Most games crashing

D

dazzazzad

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I haven't played many games since December, so I thought that the one game that kept crashing was BF3's problem as that game used to work and then (I thought) after a new game patch it stopped working. Arkham City ran fine during this time but that's all I played since then. Recently I got Skyrim and had the same problem. I tried an older sports game that used to be fine and that has a problem as well, so clearly "it's not you it's me".

The game's generally start fine but once properly into the game itself it's normally 10-30 seconds before the crash.

The monitor flickers black and the sound continues and then in the case of BF3 I'm back on my desktop while still somewhat in game because the mouse cursor is the green tinged bf3 cursor. The game is running but I can't switch back to it. So I have to task manager quit. Skyrim is the same. Sound continues, flicker of black and then some sort of recovery and then I'm in the desktop but the game is still seemingly running. In the sports game it's the same only when it recovers I'm in the game menu as if I had hit the esc button. When I resume the action it will be fine for a few seconds and then the same deal. Once or twice (can't remember the game) I saw that "ati driver has recovered" message in windows as my icons refresh.

I have 6870 hawk and when I get new catalyst drivers I just install over the old ones. I followed some steps to try and uninstall and clear things properly before reinstalling the latest drivers. But that didn't change anything. Plus this has been happening for a couple months so it's occurred over at least 2-3 driver revisions.

The card is just a few months old. The rest of the system is 2-3 years.

Any ideas or suggestions? I'm at a bit of a loss.
 
Sounds like GPU, might be fine in windows, but when u loads a app/game that pushes it, it crashes. try borrow another gpu from someone and see if it sorts it out. Also try run a gpu benchmark program. Get a Temp program to see that its not overheating. If its only a few months old, return it and get a nvidia.
 
Short answer: no. I'm trying a driver clean out and going back to the last set that I'm 100% sure worked fine. If not then I guess try programs to test the RAM and CPU.

In December I did have an issue where I had to replace the motherboards battery, but that wouldn't cause a problem would it?
 
Barfish88 said:
Sounds like GPU, might be fine in windows, but when u loads a app/game that pushes it, it crashes. try borrow another gpu from someone and see if it sorts it out. Also try run a gpu benchmark program. Get a Temp program to see that its not overheating. If its only a few months old, return it and get a nvidia.
Click to expand...

You were doing fine, until you recommended a change in brand to fix the issue...
 
dazzazzad said:
Short answer: no. I'm trying a driver clean out and going back to the last set that I'm 100% sure worked fine. If not then I guess try programs to test the RAM and CPU.

In December I did have an issue where I had to replace the motherboards battery, but that wouldn't cause a problem would it?
Click to expand...

Hmmm, doubtful
I say do the usual battery of tests
IntelBurnTest (max RAM, 15 passes, although 5 usually fins an issue if there is one) will find CPU/RAM issues
Furmark for a few minutes without artifacts/freezing will confirm GPU is good
Then run both at the same time (you can sub Prime95 for IBT here if you want) to test GPU load.

All of the above could be affected by a bad mobo though :/

Remember to keep an eye on temps while doing the above, I find HWMonitor is a good all round monitor
 
It's the same PSU that I've had when I put together the system and haven't added anything but the new card, and that worked perfectly for a few months before this started happening.

GPU - Gonna reboot and reinstall drivers and then I'll try run futuremark.

What's strange is Arkham City ran without a hitch during this time.
 
Dont be fooled into thinking because it worked once its now fine. Intermittent issues tend to be RAM related, so IBT or Prime95 are your best bet to find the issue I think.

Oh, what OS are you running?
 
I used to sometimes get those coloured lines during games. Tried driver re-install, windows re-install, temp monitoring. Eventually I got rid of them by disabling every sound device except the one I am using. So no more ATI Hi Def sound and AMD sound. Sorted me out. Just have to remember to do it after every driver update or the lines come back.
 
This happen across all brands.
If all else fail make sure that your vendor attach a note when taking it to the service agent saying "Fail under heavy load"
That way they won't just test it in normal windows environment but with a tougher graphics load.
 
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Okay, update...

I used the ATI uninstaller to remove everything on there. Even the audio one. Rebooted.

Started installing those drivers from late November. When the screen goes black for the refresh it comes back and the screen is like...seriously messed up. Black with little bits of colour. Can barely make anything out except the installation progress bar which is doing it's thing. Installation finishes but I can't see where the "ok" button is so I just reboot.

http://i43.tinypic.com/34eup9k.jpg

The windows leading up to windows login look fine but as soon as I get to the login screen it's all black and messed up again. So I shut down and I remove the display cable to the other port.

Reboot. This time it looks back to normal. I play that sports game and manage a good few minutes without any hassles. Wondering if maybe it was the port, I quit game and try Skyrim...but I get the same crash with that one. Try BF3 and same crash so the sports game was just a bit of luck or it's less demanding or whatever.

So I'll run those tests but the black screen weirdness, does that lend support to a GPU problem?
 
In my case I was only accurately able to pinpoint whether it was my graphics card when i tested it into a spare machine. In my case it was indeed the graphics card. I got a swap out and no problem since.
But spare machines are not always a option.
What PSU do you have?
 
droid said:
In my case I was only accurately able to pinpoint whether it was my graphics card when i tested it into a spare machine. In my case it was indeed the graphics card. I got a swap out and no problem since.
But spare machines are not always a option.
What PSU do you have?
Click to expand...

Yeah, don't have a spare and sold my old card. And all my PC using friends have left CT.

GIGABYTE ODIN 585W
 
dazzazzad said:
Yeah, don't have a spare and sold my old card. And all my PC using friends have left CT.
Click to expand...
Where in CT are you, I might maybe possibly be able to help out tomorrow. Try Furmark for now, see what it does. The wierrd screen behaviour does suggest a GPU issue

GIGABYTE ODIN 585W
Click to expand...

Oh noes... the worst PSU :/
 
dazzazzad said:
Yeah, don't have a spare and sold my old card. And all my PC using friends have left CT.

GIGABYTE ODIN 585W
Click to expand...

Ouch i think there might be a chance it is your amps.
The 6870 requires about 28Amps and the total current on that PSU's two 12v rails is (16A+18A=34Amp)
Also many times combined amps is less than the mere sum of all 12V rails added together.
It's cutting it pretty thin on account that your CPU, HDD ect is also drawing current.
Maybe it is not this but keep it in mind.

http://www.gigabyte.com/products/product-page.aspx?pid=3046#sp
 
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So PSU's will lose charge over time? Because aside from the new card there's nothing new in there, and that card worked perfectly for the first 3 months or so. Think if I disconnect the DVD and try again that would be a good test, or is that unlikely to make enough of a difference.
 
They don't lose charge, but they do degrade over time. Unplugging the DVD wont make a difference. Run furmark and prime95, that'll really load your rig and be a good test to see if its the psu. If the gpu passes furmark on its own then you can eliminate the gpu us being the problem
 
Yeah, future fell on its face. It popped up a message saying it had to abort. The error message was...

std::exception
Device removed
 
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