Lots of different games freezing up for no apparent reason.

[Graphic]

At first I thought it was just one game but this is starting to seem like a serious issue.  Basically, Company of Heroes, Assassin's Creed, and Mass Effect are all freezing, forcing me to hard restart the PC.  This problem could be effecting other games, but I haven't played much else recently.  I do know that S.T.A.L.K.E.R. seems to be uneffected, so does Call of Duty 4.  I've known of Company of Heroes freezing for months, and just recently tried getting back into Assassin's Creed and Mass Effect which worked fine the first time I played them.  These games don't freeze right away or at predictable times, it seems totally random.  But if I keep playing these games, I will freeze.  Period.

I've been trying to figure out this problem for a week now.

I've ran memtest86 for ~5 passes.  RAM is in perfect condition.

I've ran Check Disk with "scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors" checked.  Harddrive is in perfect condition.

I've ran a pre-start up virus scan with Avast!  Found one infected dll, took care of it.

Ran Ad-Aware.  The usual tracking cookies crap, nothing extraordinary.

I've tried uninstalling Realtek HD audio drivers and using the Windows default.  Nothing.

I've tried old Nvidia drivers from February, the current retail drivers, and new beta drivers.  Nothing.

I've downloaded RivaTuner and Nvidia System Tools and jacked my GPU fan up to 100%.  Nothing.

I defragged.  Nothing.

I uninstalled Daemon Tools.  Nothing.

I'm out of ideas guys.

With my hardware being in apparently fine condition, I'm thinking it's got to be driver/software related, but I don't know what else to try.  Could it be Windows itself?

It may or may not be related, but I also have freeze/BSOD issues when running any kind of video capture software (with any game, including the ones that don't freeze), like Xfire's built-in recording and Fraps.  These freezes are also random but sure.

I've attached my DxDiag, but just let me know if you need any more information.

My Windows is genuine (though it once wasn't, in case that's relavent).  Vista Home Basic SP1, x86.  Onboard sound.  I don't have any constant protection running besides Windows Defender and Windows Firewall.

[recovering disk space -- attachment deleted by admin]

[typhoeus]

I don't know that much, but I think you're going to need to post more info about computer.  Read this: http://www.computerhope.com/forum/index.php/topic,33586.html.  Tell us what the BSOD says.  Do you use a joystick?  Sometimes my Saitek Joystick BSOD's my computer.  But overall, it seems like you have submitted a very good report.

[Graphic]

I did have a gamepad and drivers installed.  I forgot to mention that I also went on a mass uninstallation campaign of most things that I think might conflict and most of the games I don't play regularly, just in case.  Gamepad driver included.

IIRC the BSOD only occurs with the video capture issue, and it's usually somewhat random.  I've gotten IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL, PAGE_FAULT_IN_NON_PAGED_AREA, and something to do with NMR (network module registrar).  I've gotten the second two once, IRQL is the most common one.

All my system specs are included in the DxDiag, except I actually have 4GB of RAM, but it's not reported in 32 bit of course.

A few more tidbits: I'm not overclocked on anything.  I've researched freezing issues for all the mentioned games individually but there's really no consistent recognition of freezing issues and common ways to fix them.

[typhoeus]

Perhaps you uninstalled something important?  Can you remember anything you uninstalled?  Any problems during any uninstallations?  Sorry, I didn't read the DxDiag, as I would not understand anything in it.  Someone else more knowledgeable will have to help you.

[Graphic]

I meant that I went on an uninstalling spree recently, to try and fix the problem.

[typhoeus]

Oh, sorry.  Like I said, someone else will have to help you.  The extent of my computer knowledge can no longer help you.

[Broni]

What are your computer temperatures, idle, and while playing?

[Graphic]

GPU is 55-60 idle.  Hovers around 75-83 while playing.

That's while observing Mass Effect last night.  I'm sure it's a bit hotter when playing Crysis, though that's not a "freezer."

