[Novaok]

When attempting to play both Counter Strike: Source and Modern Warfare 2, my machine will freeze, become unresponsive, the sound will stutter and loop, and the screen will FLASH or FLICKER black. It flashes extremely fast.

The only way to solve this is to restart. But no matter what, running a game will make this happen.

It only happens when I actually get into the game, and can move around and play. Throughout the menus it is fine, and as soon as the map loads, it happens. In Counter Strike: Source, it happens as soon as you see the MOTD. In Modern Warfare 2 it happens as soon as you spawn and you're waiting on the count down.

I am running:
Asus Crosshair
AMD Athlon 64 x2 Dual Core 6000+
3 GBs of DDR2 PC6400 RAM (there are 6 GBs in the case, throughout 4 sticks, but on 32 bit XP, only 3 GBs are used)
GeForce 8600 GTS 512 MB
x2 Samsung HD321KJ SATA 320 GB Hard Drive

I replaced my 9800 GT with the 8600 GTS just the other day; the problem is still occurring.

What is happening?! Please help!

Thanks in advance.

 

[Aus_Karlos]

Hi Novaok and welcome to TSF,

Could you please make sure you have the latest drivers.
This page should get you on the right track.
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f59/important-please-follow-these-steps-before-posting-120411.html

 

[Novaok]

Hi Novaok and welcome to TSF,

Could you please make sure you have the latest drivers.
This page should get you on the right track.
http://www.techsupportforum.com/f59/important-please-follow-these-steps-before-posting-120411.html

I have the latest drivers.

Everything on that list has already been completed earlier.

I just successfully played Counter Strike 1.6!
It didn't have any problems at all.

 

[Novaok]

Both Counter Strike Source and Modern Warfare 2 appeared to run find @ 1024x768 in fullscreen.

I ran around for about 10 minutes+ and it seemed to be fine.

Bumping up each game to the next resolution 1152x768, I think, they both had the freezing, flashing error after a few minutes.

I thought that was odd. But it appeared that they couldn't run stably over 1024x768.

I then tested Counter Strike Source again, running @ 1280x720 in windowed mode. It ran fine for over 5 minutes, then what I like to call "texture replacement" happened. There was no freeze, just BLAM, the textures were distorted and replaced. I ran around the map for about a minute, and then the freezing and flashing occured. I restarted my machine.

Here are some examples of the texture problems from just now:
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad86/Novaok/de_dust20000.jpg
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad86/Novaok/de_dust20001.jpg
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad86/Novaok/de_dust20002.jpg
http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad86/Novaok/de_dust20003.jpg

I have had this texture error in Counter Strike Source, and several other games before. But never the flashing and freezing. Mind you, I have had it happen with my OLD card. The card I have now is just a few days old, so I think it's safe to say that this problem is not video card related.

I have also reformatted several times since the first time I saw this happen, and installed many different drivers.

So does this mean that it is some other hardware component of my machine?

So what does this mean? :4-dontkno

 

[FreoHeaveho]

I would take some of that unused RAM out and update your motherboard bios.

 

[Aus_Karlos]

That could be one of many things.
Bad Graphics Card, VRAM is damaged.
Bad RAM
Graphics Card is overheating.
Poor Quality PSU

Download ATI Tool (http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/) and run the "Scan for Artifacts" test. This will stress test your GPU. If you see any Yellow artifacts then your GPU has the problem. First thing to do is check that your card isn't overheating, download everest from my sig to check the temps. For a 9800GT anything over 90c on the core is considered overheating.

Could you also post down your PSU specs, Make/model, output on the 12v rail.

 

[Novaok]

That could be one of many things.
Bad Graphics Card, VRAM is damaged.
Bad RAM
Graphics Card is overheating.
Poor Quality PSU

Download ATI Tool (http://www.techpowerup.com/atitool/) and run the "Scan for Artifacts" test. This will stress test your GPU. If you see any Yellow artifacts then your GPU has the problem. First thing to do is check that your card isn't overheating, download everest from my sig to check the temps. For a 9800GT anything over 90c on the core is considered overheating.

Could you also post down your PSU specs, Make/model, output on the 12v rail.

I want to restate that I am running on an 8600 GTS, no longer the 9800 GT.
But with both cars there were these similar problems.

Checking for artifacts with ATI Tool was certainly rough. It went for about 7 seconds, the graphic went all yellow, the screen artifact'd up, leaving me with this:

http://i924.photobucket.com/albums/ad86/Novaok/lol.png

Look near the time, and on the start menu.

I tried to run it again, as soon as I hit the check for artifacts button, the machine froze up and began flashing or flickering. It was unresponsive and I reboot.

My PSU is an SPi FSP550-60PLG 550w.
I don't know what the output on the 12v rail is. :v

 

[Novaok]

Bump.
Any thoughts?

 

[HardwareGuruMan]

Did you try taking out some RAM?

 

[Lord Sirian]

You had artefacts? I'm worried about your PSU, if you open up your case you should be able to see it, there will be a sticker with information on it. One of the bits of information is the amps on the +12V rail. Could you please find it and tell us what it is.

Also, as suggested before, download Everest, use it to check your graphics card temps.

 

[Novaok]

Did you try taking out some RAM?

No, I haven't tried yet. Should I just take out all but one stick and see how it runs? If well, test the next one?
Yeah, I guess I'll do that tomorrow. Thanks for reminding me. :V

Edit:

You had artefacts? I'm worried about your PSU, if you open up your case you should be able to see it, there will be a sticker with information on it. One of the bits of information is the amps on the +12V rail. Could you please find it and tell us what it is.

Also, as suggested before, download Everest, use it to check your graphics card temps.

I guess I'll take another look at the PSU, I don't even know what the +12V rail is to be honest; but I think it's the connector for video cards or something? Maybe I'll just post a photo of the sticker. I'll open up my case right now.

What I think you're looking for is +12v 36A(YEL)
That's what it says on the sticker. I also searched up the model and it says
the +12v is 36A. [link]

Oh yeah, and as for temperatures: my temps are fine, as from SIW, the graphics card idles at 53-55 degrees; and only rises about 10 to 15 while gaming. The card should be able to get to about 90c before showing any problems. This is not a heat related issue.

 

[Aus_Karlos]

With the 8600 cards the temp is actually more around the mark of 75c-80c before graphics corruption is present.
I would suggest putting the 8600 in another PC if you have one (With the same or more Wattage PSU) and run the artifacts scan on that system.
If two of the cards are playing up in your PC then there is a chance it could be the motherboard itself.
For an 8600, 550W with [email protected] is plenty for it.

 

[FreoHeaveho]

Leave only 2GB or ram in the machine for testing. I have seen issues when a 32bit OS has too much installed RAM additional to the addressable memory for all other components.

Also see if there is a motherboard update for your computer/

 

[dai]

the sparkle is a low efficiency piece of crap <68% efficiency

put a 80+ quality 550w in it

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817139004&Tpk=corsair+550w

 

[Novaok]

Okay so I'm posting this from my iPod quickly. Excuse my spelling and grammatical errors.

Basically I tested the ram. It was all fine and ram is not the problem. But now there are artifacts and huge vertical collumns of artifacts when booting, on the desktop or anywhere. This seems like such an obvious video card problem.

I'm taking the machine to the shop as soon as possible. I will update the thread when it returns!