Computer Crashes to Black Screen While Gaming

[patton45]

i had the same issue with my computer and it turned out to be the the realtek drivers make sure you have the realtek drivers from their misconfigured site because i have found often times the on board audio can be the cause of many system crashes if they have the wrong or bad drivers and imho the drivers windows gets and shows you arent always the best

 

[DarkEgo]

I was having the same problems, and for me the problem was my power supply. If you have a friend who will let you borrow their power supply to check it, that could confirm that possibility. Also you could run a video card benchmark to see if it is your video card overheating or if there is another problem with your video card. If nether of those work you could try replacing the CPU and RAM.

 

[patton45]

i agree to a point with what dark ego has to say BUt dont just go and rip out the cpu and ram and psu first thing to do would be to check the ram no sense rewiring your case if its just a bad stick of memory. Download mem test and run it on each stick indivdually often times if you have a single bad stick just trying to boot with it might reveal the issue of a bad stick. if you try and find that all your ram is working its would be ok to check the cpu but unless you have a bad seat on the cpu check your temps using everest or coretemp also make sure your hsf for your cpu can properly breath often times a destop that sits on the floor will accumilate more dust than one on a dest so make sure that your getting proper air movement over all your parts. and also check your video card for this issue i have to clean my pc almost every other month to keep my gpu temps down from all the dust clogging. if your still not working borrow the psu but dont go the whole 9 yards just unplug the one thats in let the wires hang and hook up the new one on the outside of case dont take the old one out no sense in wasting time doing a swap if its not the issue.

 

[Mussels]

power supply and overheating are the two most common causes for sudden black screening. If it happens more when gaming, then i'd check the video card for overheating before checking the PSU.

 

[smig]

as other suggested it might be the on board audio.
try disabling the audio in the BIOS. play with no audio and see if it still crash.

 

[TheMailMan78]

I'm sorry for the delay in response but I was doing some of the test as you guys suggested. Ill list what Iv done and the conclusion Iv come of with on each.

1. I removed the back plate of my case under the GPU to allow more air coming in. This is something I did for my 2900 but neglected to do when I put in my 3870.

2. I dusted the case and CPU out. It wasn't really dirty but I didn't think it would hurt.

3. I replaced the stock windows drivers for my Realtek chip with the ones on their site. The original drivers were dated 2006 and the new ones came out last month. However the new drivers were not digitally signed for windows. Im not sure that matters.

4. I did a clean install of my ATI drivers also. Updated them to 8.6.....again.

After I did all this I played COD4 hours. It seemed like my troubles were over until last night. I played for maybe an hour and the problem came back. This leads me to believe that its my PSU. I say this because it seems to be very erratic for the crashing. As for services the only one I turned off this time was the "media center network sharing" which in theory shouldn't have an effect on gaming or basic OS operation. My next step is to reinstall the OS. Unless you guys think different.

 

[Mussels]

I'm sorry for the delay in response but I was doing some of the test as you guys suggested. Ill list what Iv done and the conclusion Iv come of with on each.

1. I removed the back plate of my case under the GPU to allow more air coming in. This is something I did for my 2900 but neglected to do when I put in my 3870.

2. I dusted the case and CPU out. It wasn't really dirty but I didn't think it would hurt.

3. I replaced the stock windows drivers for my Realtek chip with the ones on their site. The original drivers were dated 2006 and the new ones came out last month. However the new drivers were not digitally signed for windows. Im not sure that matters.

4. I did a clean install of my ATI drivers also. Updated them to 8.6.....again.

After I did all this I played COD4 hours. It seemed like my troubles were over until last night. I played for maybe an hour and the problem came back. This leads me to believe that its my PSU. I say this because it seems to be very erratic for the crashing. As for services the only one I turned off this time was the "media center network sharing" which in theory shouldn't have an effect on gaming or basic OS operation. My next step is to reinstall the OS. Unless you guys think different.

PSU is still definately a possibility. You cant rely on software to measure it, but a cheap $10 digital multimeter will let you get a good enough reading. IMO, if its more than around 5% out, its probably going to need replacing.

