[RESOLVED]Game Freeze & Sound Loop

[wevsspot]

Chipset drivers should be downloaded directly from nVidia. Use the 6.70 revision chipset drivers. During the installation you will be prompted whether you want to install the nVidia Network Manager and nVidia Active Armour and Firewall. Select "no". It's not suprising that you're having problems if you haven't installed the nVidia chipset drivers and are still using the generic ones from Microsoft.

 

As far as nVidia vs. Marvell, I've used them both and they both work well. Personally I like the nVidia GB lan and mine has always worked flawlessly. The original reason I recommended turning off the Marvell was to free up one of your IRQ assignments though, not because I was recommending one over the other.

 

Cheers.

[blackdragon57]

Wevsspot, I did as you instructed, but now I'm getting more problems -- mainly in 3D applications. Before trying to troubleshoot this specific problem, 3DMark03 could run indefinitely; however, now, after 5-10 minutes of running, the graphics get extremely strange (I can't even begin to desribe it), then it finally crashes the entire system. When the PC reboots back into Windows, there is no error message. Oblivion seems to be crashing more than ever. So far, I guess it is the 3D programs that are more intense, because DX test have no problems.

After all this, I went back to square one: Memtest86+. It ran 10 loops and had one error. I don't necessarily consider one error to be a huge problem -- but a problem nonetheless. Part of me now wants to wipe the entire system and rebuild piece by piece. My current Windows survived one motherboard RMA & one new power supply. I know that most users generally wipe out Windows and start with a fresh install when changing a motherboard, but I felt that mine could endure (which it sort of did).

Oblivion does leave error logs in Windows...which is a good sign. I also noticed that it gave an error without totally freezing the system: "...thread stuck in device driver." From what I found on the net, it seems to be a problem with the game and/or driver. Since Oblivion has only seen one update/ revision, I'd blame a lot of the gaming problems simply on Oblivion.

Anyways, my focus is now on the one error in Memtest86+ and my current and more severe problems with all heavy 3D applications. (all temperatures are normal)

Any suggestions?

[lowboy]

You need a more powerful psu. That 520w won't cut it for your rig.

[blackdragon57]

2x Maxtor DiamondMax 10's

2x CD/DVD recording drives (one being 52x)

2x GeForce 7800 GTX

4800+ X2 processor

8 fans total inside system

 

Any suggestions for this? 600 or 700 Watt GamerXstream? I really can't see my system using any more than 550 under a full load.

[lowboy]

Even this psu calculator shows you need almost 700w. And I don't put that much faith in them usally show way low. I would get the 700w gamexstream.

http://www.extreme.outervision.com/psucalculator.jsp

[blackdragon57]

Thanks for the help. I just ordered that an hour ago. I also put one of my older PSU's on eBay (Antec TruePower II). Though, most DFI'ers would stay away from that.

[wevsspot]

You made an extremely wise choice. I'll not go on and on here what I've repeated before elsewhere. But for the money the new Fortron and OCZ 600W and 700W power supplies are the best you can buy. Period.

 

Also, do yourself a favor and perform a full format and Windows install. Didn't know previously that you were "carrying" over a Windows installation from one board to another. While alot of people get away with it (as long as it's the same chipset and other hardware) anytime I swap board brands or board types it gets a fresh install of Windows.

[blackdragon57]

Yes, I been battling my mind for a couple months now about a fresh install. I didn't get to set up RAID on my first install because I did not have an available floppy drive. I been missing out on that the entire time.

The "carrying" over went well for a while. I battled with my new board and older PSU at the beginning, then things seem to go smoothly, as I was happily gaming for two months with very little problems.

What are your opinions concerning one memory error in 10 consecutive runs in Memtest86+? I could loosen the timings; however they are at stock (3-3-3-8) @ 200 mhz 1:1 ratio (DDR400). I left everything at stock, due to the instability in more intense 3D applications.

[magpie1966]

what slots are your memmory in , if not already try them in slots 2 and 4.

[wevsspot]

What are your opinions concerning one memory error in 10 consecutive runs in Memtest86+? I could loosen the timings; however they are at stock (3-3-3-8) @ 200 mhz 1:1 ratio (DDR400). I left everything at stock, due to the instability in more intense 3D applications.

 

What was the total wall time when you got that single error? And what test was it on?

[blackdragon57]

The total wall time went to 10 hours (I believed that's what I looked at right before I shut down Memtest86). Also, I think it was on test 6. This was a few days ago, but I'm fairly sure that's correct. The error never occured again. I could run the test all night, but I wouldn't be too surprised if it runs into another error. That is a lot of stress on the memory for an entire night.

My memory is in 2 & 4 (orange). I did as much research as I could before purchasing this board in December of 2005. Went through one RMA (the original board had worse problems). I'm more stubborn about returning this board, because I have hope that it can function with a dual core processor + SLI. Horrible thing is that I haven't even got the chance to overclock anything yet. Can't even get enough stability in games to attempt such a thing.

I been struggling with this PC off and on in the past several months. It was running very smoothly in the past two months. It's hard to imagine why it would suddenly be more picky about these more stressful applications.

I'll be honest and say that I haven't tried everything I can think of. I could strip the entire computer down, but I know it'll run fine. The only time I get problems like these is when I'm gaming in SLI (in newer games/applications). Now that I think of it, I don't think I touched the "PCIe Spread Spectrum" at all. What-ever the default may be is what it is currently set to. Early threads suggested to leave it disabled, while newer ones suggest to turn it on Auto.

[magpie1966]

Mine are both on , I had identical problems , what nvidia drivers you running, mine was

unusable only thing I can say is your psu is 520 watts that a bit shy for SLI machines

especially since your running 2 hard drives and an external sound card and GTX card's are renounce as power hungry,

 

My advice would be to remove youre external Sound Card and extra drives and anything else your not using on a temporary basis, run machine see if it settles down, if it does replace PSU with a OCZ 700w version, like I say your PSU looks under powered for the amount of kit your running,

 

Hope this helps