All games keep crashing

Alcorr · 09-05-2008, 02:09 PM

Ok so at first I thought only steam games have been crashing my computer as of late, but now its all games that I run.

My computer has been runny perfectly fine for more than a year, q6600, 2GB ram, 8800GTX, 500GB hard drive and now its crashing as soon as I load up one of the games that I have been playing for years....

I have concluded:

My computer is not overheating.
Display driver up to date.
Mobo driver up to date.
Dx10 up to date.
Vista updates all installed.
No virus is causing this.
No spyware is causing this.

No changes to the games other than regular intermittent saves (civ4) and random game updates for Css.

**manic** · 09-05-2008, 02:22 PM

Power supply wattage and brand.

Alcorr · 09-05-2008, 02:39 PM

PC power and cooling 750Quad silencer.

Rock solid.

Never failed yet...

**koala** · 09-05-2008, 02:45 PM

What voltages are you getting on the +12V line in BIOS and during gameplay?

**manic** · 09-05-2008, 02:45 PM

From the specs it looks like a good psu. What are your voltages like?
Have you tried swapping out video card. At first blush it looks like
the psu.

Alcorr · 09-05-2008, 02:50 PM

I can't swap out the video card, I have nothing else laying around to use, although it might come to that.

I intentionally got the pc power and cooling with excessive wattage output for JUST this purpose, excessive overkill, my system isn't drawing anywhere near the wattage my psu can put out, and I will check the voltages next thing in BIOS but I can't check ingame as my system crashes the instant or nearafter my games startup....

I don't see how this could be the problem though, excessive artifacts, screen chopping up and then (dual monitors) both my screens going kaput one after the other.

It feels like a display driver problem, but everything is up to date...

**manic** · 09-05-2008, 02:55 PM

You may need to roll back the driver, see if that helps. I havent
been impressed lately with nvidias latest and greatest drivers. If you
suspect a driver I would locate my install disk for the video card and
install that driver, see what happens.

Alcorr · 09-05-2008, 03:06 PM

Hmmm I may end up doing that. Unfortunately I do not have the original driver disk here with me. Will rollback alone be ok or should I download old drivers from another site?

**manic** · 09-05-2008, 03:17 PM

If you can do it I would download from somewhere else, not to
confident with the os doing it. The last 3 or 4 installs/builds/fixes
ive done when trying to install the newest drivers from nvidia have
been nothing but trouble. Becoming disenchanted with them, to much
attention being paid on the sli thang, and the latest vid card, not enough
attention to some of there older hardware, imho.

Alcorr · 09-05-2008, 03:25 PM

Downloading some omega drivers made in late 2007. Hopefully thats old enough?

Also, I just booted up civ4, it crashed the display driver, but it recovered rather than bluescreening.

Alcorr · 09-05-2008, 03:48 PM

Omega drivers didn't help at all, I loaded up css and it crashed as soon as I got into a server, bluescreened me this time.

Also, all voltages are a bit low by .04 except the +5 which is off by .07. Is that a problem?

**manic** · 09-05-2008, 03:48 PM

Let us know how it turns out. You probably only have to go back six
months. But if it works it works, then you can try to get a newer driver
1 month at a time.
what are omega drivers? Never mind, just a source for drivers,,,,
We are back to square one.

Alcorr · 09-05-2008, 04:17 PM

The reason I don't think its the drivers is because I haven't installed any new ones and my comps been running fine for several months without any updates and now it randomly stops working?

**manic** · 09-05-2008, 04:26 PM

Run memtest, last resort. Still think its power, Im doing the best I can
with a remote diagnosis.. I always go back to the psu. Pattern forming,
lol

Alcorr · 09-06-2008, 01:30 PM

Ok, so I will run memtest next, but first I wanted to give another update.

I downloaded old drivers from dec 2007 off of nvidias site and it fixed everything yesterday, my games ran fine all night long. Unforuntately, today when I started up civ4, it ran fine for about 5 minutues, and then started to do the usual stuff, artifacts, screen flickering, display driver crashing, and then bluescreening.

I really don't know what the problem is, as I mentioned above, voltages are all a bit low, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem I imagine? And what could cause it to work fine yesterday but not today? I didn't even reboot, just ran utorrent all night long...

aworbey · 09-10-2008, 04:05 PM

I'm not gonna claim to know what I'm talking about like some ppl but SpeedFan u can use to monitor voltage levels and it writes them to an excel file. Then this way you can go back and check the voltages after a crash :)

09-05-2008, 02:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
Alcorr Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 66 OS: Windows Vista	All games keep crashing Ok so at first I thought only steam games have been crashing my computer as of late, but now its all games that I run. My computer has been runny perfectly fine for more than a year, q6600, 2GB ram, 8800GTX, 500GB hard drive and now its crashing as soon as I load up one of the games that I have been playing for years.... I have concluded: My computer is not overheating. Display driver up to date. Mobo driver up to date. Dx10 up to date. Vista updates all installed. No virus is causing this. No spyware is causing this. No changes to the games other than regular intermittent saves (civ4) and random game updates for Css.

