PC Crashing on every game :(

[nauzers]

Hello to all.

I am having a serious problem with my hardware. I have spent more than week googling for the problem and found nothing exact...
The problem is - my PC crashes with every game I play for now.
Monitor turns black and tells that ""entering sleep mode" - but the sound sometimes keeps playing the games soundtrack for a while… But sometimes lags for a few seconds and disappears.
The only way to get PC back to work is, hold power button until it shuts off and then turn it on again.
I did not have any problems at all - was a happy gamer - with no problem... Played all versions of Crysis with no problems... Fallout 3 - no problems.. Assassins Creed, All versions of Prince of Persia, i even can't remember - but really much games without any problems.. And now i am being punished
Anno 1404 - sometimes it crashes after 30 minutes of gaming - sometimes just after loagind...
Godfather 2 - crashes after 3 - 4 min of game play
Batman Arkham Asylum - have run it twice - first time crashes in elevator with Joker… Second time at first battles 2'nd round...
And the crash is always the same as describet before.
For now have not tested more games...

My system is:
Chieftec 650W
C2D E8400
2 x 8800GT SLI (enabled it with help from this forum )
MB: GA-P35-DS4
4 x 1 GB branded RAM

What has been done?

First of all this is nothing to do with temperatures... because PC runs in Nine Hundred Case.. all fans on Max... + CPU has an Arctic Cooling on it and GPU has ZALAMAN on it - none of temperatures get above 50 degrees.

This is not VGA - because I got another new one - and it did not solve - so I run them SLI now

I think that this is not a OS thing... because same happens in XP... same in Vista... 32 and 64 bits.. now running Win 7.. 32 bits... still same happens...

This is not a bios... flashed it to the latest from Gigabyte site (F14)

This is not a driver.. Video Runs on latest driver from Nvidia...

I am not sure about RAM... i have not tested it with tests.. i just took 2 modules form friend and run these games... same crashes happened.

Maybe PSU is dead - but I have no idea how to test it...

Red some forum about Realtek onboard sound that it could cause the problem.. tried to install driver from Realtek - not MB site.. still the same... have not tried run games with sound disabled - don't know how to disable it - nothing is shown in BIOS... will it work when disable it under Device Manager?

So - I know you have great experience - please if any of you has a clue what could be the reason or what else could i do - please tell me.

Hope to hear from you!
P.S. Sorry if the post is not in the right category.

 

[DaedalusHelios]

Chieftec 650W
C2D E8400
2 x 8800GT SLI (enabled it with help from this forum )
MB: GA-P35-DS4
4 x 1 GB branded RAM

How are you activating SLi without an Nvidia Northbridge on a LGA775 socket?

I thought X58 was the only exclusion to the rule.

 

[10TaTioN]

Your motherboard has TWO PCIe 16x, BUT they are for CrossfireX, not SLi. That's probably the cause for the crashes. Try with a single card and see if that still happens, if so you'll need a SLi-compatible motherboard.

 

[nauzers]

Well it has been hacked:

Read this:

http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=60844&page=39

 

[nauzers]

Well it started to crash with the single VGA.. that is the reason why i got the other one.. as it crashed with other as well - I just put them SLI to have a better performance - so this is not the reason.

P.S. Every MB with 2 PCIE - supports SLI - it is juts Intel and Nvidia who made it not possible.. but you still can enable it.. read forum i posted above... ~ page 30 to the end and it will be clear to you.

 

[10TaTioN]

Software can't add Features to Hardware when the Hardware is not capable to do them.

Try here: http://forums.slizone.com/index.php

Edit: Are you using any Software that by any chance "interacts" with games and/or Video Drivers, like FRAPS etc? If so uninstall them. Also a, did you Overclock your system? If so there's something about PCIe frequencies, but i'm not the right person to explain you that, lol, sorry.

 

[nauzers]

OK if you say so - I can get rid of my SLI setup and to be 200% sure - test it one more time... but as i said it was crashing with single VGA...

Can HDD do such thing?

I don't have any other softs Just OS and Drivers and few games for testing - since i am reinstalling OS many times last week...
And NO - i have not overclocked it.

 

[DaedalusHelios]

Wow I had no idea it was actually hacked. I feel like I just crawled out from under a rock.

 

[10TaTioN]

OK if you say so - I can get rid of my SLI setup and to be 200% sure - test it one more time... but as i said it was crashing with single VGA...

Can HDD do such thing?

I don't have any other softs Just OS and Drivers and few games for testing - since i am reinstalling OS many times last week...
And NO - i have not overclocked it.

If the problem is the HDD, it should crash not only in-game but also when in Windows doing stuff.

Very High temperatures are a most common cause.

 

[nauzers]

I wrote about temperatures...

First of all this is nothing to do with temperatures... because PC runs in Nine Hundred Case.. all fans on Max... + CPU has an Arctic Cooling on it and GPU has ZALAMAN on it - none of temperatures get above 50 degrees.
MB comes with large Radiators and heatpipes...

I don't believe that it can be like when i run the game.. in 2 minutes temperature grows from 50 to 90 or more and crashes my pc...

