Games freeze/crash after 10 mins or less

[Fr0s7y]

I recently bought a Gainward 9600GT 512MB but I'm having some troubles when running games - after I play something (for example Modern Warfare 2, NBA 2k10) for 10-15 minutes the screen just freezes then flickers and I gotta either close the game via task manager or reset my computer. Or when I play a movie sometimes the screen freezes, sound continues and then it goes back to normal in a few secs. I thought my old 400W PSU was not powerful enough to supply the card sufficiently so I bought a new Fortron 500W but the problems remained. Could this mean that my GPU is faulty? It's about 20 days old. My computer specs are:
500W PSU
Intel C2D E4300+ @1.8GHz
2x1GB RAM Kingston DDRII @ 667
HDD - Seagate 180GB SATA
CD/DVD ROM
Gainward 9600GT 512MB
When I check the temperature after a game crashes it's about 50-60 degrees. I did a RAM Check using memtest and i stressed the GPU using Video Card Stress Test. It got up to 80 degrees for about 15 mins and got no artifacts or freezes or anything like that.
My CPU temps are ~50. I'm using Windows XP SP2 and I've installed the most recent drivers. I've tried using older drivers but that didnt work either.

Sometimes when games crash I also get a BSOD. I opened the crash dump files and here's the info:
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for ntoskrnl.exe
Windows XP Kernel Version 2600 (Service Pack 2) MP (2 procs) Free x86 compatible
Product: WinNt, suite: TerminalServer SingleUserTS
Machine Name:
Kernel base = 0x804d7000 PsLoadedModuleList = 0x8055c700
Debug session time: Mon Nov 23 17:42:44.656 2009 (GMT+2)
System Uptime: 0 days 0:03:24.390
Unable to load image ntoskrnl.exe, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for ntoskrnl.exe
Loading Kernel Symbols
...............................................................
.........................................................
Loading User Symbols
Loading unloaded module list
.......
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for nv4_disp.dll
*************************************************************************** ****
* *
* Bugcheck Analysis *
* *
*************************************************************************** ****

Use !analyze -v to get detailed debugging information.

BugCheck 100000EA, {883d3020, 89b8c600, b84ebcbc, 1}

Unable to load image watchdog.sys, Win32 error 0n2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for watchdog.sys
ERROR - could not read driver name for bugcheck parameter 3

Probably caused by : nv4_disp.dll ( nv4_disp!CDP2GPU<CCurie>::CDP2GPU<CCurie>+936 )

So should I try some particular version of NVidia drivers?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Renegeek]

Sounds like u have some type of clocking issue or temp problem...

First use CPUz, check out all setings,
then use HW monitor, to check CPU temp, and MOBO temps, and voltages.
3.) use GPUz to check out your video card settings...
4.) run a MEM test in dos, to see if u have any falty ram...
5.) check all bios settings... something could be configured wrong.

well, thats all i'v got... hope this helps

 

[Renegeek]

Try checking the temps

The last thing, it could be the drivers...

 

[Fr0s7y]

Sounds like u have some type of clocking issue or temp problem...

First use CPUz, check out all setings,
then use HW monitor, to check CPU temp, and MOBO temps, and voltages.
3.) use GPUz to check out your video card settings...
4.) run a MEM test in dos, to see if u have any falty ram...
5.) check all bios settings... something could be configured wrong.

well, thats all I'v got... hope this helps

Here's a screen of HW Monitor. I've checked video card settings and I've ran a RAM test using Memtest under windows. I reset the BIOS settings to default. The problem remains.

 

[Fr0s7y]

buuuuuuuuuuuuump!

 

[Renegeek]

viewing your pic, it looks like your mem could have too much voltage... what is it rated at...

if it rated at 1.5, (your volt is at 1.79) thats a bit high...

if it is rated at 1.8 (try increaseing the bios to 1.85) some ram are a bit different... and need a bit more to run right.

u may want to look into that and see what the default, (PER the manufacture volt should be)

i hope we can figure this out...

i'm trying man... (this is a tuffy)

 

[Fr0s7y]

Yeah, it really is. Some people advised reinstalling the OS. I'll try to find out something about the voltages. Thanks for the effort

 

[Fr0s7y]

Anyone????

 

[TomSEA]

Any reason you haven't gone to XP SP3? Not saying it'll solve your problems, but couldn't hurt to try it out.

 

[Fr0s7y]

I'll try that. I tried playing Quake and Worms World Party...and couldn't. Got black screens or freezes.I did a video card stability test using this and nothing went wrong and I did it for over 20 mins. But when I try to play a game...

 

[Fr0s7y]

I tried reseating the card a couple of times with no success. I still haven't had time to reinstall my OS though. Any new ideas anyone?

 

[Xecutor]

What videocard do u use and what driver version are u using? Sometimes, reverting to an older driver version may correct video problems in games; since there is no apparent source for your problem, I am thinking it might be driver-related. My 195.62 nvidia WHQL drivers were highly unstable, so I had to revert to one version back... Your situation might differ, but worth a try.

 

[Fr0s7y]

I did try reverting back to older drivers. And as stated before I'm using a 9600GT by Gainward. At first I used latest drivers and then tried older ones but with no success

 

[acefsj]

How much space is on your hard drive

 

[Fr0s7y]

50-60 GB. Why would that matter?

 

[acefsj]

Ya but you still have lot's of room and your sure your card meets the requirments for the game i had this same problem once but can't remember what idid to fix it

 

[Fr0s7y]

...bump....

 

[Fr0s7y]

Seriously? Anyone?