System freezes while playing certain games...HELP!

Bodom · Post by **Bodom** » 02-08-2003 21:04

I just built a custom system and am running into a nasty system freeze/crash error while playing games. First I’ll give my system parts, then a description of the crash and my attempted fixes. Any input as to how to fix this problem is appreciated.

System (all hardware has latest drivers, including DirectX 9.0):
OS: Windows XP Professional
MB: ASUS P4P800 w/ onboard audio/ethernet
CPU: Intel P4 2.8 800fsb OCed to 3.0ghz
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9700 Pro
Sound Card: Creative Audigy 2
NIC: Linksys Ethernet 10/100
Hard Drives: 80, 120, and 200 GB Western Digital Caviar Special Edition
DVD: Samsung 16x DVD
CD-RW: Samsung 52/24/52 CD-R/RW
PCI: SIIG Ultra ATA 133 Expansion Card

Basically, whenever I play a game on the PC, including UT2003, Battlefield 1942, etc, after 1-5 min the system freezes and I have to manually reset.

At first I attributed the crashes in games to the overclocking, so I tried downclocking/reinstalling XP after each crash. Eventually I got back down to 2.8 and the games crash w/ a fresh install, so I concluded it’s not due to the OCing. Next I tried updating Windows w/ SP 1 and all of the recent critical updates, but the crash continued. At this point I was only testing the system with Unreal Tournament 2003, and it was consistently crashing. I tried a clean install of XP, and installed only my video drivers and UT2003 and tried playing. The game stayed stable for the 20 minutes I played, so I assumed it was the Audigy 2 conflicting with something on the system. After installing the sound drivers, UT2003 started crashing again. Later, by chance, while looking at the ut2003.ini file, I realize that the game was set to Direct 3D rather than OpenGL for some reason. I manually switched it to OpenGL, and since then it hasn’t crashed, even with the Audigy 2 drivers installed. I chalked the system freeze problem up to a fluke at this point, and declared it fixed…until…

After installing Counter-strike and playing it on OpenGL, it worked fine. So far CS has yet to crash on me. Following that I installed Soldier of Fortune 2 and Battlefield 1942, and updated both. When trying to run these games, the crash bug came back. Neither has an option to switch between Direct 3D and OpenGL, so I don’t know what they’re running in. I can play SoF 2 fine for about 5 min, then it crashes the system. However, I can’t even enter a battle on BF1942 without the system freezing. I tried disabling sounds in both to no avail. I tried downgrading my video drivers from Catalyst 3.6 to Catalyst 3.5 with no change. This is the point I’m at now…and I’ll be damned if I have a clue what’s going on. I checked the Event Log in Administrative Tools, and the only errors it shows are CD-ROM errors which I assume have nothing to do with the system freezing. BF1942 and SoF2 both require CDs, and I have one in each drive, so both drives would have to be defective somehow for that to be the problem. Just for the record, I tried both DirectX 8.1 and DirectX 9.0, and there was no difference in crash frequency.

As of right now, I have no clue where to go or what to try. I think the problem has to do with a conflict between any of the following: Direct 3D, DirectX, Audigy 2, on board sound, and the CD drives. Can anybody help me?

Xelent · Post by **Xelent** » 02-08-2003 21:08

Make sure you have the latest drivers for your mobo. My last mobo was an A7N266 (shittiest motherboard in history, thank you for wasting my 84 dollars asus), I couldnt play any games related to DirectX because the chipset would fuck up. (not to mention you cant get a refund or fix that problem)

gnomeh · Post by **gnomeh** » 02-08-2003 21:34

Make sure everything is in nice and tight in your case and that no rib sauce is on your mobo.
When I was having my strange problems, it was mIRC scripts but I doubt thats your problem.

Chrisfu · Post by **Chrisfu** » 02-08-2003 22:21

Check your IRQ list and make sure most devices have their own IRQ assigned.

Make sure there is NOTHING in the PCI slot next to your GFX card.

Check your CPU temps.

Check the PCI latency timing of your PCI/AGP devices.

Try disabling AGP fast writes, dropping AGP speed to x4 and then x2.

fro · Post by **fro** » 02-08-2003 22:34

i had random lockups using dx9, after i rolled back to dx8.1b all was fine.

have you tried disabling the onboard sound?

what mode are the cdroms set to use? dma mode for cdroms can sometimes cause/solve probs.

Bodom · Post by **Bodom** » 02-08-2003 22:44

"Make sure there is NOTHING in the PCI slot next to your GFX card."

Why's this?

"Check the PCI latency timing of your PCI/AGP devices."

eh?

"have you tried disabling the onboard sound?"

I attempted to disable it via device manager, is there a better way to do it?

fro · Post by **fro** » 02-08-2003 23:09

you should be able to disable it via the bios, same goes for modification of timings

some mobos dont like cards next to the pci slot holding your gfx card, albeit a heat/power issue, its just condidered good practice not to slot a card there

RaGe*NL* · Post by RaGe*NL* » 02-08-2003 23:15

600 mhz, never freezes, u SEE! , new isnt always good

Bodom · Post by **Bodom** » 02-08-2003 23:51

Apparently Radeon 9700 Pro isn't a card supported by the MB...that is, it supports cards with a certain pin number or later, and mine falls before that pin number. I guess this means time for a new MB...anybody know a good replacement w/ 800 FSB and Radeon 9700 Pro support?

Surge · Post by **Surge** » 03-08-2003 02:01

DFI Lan Party boards are really nice but will run you a bit of cash unfortunetally...

They're made for overclocking and running at high temperatures with no performance reduction. Definatly a good idea if you plan on overclocking to a 3.0 and since they're Lanparty boards they're pretty well designed for gaming and higher end video cards of all makes.

edit: if you get one make sure you get at least a 6 month warrenty.. either it'll work 100% stable with no problems at all or it'll be a nightmare just begging to be hit with a light blunt object such as a hammer or a baseball bat.

Talk to Psyche if you want to know anything about comp parts.. hes the man.

Fallen · Post by **Fallen** » 03-08-2003 15:01

What is the name of your mobo?

I found a few asus mobo's that have a 800mhz fsb.

P4-865PE MAXII
http://www.fica.com/site/html/products/ ... =240000706

P4-865PE MAX
http://www.fica.com/site/html/products/ ... =240000705

P4M-865G MAX
http://www.fica.com/site/html/products/ ... =240000704

P4-875P MAX
http://www.fica.com/site/html/products/ ... =240000649

One problem that you might encounter is that the bios need to be updated. The mobo's are new and need a few things to fix.

You might have to find more info about this, email asus and ask them if they have similar problems with the mobo. If there is a warranty, try to get a different mobo.

go with this mobo - Gigabyte GA-8KNXP (Intel 875P)
*suppose to be the best, didnt have time to check if its 800mhz but should be

Surge · Post by **Surge** » 03-08-2003 22:32

Fallen.. pincount is a hardware thing

Using his graphics card in his current board is like trying to us a tripple A battery in a double A slot. If it does work it craps out quickly

Fallen · Post by **Fallen** » 04-08-2003 04:39

surge, i didnt read thru the post correctly, give me a break, i was getting ready for my 12 hour shift at work!