But will test that - will run some game - and hopefully will manage to minimize and check the temps before the crash...

 

[BOG]

Sorry dude, your psu has given up the ghost or your cards and cpu demand more wattage then it can supply. When you play games, it puts stress to your system. You can even run prime95 and be stable but when entering a game or playing for a while it will crash. For sli or cf setup, considering new 5870 cards being released, I would recommend getting corsair hx750

 

[nauzers]

For The Update:

I run Memtest86 - all night - in the morning there was message - NO ERRORS WERE FOUND
I disabled SLI - took out second card - it still crashes...

So VGA is changed - tested, RAM - seems to be OK, HDD - is not responsible, MB and PSU is left...

My friend has 450W PSU - I hope it will be enaught to test PC with one HDD, and one VGA...
And if that still causes crash... I have to RMA my MB? Do you think MB can make such pain in ass?

 

[nauzers]

One More Update:

I plugged different PSU... - still after a while - crash...
Checked 2 more different rams... still crash...
but i noticed that i was able to play a bit longer after cold start of PC... Please Tell me what can overheat - that is not shown in programms like everest... cause CPU, VGA - MB - none of them become hotter than 50 degrees... Can RAM overheat and crash My PC?

 

[Wile E]

Software can't add Features to Hardware when the Hardware is not capable to do them.

Try here: http://forums.slizone.com/index.php

SLI needing specific hardware is a bold-faced lie. All that's physically required is 2 PCIe slots with enough bandwidth to support the cards you choose. Any claimed hardware requirements are purely artificial, and controlled by drivers. If you don't believe that, just look at the old ULI chipset boards that did both Crossfire and SLI before nVidia bought them out, and disabled SLI on a driver level, despite the fact the owners of those boards did SLI before the buyout. Or the fact that X58 boards without SLI exist, and with the same exact hardware as SLI capable X58 boards. It's all software and licensing, not hardware.

One More Update:

I plugged different PSU... - still after a while - crash...
Checked 2 more different rams... still crash...
but i noticed that i was able to play a bit longer after cold start of PC... Please Tell me what can overheat - that is not shown in programms like everest... cause CPU, VGA - MB - none of them become hotter than 50 degrees... Can RAM overheat and crash My PC?

If it lasts longer on his psu, but still crashes, you probably need a better psu. Chieftec is a crappy brand. A 650w from them is probably like a 400w from a decent maker.

 

[nauzers]

What brand PSU do you recomend?

 

[Wile E]

Corsair, Seasonic, Enermax, PC Power and Cooling, Thermaltake Toughpower, certain Silverstones, and a few others. Better would be to decide on a price range, tell us where you can order from, and have suggestions given to you.

It may not absolutely be the psu, but the fact that it runs longer on his, and runs longer when cold makes me think it's at least part of the problem.

 

[nauzers]

WOW WOW WOW... i missed part of your tehx.. it DID NOT RUN LONGER ON OTHER PSU...
IT RUN LONGER ON MY STANDART CONFIG - only the PC was cold...
Whten i plugged other PSU.. and had same crashes....
I was testing with Batman Arkham ... on cold PC played 20 min and got crash... then only ~ 10 minutes...

 

[Wile E]

That still sounds heat related, and since nothing measurable seems to be going over safe temps, the psu seems to be the only thing left.

 

[nauzers]

PSU can overheat? Never heard of that...

 

[Assassin48]

How about running the GPUs off the smaller psu and the rest of the system on the larger one

 

[Corrosion]

PSU can overheat? Never heard of that...

Why do you think thay have fans on them? is day run some prime95 x2 and see what happens. How are you checking your temps? Get "everest"

 

[nauzers]

One more thing.. i don't know is it important or not.. but as far as i remember my problems started after one day i decided to clean my pc...
I took my pc to friends garage - and blown out all the dust with compressor (it was quite dirty) and i think after that it started to crash... is it somehow connected or it is just my imagination?

Yes i monitor them in Everest Ultra...

 

[nauzers]

OK what i am gonna do - i will take second pc from my friend... Will build all my sistem on his MB... And then if it crashes... - will step by step take out my parts and put his - untill i have no crash any more... Damn it sounds stupid and will take like all day :S... Any other ideas how to make effective testing if i have second PC?

Or maybe give it away to disruption?
http://www.fishki.net/comment.php?id=58093

 

[95Viper]

One more thing.. i don't know is it important or not.. but as far as i remember my problems started after one day i decided to clean my pc...
I took my pc to friends garage - and blown out all the dust with compressor (it was quite dirty) and i think after that it started to crash... is it somehow connected or it is just my imagination?

Yes i monitor them in Everest Ultra...

Just a thought... Check your fans after a crash(including the PSU fan) and see if they are all spinning properly. The reason is, if you blew the compressed air into the fans without locking or fixing the blades in place, you might have burned one up(in a manner of speaking). It could be locking up after it's little bearings or sleeve to shaft gets warm.

 

[nauzers]

Well - PC stands on the table - Open sides... I see all what is happening - and i am sure all fans are spinning...
But could i damadge a motherboard with the compressed air?