Odd crash in random games ~ CRT goes off, sound loops then screeches

Mozgus · 10-10-2007, 11:34 AM

I bought a new ATI X1950XT a month ago. I also bought a dual core 4400+ but thats probably not causing this. This has happened 4 times now. 3 times in Source Engine games, 1 time in World in Conflict.

Out of nowhere, my monitor goes black and gives me the power message for 5 seconds I normally get when I turn my computer off. While this happens, the last 1/4th second of audio from the game will be looped for the next 30 seconds or so at the black screen. Right after this, the loop stops and it produces a painfully high pitched annoying screech noise, like radio tuning mixed with scratching sheet metal. I dunno.

I am afraid that I got a faulty card. I'm even more afraid that I cant RMA it because its from GeCube and I now hear they put up a fight. Also, I replaced the poor cooler with a Zalman VF900 which dropped temps 10c, and my PC isnt crazy loud anymore. That probably voided it.

So what do you guys think? Faulty card? Driver issue? Power Supply issue? Windows installation is buggy and I need to format? My full specs with picture are near the bottom of this page:

http://www.stevemv.com/history.html

HawMan · 10-10-2007, 12:14 PM

If you can try a more powerful PSU. The Antec trio 550W is good but i feel its a little underpowered for that system.

Mozgus · 10-10-2007, 08:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by HawMan

If you can try a more powerful PSU. The Antec trio 550W is good but i feel its a little underpowered for that system.

I dont have a trio. Mine has 2 12v lines, not 3.

Mozgus · 10-10-2007, 09:23 PM

But sorry, link me to the PSU you feel would run this and a moderate future upgrade. Normally I'd be super pissed about having to jump to a new PSU but I finally got good money coming in these days. I can finally get something modular.

I also want to mention that until today, I only had 2 crashes. World in Conflict, and TF2. But today I had 3 freakin crashes in just a couple hours of play of Portal. What does Portal do different?

Mozgus · 10-12-2007, 04:19 AM

Ok so taking the side off and aiming a fan into the close does the trick, so it's a heat issue. I just remembered that I installed a fanless heatsink on my northbridge to replace the noisy tiny fan that had a tiny fan. I think that might be causing these epic crashes. I just rigged up a small fan out of a broken dreamcast to this new larger heatsink and I'm going to see if that does the trick.

Mozgus · 10-15-2007, 01:44 AM

K guys I fixed it on my own. Anyone else who ever gets this problem, its connected to ATI Tray Tools somehow. I driver sweeped, grabbed the new 7.10s with CCC, installed, made sure the settings were defaulted. I've got in maybe 5-6 hours of Orange Box and no crashes.

10-10-2007, 11:34 AM	#1 (permalink)
Mozgus Registered User Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 94 OS: WinXP SP2	Odd crash in random games ~ CRT goes off, sound loops then screeches I bought a new ATI X1950XT a month ago. I also bought a dual core 4400+ but thats probably not causing this. This has happened 4 times now. 3 times in Source Engine games, 1 time in World in Conflict. Out of nowhere, my monitor goes black and gives me the power message for 5 seconds I normally get when I turn my computer off. While this happens, the last 1/4th second of audio from the game will be looped for the next 30 seconds or so at the black screen. Right after this, the loop stops and it produces a painfully high pitched annoying screech noise, like radio tuning mixed with scratching sheet metal. I dunno. I am afraid that I got a faulty card. I'm even more afraid that I cant RMA it because its from GeCube and I now hear they put up a fight. Also, I replaced the poor cooler with a Zalman VF900 which dropped temps 10c, and my PC isnt crazy loud anymore. That probably voided it. So what do you guys think? Faulty card? Driver issue? Power Supply issue? Windows installation is buggy and I need to format? My full specs with picture are near the bottom of this page: http://www.stevemv.com/history.html

10-10-2007, 12:14 PM	#2 (permalink)
HawMan Liam Join Date: May 2006 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland Posts: 2,943 OS: Win XP My System	Re: Odd crash in random games ~ CRT goes off, sound loops then screeches If you can try a more powerful PSU. The Antec trio 550W is good but i feel its a little underpowered for that system. __________________ Please Consider Donating to keep the site free. Last edited by HawMan; 10-10-2007 at 12:16 PM.

10-10-2007, 09:23 PM	#4 (permalink)
Mozgus Registered User Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 94 OS: WinXP SP2	Re: Odd crash in random games ~ CRT goes off, sound loops then screeches But sorry, link me to the PSU you feel would run this and a moderate future upgrade. Normally I'd be super pissed about having to jump to a new PSU but I finally got good money coming in these days. I can finally get something modular. I also want to mention that until today, I only had 2 crashes. World in Conflict, and TF2. But today I had 3 freakin crashes in just a couple hours of play of Portal. What does Portal do different? Last edited by Mozgus; 10-10-2007 at 09:31 PM.

10-12-2007, 04:19 AM	#5 (permalink)
Mozgus Registered User Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 94 OS: WinXP SP2	Re: Odd crash in random games ~ CRT goes off, sound loops then screeches Ok so taking the side off and aiming a fan into the close does the trick, so it's a heat issue. I just remembered that I installed a fanless heatsink on my northbridge to replace the noisy tiny fan that had a tiny fan. I think that might be causing these epic crashes. I just rigged up a small fan out of a broken dreamcast to this new larger heatsink and I'm going to see if that does the trick.

10-15-2007, 01:44 AM	#6 (permalink)
Mozgus Registered User Join Date: Dec 2005 Posts: 94 OS: WinXP SP2	Re: Odd crash in random games ~ CRT goes off, sound loops then screeches K guys I fixed it on my own. Anyone else who ever gets this problem, its connected to ATI Tray Tools somehow. I driver sweeped, grabbed the new 7.10s with CCC, installed, made sure the settings were defaulted. I've got in maybe 5-6 hours of Orange Box and no crashes.