Hey folks!

Hope you can help me out here, i'm unsure what the problem may be with my computer.
A few weeks ago, while playing a game, the game froze and would constantly switch between the desktop and the game itself. this would continue to happen until i shut the game with the task manager. The crash would happen at random, sometimes 2mins into a game, sometimes 2hours. Also once this crash has happened once it will continue to happen the second i reload a new game and so the only solution soo far has been to restart my computer. cpu temps are stable
It appears to be happening with all my games:
Arma
TES Oblivion
Battlefield 2
Counterstrike source. . . to name a few

Age of empires seems to work but that game is ancient now lol

Currently i have tried updating my graphics drivers and updating directx 10 and whatever essential updates for vista.

Here is my specs:
Vista Home premium x64
Q6600 2.4GHz (oc 2.7GHz)
8800GTX

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated! Cheers!

Some of those games are DX 9 not 10 while compatible with Vista as well as XP. On the 32bit edition one thing first seen is simply installing DX 9 onto Vista since it will still work. See if getting 9 on the 64bit edition helps.

The other problem typically seen with any persistent game crashes is wrapped around both video and sound drivers. Display being video while crashes when a certain sound file in a game causes a crash are common even in 32bit editions.

But many claim all their games run on the 64bit editions without problems? har! I think you can tell them something a little different is what you are seeing there. That would be expecting all 16bit games and apps to run on a 32bit Windows. The games are still 32bit going on a 64bit OS.

So the 3 basics besides any problems being seen with the physical memory installed as one other thought would be with the video and sound drivers seeing a problem and possibility seeing things improve adding DX 9 on. Once the sound is working on the Windows 7 64bit beta here a few games and DX 9 are one item that will be looked into.

Hey thanks for the Quick reply and advice!

I checked for new audio drivers - was fully up to date
I installed directx 9.0c - However this didn't resolve the problem

When you mentioned physical memory I remembered that I upgraded my ram from 2x1gb to 4x1gb about a month ago. (just before i started having problems) I removed the 2x1gb of ram I recently installed and so far my computer hasn't crashed.

Is there any reason why this would occur? and if so is there any possible way to get around this problem and have 4gb of ram?

All the sticks or ram are identical (same manufacturer and model)

cheers!

The 64bit editions of Vista are known to have issues with more then 2gb installed, But that's something usually seen when first installing Windows. I would suggest running memtest to see if either of the two new ones has a defect.

Normally two additional dimms by the same manufacturer of the same speed and type shouldn't cause any problems as long as the timings are the same or close. Running memtest is one way to see if any faults are revealed on the first pair as well as the new.

If no faults are revealed you may be seeing some type of incompatibility between to the two pairs. When upgrading memory here I always prefer to replace not mix new memory onto a working set of dimms like going for a pair of 2gb dimms to replace the existing pair of 1gb.

I was also having issues with my memory and the 4 dimms were the same brand and model. As they have explained it to me, some boards don't like it when all 4 RAM slots are filled, vista likes to be installed with only 2 slots filled (you can later add 2 more). Some people had to send all my Sticks back to the Manufacturer and they sent them 4 sticks that would be compatible with the board.

What did it for me (knoking on wood) was to take out 2 to dimms out, test it, add the other two, test it and it all went well after that... probably they weren't seated well enough the first time around.


Now, don't be quoting me on this because I just read that elsewhere but, it could very well be what is happening to you.

It's not always the boards that don't like seeing all slots filled as the way the 64bit editions of Vista process things. With 4gb on the 64bit 7 beta sees no problems with the 2gb issues seen when going to install the Vista equivalent of Ultimate or Home Premium. Hopefully the next service pack soon to be seen will address that.

This problem is being seen after Windows has been on for some time and simply adding more dimms later. Often the best time for adding more the same is when buying the same type and speed from the same manufacturer's batch to avoid any compatibility problems that can come up.

Reseating the memory in case a dimm isn't down fully is a good suggestion by AstaLaVista there as well. Sometimes it's simply the brand of memory used that will run into thise type of problem. This is why I tend to look over the manufacturer's recommended brands list and go from there when ordering for a new build or upgrade.

Thats brilliants guys, thanks for the information

Will fiddle about with my computer and see what I come up with! Hopefully will nail this problem on the head soon.

Thanks again

Another I should point out here is looking at the things you have enabled to start up along with Windows like antivirus and other protections that could be hampering things when you start a game up. You may to exit one or two things while gaming to avoid problems or simply disable a few startups.

Another thing to remember that the 64bit editions also rely on 32bit emulators while the games themselves were mainly written for the 32bit OS. Basically you are running the games in a form of virtual Windows for that reason. That provides a form of isolation from the main OS.

I thought i would post this for some help
if you have a game that is not compatible with your computer check and see if it is on steam or a program made by Microsoft called games for windows live if its on there either sell or return your game then by it on one opf those programs and your computer should run better than how it was on the disk or it should be able to run period!
Just Some Help
-Linkman88