Game freezing, sound looping, then normal : repeat...

[hulapluto]

Hey Everyone,

Just wondering if you guys could help me on this weird issue that started happening recently with my new system. As from the title, when gaming (so far every game... oblivion, COD2, Fable, Rise of nations, etc) after a while, sometimes 10 minutes, sometimes half an hour, the game will freeze, the sound will loop and do a feedback sort of thing then start playing again, usually the performance is downgraded slightly. Rebooting doesn't seem to help much...

I'm not overclocking at all, nor have I been, plus I have never seen the nvidia notificiation for heat so i'm not sure its the video card (drivers 84.21). The soundblaster audio card is rather old, but using the drivers off the creative site. Haven't had problems like this before.

Any suggestions?

 

[iss]

What is your Mobo, cpu,ram, video card, and PSU?

 

[wolfram]

Hi and Welcome to Techspot!

Get the latest drivers for everything (video, audio, chipset). Check your system temps with THIS PROGRAM.

Also, check for viruses and spyware.
Good luck! :wave: :wave:

 

[hulapluto]

Processor:
AMD64 3200+ venice
Motherboard:
Abit KN8 Ultra
Memory:
Gig Corsair value select
Cooling:
Artic Cooling Silencer64
Videocard:
eVGA 7600GT
Soundcard/Speakers:
Soundblaster live plat
Hard Disk(s):
Samsung 250Gig Sata 3g
Case:
Antec SLK3800B 400watts

*update* might be down for the count until RMA, frickening took the side of the case off since I also notice a ball bearing grinding noise, and I noticed the CPU fan slowing down and barely turning... this might explain a few things, but I swapped coolers out and now she won't boot. Something toasted methinks.

 

[wolfram]

Did you install correctly the new cooler, and applied thermal grease?

I hope your CPU is still alive :hotbounce :dead: .
Does your computer beep or stays quiet?

 

[hulapluto]

yep, the cooler was installed correctly, the fan just seemed to die. But I got my new cpu last week, swapped out sound cards and it was still happening. So I called evga tech support and they recommended downclocking it... it seemed to be a little bit more stable, but i haven't tested all my games yet. We'll see. Seems I bought the factory overclocked card.

 

[nosajdrac]

I have the exact same problem as hulapluto. I've tried everything I can think of.
I think it's a driver issue. I also have a 7600GT, but it's an XFX, not EVGA. Nevertheless, has anyone found a solution?

 

[hulapluto]

downclock the card, mine hasn't croaked since i did that.

 

[nosajdrac]

downclock the card, mine hasn't croaked since i did that.

I wish it were that easy. My core was running at 580, I downclocked to 550. I played Civilization 4 for 2 hours with no freezing (which is an amazing accomplishment) but, it was at the cost of performance. After about 2 hours I got 3 consecutive freezes. So it works to an extent, but certainly does not solve the problem. :-\ Thanks for the reply.
Also, just curious, how much did you downclock, memory or core, and I most definitely voided my warranty by doing this?

 

[hulapluto]

I think mine went down to 550 as well, don't remember on the other number... thinking something like 720? I guess to be honest i can't remember playing games more than 2 hours at a stretch... work, kids, ya know... But I do remember evga saying that if that didn't solve the problem I could rma it. Have you called your manufactuerer?

 

[nosajdrac]

Yeah, I had contacted them via "help desk" (XFX's dumb online help thing) I talked to them over that for a month. They never suggested this, nor said a word about RMAing the card. I suggested it, but they insisted that the problem was another component. They first blamed my CPU, later my PSU, RAM, and finally Motherboard. Eventually I just stopped talking to them because I knew they were talking out of their ***. They couldn't figure it out.
Although, I don't even think it could be my video card because when I put this thing in my brothers rig it performs flawlessly. I bet it's some kind of conflict between particular components I have. I don't know, at this point I'm just guessing.

 

[scooter]

Hey,
Just wonderin' are you runnin' a PC express card if so two of them? And with the SLI card bus installed?

 

[hulapluto]

Sounds like you got some pretty poor tech support...

Your issue is identical to mine so i'd say it has to be the card. I originally thought it might be the sound card, but it didn't do the looping thing in anything other than gaming, and I do computer audio/video editing as well.

Have you tried asking for a manager?

 

[nosajdrac]

Yeah I'm not too pleased with them.Well, I've never had a conversation with them on the phone, because I couldn't find their tech support number anywhere. I think it's all about the "help desk". I'm going to try and RMA through Newegg.