Glitch PC Forums

Random PC crashes in games

KinSlayer — Fri, 30 Jul 2010 18:23:22 GMT

Got a new problem for you. (I don't seem to be doing very well with PC's this year....)

With my main PC running Windows Vista-64, every so often when running marginally heavy games, (namely Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion and Star Trek Online), the pc goes from about 50% CPU usage to 0% CPU usage, which as you can probably tell crashes everything on it.

It is starting to do this within games more randomly and it is usually followed by windows 100% crashing (usually without a BSOD) about 10mins later.

I would like to know what it going off. Though I still reckon it is the RAM I have in it, but i can't test it out with other RAM, due to the fact that I don't have any, nor the funds to replace the 3Gb RAM inside.

Main PC Specs:

QuadCore AMD Phenom 9750 2400MHz
3Gb RAM (2Gb DDR2-800 Corsair XMS2 CM2X2048-6400C5 and 1Gb Corsair XMS2 DHX CM2X1024-6400C5DHX1)
Sapphire TOXIC Radeon HD 4870 OC (Running through HDMI to a 23" Samsung SyncMaster HDTV @ 1920x1080 - 50Hz
Hitachi 320Gb SATA2 - Windows Drive (77.8Gb free)
Samsung 500Gb SATA2 (100.7Gb free)
Windows Vista 64-bit SP2
DirectX 10.0

Hope that info helps you. if you need more, i will attempt to get it.

---------- Post added at 07:23 PM ---------- Previous post was at 07:10 PM ----------

Additional info for you.

I just did a temperature sensor monitor of the pc when in the Star Trek Online game, (as it just crashed yet again), and the temperatures were as follows:

Motherboard - 40C
CPU - 55C
GPU DispIO - 50C
GPU MemIO - 70C
GPU Shader - 55C
GPU VRM - 65C
Hitachi HDD - 42C
Samsung HDD - 37C

VSPG network down, sysadmins on it

GlitchPC — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 08:29:02 GMT

Quote:

I'll post more info as we get it. UPDATE 10:46pm PT: Looks like the issue has been fixed, at least for now. Apparently this outage was somewhat widespread throughout the Stanford campus. It was just a network outage (the servers...

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Solid State Drive review

Terry — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:25:02 GMT

So I broke down and bought a 30G SSD after hearing how fast they were...
it's true!
I've had mine for about 2 months now.

I bought a desktop kit at Amazon for about $110. that includes hangers that convert a 3-1/2" bay into a 2-1/2" bay.
(Laptop users that want a SSD won't need the drive bay conversion kit).

The migration was a bit different than a normal install of a new drive, because usually people install a *bigger* drive rather than a smaller one.
So what you need to do is partition your bigger drive so that it fits on the smaller drive before hand.

What I did was make this my boot and Windows application drive exclusively. So I don't really need a large drive for that. The small 30G version fit the bill nicely for me.
I store all my other programs, games, graphics/pictures, music, movies, videos, and software on other drives.

Among some of the positive benefits SSD's have:

1. smaller and lighter
2. no need to defrag (under normal conditions anyway)
3. no heat generation
4. minimal power consumption (5W max)
5. silent, completely silent
6. no moving parts
7. faster (twice as fast as my SATA drive and probably faster than SCSI drives also)

As far as I'm concerned, just a superior drive in most all aspects, well worth the extra money, and most likely many manufacturers will include this drive as optional equipment or even standard equipment in the future.

I highly recommend these types of drives for those that can afford it.

Computer fasteners

Terry — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 03:00:57 GMT

I got tired of looking for tiny computer screws and not finding the right ones... so I bought about $400. worth of screws, bolts and fasteners of all types.

Besides the usual eBay or Amazon route for specific fasteners, some good resources for micro screws, bolts and fasteners for hobbyists, electronics repair or computers are:

http://www.microfasteners.com/
(ironically, close-by me in Lebanon, NJ...plus they give you a good count at decent prices).

and:

http://www.boltdepot.com/metric-socket-products.aspx
(fastest delivery I've ever experienced with anything, anywhere).

