ArmA2 crashing my computer

[mervemarathon 10]

Hello, I'm a new user on this forum but i have a question. I've had Arma 2 for about a week, a disk version, and all of the sudden a few days ago it would always crash and turn off my computer with it after a few minutes. So I went searching this forum for some answers and I found I wasn't alone with this problem. I went to the Nvidia topic about what to do, and I downloaded the patches and the rest they told me to do, but the problem stayed, and even worse, the next time it crashed, it literally wouldn't turn on my computer, it would just beep. Thankfully my mom figured out how to fix it, but I don't want to even try to play again unless I know it won't happen again. Does anyone have any advice on what to do? Thanks for all replies.

Edit: Sorry, I just remembered it stated happening when i tried to get my character to halo jump. I'm not sure if this makes any difference.

[Sabbath 10]

When ARMA2 started rebooting my computer I just turned up the fan on my graphics card and it solved the problem. I have a ATI 4870 512Mb and I noticed it was getting upwards of 80 degrees in CCC, since I turned up the fan speed it never goes above 50.

HTH.

PS I also had a problem with my computer not wanting to start about 6 months ago, I changed my PSU and there was no problem after that

Edited August 29, 2009 by Sabbath

[mervemarathon 10]

Thanks for the reply, how would I turn the fan upon my video card? I know i have an Nvidia 9800 something, sorry i don't have more info. I'm new to vid cards and im not currently using the computer its installed on.

[echo1 0]

Hello, I'm a new user on this forum but i have a question. I've had Arma 2 for about a week, a disk version, and all of the sudden a few days ago it would always crash and turn off my computer with it after a few minutes. So I went searching this forum for some answers and I found I wasn't alone with this problem. I went to the Nvidia topic about what to do, and I downloaded the patches and the rest they told me to do, but the problem stayed, and even worse, the next time it crashed, it literally wouldn't turn on my computer, it would just beep. Thankfully my mom figured out how to fix it, but I don't want to even try to play again unless I know it won't happen again. Does anyone have any advice on what to do? Thanks for all replies.

Edit: Sorry, I just remembered it stated happening when i tried to get my character to halo jump. I'm not sure if this makes any difference.

I can tell you straight off that it's extremely rare for any software to crash so bad that it causes the entire PC to reboot. Your bets here are -

1) Bad Power Supply Unit

2) Bad cooling

3) Bad RAM (not as likely)

4) Driver problems (again, not likely if everything is up to date)

What we could do with here is a full list of system specs, in particular, CPU, graphics card, PSU make and wattage rating (if you don't know, pop off the side of your PC's case, and there should be a sticker with the details, if you dont know what the PSU is - it's the box where the power cable goes into) and operating system. If the PC was bought in a shop, give brand + model name, should save you finding out full specs for yourself if you don't know them.

Also, does this problem affect other games?

Edited August 29, 2009 by echo1

[mervemarathon 10]

Sorry, my computer isn't even with me so I can't get those specs. This has never happened with any other game, including arma 1, and it didnt even happen on arma 2 for about half a week.

[Sabbath 10]

It has been a while since i used nVidia control panel but there might be a setting in there to adjust the fan speed, if not then you could try Rivatuner, again it has been a while since I used that too but from memory there is a setting in that to adjust your fan speed.

I am sure someone with a nVidia card will be along soon to let you know the best option for you to adjust you fan speed,

[echo1 0]

That's odd, but my money is on some sort of hardware related issue. It's possible that because ArmA 1 doesnt push the system as hard, it doesn't cause the hardware to fail. Any other recent games you've played on it?

I am sure someone with a nVidia card will be along soon to let you know the best option for you to adjust you fan speed,

nVidia's cards have automatic fan adjusting, so in theory that should be enough. But nonetheless, a good idea would be to play the game for a minute, then Alt-Tab out to the nVidia center and check the temps.

[mervemarathon 10]

Thanks for all of the help everyone, I think we've found the problem. We may have downloaded the wrong patch for my videocard, and now we have the right one. Hopefully it will fix both the game running and my computer aways turning on, but just the computer turning n will be a good improvement.

[xmongx 0]

Clean the dust off your cpu heatsink and make sure the fan is running.

smells like cpu overheat to me.

[hrPUFFnSTUFF 10]

Clean the dust off your cpu heatsink and make sure the fan is running.

smells like cpu overheat to me.

yeah, sounds like overheat but clean way more than the cpu heatsink.

To avoid compleatly dissassembling and cleaning with alcohole on cottonwoll use a air compressor and blow out all the heatsinks in your machine inclueding the PSU but tape the fans so they dont spin sending a charge back to the mobo. while the case is open and your PC ir running check all your fans and if you have space for any more fans add them.

