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TA wrote on 2011-01-07 00:06
Alrighty.... So... For the past several days now, seemingly at random, Vindictus has frozen my entire computer. When this happens the entire screen (both monitors) turn all sorts of weird colors and pieces of everything previously on the screen are now all over the place scattered randomly like a big jumbled colorful mess.
A week or two ago my liquid cooling system was making really loud noises. I hadn't changed the coolant for like... 2 years. So, I added more and the noises stopped. When it started making noises however, I think after that.... is when this may have started. I'm not sure.
I've always been paranoid it doesn't really work to begin with since I don't think for liquid cooling that it keeps my CPU anywhere near cool enough, even before any of this.
Right, so... My specs...
CPU: Core i7 920 Overclocked to 3.5 GHz
GPU: GTX 280
RAM: 6 GB
CASE: Thermaltake Armor+ LCS *
OTHER: Not important. But the rest is good too.
*= the liquid cooling system was pre-built into the case. All I had to do was get the appropriate block for my CPU chipset, LGA 1366. Then I just had to put on the conductant stuff to the copper block, attach the tubes and put some coolant in it.
Now, I'll say this...... While I've always been worried it wasn't really working, it's never had a single problem and it's never overheated or anything even once since I've built it. Which, by the way, was 6/14/2009. So, I've had it quite some time with no problems. It's a stable clock, and I only raised it high enough that the voltage still didn't need raised.
Right... So... With this happening, I'm obviously worried about my computer. :worry:
Moreso about hard drive issues cropping up after having to cold shutdown so much. I know it's not good for them, and I'm really not a fan of bad sectors.
Right, so... I was all paranoid and thinking first of all... I don't have the money to replace the liquid cooling system. But, I've thought it was a big pain in the ass and was never sure it even worked in the first place ever since I bought it. I mean, it's like $600... it should be cooler than it is. Right now the temps are 122°F 122°F 127°F 113°F (each of the cores, with Core Temp), they'll sometimes get up to like 147°F (63°C) or so. Or maybe higher, I dunno. That doesn't even sound right now, maybe like 180°F or something, surely? I dunno, maybe not. I don't remember seeing anything like that lately. I think when they're being used a lot they'll get up to mid 140's.
Anyways, I was thinking about maybe just getting a good air one since they're less trouble and it's pretty obvious they're working. And well... that's like just $20.
But, thinking about it.... it's been so many years with zero problems and...... those don't seem like bad temperatures at all, especially not for such an overclocked CPU.
What makes me really question my thoughts though is that my friend tells me that his computer did that on Vindictus too. But, it hasn't happened since the most recent update, just a lot of other errors started happening. Like, errors when trying to join boats or friends/guild problems or connection properly closed when changing chars. I wasn't getting the boat thing, but the other stuff I was getting. He reinstalled Vindictus a couple days ago and said it fixed everything for him. So, I tried. It fixed all the little errors when relogging for me, but now I get the error when joining boats sometimes which I never got before, and...... the computer freezing still happens.
If it's a Vindictus related problem I don't want to waste a bunch of money looking into my computer and replacing a ridiculously expensive cooling system with a much less good one over some crazy hunch. Him saying his did the exact same thing I described makes me so paranoid it's unbelievable.
I question it's my computer too since I can play much more intense games like Assassin's Creed, Crysis, and similar games like Dragon Age, Fallout 3, Oblivion, Guild Wars, Lineage II, Starcraft II, etc. etc., with no problem whatsoever. Ever.
So uh..... watdo.
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ValkyrieHamster wrote on 2011-01-07 00:25
Sounds like it could be a video card issue. A while back I had an issue while playing games where the game would randomly display all sorts of tripped out pixelated colors. And the freezing problem also sounds like it's a video card issue. But the fact that you can play other games fine with out any problems sort of chucks that out the window.
:what:
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5il3nc3r wrote on 2011-01-07 00:28
Not necessarily. It depends on how GPU intensive each game is, as it varies.
And I would also lean towards a video card issue.
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sakraycore wrote on 2011-01-07 07:13
sounds like a dying video card
(also those temps are really bad for water cooling)
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TA wrote on 2011-01-07 08:43
I really don't think it's the video card... I'd be a lot quicker to jump to the CPU overheating.
Idle: 118°F, 115°F, 120°F, 108°F (48°C, 46°C, 49°C, 42°C)
Full load: 160°F, 153°F, 151°F, 145°F (71°C, 67°C, 66°C, 62°C)
But... the i7's are widely known to be hot running CPU's and those temps are well within acceptable ranges. It doesn't overheat until 100°C, it doesn't even disable the turbo mode until 68°C, and 71°C is the highest I've been able to get the thing running Vindictus (I have Core Temp keeping logs now).
So... Now I don't think it's a CPU overheating problem at all.
I have no clue what it is... since it happened to someone else, I don't think it's hardware related, especially if a software change resolved the issue for the other person. So, my guess at the moment is it's something to do with Vindictus... how to fix it, I don't know.
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sakraycore wrote on 2011-01-07 15:52
if you want to be sure it's not a hardware problem, run the following stress tests.
intel burn test - CPU
OCCT - GPU
OCCT - PSU
Prime95 - Ram
These programs are going to be MORE stressful than any software out there because they tax a component 100%. So if your computer passes those, then it's basically considered to be rock solid.
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TA wrote on 2011-01-10 05:51
Well, my CPU isn't overheating for sure. I had Core Temp running the last time it froze and nothing was above 70°C, most cores were a lot lower in fact.
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TA wrote on 2011-01-13 11:28
Hm... well, bad news. It seems the problem isn't Vindictus related since it just happened with Mass Effect 2.
While you guys suspect the GPU, I don't think it's as likely as some other things may be. Although, this did start happening not long after I updated to the latest drivers for my video card.
