Help me diagnose my PC crashing!

[enderfall]

I custom built a PC last December that I've had problems with hard system crashing while playing modern games. Here are the specs of my computer:

Mobo: MSI 790FX-GD70
CPU: AMD Phenom II x4 955BE
RAM: OCZ3OB1600LV4GK 4GB (2x2GB DDR3 1600)
Vid: XFX Radeon HD4870 1GB DDR5
HDD: WD Caviar Black 640GB
OS: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit
Monitor: 24" Acer P235H LCD
Case: Cooler Master HAF 90
PS: Cooler Master Silent 700W

While playing virtually all modern games, the PC crashes where the monitor goes black and the music continues playing in the background. It usually happens within the 1st 10-15 minutes of playing. The music gets stuck playing until it finishes it's track and or loop, and nothing I input does anything (i.e. if playing a FPS, hitting the mouse button to shoot does not actually fire the weapon as no sound is made). There are no error messages because it always results in a hard crash requiring a reboot.

It's prominent on all types of games that I installed from CD, downloaded with Direct2Drive, or through Steam. The biggest offenders are Mass Effect 1 and Borderlands, but those are the only games that I've really played long enough to notice issues. At first I thought it was a ME1 issue as there are noted problems with the PC port supporting AMD processors, but after patching to the 1.02 update and ditching the disc version and buying the D2D version, I have the same problems, albeit I can play most parts of ME1 fine...the driving sections seem to give me the most headaches. Besides, most other users indicate a CTD, rather than a hard crash requiring reboot. Borderlands on the other-hand is an utter failure. I can't play for more than 15 minutes without it crashing even a low settings. I have a disc based version of Bioshock that while I was able to play through the whole game, it did randomly hard crash two times later in the game.

I'd test it thoroughly on other games I have like Far Cry 2 and L4D, but I don't want to invest more time in a game that won't work as well.

I also thought it was initially a Vista issue as I originally installed Vista 1st, but after performing a clean install of Win 7, the issues remain...and if anything seem more pronounced (or perhaps my patience has finally worn off...)

Any ideas what might be causing the issue? I'd venture it's a hardware problem, but my computer is completely stable when doing anything else other than playing a modern game. I've played probably 100-200 hours of Civ IV without any issues. It doesn't appear to be overheating or anything of that nature either. My best guess is that the RAM sucks, but Memtest did not come up with any problems after running them for 4+ hours.

Help!!

[Jayson]

It almost sounds like a PSU issue. That seems like a good power supply with enough wattage, but maybe its going bad or was faulty from the get go. Have you tried swapping that out with another one yet?

In my experience, all sorts of weird stuff happens when a PSU is on its way out and would cause what you are describing.

It could also be the video card or a bum driver installation. Have you tried completely uninstalling the video card and drivers and trying a different one?

[Limewater]

It doesn't appear to be overheating or anything of that nature either.

Why do you say this?

[jeffro11]

It sounds like your video card on its way out/overheating. Check the temps with an external program and log it all. Might even be a driver issue. What's the latest Catalyst your running?

[enderfall]

It sounds like your video card on its way out/overheating. Check the temps with an external program and log it all. Might even be a driver issue. What's the latest Catalyst your running?

It doesn't appear to be overheating or anything of that nature either.

Why do you say this?

Well I suspect it's not overheating since after reboot, I load up ATI Catalyst and the temps are running a normal 52-54 degC. After updating to Win 7 last week, I installed the latest ATI driver/CCC suite dated Jun 2010 (off the top of my head). Do you recommend an external program to log the temps?

It almost sounds like a PSU issue. That seems like a good power supply with enough wattage, but maybe its going bad or was faulty from the get go. Have you tried swapping that out with another one yet?

In my experience, all sorts of weird stuff happens when a PSU is on its way out and would cause what you are describing.

It could also be the video card or a bum driver installation. Have you tried completely uninstalling the video card and drivers and trying a different one?

Unfortunately, I do not have any other PSU's to try. My last desktop was an early P4 and it was 150W IIRC . A few months back I did uninstall the ATI CCC and drivers with a fresh install with no change... thus I ruled out a driver issue.

[Limewater]

It doesn't appear to be overheating or anything of that nature either.

Why do you say this?

Well I suspect it's not overheating since after reboot, I load up ATI Catalyst and the temps are running a normal 52-54 degC. After updating to Win 7 last week, I installed the latest ATI driver/CCC suite dated Jun 2010 (off the top of my head).

But that's after a reboot. Your mobo and video card don't have a lot of thermal mass. I wouldn't rule out heat just yet, and a heat problem could still be related to the driver update you just did (if you haven't had the problem prior to that).

I'd suggest running with your case open and gaming some more to see if it lasts longer or avoids crashing. It might not be the most likely fix, but it's easy and doesn't cost anything.

[CRTGAMER]

Maybe do all the free maintenance first?

1. Check all internal (unplug and plug) cable connections and PCB boards
2. Check for Spyware (SPYBOTS is free download)
3. Defrag the Hard Drive
4. Update to latest drivers for Windows, video, and sound cards

[enderfall]

But that's after a reboot. Your mobo and video card don't have a lot of thermal mass. I wouldn't rule out heat just yet, and a heat problem could still be related to the driver update you just did (if you haven't had the problem prior to that).

I'd suggest running with your case open and gaming some more to see if it lasts longer or avoids crashing. It might not be the most likely fix, but it's easy and doesn't cost anything.

I've had the hard crash problem pretty much from the get-go. One of the first things I did after experiencing the problem was a full refresh of the gfx drivers. Ironically, I spent most of my initial gaming after building with Civ IV which has never had any problems, though recent marathon Civ IV games failed to have any issues either. I can try keeping the side panel open, but as is, it's already a pretty air flow efficient case.

Maybe do all the free maintenance first?

1. Check all internal (unplug and plug) cable connections and PCB boards
2. Check for Spyware (SPYBOTS is free download)
3. Defrag the Hard Drive
4. Update to latest drivers for Windows, video, and sound cards

1. I'll have to do later when I'm home
2. I haven't run spyware program recently, but as I said, it's been an issue from day 1
3. I had Windows schedule a defrag once a week on Monday nights when I would leave the computer on
4. I think all my drivers are up to date... I don't have a sound card as it uses on-board sound processing

[avrame]

Could just be me (speaking from experience, I had the same issues), but it sounds like your comp is hitting a User Action dialog mid game. For me, I hit it everytime I tried to play Borderlands online, a dialog would appear on the desktop "EAGames Borderland is trying to access the internet, Allow, Deny?" That said, the dialog is 'supposed' to dim the screen when it pops up, to get the users attention.

Using my comp, I had no issues dismissing it, but using the comp I built for my fiancee (we play borderlands together ), it appeared that ATI gfx cards weren't to happy with something trying to take priority and drawing over the 3D accelerated games at hand, and would hang when trying to transition to the new dialog.

My suggestions, try ALT+TABing the black screen, or CTRL+SHIFT+ESC to bring up the task manager.

Last suggestion, run in window mode to see if it repros.

I think it could be a prompt dialog throwing you out of whack. That makes sense to me, EXCEPT for Bioshock, as that game does not access the net at all as far as I know...

[Ziggy]

If you or a friend has another video card that you could swap in, that would help take it off the table.