The PSU looses it's grunt the older it gets and this may also be impacting on overall performance. if it is a cheap generic PSU get rid of it and get a real PSU with a silver rating minimum. If it is just a home pc and the PSU is less than 500w get a new 1, in my experiance you need greater than double what you think you need, my rig draws 780W from a 1000W silver rated PSU(Galaxy) and it is not anough. odly in my case I add an extra GPU and it fixes my psu problem.

Lastly, avoid repeating the actions you perform in the game that cause the crash until you are confident you have resolved the issue. IMHO the software is faulty aswell and really should be avoided by ppl who don't want an ongoing drama.

[echo1 0]

Lastly, avoid repeating the actions you perform in the game that cause the crash until you are confident you have resolved the issue. IMHO the software is faulty aswell and really should be avoided by ppl who don't want an ongoing drama.

Again, the game may be quite buggy, but not to the extent that it starts causing your PC to exhibit the symptoms of hardware failure...

[LRRP_Dog 10]

Again, the game may be quite buggy, but not to the extent that it starts causing your PC to exhibit the symptoms of hardware failure...

I have been having the same issue and I find it hard to believe that its hardware. My PC is new (Rebuilt) and right now, plays everything else, including Arma 1 on it without issues.

My Specs

E6850 Core 2 Duo 3.0 Ghz

Asus P5N-T Deluxe MB

8GB DDR2 memory

3x GeForce 9800 GTX+ Video cards.

Windopws Xp 32 bit

What happens is I will load the campaign or even a single mission. It will start playing for about 1 minute and than freezes and a few seconds after that, it shuts down completely. No reboot, just turns off. I have to turn it back on manually.

My TV is my monitor and I can only set that to 1024 x 768 Res or less.

I have tried it in 1024, and 800X600 and the same thing happens,

The only thing I have not had an issue with is the editor. I can go in there and throw a bunch of units on the map and it plays fine. But I cannot play the campaign whatsoever.

[Cogar69 10]

I have a 9800 as well and updating to the new drivers is causing the nvlddmkm.sys error again. It comes and goes with each new driver and Nvidia always seem to blame something else other than their programming. For the life of me, I wish I had written down which drivers were stable but I didn't so I'm getting the CTD quite often now. Funnily enough, it happened right before this post and I wasn't even playing a game as it was on screen saver mode.

Ps. Have you checked your "Event Viewer"?

[LRRP_Dog 10]

I have a 9800 as well and updating to the new drivers is causing the nvlddmkm.sys error again. It comes and goes with each new driver and Nvidia always seem to blame something else other than their programming. For the life of me, I wish I had written down which drivers were stable but I didn't so I'm getting the CTD quite often now. Funnily enough, it happened right before this post and I wasn't even playing a game as it was on screen saver mode.

Ps. Have you checked your "Event Viewer"?

I have, but it doesn't tell me anything useful. It has a big "X" in red that I think is noting an error, but its got nothing listed as far as cause of the error itself.

The Evga Precision panel tells me that I am running fairly normal, especially when it comes to temps, not more than 60. I have been able, at times, to alt tab and open that up after the creen freezes so I can check the panel out. But more often than not, it just shuts down completely with no record.

[andersson 285]

I installed my new gtx285 and when I started arma I had very low settings. As soon as I cranked up anything my comp crashed. I opened up my comp and it turned out that my psu fan had stopped.

Consistant hardware crashes is most often the system, seldom the software.

People having the same problem with instant system crashes, I suggest check all fans and temperatures. If nothing strange read up on your psu, it might be too weak.

Ofcourse make sure all your drivers are up to date and so on..

[desertjedi 3]

Based on your symptoms, your problem will be very hard to troubleshoot without eliminating hardware as the culprit. Ideally, you'd want to:

1. test your RAM (extensively)

2. monitor your CPU and GPU temps while playing Arma

3. even monitor your various PC voltages while playing Arma

Without knowing if your CPU or GPU is overheating or if your crash/reboot is being caused by sagging voltages under load makes it hard to pinpoint the problem.

I'd start by getting EVERYTHING clean and make sure your fans are working correctly. Some very crude things you could try would be to run Arma with your case cover off as this might lower temps. Also, I might try running Arma at the lowest possible resolution with the lowest possible settings. If either of these helps your problem, it would at least start to give you some information.

Small freeware apps that can easily give you temps while simply sitting at your desktop are Real Temp, Core Temp, CPU-Z, GPU-Z. I'm sure this is more than you bargained for but I believe that Ch_123 is correct in his assessment.

[Cogar69 10]

GPU-Z is what I've been using...http://www.techpowerup.com/gpuz/

On the sensors tab...click on the result(middle column) and you will get the Minimum/Maximum/Average result. Alternatively, you can log the result to a file.

[ahmedjbh 0]

its not hardware.

I have had same issue, only with this game. As do almost everyone I know who plays it.

I get VPU reset at least every 15 mins, and temps are fine.

EDIT: Also noticed its about 10 times worse since new cat 9.9 and 1.04. Not sure which is to blame, but its definitely worse.