ArmA freezing after a few minutes

[Deadeye 1]

Alright folks here is my problem , I can't play any games..the computer freezes a couple minutes (often the freeze is over after about 10 seconds but from time to time I have to reboot)

First of all my system specs :

CPU Type : DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, 2400 MHz (9 x 267)

Motherboard Name : Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4 (2 PCI, 3 PCI-E x1, 2 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)

Motherboard Chipset : Intel Broadwater P965

System Memory : MDT 1024 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM)

BIOS Type : Award Modular (09/20/06)

Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT (512 MB)

3D Accelerator :nVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT

Monitor : Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (YETH014133)

Power Supply : LC-Power LC6550G 550 W (but I've read that it only gives 420 Watt)

Soundcard : onboard Realtek ALC883

HDD : Maxtor 7V250F0 (250 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)

Problem : No matter what game I start, the PC always freezes after a few minutes. Most of the time it locks up for around 10 seconds (with the latest sound beeing played in a loop), but sometimes it completly crashed and forces me to reboot.

This failure happens in every game....I've experienced it in Armed Assault but also in OFP and nearly every game I played (can't remember all the games)

Before I updated my drivers I also had strange graphic bugs...but that seems to be fixed now.

I've tried several benchmark and stress apps but couldn't detect an error.

I tried :

- Prime 95 (2x running to get the 2 cores to 100%)

- Memtest86+ ( For the RAM)

- PC Mark 2006 (for the GPU and the rest of the PC)

- Everest 3.5 (overall Benchmark get the results here)

- Real-Time High Dynamic Range Image-Based Lighting (Still running twice ..no crash yet)

The temperature of the CPU/GPU/HDD/Mainborad seem just find. But does anyone know any other tools that can log the temperatures so I can see if there's something weird when the PC locks up?

The strange thing is that I don't have any problems while using the PC without playing. Even demanding apps like PS or Adobe Premiere (while rendering) can't crash my system.

Only games and I do have this problems since I received the PC.

On a sidenote the GPU reaches a max temperature of 83° C (while hanging or playing). CPU temperature also seems regular

Help is appreciated

[Mr_Tea 0]

The GPU Temp is too high, me thinks.

Have you use coolbits to get the full control over the driver?

If not, do that and check the debug info in the control panel.

edit:

Is the GPU properly cooled?

[Deadeye 1]

Thanks for the reply.

1. I downloaded and "installed" coolbits and had a look in the control panel, but I can't seem to find debug info.

2. Temperature too high? Hm might be but judging from

this article 83 is high but not too high.

My idle temperature is 56°C, and my PC case is completely open .

[Mr_Tea 0]

Thanks for the reply.

1. I downloaded and "installed" coolbits and had a look in the control panel, but I can't seem to find debug info.

2. Temperature too high? Hm might be but judging from

this article 83 is high but not too high.

My idle temperature is 56°C, and my PC case is completely open .

The completely opened case is the perfect way to destroy the airflow.

A few fans for the case would be the better solution.

The debug section can be found 2 steps down from the temperature settings.

[Radius 0]

Agreed. NEVER EVER LEAVE YOUR CASE OPEN!! They are specifically designed to keep the air flowing over the components. Remove the cover on the case, fry your system. I've seen this in the past quite a bit.

Although 83 degrees C is a bit low to cause thermal issues, it might happen. I would suggest a bunch of case fans and make sure some are blowing over the video boars AND the motherboard chips.

That's the biggest concern actually, a lot of people these days think CPU temps are important, but they aren't as important as mother board chips anymore. A standard heat sink on the CPU is good, but make sure all addon boards and the MB itself is well ventilated.

[rowdied 44]

Did you try updating the sound drivers for the MB and the newest version of openal?

Sounds (no pun intended) like it's audio related, but I could be wrong.

I have the same VD and have had no problems with it.

Do you use any registry cleaners? If not try one of these

1.Winaso

2.CCleaner

3.Advanced windows care

I've sometimes experienced crashes and general problems but within the last year started using those 3 free programs and it helped clean up my computers and made them run and start much faster. Worth a try.

[Rough Knight 9]

Hi mate,

Have you tried turning off Anti-Virus. Sometimes this can cause conflicts regardless of what game you play.

I had an issue where this was the case, where I would often see BSOD with NVDISP.dll being the faulting module. This is the NVIDIA driver. I was thinking it was my Video card but ended up being anti-virus.

http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic92987.html

I wouldnt recommend doing this without unpluging your ethernet cable or internet access somehow, but it is another thing you can try.

Good luck.

