Bad Company 2 Locking up my machine

[Bengie]

I've been having an issue with BC2 recently(past week) that causes my computer to freeze after ~20-30min of play. The screen stops, sound starts to repeat that last 0.5sec of audio and nothing responds. No BSOD, just a sudden lock up.

BC2 is the only program that does this. My computer runs with no issues and I let it run 24/7.

I have tried Heaven 2.5 for a 1 hour 15min, Kombustor 2.0 DX11 on burn-in for an hour, Team Fortress 2 for an hour, Civ5 for 4 hours with DX 11, memtest for 48 hours, prime95 for 24 hours, and I run CPU+GPU folding at night. No issues. As long as I don't run BC2, my computer will run 24/7 between Windows updates.

Did an sfc /scannow, Steam integrity check, 11.2 ATI drivers, RealTek 2.58, also tried disabling my RealTek in the bios. I uninstalled both ATI and RealTek Drivers, rebooted, ran driver sweeper, rebooted, reinstalled the drivers.

Win7 64, ATI 6950, 6GB of ram, i7-920, RealTek onboard. GPU runs at 40c during BC2 and ~60% load. Kombustor/Heaven/Folding actually get my GPU to 100% which my cards runs only 60c.

Antec 750 PSU that has 4 rails, the 6pins feeding my 6950 are on dedicated rails that share nothing with anything else and reviews of my PSU showed each 6pin capable of handling 330watts, with extremely smooth voltage output, which is waaayyy above spec.

Thanks for any ideas

 

[Athlon2K15]

well bad company is a really picky game with any sort of overclock. You say everything is stock so it leaves me to assume either the mobo is failing or the psu. as crazyeyesreaper about this he is having the same problem

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

had the same issues, most likely powersupply or mobo, granted my issue extends to multiple games, BC2 is the quickest when it comes to causing my system to lock up id suggest checking the psu or mobo a bit closer, or testing with another PSU if u can borrow one which is what im doing to track down my issues. Either that or try a fresh OS install granted that didnt fix my issues, but it might fix yours since only BC2 is crashing

 

[horik]

man your card runs cold,i recently have this issue but not always,your system is almost identical to mine,may be coz of 6950 OC...now that i think about it,this problem started to occur after i started using C4C

 

[Bengie]

man your card runs cold,i recently have this issue but not always,your system is almost identical to mine,may be coz of 6950 OC

Well, it's 72f(22c) at the thermostat level and a degree or two cooler on the ground. Antec 900 case with two 120mm fans at medium blowing at my GPU from the front of the case, and a small 10cfm slow fan blowing right at the card's air intake. I have a custom fan curve for the GPU, so it gets ~42% while playing BC2 and ~50% with folding, so it can get "loud", but nothing that a quiet video can't cover.



Anyway, I'll leave this thread up because it may be useful for someone else, but I guess Punkbuster has been causing almost identical issues for A LOT of people. I just didn't find this issues in searches because it was with the keywords "+PunkBuster +BSOD" which I had no BSOD and I had no indication that it was PB, but everything else is the same.

Being that my computer is otherwise stable and BC2 is my only game to use PB, I'm going to assume that's what the issues is.

Thanks

 

[erocker]

Well, it's 72f(22c) at the thermostat level and a degree or two cooler on the ground. Antec 900 case with two 120mm fans at medium blowing at my GPU from the front of the case, and a small 10cfm slow fan blowing right at the card's air intake. I have a custom fan curve for the GPU, so it gets ~42% while playing BC2 and ~50% with folding, so it can get "loud", but nothing that a quiet video can't cover.



Anyway, I'll leave this thread up because it may be useful for someone else, but I guess Punkbuster has been causing almost identical issues for A LOT of people. I just didn't find this issues in searches because it was with the keywords "+PunkBuster +BSOD" which I had no BSOD and I had no indication that it was PB, but everything else is the same.

Being that my computer is otherwise stable and BC2 is my only game to use PB, I'm going to assume that's what the issues is.

Thanks

Sounds logical to me. Have you tried updating punkbuster via pbsetup?

 

[horik]

found an update for PB,lets see if this will stop the crashes,thank you ppl for the tip

 

[Bluescreendeath]

I have the EXACT same issue.

I was using a 5870 two weeks ago and BadCompany 2 played just fine. Then I installed a 6950, installed steam updates/etc, and now my BC2 game crashes and freezes with no bluescreen or error message.

