Help! All games are freezing..

R

rockfnbttm

New Member
About 2-3 minutes into EVERY game, it will just freeze and I'm forced to power off my PC. I just recently updated drivers for my card. It's happened with the last 2 games I tried to install, Call of Duty & Brother in Arms. My specs are:

2.8 Ghz P4
1gb ddr pc 2700 ram
geforce 6600gt 128mb
80gb hard drive

Anybody have any clue what's going on?
 
Make sure all the fans are spinning in your machine. make sure there is not a lot of dust gathered in your pc case. It sounds like over heating. make sure the fan specifically on the video card is spinning....
 
maybe your cpu or video card has been overclocked to the state where it can't handle it for too much so it freezes, and also like said above try cleaning the dust in your comp
 
As Troy said, sounds like an overheating issue. On the other hand, for the sake of suggestion, I would also look into your power supply. I had a similiar problem in the past in which when I would start playing games, watch a movie, or anything that pulled more power than idle, my PC would just shut off.
 
Thanks for the suggestions. What's weird is I had my card OC'ed for a while and games were working fine. I just recently reset it back to factory defaults, and that's when I started having the problem. I will try dusting out the inside, hope that works. Thanks for the advice
 
Just checked video card fan, spinning fine. Checked my temp, 52 degrees C, which is normal I believe, dusted out my case. I'm going to try running BiA again. If same thing happens, I will do a thorough dusting of my comp.
 
Let us know how it goes, good luck. You may also want to DL a program in which you can monitor your PSU to make sure it is running stable.
 
Tried again, same result. Only lasted about a minute this time before it froze. Maybe I'll try taking out the RAM. I do have the program Motherboard Monitor. Wow I just noticed, it's running MUCH hotter than normal. 72 degrees C for the CPU. Not sure what's going on, because it used to be much cooler than this, but I haven't done anything to the computer.
 
Yup there is your problem. Your cpu is hitting the heat threshold and as a safeguard, shutting down. Either you have dust in your heatsink/fan causing it to not operate at capacity or the fan is dying/dead. Look into that quick or you could eventually face a burnt out cpu.
 
52C is too high by my personal preference, 72C is too high in general, way too high. you need to make sure youre CPU heatsink is seated correctly and it's got thermal paste correctly applied.

At that temp you can damage your hardware. Makes sure your room/ambient temp is pretty decent as welll, dont run the PC in a room thats 80F+. The case temp should be relatively cool to help keep components cool. If your case is too warm, you probably need mroe system fans and better air circulation. You'll want to stay within 30C-40C idle, and shouldn't go over ~50C load with decent air cooling.
 
Ok guys, I installed a new DVD-RW last night, and I just realized that I had a few wires blocking the fan off.. I've cleared the way for the fan, and I am now idling between 58 and 60 degrees, which is normal for my comp. Seems like everything is back to normal, so hopefully I can run my games now. Will give it a shot AGAIN
 
That's still too high, even if it's always been those temps. Standard idle temperatures should be in the 30-40C range, and load shouldn't go past mid 50C. A $50 or less aftermarket CPU cooler can grant you these temps, so it's not like you need super cooling. With a 24/7 of 58C you are shortening the life of the CPU, and opening up your system to malfunction early, liek these game freezes.
 
4W4K3 said:
That's still too high, even if it's always been those temps. Standard idle temperatures should be in the 30-40C range, and load shouldn't go past mid 50C. A $50 or less aftermarket CPU cooler can grant you these temps, so it's not like you need super cooling. With a 24/7 of 58C you are shortening the life of the CPU, and opening up your system to malfunction early, liek these game freezes.
Click to expand...


You are absolutely correct. Is 58C acceptable? Yes. Is it good for your system? Not at all. Like 4w4k3 said, you may want to seriously consider investing in an aftermarket heatsink and fan.
 
I shop at newegg all the time. Suggestions on a good heatsink/fan? I just read some reviews on some good fans at newegg, and most of the reviews are saying they idle between 30-35 degrees, and 40 at full load.. mine is idling at almost 60, so I can tell now there's defninitely a problem.
 
Are games the only thing that freezes? Try doing other stuff like encoding a DVD or something intense like that to see if it freezes.
 
Camper said:
Before buying an aftermarket cpu cooler i would reinstall your cpu cooler. I would also clean off all the old thermal past and apply a new compound like antec silver.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835129001
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Yes, this is a good step to be sure you don't really need an aftermarket cooler if your current one is jsut not properly installed. If your results do not differ after a re-seat, you can be sure that your cooling is not adequate.
 
Hey guys, thanks for all your advice. I'm not sure how to take out my fan, but I did open up my computer and cleaned it out. I re-snapped it in place, and now I'm idling at 42-45 degrees. MUCH better, and everything seems back to normal. Thanks again for everyone's help
 
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