Thanks

Frosty

[SWAT_BigBear 0]

Run DXDIAG, and see if it reports any sound issues.

The "looping" you hear, could be where the freezing in sound could be causing the problems.

[Deadeye 1]

Thanks for the reply folks.

Quote[/b] ]Run DXDIAG, and see if it reports any sound issues.

The "looping" you hear, could be where the freezing in sound could be causing the problems.

ran the test ..no error.

Quote[/b] ]Have you tried turning off Anti-Virus. Sometimes this can cause conflicts regardless of what game you play.

We are talking about AntiVirus (AntiVir) or Anti-Virus progs in general?

Quote[/b] ]Did you try updating the sound drivers for the MB and the newest version of openal?

Sounds (no pun intended) like it's audio related, but I could be wrong.

I have the same VD and have had no problems with it.

Yep newest drivers. I'll try the newest openal version and report in later.

And I'll close my case and add some more fans.

How about testing it with putting a big ventilator beside it. Would that work?

Quote[/b] ]Do you use any registry cleaners? If not try one of these

1.Winaso

2.CCleaner

3.Advanced windows care

I've sometimes experienced crashes and general problems but within the last year started using those 3 free programs and it helped clean up my computers and made them run and start much faster. Worth a try.

The problem also appears right after I formatted my PC.

Again thanks for the help

[spetznaz14 0]

Agreed. NEVER EVER LEAVE YOUR CASE OPEN!! They are specifically designed to keep the air flowing over the components. Remove the cover on the case, fry your system. I've seen this in the past quite a bit.

Although 83 degrees C is a bit low to cause thermal issues, it might happen. I would suggest a bunch of case fans and make sure some are blowing over the video boars AND the motherboard chips.

That's the biggest concern actually, a lot of people these days think CPU temps are important, but they aren't as important as mother board chips anymore. A standard heat sink on the CPU is good, but make sure all addon boards and the MB itself is well ventilated.

Erm I leave my case open and the components are significantly cooler than with a closed case, it doesn't matter how much air flow you produce you are still enclosing a lot of heat in a small area.

To the OP: Arma is a very unstable peice of software and I would beware of people telling you your problems are heat related.

[Shashman 0]

You might want to consider getting a better PSU.

This one here is a good one and cheap.

You really don't want to risk frying your system because of a dodgy PSU

[Deadeye 1]

You might want to consider getting a better PSU.

This one here is a good one and cheap.

You really don't want to risk frying your system because of a dodgy PSU

New PSU.....I need to earn more money.

And this error also appears on nearly every other game I've played

[rowdied 44]

spetznaz14

Arma unstable? I've run it on 8 different hardware configs and the only problems I had were related to the 8800 gts and 8800 gt VDs.

Unstable for some maybe but not for me. (sorry not a fanboy either)

AND...he said it does this for ALL GAMES not just ArmA

ofpdeadeye,

When you said format, did you mean a clean install of windows and everything, or did you just defrag the HD?

Try setting the bios to default settings and reboot and maybe on the off chance run your antivirus and see if you didn't pick something up. I know it sounds dumb but this happened to me when I reformatted and didn't realize I was hooked to the net and in the 10 mins I was, I recieved 3 trojans and had to redo all the formatting again.

Try using one of those reg cleaners.

Good luck

[Madus_Maximus 0]

Try updating DirectX too, run the web set up thingy. Might seem silly but they often release small changes/fixes and whatnot for it every other month, having newer software or hardware than the update of DX can sometimes cause problems, so it's worth doing it at least to rule it out and reduce chances of it causing other problems later on.

[LDDKWinters 0]

I Had almost same problem. Just deleted motherboard drivers and it stopped crashing. Sometimes computer crashes but it's just I've played too many hours at too high temperature.

[mchide 0]

Alright folks here is my problem , I can't play any games..the computer freezes a couple minutes (often the freeze is over after about 10 seconds but from time to time I have to reboot)

First of all my system specs :

CPU Type : DualCore Intel Core 2 Duo E6600, 2400 MHz (9 x 267)

Motherboard Name : Gigabyte GA-965P-DS4 (2 PCI, 3 PCI-E x1, 2 PCI-E x16, 4 DDR2 DIMM, Audio, Gigabit LAN, IEEE-1394)

Motherboard Chipset : Intel Broadwater P965

System Memory : MDT 1024 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM)

BIOS Type : Award Modular (09/20/06)

Video Adapter : NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT (512 MB)

3D Accelerator :nVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT

Monitor : Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (YETH014133)

Power Supply : LC-Power LC6550G 550 W (but I've read that it only gives 420 Watt)

Soundcard : onboard Realtek ALC883

HDD : Maxtor 7V250F0 (250 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II)

Problem : No matter what game I start, the PC always freezes after a few minutes. Most of the time it locks up for around 10 seconds (with the latest sound beeing played in a loop), but sometimes it completly crashed and forces me to reboot.

