Games are freezing when I try to play them

Sivian · 09-30-2009, 11:36 AM

I just bought a new PC in the last two weeks. Dell, Vista, Intel Dual Core 2.7, 6GB Ram, and I bought an Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT graphics card for it.

I had been playing Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War 2, the trial for Lord of the Rings Online, and Sins of a Solar Empire fine for about a week. After that the Lord of the Rings Online gave me a blue screen and reset my computer, I tried to play again a little later and from then on after playing the game anytime for about 3 minutes to a half an hour my computer would freeze in the game and make a crackling noise from the speakers. I would have to shut off my computer. This was the only game with the problem and I read that a lot of people had problems with this game, everything else worked fine.

Three days later (today) I was playing Warhammer for about an hour and it worked with no problems. I continued playing the game later and it froze the same way LOTR does, I reset and tried again and the same happened after about 2-3 minutes of being in the game.

When I was looking for answers to problems for LOTR I read a post where the guy said to download nTune and to change an option for the fan to either help with overheating or to see if that caused the problem. I downloaded that program and am able to open it but whenever I go to accept the agreement under the performance menu I click on agree, get the blue screen and my computer resets, the same way it did for LOTR the first time. There is also an Nvidia Monitor icon on my desktop, if I click on that I also get the blue screen and reset.

After the problem started I also saw someone say to redownload the drivers for the graphics card, in a help forum for LOTR online. I don't know if I had done that in the first place so I did that. Same problems but when I play games after that all the text is moved to far to the left and to high up, so it cuts off some words if they are put near the top or the left side, how do I fix that? Also LOTR Online now allowed me to use Direct X10, so I guess I probably didn't have those downloaded in the first place when the game was working fine or when the problems started.

No problems with Sins of a Solar Empire, yet, but I haven't tried it in the last two days. So it was working after the first problems started, like Warhammer, but I don't know if it will now.

**Lord Sirian** · 09-30-2009, 11:45 AM

Hey Sivian, welcome to TSF. Since your computer is a Dell, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that your PSU is nowhere near good enough for your new graphics card. Could you please post the make, model and wattage of your PSU (Power supply unit).

Sivian · 09-30-2009, 11:52 AM

Where would I find that?

**Lord Sirian** · 09-30-2009, 11:55 AM

Take off the side of your case, inside there should be a rectangular box with a sticker on the side. The information will be on that sticker. Ordinarily it wouldn't be advisable to open your case, as doing so can void warranty in some cases, but seeing as you've installed a new graphics card, that means you've opened the case anyway.

Sivian · 09-30-2009, 12:14 PM

Make: Hipro

Model: HP-P3017F3 LF

Wattage: ? Max Output Power 300W. +5V and 3.3V shall not exceed 160W.

**Lord Sirian** · 09-30-2009, 12:37 PM

Well that does not suprise me in the slightest. Dell are known for putting shabby PSU's with their computers and I'm sorry to say that that PSU simply isn't good enough to power a 9800. You need at least a quality 650 Watt like this one to properly run the 9800.

Sivian · 09-30-2009, 12:40 PM

Is that the cheapest one you would recommend?

Where would I get one? Just by ordering or would a place like Best Buy carry them?

**Lord Sirian** · 09-30-2009, 12:44 PM

Short answer: Yes.

90 bucks for a quality PSU like that is a really good deal. The thing about PSU's is that there are good ones and there are bad ones. You should never go for a PSU simply because it is cheaper than another. You might want to have a read through this thread, it contains a lot of useful information about PSU's, what makes a good one and what makes a bad one.

Basically I wouldn't recommend a PSU under 650 Watts and Corsair is a good brand at a great price.

**Lord Sirian** · 09-30-2009, 12:45 PM

Oh and if you live in the US, you would simply order them from Newegg. (The site I linked to).

Sivian · 09-30-2009, 12:50 PM

Should I be able to instal one myself?

Can you help me with this?

"Same problems but when I play games after that all the text is moved to far to the left and to high up, so it cuts off some words if they are put near the top or the left side, how do I fix that?"

**Lord Sirian** · 09-30-2009, 08:06 PM

Yes you should be able to install it yourself. Basically all you do in screw in four screws, then plug in a few cables.

As for your other problem, can you please list your Driver Version.

Go to: *Start -> Control Panel -> Nvidia Control Panel -> Help -> System information*.

Sivian · 10-01-2009, 10:59 AM

It says 190.62

**Lord Sirian** · 10-01-2009, 11:16 AM

Ok, your drivers are up to date. However, since they seem to have not done anything except make the problem worse, try uninstalling them and installing one of the older driver versions like this one, or this one.

Sivian · 10-01-2009, 11:21 AM

I don't think they made anything worse, freezing wise. They just don't seem to have the screen, in game, centered right.

I got a new PSU, 650W for $80 at a store some guys I know, who have fixed my Dad's computers, recommended to me. Don't know if it fixed the problem yet. I am going to try it now.

dai · 10-01-2009, 11:22 AM

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...corsair%2b550w

in the device manager uninstall the video card
reboot tapping f8 and choose low resolution mode
when windows finishes rebooting
disable a/virus
install your drivers
reboot the computer

**Lord Sirian** · 10-01-2009, 11:27 AM

What is the make and model of that PSU by the way? changing out one low quality PSU for another will not make a difference.