Then my problem was finding the right case to hold them...
I found a sewing kit case with 48 compartments at Walmart for $12. worked perfectly.

Any thoughts? (laptop problem)

CBMatt — Thu, 29 Jul 2010 01:46:41 GMT

Okay, a friend brought over her laptop today with the hopes that I would be able to fix it, but I'm just a little stumped. Unfortunately, because I don't work with laptops very often, I don't really have any cables/equipment/parts for troubleshooting, so I'm hoping one of you guys might have an idea (preferrably something simple).

Anyway, the laptop I'm working with is an Acer TravelMate 2480 (specs here) with Vista. The main problem right now is that the keyboard and mouse touchpad don't work (I'm assuming the buttons also don't work). They don't work during startup (so I can't get into BIOS or Safe Mode), nor do they work at the log-in screen.

From what I've read, this seems to be a very common problem with Acer laptops and about 65% of people are able to resolve it with a hard reset. I tried that with no luck. I then tried opening the laptop up as much as I could without breaking the case and everything seems to be properly seated.

I've heard that the BGA chips on these go bad after about a year, but I have no way of testing that without buying a new chip and a soldering iron.

For whatever reason, the semicolon works sometimes, but the only key that works properly is Esc. I cleaned under the keys and made sure they were unobstructed and properly aligned. No change. I tried a USB mouse and keyboard, but neither of them work.

On top of all of this, the laptop can only get power through the battery. I'm not sure if it's the power connector or just the cord, but for what it's worth, she has already had the connector replaced once. I have no idea if the two issues are at all related, but I figured it was worth mentioning.

So...any thoughts? Does this sound like a problem with the southbridge BGA chip or something else? Is there anything else I should try? I can't really think of anything else, but I feel like I probably missed something. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I'd like to do whatever I can before giving up on this (or buying the stuff I would need) and sending her to expensive repair shop.

By the way, does anyone know how much Acer usually charges for repairs? I'm pretty sure the warranty has already expired.

SMP2 preview client (v 6.30)

GlitchPC — Wed, 28 Jul 2010 19:59:17 GMT

Quote:

I've talked about our work with our second generation SMP client (dubbed SMP2). The goals were to make it work much more simply and easier for donors, namely by getting rid of the need for MPI libraries. This is no...

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Here we go, again...

GlitchPC — Wed, 21 Jul 2010 04:15:30 GMT

Due to some issues with the site's hosting account, it has become apparent there will be some changes to the site in the upcoming days. Unfortunately, due to some restraints on the account, it has become necessary to make these changes.

All of you should understand...that I have done the best I could do to make this site fun, as well as informative...and I appreciate the help I have received from everyone who got us here. I just wanted to give everyone a "heads-up" about it.

Any changes made to the site will be discussed, here, within this thread. The "powers that be" are in the process of talking it over...and we'll get back to you with these changes.

You'll have to understand we can't please everyone, but we will do whatever is in our power to make the changes as subtle as possible. This may not be the case, however.

All we ask is that you bear with us...

Thank you...

---------- Post added at 12:15 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:01 AM ----------

While the Skysa Toolbar, at the bottom of the site, was a nice little feature. I believe it to be redundant and have decided to remove it from the site.

Sorry for the inconvenience, however, it did have its drawbacks...mainly redundancy and site clutter.

Scheduled vbulletin Maintenace Upgrade...

GlitchPC — Thu, 15 Jul 2010 16:18:27 GMT

The site will be down this evening, temporarily, due to a new maintenance release from vbulletin.

The site will be closed from 8PM EST USA, for approximately 1 hour, or less...depending on any issues caused by the new release.

Any questions can be directed to me through this thread...

Regards,

Steve

---------- Post added at 12:18 PM ---------- Previous post was at 12:06 PM ----------

This maintenance release fixes a few bugs.