This failure happens in every game....I've experienced it in Armed Assault but also in OFP and nearly every game I played (can't remember all the games)

Before I updated my drivers I also had strange graphic bugs...but that seems to be fixed now.

I've tried several benchmark and stress apps but couldn't detect an error.

I tried :

- Prime 95 (2x running to get the 2 cores to 100%)

- Memtest86+ ( For the RAM)

- PC Mark 2006 (for the GPU and the rest of the PC)

- Everest 3.5 (overall Benchmark get the results here)

- Real-Time High Dynamic Range Image-Based Lighting (Still running twice ..no crash yet)

The temperature of the CPU/GPU/HDD/Mainborad seem just find. But does anyone know any other tools that can log the temperatures so I can see if there's something weird when the PC locks up?

The strange thing is that I don't have any problems while using the PC without playing. Even demanding apps like PS or Adobe Premiere (while rendering) can't crash my system.

Only games and I do have this problems since I received the PC.

On a sidenote the GPU reaches a max temperature of 83° C (while hanging or playing). CPU temperature also seems regular

Help is appreciated

I think that System Memory: MDT 1024 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM) is your problem. Try to test with other ram. Not other company, just new other piece.

If not complete is working properly windows will not show error. But when game try to use more ram sistem will crash because some parts are not working on it properly.

I had same errors with same ram but i had 2 pieces instaled. One was not working properly, and in windows there was no error present... but when i overloaded sistem to use more ram ... next what i soo was bios startup

[Deadeye 1]

Quote[/b] ]When you said format, did you mean a clean install of windows and everything, or did you just defrag the HD?

Try setting the bios to default settings and reboot and maybe on the off chance run your antivirus and see if you didn't pick something up. I know it sounds dumb but this happened to me when I reformatted and didn't realize I was hooked to the net and in the 10 mins I was, I recieved 3 trojans and had to redo all the formatting again.

Try using one of those reg cleaners.

No no I meant a clean windows XP professional installation.

I've now updated my DirectX, used a reg cleaner, ran the game without an Anti-Virus Software running and placed 1 big ventilator (normally used to cool a small room) beside the PC ...and the game still freezes.

Quote[/b] ]I think that System Memory: MDT 1024 MB (DDR2-800 DDR2 SDRAM) is your problem

But shouldn't Memtest86+ throw out an error then?

Thanks for your effort guys, it's really appreciated.

[whisper 0]

Just to add, you're not alone :

<table border="0" align="center" width="95%" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td>Code Sample </td></tr><tr><td id="CODE">MB : MSI P965 Neo-F

CPU : C2D E6400 @2.6GHz or non-overclocked (tried both)

RAM : 2G CAS 4

GC : nVidia 8800GT 512Mb (can't remember name here at work, the basic one, though)

OS : Win XP, Ubuntu for OGL games supporting it (ET:QW)

PSU : Antec silenced 450W

Symptom : game image freezes completely, any sound played at that moment loops. Forces me to go for the hard PC reset.

Tried latest nVidia drivers and the ones before (something like 169.03 & 169.07 or 09)

Checked and disabled all uneeded services, antivirus. Checked with and without GC tweaking utilities.

I tweaked 8800 fan to go above the fixed 29% fan-speed and lower GC temperature to 75° in charge. No go.

Issues easily reproduced on ET:QW, + it's the only game for which I can test 2 OS.

so I reinstalled my old ATI X1800XL on WinXP.

Guess what? Same issue on ET:QW. Gonna test ArmA soon.

Gonna run the DXDIAG to check for sound.

I begin to smell a PSU issue, or motherboard, but I can't figure out how to debug it to find the true source of it all.

Strange thing though, even though it doesn't look related to GC, issues appeared not too long after installing the 8800GT.

Friend of mine under 8800GT also has issues on QW.

[rowdied 44]

Come to think of it, I had problems with a computer of mine late last year that would crash only when playing games. Games like ArmA, GRAW, and R6V when I booted them up less than 5 mins in the system would freeze. I never checked the memory, but suspected the power supply because I was leery of it. One of those specials from Tiger Direct 800w pkg'd deals with a processor and case. I reinstalled my 4 yr old 300w power supply covered in dust just to test the system and lo and behold it was the power supply. It ran fine too considering the requirements stated a min of 450w to run VD.

