PC locks up during gaming - Minidummps included

[Pera]

I just put new parts in my computer couple days ago and I started having this problem. Whenever I play Dark Age of Camelot, the game randomly freezes and locks up the computer. What exactly happens is the game suddenly freezes and stay that way for about 30-45 secs. then screen goes blank and re-apperas with this messy graphics. like all the colors are messed up and all I see is vertical lines accross the screen. Finally the computer Reboots.

One time I actually got a blue screen with the error message saying that ati2dvag.dll caused an error and something about an infinite loop. Here is my old system specs. Played DAOC with NO lock ups or freezes for a year.

AMD Athlon XP 1500+
512 mb DDR ram
Gigabyte Radeon 9600 Pro
400w PSU

Upgraded it to:

AMD Sempron 64 3000+
1512 mb DDR ram (3 x 512mb)
Gigabyte Radeon 9600 Pro (same card)
400w PSU (same psu)

Now the things I have done so far.

1) Tried to run the game with the old 512 ram only. New mobo + cpu. DAOC locks up

2) Put in the new 2 x 512 mb ram to have 1512 ram. new mobo+cpu. DAOC locks up.

3) tried ATI drivers 5.10 5.9 5.2. 1512 ram. new mobo+cpu. DAOC locks up.

4) Turned off Fast Writes and bring the AGP speed down to 4x. DAOC locks up.

When I go back to my house, I am going to try to bumb up the AGP voltage to 1.6 or higher from BIOS and also try to blow a fan in the case to make sure nothing is overheating. Although I know my CPU is not Overheating because right after the reboot I check my CPU temp. and its running around 29-31 C.

****UPDATED*****

I also tried a couple different things.

1) Turned down the AGP speed to 4x.
2) Turned off the Fast Write.
3) Upped the voltage about 10% from the original.
4) Rolled back the drivers to 4.12.

Now the game seems to work more stable, but it still locks up the pc. However this time the computer does not reboot and the game just freezes. Also now it seems like it only crashes after about 1 hour or 1.5 hours into gaming. I dled 3dmark and some other pc benchmarking software and my pc ran through them just fine without any lock ups. Also downloaded speed fan. My cpu runs at 31C during gaming and the vid card gets up to 55C.

I am out of options but I still don' think its the psu because its not that my computer just reboots during gaming, but it is the fact that the game locks up my pc and if I don't hard reboot it, it stays that way when I turn of the automated reboot from system recovery. I also don' think its the vid card going bad because the vid card worked perfectly fine till about 3 days ago when I put in the new mobo+cpu and rams.

Old mobo: Elitegroup K7VTA3
New mobo: GIGABYTE|GA-K8U ULi 1689

Old CPU: AMD Athlon xp 1500+
New CPU: AMD Sempron 64 3000+ Palermo

New Ram: CORSAIR D400 2 x 512M VS1GBKIT400
Old Ram: Not sure but its 1 512mb stick

When I first put the new parts in I formatted the hard drive and re-installed the windows. So it was a fresh install...

I guess I am just out of luck...

 

[howard_hopkinso]

All your minidumps are crashing with your ATI graphics card.

Try uninstalling, and reinstalling the drivers.

Also try updating your drivers to the latest version.

If you are already using the latest version, try using an older version.

Also check that your psu is providing enough power for your graphics card.

Regards Howard

 

[Pera]

I used the latest drivers (which is 5.10) and it still crashes.

Drivers I have used:


5.10 - 5.9 - 5.8 - 4.12

All crashed. I don't think you have read the whole post

How can I check if my card is getting enough power?

Thanks

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Give us your full system specs, including the make and wattage of your psu.

If you don`t know your system specs, then check the first link in my signature.

Regards Howard

 

[Pera]

mobo: GIGABYTE|GA-K8U ULi 1689

CPU: AMD Sempron 64 3000+ Palermo

New Ram: CORSAIR D400 2 x 512M VS1GBKIT400 AND 1 more 512 mb stick not sure the model and make (its an old one) TOTAL RAM: 1512mb 3 sticks

Vid Card: Gigabyte Radeon 9600Pro 128mb

HD: 40 GB not sure what make (3 years old)

PSU : 400w and 2 years old not sure what make

OS: WIn XP Pro

 

[howard_hopkinso]

Is it only the one game you are having problems with?

If so check with the games manufacturers website for any patches etc.

Also go HERE and follow the instructions for testing your ram, just as a precaution.