Sivian · 10-01-2009, 12:22 PM

Nspire Power X-Extreme Series Noiseless

650W SKU#51382 NSP-650V2.2BF14PFC

Have a week to return it. Figured I'd try it, see if I can find anything out about it online and if it doesn't work out I order the one you said and return this. I can't find any reviews or anything for this online though, different models maybe.

dai · 10-01-2009, 08:43 PM

return it for a corsair it is low quality

a 550w corsair has more power

Sivian · 10-02-2009, 06:52 AM

Alright, I will order from the site today and return this one in a couple days.

Edit: I ordered it, as long as the card I used works.

**greenbrucelee** · 10-02-2009, 09:07 AM

never buy a cheap bad brand power supply, it is the most important part of your pc.

If you buy a crap one you are at best looking at your system not turning on until you get a good power supply in it. At worst you are looking at a crap psu destroying your pc altogether. The cosair one recommended to you is the one to get.

09-30-2009, 11:36 AM	#1 (permalink)
Sivian Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows Vista	Games are freezing when I try to play them I just bought a new PC in the last two weeks. Dell, Vista, Intel Dual Core 2.7, 6GB Ram, and I bought an Nvidia GeForce 9800 GT graphics card for it. I had been playing Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War 2, the trial for Lord of the Rings Online, and Sins of a Solar Empire fine for about a week. After that the Lord of the Rings Online gave me a blue screen and reset my computer, I tried to play again a little later and from then on after playing the game anytime for about 3 minutes to a half an hour my computer would freeze in the game and make a crackling noise from the speakers. I would have to shut off my computer. This was the only game with the problem and I read that a lot of people had problems with this game, everything else worked fine. Three days later (today) I was playing Warhammer for about an hour and it worked with no problems. I continued playing the game later and it froze the same way LOTR does, I reset and tried again and the same happened after about 2-3 minutes of being in the game. When I was looking for answers to problems for LOTR I read a post where the guy said to download nTune and to change an option for the fan to either help with overheating or to see if that caused the problem. I downloaded that program and am able to open it but whenever I go to accept the agreement under the performance menu I click on agree, get the blue screen and my computer resets, the same way it did for LOTR the first time. There is also an Nvidia Monitor icon on my desktop, if I click on that I also get the blue screen and reset. After the problem started I also saw someone say to redownload the drivers for the graphics card, in a help forum for LOTR online. I don't know if I had done that in the first place so I did that. Same problems but when I play games after that all the text is moved to far to the left and to high up, so it cuts off some words if they are put near the top or the left side, how do I fix that? Also LOTR Online now allowed me to use Direct X10, so I guess I probably didn't have those downloaded in the first place when the game was working fine or when the problems started. No problems with Sins of a Solar Empire, yet, but I haven't tried it in the last two days. So it was working after the first problems started, like Warhammer, but I don't know if it will now.

09-30-2009, 11:45 AM	#2 (permalink)
Lord Sirian Mentor, Games Team Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,656 OS: Windows XP SP 3 My System	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Hey Sivian, welcome to TSF. Since your computer is a Dell, I'm going to go out on a limb and say that your PSU is nowhere near good enough for your new graphics card. Could you please post the make, model and wattage of your PSU (Power supply unit). __________________ "Come forth for the cattle call Confront the evil river you can't control Wicked ways and venomous eyes Just human nature in disguise..."- Clouds over California

09-30-2009, 11:52 AM	#3 (permalink)
Sivian Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Where would I find that?

09-30-2009, 11:55 AM	#4 (permalink)
Lord Sirian Mentor, Games Team Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,656 OS: Windows XP SP 3 My System	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Take off the side of your case, inside there should be a rectangular box with a sticker on the side. The information will be on that sticker. Ordinarily it wouldn't be advisable to open your case, as doing so can void warranty in some cases, but seeing as you've installed a new graphics card, that means you've opened the case anyway. __________________ "Come forth for the cattle call Confront the evil river you can't control Wicked ways and venomous eyes Just human nature in disguise..."- Clouds over California

09-30-2009, 12:14 PM	#5 (permalink)
Sivian Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Make: Hipro Model: HP-P3017F3 LF Wattage: ? Max Output Power 300W. +5V and 3.3V shall not exceed 160W.

09-30-2009, 12:37 PM	#6 (permalink)
Lord Sirian Mentor, Games Team Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,656 OS: Windows XP SP 3 My System	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Well that does not suprise me in the slightest. Dell are known for putting shabby PSU's with their computers and I'm sorry to say that that PSU simply isn't good enough to power a 9800. You need at least a quality 650 Watt like this one to properly run the 9800. __________________ "Come forth for the cattle call Confront the evil river you can't control Wicked ways and venomous eyes Just human nature in disguise..."- Clouds over California Last edited by Lord Sirian; 09-30-2009 at 12:39 PM.

