpu onboard ram)

you have a very odd configuration of memory it could be causing problems so what he is suggesting is remove some of your ram , leave in 2 x 2gig sticks (matched pair) and see if it helps :D

you will notice no loss of performance ingame 4 gig is fine , its worth a shot at least it'll only take you 2 seconds to do

we cant help unless you give our ideas a go :P

 

[AstaLaVista]

Im not sure that id want to downgrade back to 4gigs of ram,

He is not asking you to downgrade, merely suggesting you try with 4 GBs of Ram for Testing Purposes, matched if at all possible. Newer memory dimms come matched (dual channel) and they work best this way. Sorry can not really explained it, google it and you'll find an answer.

If after 30 minutes of heavy gaming, you get no Freezes, Locks or BSODs, then you know your problem may lie with your RAM and not with Video Driver or GPU issues.