Freeze on Startup of games

[tims]

Hey all,

Just today I've been getting freezes when I try to load any form of game. Namely World of Warcraft and Oblivion (the only 2 games I really play). I also have Monopoly by Parker Brothers, but it doesn't lock up for that

Just to describe it - the computer starts the program, with Oblivion I can get to the loading part, with WoW it's as soon as I enter the acual game (where you put in your account details). The computer then proceeds to lock up completely - no Ctrl+Alt+Del, etc. mouse is unresponsive, the colours distory (black on images for example goes white, fluro blue, etc.) and I get orange and/or blue dots all over my screen. I have noted that some of these 'dots' flash consistantly.

I've tried cleaning up my drives, cleaning up my registry, pulling the computer apart and cleaning everything, I re-installed Windows 7 Ultimate (my OS), reinstalled graphics and sound drivers, ran Memtest on all my ram sticks and came up with no errors, and the problem persists.

(I also reset my Mobo settings when I pulled my PC apart (pulled the mobo battery out for 10 minutes, not that that effects anything - I only done it because I accidently hit the wrong thing in load order to set CD-ROM first and saved then computer refused to boot even to get back into BIOS >.>)

Currenlty, I've run out of ideas, I got a blue screen once, however I can't remember its code (this was before I reinstalled windows) and it hasn't happened again since the first time. Any thought/suggestions? Thanks.

Quick overview of PC specs:

OS: Windows 7 Ultimate
RAM: 4GB
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E8500 @ 3.16GHz (2 CPUs), ~2.8GHz
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT (XFX version for what it's worth)

I also included a dxdiag report for you to check out if it will be helpfull.

 

[tims]

Forgot to mention I had also done a defrag of my drives, just setting the page file to 0 for min and max and doing another one now. (Done last one pre-reinstallation).

EDIT: I also forgot to mention that I ran a chkdsk with no errors.

 

[Route44]

The way you describe your symptoms when gaming sounds like artifacting and it appears this is happening under a more demanding load. This is a sign of either a driver issue (which you have already done updating) or the video card itself is dying. from my own experience the one card that died on me started doing so only while gaming but eventually started artifacting while just doing regular computer work.

1. Check your air flow and make sure all fans are working especially on your video card.

2. Test your Vram. See this link: http://majorgeeks.com/Video_Memory_Stress_Test__d5896.html

 

[tims]

Video Memory Stress Test
Test Type: DirectX
Log Errors Ticked, File Log ticked, Beef if errors found ticked, Devide: Nvidid GeForce 9800 GT, Test set: full, Surfaces Type, 1024x1024.
Ignore colors bit mask unticked as per programs suggestion
use onscreen buffers unticked.

Changing video mode to 640x480x16...OK
[4/24/2010 12:17:10 PM] Test started for "NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT "...
Trying 16bpp RGB:565 mode...OK
TEST FAIL (Code: 8876017C)
Trying 16bpp RGB:555 mode...OK
TEST FAIL (Code: 8876017C)
Trying 16bpp BGR:565 mode...NOT SUPPORTED (Code: 80004001)
Trying 32bpp RGB:888 mode...OK
TEST FAIL (Code: 8876017C)
Trying 32bpp BGR:888 mode...NOT SUPPORTED (Code: 80004001)
NO PASS COMPLETED

I'll run another one with Ignore colors bit mask now.

 

[tims]

Ok, Ingore Color Bit Mask turned on ...

Queue about 10,000 of that same error for separate parts of memory before I gave up hope on there not being an error somewhere.

What I gather from this is that my video card is dead?

Changing video mode to 640x480x16...OK
[4/24/2010 12:20:44 PM] Test started for "NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GT "...
Trying 16bpp RGB:565 mode...OK
TEST FAIL (Code: 8876017C)
Trying 16bpp RGB:555 mode...OK
Error at [3F000000]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000002]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000004]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000006]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000008]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00000A]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00000C]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00000E]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000010]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000012]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000014]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000016]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000018]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00001A]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00001C]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00001E]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000020]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000022]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000024]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000026]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000028]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00002A]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00002C]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00002E]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000030]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000032]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000034]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000036]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000038]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00003A]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00003C]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00003E]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000040]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000042]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000044]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000046]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000048]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00004A]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00004C]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00004E]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000050]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000052]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000054]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000056]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000058]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00005A]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00005C]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F00005E]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)
Error at [3F000060]: must be FFFF, but found 7FFF (bits: 1000000000000000)

 

[Route44]

One other test you can try is by running another card in your system. Yeah, its a bit of a pain because you first have to uninstall your current video card drivers, uninstall current card, run either Driver Sweeper or Driver Cleaner Pro (free versions) in safe mode to clean out any remaining drivers, and then install and boot up with new card and drivers, but it is a solid step to see if its your card.

How many errors did you get?

 

[tims]

I got to about 10,000 before I stopped the test., and it was still going without the progress bar moving an inch.
I don't have any other video cards that can go into this PC - the only other machine is a Laptop.

 

[Route44]

I got to about 10,000 before I stopped the test., and it was still going without the progress bar moving an inch.
I don't have any other video cards that can go into this PC - the only other machine is a Laptop.

Friend or associate possibly who would be willing to let you install it for a test run?

 

[tims]

Hey,

Went out and got a new graphics card, problem fixed.

Thanks for the help

 

[tims]

Sorry, thought I'd updated this - I went out and brough a new graphics card and problem has been solved.

Thanks for the help.

 

[Route44]

Sorry, thought I'd updated this - I went out and brough a new graphics card and problem has been solved.

Thanks for the help.

Thanks for getting back to us. Good to see Vram is a reliable test and the symptoms bore out it was artifacting and thus dying (not that the card itself was dying was good).

 

[tims]

Thanks for getting back to us. Good to see Vram is a reliable test and the symptoms bore out it was artifacting and thus dying (not that the card itself was dying was good).

Hehe, not good at all