Examples: 12v rail should be between 11.95 and 12.05 for a great reading, but at the same time 11.90 through 12.10 should be stable and crash free. Once i even saw a PC run at 11.30v stable... but that PSU died days later.

 

[TheMailMan78]

One thing I forgot to mention is ever since I had my 2900 Iv had to turn off the "High Definition Audio Controller" in the device manager. I had to do this or my CPU would run at 50% capacity all the time. Once I turned that off she ran fine from then on.

 

[Nick259]

PSU is still definately a possibility. You cant rely on software to measure it, but a cheap $10 digital multimeter will let you get a good enough reading. IMO, if its more than around 5% out, its probably going to need replacing.

Examples: 12v rail should be between 11.95 and 12.05 for a great reading, but at the same time 11.90 through 12.10 should be stable and crash free. Once i even saw a PC run at 11.30v stable... but that PSU died days later.

Hi, i've been following this thread as I have been getting the same problems. I went into the bios to get some readings of the output of my psu. Not sure if these are the results you are talking about but here we go:

The values changed between two numbers on most of them

VCore: 1.258v-1.274v
+3.30v: 3.54v
+5.00v: 5.02v-5.040v
+12v: 12.436v-12.501v

Are these results normal?

EDIT: Taken another reading from OCCT CPU stability tester:

VCore: 1.25
+3.30v: 2.96
+5.00v: 5.16
+12v: 12.28

 

[TheMailMan78]

PSU is still definately a possibility. You cant rely on software to measure it, but a cheap $10 digital multimeter will let you get a good enough reading. IMO, if its more than around 5% out, its probably going to need replacing.

Examples: 12v rail should be between 11.95 and 12.05 for a great reading, but at the same time 11.90 through 12.10 should be stable and crash free. Once i even saw a PC run at 11.30v stable... but that PSU died days later.

Ya know I'm the son of an avionics expert and master electrictrition and I happen to have an AWESOME multimeter. Not only did I not think of this but I'm not even sure how to properly test the PSU with one. Could you give me an idea or point me in the right direction?

 

[Mussels]

Hi, i've been following this thread as I have been getting the same problems. I went into the bios to get some readings of the output of my psu. Not sure if these are the results you are talking about but here we go:

The values changed between two numbers on most of them

VCore: 1.258v-1.274v
+3.30v: 3.54v
+5.00v: 5.02v-5.040v
+12v: 12.436v-12.501v

Are these results normal?

EDIT: Taken another reading from OCCT CPU stability tester:

VCore: 1.25
+3.30v: 2.96
+5.00v: 5.16
+12v: 12.28

bios readings are not reliable. Mine for example reads 11.70v when a multimeter says its 12.03 - its quite a lot out.

Ya know I'm the son of an avionics expert and master electrictrition and I happen to have an AWESOME multimeter. Not only did I not think of this but I'm not even sure how to properly test the PSU with one. Could you give me an idea or point me in the right direction?

connect black to black (earth) and the red wire to one of the following:

yellow: 12 volt
Red 5 volt
Orange 3.3v (usually only found on the main ATX connector. i plug it into the back of the connector, and push down til it makes contact)

 

[patton45]

i know the multi meter has been mention'd on this thread for testing the psu if anyone who has psu issues and doesnt have a multi meter i have a had good luck with the psu tester from ultra. there are many variants now but i have found them to be reliable in detecting a bad psu. but nothing is as accurate as a good multi meter

on topic: let us know what your results are

 

[Nick259]

i know the multi meter has been mention'd on this thread for testing the psu if anyone who has psu issues and doesnt have a multi meter i have a had good luck with the psu tester from ultra. there are many variants now but i have found them to be reliable in detecting a bad psu. but nothing is as accurate as a good multi meter

on topic: let us know what your results are

Would the psu tester form ultra be software by any chance? If so could you link it?

 

[Wile E]

Would the psu tester form ultra be software by any chance? If so could you link it?

No. You can't test a psu with software. You need to use a multi-meter or a dedicated psu tester, like the one mentioned above.

 

[Mussels]

just to clarify, BIOS readings are inacurate. They measure... well they measure by guesswork mostly. software always reads what the BIOS says, so theres no hope there.