My RAM has never been set up correctly. I have 6GB and it's only ever registered 4GB. For some stupid reason back when I built the PC I got GSkill RAM which apparently has to be manually configured properly in BIOS, which I don't know how to do. I
tried asking the GSkill tech support, but they weren't particularly helpful. So, it's been registered as 4 instead of 6 since I built my PC.
Maybe that could be the cause? I don't know.
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TA wrote on 2011-02-05 15:10
Hmm, hmm! Well, here's an update...
I reinstalled the latest drivers for the video card (266.58), this time with the custom option "Clean Install" and then I ran EVGA's OCScanner stresstest with the artifact scanner enabled for 20 minutes, the highest temperature it reached was 86°C, there were no errors.
Then I tried Vindictus again and it froze with the screen artifacting horribly and computer freezing again after only a couple minutes; however, I was smart enough to have EVGA Precision (a GPU monitoring program) up and at the exact moment the freeze happened the card temperature was only 71°C. I imagine this rules out the video card overheating.
I checked my BIOS to make sure my 12V power was within the 11.4~12.6 range because if not that could mean a PSU issue, it was 12.232 V. Acceptable.
So... I think that eliminates my GPU & PSU (I think? I'm asking an EVGA tech guy about that)... So, if that's the case, I suspect it's the RAM. So, I may just get a 12GB triple channel kit for <$150 or so from Crucial, at 1333 just to be safe. Not gonna bother messing with those G.Skill tards.
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princesss wrote on 2011-02-08 03:36
rams wont crash yur game nor will it black out yur screen
having more rams wont garuntee a fix. more ram just means your comp would run faster even with a lot of task and will stay at a low usage percentage
the only problems here is...
either major over heat , bad power supply , or burned out GFX card.
check your task manager and see if yur comp is spikiing if not...
it means yu prob have like a 300W power supply for a ridculously great gfx card and thats prob why it burned out.
id suggest buying a new GFX card + a decent powe supply at newegg.
total cost would be around 200-300 and there are lots of rebates offered as well.
also try taking yur sideboard out and cleaning it . take a compressed air tank and blow the entire compartment that might help.
if not then im sorry idk anything else
source : im in csi major + computer game programming major :)
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TA wrote on 2011-02-08 17:18
Ehm... no, I have an 800W PSU. And like I said, the video card isn't overheating, neither is the CPU. I suppose the PSU could have aged since 6/2009 and be supplying less power now...
My plan right now is to replace my RAM since I have a 64-bit operating system and instead of my 6GB registering only 4GB registers and it's bull**** that it's never worked. I know bad RAM can cause all sorts of computer issues.
And anyways, if that fixes it, good. If that doesn't, then the EVGA guy said the only step left is testing the video card in another computer (I can't do that) or running memtest and Heaven to test the RAM and try to recreate the issue (don't feel like it since I need to replace it anyways). They said if that failed that they'd replace it.
So... Well, if the two possible problems are video card and RAM, I'm just gonna try RAM first since I know it's defective. Then if it doesn't work, then I practically get a new free video card replacement anyways.
And I suppose if that doesn't work, the only thing left is the PSU.
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phresh wrote on 2011-02-15 00:39
There's no BIOS configuration that will cause your system to detect less RAM than what is actually there. Perhaps one of the sticks is not completely seated in the slot? The only thing you typically need to configure for RAM is the timing settings and voltage.
I agree with the first few replies. It sounds like the video card is crapping out. EVGA has excellent support, at least.
Is the video card liquid cooled too? Is it over-clocked?
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5il3nc3r wrote on 2011-02-15 13:15
It's not BIOS related. x86-OSes (32-bit Windows) cannot detect more than 4 Gb TOTAL of memory (that's 4Gb including your RAM, video card memory, etc.)
If you have more than 4Gb of RAM, and want your computer to detect it (why wouldn't you?), then you HAVE to switch to an x64-OS (64-bit Windows).
If you already have a 64-bit OS, then make sure that your motherboard is also x64 compatible (maybe your motherboard doesn't have enough available channels to properly utilize all of your RAM.
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phresh wrote on 2011-02-15 23:40
Quote from 5il3nc3r;336759:
It's not BIOS related. x86-OSes (32-bit Windows) cannot detect more than 4 Gb TOTAL of memory (that's 4Gb including your RAM, video card memory, etc.)
...
Yeah, I realized that is probably the case hours after I posted. We just need Tasha to verify her OS to confirm.
If that is the case, the POST screen should report the correct amount of RAM, but Windows will not.
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Succ wrote on 2011-02-16 19:58
Two flags, but at least someone picked up on one of them.
First off the ram.
There's a lot of reasons why this happens, and involves a lot of work. Even then, you might not even get if fixed and probably have to buy new ram.
You first have to make sure each ram works. To do this, you have to shutdown, and only have one ram installed in the slot 1 and boot up. If computer recognizes each of them, that's a good sign. The next step would be to install two in slots 1 and 3. And interchange them around and see if they work together. Then the third one. If that doesn't help, it can be that your CPU is seated improperly, and you have to re-seat it to make sure the connections are solid.
There's more stuff to it, but it sounds like you have an EVGA mobo+gfx. You're best bet is to head over to the EVGA forums and read up on it. You're not the only one with this issue.
You have OCed your CPU. The question I have is, Have you verified that your OC is stable?
Go back to stock settings and see if it still happens.
Since you are hard locking and not BSOD, you're running against some voltage issues.
Hard locking usually points to ram issues.
Since your system is about 2 years, what is the brand of the PSU? These things usually don't last too long for me.. so I always have a spare around to see if that's faulty.
Is the graphics card OCed? It doesn't sound like it ... but something to ask...
Since you ran it for 20 minutes on precision, it should be good to go.