I have an i7 2600k, Asus 6950, and a good 750watt PSU with 60amp continuous output on the 12v rail. I also have the latest W7 updates, latest ATI drivers, and the card running at stock speeds - the card maxes out at 75'C.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

well i have issues with other games but through some snooping i got most of them stable but apparently Bad Company 2 has some serious issues on the newest drivers and 6900 series, overall just seems like DICE cant code a game worth a damn, they should just hang it up lol seems most of there games are giving me issues,

Mirrors Edge, BC2, BF2, and a few other EA titles still fuck my system up much like an old person falling down stairs lol

 

[Bluescreendeath]

So no fixes? Not even downclocking?

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

nope no fixes for me, most EA / DICE titles have my machine hardlocking but other titles are working fine, go figure.

 

[Soylent Joe]

I was having the same issue with the game for about 8 months after buying it last year. I updated and reinstalled all the drivers I could, made sure PB was in order, made sure the system was completely stable; nothing would work. Then, I got a sound card and the problem immediately went away. It was suggested while I was troubleshooting that my onboard sound chipset (Realtek ALC889A) was the cause of the issue, but I had no way of testing it. But, with the swap to a Creative XtremeGamer I have not had a lock up since. I think this problem is common to a good bit of Realtek users, and the only real way around it is to get a sound card. If you care enough about the game, you can get a card with audio quality equal to or better than onboard for maybe $20.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

yea well i had no issues period since release of this nature, so this entire BC2 crashes and hardlocks constantly is a new issue, i had the occasional issue but nothing where i can count on it to crash this way every time no matter what, and nothings changed in this rig for 4 months + with the mobo and CPU being the same for the last year lol

and im not buying a sound card to fix a Dice fuck up in there coding, but ive got larger issues then just BC2 being a pos ive got other problems i need to isolate and solve , BC2 is just the easiest problem to reproduce, but most of my issues can be traced to either a faulty PSU or faulty mobo

 

[erixx]

No i will not make the useless "Oh, it's Ati" joke, no.
But BC2 must have some 'on the edge' coding, because I remember when I overclocked to 4000/4100 Mhz this was the only game that ALWAYS crashed (and not due to temps..)
If its the sound or the video department I don't know.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

yea i dont know either, but it is a slap in the face to enthusiasts with grade A hardware and developers cant keep shit working, worked fine same hardware for year, now magically dosent work nothings changed, oh well means ill be wary of any future EA/ Dice titles more so then before since they have a habit of trying to fix what isnt broken and then just cocking things up worse then before.

 

[Bluescreendeath]

I was having the same issue with the game for about 8 months after buying it last year. I updated and reinstalled all the drivers I could, made sure PB was in order, made sure the system was completely stable; nothing would work. Then, I got a sound card and the problem immediately went away. It was suggested while I was troubleshooting that my onboard sound chipset (Realtek ALC889A) was the cause of the issue, but I had no way of testing it. But, with the swap to a Creative XtremeGamer I have not had a lock up since. I think this problem is common to a good bit of Realtek users, and the only real way around it is to get a sound card. If you care enough about the game, you can get a card with audio quality equal to or better than onboard for maybe $20.

So maybe 6900 + realtek = crash?

In that case do you think just uninstalling the realtek drivers and using the standard mobo-drivers for sound will fix the issue?

 

[bokou]

had this exact same issue. See:
http://www.techpowerup.com/forums/showthread.php?t=142036

mine was solved by running two different cables from my PSU to the video card. Using the 6-pin from one PCI-E Modular cable and the 8-pin from the other. My PSU is a 4-rail 800watt. The amperage is being split too many ways and isn't enough on a single channel to power the video card resulting in a hang-up. By using two different cables that are presumably on two different rails (can't imagine they'd be on the same rail) I am able to give it enough juice for the time being. I'll be buying a 1000w single-rail PSU shortly as I want to add another 6970 to the setup later on and that's not an option as I sit now.

 

[bokou]

I was having the same issue with the game for about 8 months after buying it last year. I updated and reinstalled all the drivers I could, made sure PB was in order, made sure the system was completely stable; nothing would work. Then, I got a sound card and the problem immediately went away. It was suggested while I was troubleshooting that my onboard sound chipset (Realtek ALC889A) was the cause of the issue, but I had no way of testing it. But, with the swap to a Creative XtremeGamer I have not had a lock up since. I think this problem is common to a good bit of Realtek users, and the only real way around it is to get a sound card. If you care enough about the game, you can get a card with audio quality equal to or better than onboard for maybe $20.

more than likely it's the power supply not being able to keep up with the 6950. My 6970 requires something like 320 watts under full load. My 800w split 4-rails wasn't able to offer enough power. Combining two rails worked.