09-05-2008, 02:22 PM	#2 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,241 OS: xp	Re: All games keep crashing Power supply wattage and brand. __________________

09-05-2008, 02:39 PM	#3 (permalink)
Alcorr Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 66 OS: Windows Vista	Re: All games keep crashing PC power and cooling 750Quad silencer. Rock solid. Never failed yet...

09-05-2008, 02:45 PM	#4 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,342 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: All games keep crashing What voltages are you getting on the +12V line in BIOS and during gameplay? __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

09-05-2008, 02:45 PM	#5 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,241 OS: xp	Re: All games keep crashing From the specs it looks like a good psu. What are your voltages like? Have you tried swapping out video card. At first blush it looks like the psu. __________________

09-05-2008, 02:50 PM	#6 (permalink)
Alcorr Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 66 OS: Windows Vista	Re: All games keep crashing I can't swap out the video card, I have nothing else laying around to use, although it might come to that. I intentionally got the pc power and cooling with excessive wattage output for JUST this purpose, excessive overkill, my system isn't drawing anywhere near the wattage my psu can put out, and I will check the voltages next thing in BIOS but I can't check ingame as my system crashes the instant or nearafter my games startup.... I don't see how this could be the problem though, excessive artifacts, screen chopping up and then (dual monitors) both my screens going kaput one after the other. It feels like a display driver problem, but everything is up to date...

09-05-2008, 02:55 PM	#7 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,241 OS: xp	Re: All games keep crashing You may need to roll back the driver, see if that helps. I havent been impressed lately with nvidias latest and greatest drivers. If you suspect a driver I would locate my install disk for the video card and install that driver, see what happens. __________________

09-05-2008, 03:06 PM	#8 (permalink)
Alcorr Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 66 OS: Windows Vista	Re: All games keep crashing Hmmm I may end up doing that. Unfortunately I do not have the original driver disk here with me. Will rollback alone be ok or should I download old drivers from another site?

09-05-2008, 03:17 PM	#9 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,241 OS: xp	Re: All games keep crashing If you can do it I would download from somewhere else, not to confident with the os doing it. The last 3 or 4 installs/builds/fixes ive done when trying to install the newest drivers from nvidia have been nothing but trouble. Becoming disenchanted with them, to much attention being paid on the sli thang, and the latest vid card, not enough attention to some of there older hardware, imho. __________________

09-05-2008, 03:25 PM	#10 (permalink)
Alcorr Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 66 OS: Windows Vista	Re: All games keep crashing Downloading some omega drivers made in late 2007. Hopefully thats old enough? Also, I just booted up civ4, it crashed the display driver, but it recovered rather than bluescreening.

09-05-2008, 03:48 PM	#11 (permalink)
Alcorr Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 66 OS: Windows Vista	Re: All games keep crashing Omega drivers didn't help at all, I loaded up css and it crashed as soon as I got into a server, bluescreened me this time. Also, all voltages are a bit low by .04 except the +5 which is off by .07. Is that a problem?

09-05-2008, 03:48 PM	#12 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,241 OS: xp	Re: All games keep crashing Let us know how it turns out. You probably only have to go back six months. But if it works it works, then you can try to get a newer driver 1 month at a time. what are omega drivers? Never mind, just a source for drivers,,,, We are back to square one. __________________ Last edited by manic; 09-05-2008 at 03:56 PM.

09-05-2008, 04:17 PM	#13 (permalink)
Alcorr Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 66 OS: Windows Vista	Re: All games keep crashing The reason I don't think its the drivers is because I haven't installed any new ones and my comps been running fine for several months without any updates and now it randomly stops working?

09-05-2008, 04:26 PM	#14 (permalink)
manic Mod Hardware Team Join Date: Aug 2005 Location: Florida Posts: 5,241 OS: xp	Re: All games keep crashing Run memtest, last resort. Still think its power, Im doing the best I can with a remote diagnosis.. I always go back to the psu. Pattern forming, lol __________________

09-06-2008, 01:30 PM	#15 (permalink)
Alcorr Registered User Join Date: Jul 2005 Posts: 66 OS: Windows Vista	Re: All games keep crashing Ok, so I will run memtest next, but first I wanted to give another update. I downloaded old drivers from dec 2007 off of nvidias site and it fixed everything yesterday, my games ran fine all night long. Unforuntately, today when I started up civ4, it ran fine for about 5 minutues, and then started to do the usual stuff, artifacts, screen flickering, display driver crashing, and then bluescreening. I really don't know what the problem is, as I mentioned above, voltages are all a bit low, but that shouldn't be too much of a problem I imagine? And what could cause it to work fine yesterday but not today? I didn't even reboot, just ran utorrent all night long...

09-10-2008, 04:05 PM	#16 (permalink)
aworbey Registered User Join Date: Aug 2007 Location: Herts, UK Posts: 29 OS: Windows XP	Re: All games keep crashing I'm not gonna claim to know what I'm talking about like some ppl but SpeedFan u can use to monitor voltage levels and it writes them to an excel file. Then this way you can go back and check the voltages after a crash :)