If you can check the memory first, because you could use another stick anyways and memory is super cheap now. Buy the new stick and replace the old one and try starting any game.

On a side note, did you guys check the forums for troubleshooting your motherboards to find solutions?

Good luck

[mchide 0]

But shouldn't Memtest86+ throw out an error then?

Only thing wich showed me error was game wich eat lot of memory and TrueCrypt program when i tryed to make cripted drive. No other tests were positive.

[mrn 0]

@ofpdeadeye and whisper

FWIW I smell PSU all over your issues. I would recommend you try and borrow one from another PC just to eliminate it. Until then you may not get anywhere.

Also FWIW I'd avoid Hyper PSU's like the plague. They seem to fail often from what I've seen.

A pretty rapid way of testing a heat related issue is the Intel Thermal Analysis Tool, it's quite scary how quick this will raise temps! Running this along with something like rthdribl in fullscreen is a reasonable test but what these programs don't do is test other components, HDD, sound etc. It's only when these are all used you can get an accurate stability assessment.

OCCT is also a pretty decent checker of CPU stability but again is no use in isolation if a PSU is suspected.

One of my favourite old tests was the Battlefields in OFP! It seemed to throw a PC into all sorts of wobblies if it wasn't running right. Also, nothing wrong trying a looping 3dmark test to keep the vid card toasty while running other CPU programs.

My understanding is Prime doesn't fully load a dual core CPU so it's ok to run with other stuff to torture test a pc but isn't enough to tax a dual core properly.

Never underestimate the importance of your power supply. Buy a good one, the fact you'll forget about it is testament to it's worth.

Cheers

MrN

[Deadeye 1]

@ofpdeadeye and whisper

FWIW I smell PSU all over your issues. I would recommend you try and borrow one from another PC just to eliminate it. Until then you may not get anywhere.

Also FWIW I'd avoid Hyper PSU's like the plague. They seem to fail often from what I've seen.

A pretty rapid way of testing a heat related issue is the Intel Thermal Analysis Tool, it's quite scary how quick this will raise temps! Running this along with something like rthdribl in fullscreen is a reasonable test but what these programs don't do is test other components, HDD, sound etc. It's only when these are all used you can get an accurate stability assessment.

OCCT is also a pretty decent checker of CPU stability but again is no use in isolation if a PSU is suspected.

One of my favourite old tests was the Battlefields in OFP! It seemed to throw a PC into all sorts of wobblies if it wasn't running right. Also, nothing wrong trying a looping 3dmark test to keep the vid card toasty while running other CPU programs.

My understanding is Prime doesn't fully load a dual core CPU so it's ok to run with other stuff to torture test a pc but isn't enough to tax a dual core properly.

Never underestimate the importance of your power supply. Buy a good one, the fact you'll forget about it is testament to it's worth.

Cheers

MrN

I just tried something...with the result that it can't be the PSU.

I removed an 300W PSU from another PC and bypassed it in order to get it to run without a Motherboard connected.

Then I connected the 300W to the GPU only and played ArmA again.

I still get the freeze up after a few minutes of playing.

So it can't be the PSU (as the PC now has 800W alltogether)

Any further help is appreciated

[mrn 0]

Quote[/b] ]I just tried something...with the result that it can't be the PSU.

Never say never

Have you tried it the other way round?

Have you tried the -nosound switch? See if it's related to your sound card?

I noticed in your first post the CPU is overclocked, you have tried running at default speeds? What's your CPU temps?

[Deadeye 1]

Quote[/b] ]Have you tried it the other way round?

Not yet

Quote[/b] ]Have you tried the -nosound switch? See if it's related to your sound card?

The startup parameter doesn't seem to work with 1.09

Quote[/b] ]I noticed in your first post the CPU is overclocked, you have tried running at default speeds? What's your CPU temps?

Nope not overclocked :

Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 Sockel-775 boxed, 2x2.40GHz FSB 1066

and I've been running OCCT for 30 minutes, and the temperature never went over 60°C and it detected no error.

[mrn 0]

Quote[/b] ]The startup parameter doesn't seem to work with 1.09

Oh

Quote[/b] ]Nope not overclocked

My bad.

Quote[/b] ]and I've been running OCCT for 30 minutes, and the temperature never went over 60°C and it detected no error.

Well, 60 degrees is pretty toasty but not the end of the world. I'm running out of ideas, checked your fans? Not covered in dust? GPU cooler attached tightly?

Good luck

Cheers