My friend with SLI'd 470's had the same issue you had with the realtek sound messing up the game. He could run just about any game maxed out with his setup but BFBC2 for whatever reason crashed to desktop every single time (wouldn't lock up his system).

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

yea see multi rail wont fix my issue.

Corsair 850HX = single rail 70amps on the 12v by itself more then enough for my setup so its not the multi rail issue eitherway dosent matter much cant play the game so its kinda worthless

 

[Bluescreendeath]

more than likely it's the power supply not being able to keep up with the 6950. My 6970 requires something like 320 watts under full load. My 800w split 4-rails wasn't able to offer enough power. Combining two rails worked.

My friend with SLI'd 470's had the same issue you had with the realtek sound messing up the game. He could run just about any game maxed out with his setup but BFBC2 for whatever reason crashed to desktop every single time (wouldn't lock up his system).

yea see multi rail wont fix my issue.

Corsair 850HX = single rail 70amps on the 12v by itself more then enough for my setup so its not the multi rail issue eitherway dosent matter much cant play the game so its kinda worthless

Same here, I know power is definitely not my issue because I've ran Furmark for an hour and there was no crash. BadCompany2 doesn't even take up 100% of the my GPU power and the GPU is barely at 74'C. Furmark is way more power intensive and takes my temps into the high 80s without crashes.

 

[bokou]

Meh it's a free possible solution requiring only a shut-down. Mine was literally only hanging in bfbc2 even though I could run benchmarks, prime, etc. Fixed it for me.

 

[crazyeyesreaper]

yea ive already tried that Bokou and physically removed 1 of my gpus, if a single rail 850w psu cant handle a stock cpu thats under volted using only 90w or so full load and a gpu at -20% using only 150w Corsair needs to hang it up lol. that said i still have to look into the issue further. but overall its either the PSU is actually dying or my mobo is. that or DICE just sucks dick lol then again dosent surprise me ppl have a crap load of issues on BC2

the pc version is a port job with extra features. and only has 2 guys working on patching it vs 100 on console i expect problems to happen lol.

 

[manofthem]

I have the same problem w/ BC2 locking up and freezing. It happens even after going back to default clocks and voltages on everything (cpu, gpu, ram). I recently went from a Raidmax 730W to a Rosewill 1000W, and my problem came after the switch, which was stupid of me. I'm looking to get rid of this POS PSU. I may try some of the suggestions here like unisntalling realtek driver or using different 6-pin cables. I'll post back if it goes away.

 

[fire2havoc]

Has anyone found a solution? Is this caused by PunkBuster?

I've tried to troubleshoot some things to narrow down what could be causing the problem:
> Reflashed BIOS -- still crashes
> Reverted to stock clocks (even though FurMark stable at 880/1325) -- still crashes
> Reinstalled Bad Company 2 -- still crashes
> Temps never go above 82C

 

[Bengie]

more than likely it's the power supply not being able to keep up with the 6950. My 6970 requires something like 320 watts under full load. My 800w split 4-rails wasn't able to offer enough power. Combining two rails worked.

My friend with SLI'd 470's had the same issue you had with the realtek sound messing up the game. He could run just about any game maxed out with his setup but BFBC2 for whatever reason crashed to desktop every single time (wouldn't lock up his system).

actually, if you google 6970 reviews, you will see 6970s require quite a bit under 300 watts.

example: http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/graphics/2010/12/15/ati-radeon-hd-6970-review/10

You will see the *entire system* only draws 306watts at the wall under load. Assume a 90% efficient PSU and you can figure out that CPU+memory+HD+etc+6970 is only 275 watts. If you assume 220watts for the 6970, that still leaves only 55watts for the cpu+memory+etc.

Also, make sure you do PSU reviews before purchasing. http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/ has some excellent reviews as the author has a background in electrical engineering.

example, my 750 PSU has 4 rails. The reviewer was able to get each rail up to 400 watts, which was the max their tester could handle for a single input. It more than likely was able to handle more power, but they were unable to test that. Even at that huge draw for a single rail on a 750watt psu, the power coming out had virtually no voltage ripple to it. They were able to get a 920watt load on the PSU before the over-current protector shutdown the unit. Even at 920watts, the 750 unit was not only still maintaining voltage, but it was only 2% over the rated voltages, eg 12v rail ~12.2v, and the voltage output was still smooth. Quote: "practically non-existent ripple and noise"

I effectively bought a 750 PSU that can not only burst, but sustain 900watts with no indication of over-load by looking at smoothness/noise of power provided by the capacitors or the temperature of the unit. Based on the parts in the unit, they estimated about a 1500watt max theoretical output.

You can't judge a PSU by its sticker.

Just say'n