Computer lockup problem (1 Viewer)

[Greg_S_H]

I've had this problem for a while now, have ignored it, but would now like to solve it. When I play computer games, and only when I play computer games, my system locks up. And, it's not all games, either. PopCap games, web games, and things like that are fine. It's when I try to play something like Duke Nukem 3D (yes, I still play it) or the Prey demo (problems started before the game was released, so I didn't get it) that I'm locked up.

I first noticed it with Duke3D, so that's what I'll focus on. I'd get about five minutes in, and the system would freeze up, with the sound being played at that moment stuck in a loop. I figured my problems might relate to my sound card, so I disabled it and played the game. I had the same problem, but with the sound off, I could hear a strange sound. It was like the parking sound the hard drive makes when you power down the system normally. If I stopped the game right when that started, I'd be fine. If I kept going, it would do it about three times and lock up. I operated the system with the case open, so I know for sure the sound is coming from the hard drive.

I uninstalled Duke3D and moved it to my external hard drive, but the same problem occurs.

The other day, I was able to play for about 20 minutes. That time, it was the Prey demo, and it ran great for a good deal of play. Then, the frames per second started to get flaky, and it soon locked up. I thought maybe it was a heat problem when it worked that long, but it'll lock up even if I start right when the computer is first powered up for the day. Usually, I can play as much as one minute, or it'll lock up on the menu before the game starts (which seems to rule out an accelerator problem).

Another thing worth mentioning: the other day, after a lock up, my boot time inflated from the usual 30 seconds to minutes. It continued to do this until I did a system restore, which fixed it right away.

So, does it sound like the hard drive is going bad, or maybe the hard drive controller? I'd go out and get a new hard drive immediately if I thought it would work. I'm just worried that it won't.

If I do get a hard drive, my understanding is that they come with software that would allow me to easily image this hard drive onto the new one. Correct? And, if it sounds like my problems are not the physical hard drive but something in my configuration, might I not be imaging my problems right over to the new drive? I've always been reluctant to buy a new hard drive because I was mystified by the process of getting it set up. I visited Maxtor and some other HD vendor sites, and they have easy step-by-step guides and software. I could start from scratch, but I think I only have an OEM installer version of Windows XP.

I'll shut up for now and hope somebody can help. And, hope that I can answer questions to make this clearer if need be.

 

[Tekara]

Locking up while only playing 3d games is a good indicator that the computer is overheating, as they always lock up when the video card starts cooking.

Uhm, take off the side of the case and see how the dust bunny build-up is. With the side off, start up Duke 3D run until it locks up and then do the finger test on your video card (touch it, it fails it's too hot to touch ).

Let us know the results!

 

[Greg_S_H]

I tried it, and the fans were working, and nothing seemed overly hot. It is a problem before the acceleration starts sometimes. It freeze up on just the menu. I'll plan to get a new HD and try that.

 

[Clinton McClure]

How about a bad memory stick. I've had RAM go sour and do the same thing. The only programs it affected were graphically intense video games. Try reseating your RAM or run memtest86 to see if there's a problem. Also, reseat your video card while you're at it.

 

[Mike Fassler]

system specs would be helpful!!

 

[Greg_S_H]

2.6G Hyper-threading Pentium 4
1G RAM PC3200
9800 Radeon Pro
Audigy 2

I haven't given or thought of computer specs in a long time, so I don't know if anything else is needed. The memory thing is interesting. I have folders on my desktop that have icons in them, and sometimes when I open one of those, the icons are a windows default icon, and the icons that are supposed to be there slowly fill in. And, when I first get into Windows, it takes a long time for Firefox and other programs to launch. Just at first. That sounds memory related to me, and I would have thought 1 gig would be sufficient to avoid that kind of thing.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I tried Memtest. I allowed it to do one pass of about 8 tests, and cut it off when it when for pass 2. The first one took a long time, and I didn't know if it just kept going until you stopped it. Anyway, it found no errors, but afterwards my computer did that thing where it inflated the startup time again. I said in my first post that it was "30 seconds to minutes." I actually think the normal startup time is shorter than that. Routinely, I get out of bed in the morning, turn on the computer, and start to make my bed. The computer is up and ready before I'm done with that, so it can't be more than 10-15 seconds. And, it inflates to about one minute. Anyway, it went to that, so I did a system restore, which did not work this time. I was a little bummed, thinking I'd have to resort to an inplace repair install tomorrow, but I turned the computer off for about an hour and tried again. The startup time was normal again. There's probably a clue in there somewhere, but I don't know what it is.

 

[Greg_S_H]

I wonder if it could be overheating RAM. I might buy some of those RAM heat sleeves this week.