Is your psu a cheap no name brand that came with your case?

Go HERE and check out your sytems power requirements. Just remember to add another 30% to whatever figure it gives you.

This is because, even a good quality psu will only achieve around 70% efficiency. A cheap psu wont achieve anywhere near that.

Regards Howard

 

[Pera]

Is it only the one game you are having problems with?

If so check with the games manufacturers website for any patches etc.

Also go HERE and follow the instructions for testing your ram, just as a precaution.

Is your psu a cheap no name brand that came with your case?

Go HERE and check out your sytems power requirements. Just remember to add another 30% to whatever figure it gives you.

This is because, even a good quality psu will only achieve around 70% efficiency. A cheap psu wont achieve anywhere near that.

Regards Howard

Its an online game so they patch it often. Also I am not the only one that is having the issue with the game.

By the way ran 2 passes with memtes86 and got 0 errors.

Also I need 189 watts for all my parts and the psu is 400w. so even if the psu is working 50% I still have enough.

Any other suggestions?

 

[howard_hopkinso]

The fact that you`re not the only person having problems with this particular game, would suggest that it`s something wrong with the game, and not your system.

Try contacting the game manufacturers.

Please let us know if this problem gets resolved.

Regards Howard

 

[Pera]

Ok I think I finally identified the problem... It is not that on my end but its on the game clients end. I have 3 different game.dll installed on my computer for the same game. lets say the 3 different clients represent the 3 expensions that DAOC has. Now expension 1 is being the oldest and expension 3 is being the newest, my machine only locks up when I use the expension 2 and 3's client.

When I use the oldest game client I can play for hours without a problem. As for now I have no clue what to do to make my comp work with the newest expensaion client. I think I ll just wait to hear from the developers.

 

[Pera]

Ok this is seriously started to bother heck out of me. This card used to run this game perfectly normal before I put ion this new mobo and cpu. Could it be that maybe my mobo is defected? I really want to solve this problem and I don't have time nor money to buy a new vid card. Please help me!!!

 

[Danl65]

Pera,
I am having the same problem as well. The Catacombs and Darkness Rising expansions both lock up at various points.

System Info:
CPU Type: AMD Athlon XP-A, 2100 MHz (5.25 x 400) 3000+
CPU Alias:Barton
Motherboard ID VIA_K7$KT600200A6590VMS V5.2 090503
Motherboard Name MSI KT6 Delta-L (MS-6590 v2.0)
Physical Memory (2 x 512 Mushkin)
Total 1023 MB
Used 458 MB
Free 565 MB
Utilization 45 %

Swap Space
Total 3996 MB
Used 391 MB
Free 3605 MB
Utilization 10 %

Virtual Memory
Total 5020 MB
Used 849 MB
Free 4170 MB
Utilization 17 %

Chipset Properties
Motherboard Chipset VIA VT8377 Apollo KT600
In-Order Queue Depth 4
CAS Latency 2T
RAS To CAS Delay 3T
RAS Precharge 2T
RAS Active Time 6T

Memory Slots
DRAM Slot #1 512 MB (DDR SDRAM)
DRAM Slot #2 512 MB (DDR SDRAM)

AGP Properties
AGP Version 3.05
AGP Status Enabled
AGP Aperture Size 256 MB
Supported AGP Speeds 1x, 2x, 4x, 8x
Current AGP Speed 8x
Fast-Write Supported, Enabled
Side Band Addressing Supported, Enabled

Video Card: PowerColor ATI Radeon 9600Pro 256MB
PS - Antec TruePower 450
Audio Adapter VIA AC'97 Enhanced Audio Controller
Disk Drive Maxtor 6B200R0 (200GB) 77% free on C: partition, 72% on D: partition. App is installed on D: partition.

Many times the system will hard lock - each time the crash is within the ATI graphics driver. It is only Dark Age of Camelot that crashes and only the last two releases. The time it takes to lock up varies. Sometimes it is 10 minutes, other times it is 2 hours, sometimes I never lock up for the entire game session.

 

[not_4(.SALE.)10]

Hey me TOO!!!

hey that happens to me in star wars battle front both of them (fans will know what im saying) so i contacted lucas arts its you ATI graphics card. Well the story is they have done test on the card they been having alot of problems so they created a file you can download off there website if not you might have to contact the ATI company or call AMD you can download it from AMD's site too.

Finally some one's having the same problem im having(Im not alone in the world!!!!!!!!)
LOL