09-30-2009, 12:40 PM	#7 (permalink)
Sivian Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Is that the cheapest one you would recommend? Where would I get one? Just by ordering or would a place like Best Buy carry them? Last edited by Sivian; 09-30-2009 at 12:44 PM.

09-30-2009, 12:44 PM	#8 (permalink)
Lord Sirian Mentor, Games Team Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,656 OS: Windows XP SP 3 My System	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Short answer: Yes. 90 bucks for a quality PSU like that is a really good deal. The thing about PSU's is that there are good ones and there are bad ones. You should never go for a PSU simply because it is cheaper than another. You might want to have a read through this thread, it contains a lot of useful information about PSU's, what makes a good one and what makes a bad one. Basically I wouldn't recommend a PSU under 650 Watts and Corsair is a good brand at a great price. __________________ "Come forth for the cattle call Confront the evil river you can't control Wicked ways and venomous eyes Just human nature in disguise..."- Clouds over California

09-30-2009, 12:45 PM	#9 (permalink)
Lord Sirian Mentor, Games Team Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,656 OS: Windows XP SP 3 My System	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Oh and if you live in the US, you would simply order them from Newegg. (The site I linked to). __________________ "Come forth for the cattle call Confront the evil river you can't control Wicked ways and venomous eyes Just human nature in disguise..."- Clouds over California

09-30-2009, 12:50 PM	#10 (permalink)
Sivian Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Should I be able to instal one myself? Can you help me with this? "Same problems but when I play games after that all the text is moved to far to the left and to high up, so it cuts off some words if they are put near the top or the left side, how do I fix that?"

09-30-2009, 08:06 PM	#11 (permalink)
Lord Sirian Mentor, Games Team Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,656 OS: Windows XP SP 3 My System	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Yes you should be able to install it yourself. Basically all you do in screw in four screws, then plug in a few cables. As for your other problem, can you please list your Driver Version. Go to: Start -> Control Panel -> Nvidia Control Panel -> Help -> System information. __________________ "Come forth for the cattle call Confront the evil river you can't control Wicked ways and venomous eyes Just human nature in disguise..."- Clouds over California

10-01-2009, 10:59 AM	#12 (permalink)
Sivian Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them It says 190.62

10-01-2009, 11:16 AM	#13 (permalink)
Lord Sirian Mentor, Games Team Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,656 OS: Windows XP SP 3 My System	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Ok, your drivers are up to date. However, since they seem to have not done anything except make the problem worse, try uninstalling them and installing one of the older driver versions like this one, or this one. __________________ "Come forth for the cattle call Confront the evil river you can't control Wicked ways and venomous eyes Just human nature in disguise..."- Clouds over California

10-01-2009, 11:21 AM	#14 (permalink)
Sivian Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them I don't think they made anything worse, freezing wise. They just don't seem to have the screen, in game, centered right. I got a new PSU, 650W for $80 at a store some guys I know, who have fixed my Dad's computers, recommended to me. Don't know if it fixed the problem yet. I am going to try it now.

10-01-2009, 11:22 AM	#15 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,670 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...corsair%2b550w in the device manager uninstall the video card reboot tapping f8 and choose low resolution mode when windows finishes rebooting disable a/virus install your drivers reboot the computer __________________

10-01-2009, 11:27 AM	#16 (permalink)
Lord Sirian Mentor, Games Team Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: Australia Posts: 1,656 OS: Windows XP SP 3 My System	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them What is the make and model of that PSU by the way? changing out one low quality PSU for another will not make a difference. __________________ "Come forth for the cattle call Confront the evil river you can't control Wicked ways and venomous eyes Just human nature in disguise..."- Clouds over California

10-01-2009, 12:22 PM	#17 (permalink)
Sivian Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Nspire Power X-Extreme Series Noiseless 650W SKU#51382 NSP-650V2.2BF14PFC Have a week to return it. Figured I'd try it, see if I can find anything out about it online and if it doesn't work out I order the one you said and return this. I can't find any reviews or anything for this online though, different models maybe. Last edited by Sivian; 10-01-2009 at 12:28 PM.

10-01-2009, 08:43 PM	#18 (permalink)
dai Manager, Hardware Forums Join Date: Jul 2004 Location: west australia Posts: 56,670 OS: win 7 32x 64x rtm	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them return it for a corsair it is low quality a 550w corsair has more power __________________

10-02-2009, 06:52 AM	#19 (permalink)
Sivian Registered User Join Date: Sep 2009 Posts: 10 OS: Windows Vista	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them Alright, I will order from the site today and return this one in a couple days. Edit: I ordered it, as long as the card I used works. Last edited by Sivian; 10-02-2009 at 07:16 AM.

10-02-2009, 09:07 AM	#20 (permalink)
greenbrucelee Mentor Hardware team Join Date: Apr 2007 Posts: 1,863 OS: XP SP3 My System	Re: Games are freezing when I try to play them never buy a cheap bad brand power supply, it is the most important part of your pc. If you buy a crap one you are at best looking at your system not turning on until you get a good power supply in it. At worst you are looking at a crap psu destroying your pc altogether. The cosair one recommended to you is the one to get. __________________ Microsoft certified professional, Network +, A+ certified