 

[Parker Clack]

Something is getting over heated for sure. Try msconfig and see what you have listed in your startup. Take out any program that doesn't need to be loaded on start up and it should improve your start up time. Also, defrag your hard drive. What type of power supply do you have? 250watt? 300watt?

 

[Greg_S_H]

430W.

I've defragged with no change. It does remind me of another symptom I have, though. When I do the disk error check that reboots you to the blue "working" screen, I get the same inflated boot time until I do a system restore. I haven't done the check in a while because of that, but I think it would also hang up and not complete.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Clinton, you were absolutely right. It is definitely memory related. I started having brief freezes just when moving the mouse, and icons would then disappear and reappear, and it just felt like a memory problem to me. I decided I was going to replace the four 256M modules I have with either one 1G or two 512s and hope that helped, and I opened up my computer to have a look. The memory appeared to be seated properly, with one brand's memory in DIMMs 1 and 2, and another brand's memory in DIMMs 3 and 4. Just for the heck of it, I decided to switch the memory so each brand was in the opposite DIMM (but still paired). When I booted Windows after the switch, everything seemed to load into memory faster. I played Duke Nukem 3D and got through four levels without a problem. Then, I played the entire Prey demo all the way through. At the very end, there was a brief pause, which had me worried. So, I loaded a save from a few levels back and played again to the end, this time without any problem whatsoever. I definitely couldn't have done any of that before the memory switch.

Here's my theory, and I wonder if it sounds plausible to someone who knows more than I do about how DIMMs work. I think one of the sticks in DIMM 1 or 2 was bad, and when the computer uses memory, it uses the first sticks first, only going to DIMMs 3 and 4 when those reach capacity. So, I still have a bad stick, but it's just not as likely for the computer to need the bad stick as often when it's in a higher DIMM position. This could be complete BS, as I don't know how it works, but I'm guessing it's something along these lines. Which, of course, means that I still have a bad stick and ought to replace it.

That's where I have a question for one of you. My computer's manual says that memory needs to be installed in pairs, so would I be better off with two 512s than one 1G? The way it's worded, I'm not sure. Let me quote it directly:


It sounds like I should get two, but the first example is of a computer with just one 256M module. I don't know if they're just trying to make sure I don't have one in DIMM1 and one in DIMM3, or what.

I hope this isn't so wordy that people say, "Forget that!" and I get no help.

 

[Ken Chan]

This describes the behavior of dual-channel memory, which would be expected with a motherboard for a late-model Pentium 4 like yours. If you know its make and model, you could confirm that. So yes, matched pairs in the right pairs of slots would be better, but any reasonable arrangement should work. The board might even take any combination of different sizes of the right kind of DIMMs -- say 512MB in DIMM1 and 1GB in DIMM4 -- but most boards recommend a certain order.

Run memtest again overnight, so the machine gets nice and warm. Or run the system without the suspect pair of DIMMs for a week, and if there are no problems, that's probably it. With less RAM, the system might be slower, but should never lock up.

 

[Greg_S_H]

It's been performing very well today, perhaps better than it ever has. I bet I've had a bad stick of RAM in there all along, and it just got progressively worse. I'll plan to get a pair of 512s soon.

 

[Greg_S_H]

Turns out, no dice. Swapping the memory around helped, but I still got locked up almost instantly after starting up Sin Episodes. So, I went out and got a new gig of memory. Same problem.

 

[Rommel_L]

Greg,

Open up msconfig. Click on teh Startup tab. How many processes do you have in there? Also, how big is your VM?

 

[Greg_S_H]

The brief time I had 1.5G in the system (the new gig, plus the two supposedly working 256s), I had it at 2301. Now, with a single gig, it's back to 1533. I have 15 processes in my startup, and I can identify all of them. Sound and video drivers, virus protection, etc.

Here's the thing: when I shuffled the old memory around, I could play most games indefinitely, including the new Tomb Raider. That one, I could play it, but I heard the noise I've described the whole time. I didn't notice any effect on gameplay, and was able to play for hours. When I installed Sin Episodes, however, I couldn't even get past the opening cinematic before it locked up. So, I bought the new memory, and I put it in with what I believed were two working pieces of old memory. I was able to play Sin Episodes for a long time with that configuration. But, Tomb Raider locked up. And, when I went back to Sin Episodes, it was pretty jerky and unplayable. Long story short, I took the old sticks out and ran it with just the new, and that didn't help. So, I no longer think it's a memory problem. Even if one of the new sticks was bad, would it display the exact same problem as before? I'm going to take this new memory back. I like it--it's heat shielded, unlike my old sticks--but I don't want to spend the money if it doesn't make the lockups stop.