A multimeter is the only way - i too have hardware based PSU testers, but most of them give a green light and thats about it (also, modern PSU's require a certain amount of load to power on, giving false negatives. a 1000W PSU wont like a power meter that uses 5W of power, so it wont work correctly)

 

[TheMailMan78]

Well I got my multimeter out and apparently it got submerged from the last hurricane we had come through. I have to go and get another one but Ill keep ya posted on that. However last night I was listening to my system run and I noticed something odd. It was to dark to see (wife is sleeping in the same room) but I think my case fan is dying or having power issues. It runs however it revs up the RPMs erratically and then slows to a crawl. It seems to continue this cycle no matter what the system is doing. So ether the fan, connection or PSU is shot.

Tonight I am going to double check that it is in fact the case fan and if so Ill drop a new one in. If its not the case fan and something else Ill replace it also. Heres to hoping its just a matter of heat and a 6 dollar fan. Ill let yall know.

 

[Mussels]

Well I got my multimeter out and apparently it got submerged from the last hurricane we had come through. I have to go and get another one but Ill keep ya posted on that. However last night I was listening to my system run and I noticed something odd. It was to dark to see (wife is sleeping in the same room) but I think my case fan is dying or having power issues. It runs however it revs up the RPMs erratically and then slows to a crawl. It seems to continue this cycle no matter what the system is doing. So ether the fan, connection or PSU is shot.

Tonight I am going to double check that it is in fact the case fan and if so Ill drop a new one in. If its not the case fan and something else Ill replace it also. Heres to hoping its just a matter of heat and a 6 dollar fan. Ill let yall know.

if its a temp controlled fan, that may be normal. my CPU fan turns itself off 90% of the time on my media PC.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Ok I got to sit down last night and really research the sound I mentioned before. It turns out that its my video card fan that is running erratically. It speeds up and slows down constantly while playing games. I'm not talking about normal cooling cycles ether. It will max out and come to a crawl about every 5 seconds. I can only imagine this is the issue causing my black outs. I'm going to replace it today and Ill let you guys know.

However the one thing I am curios to know is if the card is bad or the PSU is causing this. Could a PSU do this? I guess Ill find out tonight. Ill keep you guys posted.

 

[Mussels]

Ok I got to sit down last night and really research the sound I mentioned before. It turns out that its my video card fan that is running erratically. It speeds up and slows down constantly while playing games. I'm not talking about normal cooling cycles ether. It will max out and come to a crawl about every 5 seconds. I can only imagine this is the issue causing my black outs. I'm going to replace it today and Ill let you guys know.

However the one thing I am curios to know is if the card is bad or the PSU is causing this. Could a PSU do this? I guess Ill find out tonight. Ill keep you guys posted.

a bad PSU can cause just about anything. its possible the card gets less power than it wants so it goes to 2D mode, so the fan spins down. it then thinks theres enough power and tries to go 3D, failing, stalling, and the fan gets stuck while it lowers back to 2D...

Then again, its just as likely the fan sucks, or the grease between the heatsink and the GPU is messed up.

 

[TheMailMan78]

Well I replaced my GPU last night and so far the problem is gone. To top it off I got all my money back on my 3870 and got a 4850 instead for 20 bucks less than I paid for the 3870!! I got my computer fixed an upgrade AND 20 bucks! KFC here I come!

Anyway guys thank you so much for the help. If the issue comes back Ill repost here and start trouble shooting again.

 

[Mussels]

Well I replaced my GPU last night and so far the problem is gone. To top it off I got all my money back on my 3870 and got a 4850 instead for 20 bucks less than I paid for the 3870!! I got my computer fixed an upgrade AND 20 bucks! KFC here I come!

Anyway guys thank you so much for the help. If the issue comes back Ill repost here and start trouble shooting again.

oh hell yeah. KFC is awesome.

 

[AsRock]

BIG chance thats a Heat issue that sounds like due to the ram modules getting to hot.. I get it with my 2900XT, I've had it with another card in the past too. With the 2900XT it will shutdown the card when it happens.

 

[timta2]

I could no longer eat at KFC after my friend who worked there used to tell me stories about their "Popcorn Chicken" among other things.