[Broni]

I'm more interested in your CPU temps.

[Graphic]

Sorry for the wait. 

I tested on a World in Conflict mp game.

CPU idle: 50-53

In game: 53-56

Didn't budge much, really.

Add Mercenaries 2 to the list of freezers.  Good thing the game sucks bad anyway, I'll just return it.

[Broni]

50-53 is pretty hot for idle computer. Is it desktop, or laptop? What processor?
I'm surprised, with game on, it goes up only few degrees.

Your errors indicate, most likely, overheating, or RAM problem.

If this is desktop, when was the last time, you cleaned it inside?

[Graphic]

Desktop

AMD Athlon 64 FX-62 Dual Core 2.8 GHz

Last week when I took out a faulty HDD I aired it out a little with some compressed air.  I'm a little low but I'll see what I can do to clean it out again to make sure.

Definitely not the RAM though, that's been thoroughly troubleshooted.  Or would it be troubleshot?

[Broni]

Your processor max. temp. is listed as 63C, so you're getting close.
Turn it off, clean inside with compressed air.
Turn it on with case open, see, if all fans are running.
Get house fan, point it toward the case, and see, if temps will get lower.

[Graphic]

Opened it up and took a look.  Don't know how to take off the CPU fan, but I could see underneath that the heatsink was pretty dirty.  I'm out of compressed air so I did my best with a q-tip.  All the fans are running fine (I have an Antec 900 case btw so thats like 73 fans ).

Still at 52 C on the desktop.

A friend of mine told me that since my PC has been running non stop for 2-3 days or even more (save lots of restarting and a 20 minute break while I looked inside), that it's normal to run warm and that it takes some extreme heat to crash a system from overheating.  He also suggested it might be a problem of IRQ sharing.

I also wanted to note that the games don't become unstable, choppy, chuggy, there are no artifacts, etc. or anything like that.  It just goes from 60 FPS perfect performance on very high settings one second, to 0 when it freezes on the next frame.  I've also never, ever, ever froze/BSOD in windows itself even while encoding/burning or other resource hog activities.  I'm not sure that seems like overheating.

I'm not being dismissive of your help, I just want to make sure you have the full picture and perhaps tell me if my friend knows what he's talking about LOL

One other thing, when I googled my processor and "temperature," all the online stores in the specs have "Temperature 55 C (131 F) to 63 C (145.4 F) Maximum"  Not sure what the 55 is supposed to indicate, but for what its work, it seemed to stay around/below that.

At any rate, I'll get some compressed air ASAP and do a through clean.

[Broni]

A friend of mine told me that since my PC has been running non stop for 2-3 days or even more (save lots of restarting and a 20 minute break while I looked inside), that it's normal to run warm

This is simply not true. No matter how long computer is on, it should hold pretty steady temperature. The only influence should be your room temperature.
For instance, yesterday, it was pretty hot around here (over 30C outside), so my CPU was recording around 35C with several programs running.
Today, it cooled down to 19C on the outside, and my CPU temp stays at around 21-22C.
Over 50C for idle desktop is not acceptable.

Your processor: http://users.erols.com/chare/elec.htm

[Graphic]

Well sh*t, I think I may have found the problem.

I dled CrystalCPUID.  Somehow my processor is OC'd by 57%!?



I don't remember messing with it.

*edit*

Upon futher analysis, it's supposed to be like that. 

Also I've tried another temp monitoring program "Core Temp" and it shows both the cores in the low 40's, which is making me wonder which one of these programs are accurate, if either.  Do you have a reccomended one?

[Graphic]

OK I just did something really really stupid

i was in bios i was going to see what the temp diff was when i underclock the cpu, i set the multiplier down to 4x from 14 and now my pc wont post, just hit power, fans, lights, etc. comes on but i got a blank screen, no beep

PLEASE tell me there's a way to fix this.

[Broni]

Grrrrrrrr.....
Turn computer off, remove CMOS battery for few minutes.