Finally finished updating my PC

Stix — Wed, 14 Jul 2010 14:47:43 GMT

So I finally got around to updating my PC. My last post here I had a Core 2 Duo, with a Gigabyte Socket 775 Motherboard, ATI Radeon 4870, Thermaltake 700W PSU, all inside a nice Antec 900. Well I'm not going to lie, I had a really really good machine, but it just wasn't cutting it for editing videos/music and Virtualizing OS's. So I updated it, quite drastically I might add.
List of what's new:
CPU - AMD Phenom II x4 955 Black 3.2GHz
Motherboard - Gigabyte MicroATX AM2/AM2+/AM3 M68M-S2P
Graphics Card - XFX ATI Radeon HD 5850 1GB GDDR5
Heatsink-Fan - Zalman Copper LED Ball, with Blue LED
CD/DVD Drive - I swapped out my SATA Asus CD/DVD drive for an SATA Samsung CD/DVD R+ Burner/Drive
Power Supply - OCZ Modular 700W
Case - Cooler Master HAF 922

I also uploaded some pictures of the finished product here: http://glitchpc.com/forums/album.php?albumid=17
There should be 9 pictures, but if you can't see them all I have them uploaded to my imgur account: http://slygathor.imgur.com/my_pc

Let me know what you guys think. :cool2:

GPU3 open beta test continuing well

GlitchPC — Tue, 13 Jul 2010 18:27:25 GMT

Quote:

I wanted to post an update on our GPU3 beta test. It is going well, so we have put the GPU3 client on our high performance client download page. This new client is required for all Fermi hardware, but also...

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New custom build

Mulreay — Fri, 09 Jul 2010 15:14:29 GMT

OK I have a job coming up that will fund a new custom build for gaming. Here's what I have so far with the help of Camerongray I must add.

The price is starting to rocket so need some tips on getting it down.

Case Antec 900 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...atid=7&subcat= 72.99

PSU OCZ ModXStream Pro 600w http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...23&subcat=1098 55.99

HDD 1

HDD 2 Hitachi Deskstar 7K1000.C 500GB http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=14&subcat=940 40.98

PCU AMD Phenom II X4 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=CP-244-AM 128.99

Optical Samsung SH-B083L/BSBP 8x BluRay ROM http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=10&subcat=314 49.98

m/Board Asus M4A87TD Evo http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...=5&subcat=1782 84.99

OS Win 7 64bit http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...d=1555&subcat= 79.99

RAM Patriot G Series 4GB (2x2GB) DDR3 http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...odid=MY-030-PA 88.99
GPU

Total
�602.90

Wish List
RAM Corsair XMS3 6GB http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...-205-CS&tool=3 132.99

HDD 1 Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 1.5TB http://www.overclockers.co.uk/showpr...14&subcat=1279 76.99

I apologise for the way it's presented but copied from an Excel document so looks weird.
As you can see there is no GPU so that will add as well. GPU's are certainly not my forte so will need help with that. The GPU should be able to manage prity much most games out there. As an example 'COD modern warfare II' 'Just cause 2' for examples of the level of game being played.
Any help much appreciated. I can spend up to �700 and maybe a bit more but would rather not, as there is still peripherals to purchase.
Thanks in advance. :wink2:

What was the first thing that you did with a PC's hardware?

camerongray — Mon, 05 Jul 2010 20:07:52 GMT

I just thought that it would be fun to see what the first thing you did with a PC's hardware. Feel free to post below.

The first thing I did was to remove a SCSI card (strange I know). I had been given a PC but the person who gave me it realised that they forgot to remove the SCSI card that they needed - I didn't have a need for it.

ATI WU shortage

GlitchPC — Sun, 04 Jul 2010 09:29:26 GMT

Quote:

There has been an ATI WU shortage over the last few days. We have been working on it during the week, but there have been some unusual circumstances involved this time which has delayed a complete fix. We have made...

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Video: How to make your own Google Chrome Extension (Iframe based)

camerongray — Fri, 02 Jul 2010 12:15:05 GMT

Video 1 - Making Extension:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=piBrloT1F6g

Video 2 - Adding to Extension Gallery:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rum6ZsZgkhg