Vista 64 Freezes during gameplay, needs hard reboot

Kwirl

New Member
I've been beating this computer up for about a week now, and while I've amassed enormous reference material about solving various problems and inconsistencies within Vista, none have yet actually solved my problem.

The problem is thus:
Moments after starting or loading a game, WoW/Spore/BF2/Etc, the entire system just freezes, and can only be restarted after a hard boot. If I don't load a game, it is basically 100% stable.

My first thought was a video issue, but I purchased a new GeForce 8500GT and installed the guru3d drivers (the problem persisted with stock nvidia drivers) so I've ruled out video drivers, having used 4 sets of video drivers with 2 video cards. I upgraded to a 450W power supply, since for some reason Gateway still uses 300W PSU, but the problem persists. I've updated all drivers from manufacturer's website, and reinstalled the OS. I've run full integrity checks on the HDD and RAM, and I can't find a BIOS update for the foxconn RS780 motherboard.

I've tweaked BIOS settings and reset them to optimal defaults. I've swapped out the RAM and tried using different channels. I've scoured over the event viewer, but since it 'freezes' I don't get a crash report, only the usual error after reboot that 'recovered from an unexpected shutdown'

I guess my question is, does anyone know of a BIOS update/solution for this motherboard, or how can i 'record' the activities of my PC so that I can see exactly what causes the freeze to occur.

Any help is greatly appreciated, thanks.


Computer Model: GT5676
Computer Manufacturer: Gateway
OS Name: Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Ultimate |C:\Windows|\Device\Harddisk0\Partition1
OS Version: 6.0.6001
System Type: x64-based PC
Total Physical Memory: 4094 MB
Windows Directory: C:\Windows
BIOS Version: Default System BIOS
CPU: AMD Phenom(tm) 9600 Quad-Core Processor
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
Resolution: 1152 x 864 x 4294967296 colors
 

My Computer

You can see what errors there are by going to control panel administative tool then event viewer then looking under custom views. If you still have the box for the card it will tell you what psu watts you need.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    HP Compaq Presario/SR5113WM
    CPU
    AMD Athlon 64 X2 3600+ 1.9Ghz
    Motherboard
    Asus M2N68-LA
    Memory
    PNY Optima Memory DDR2 2GB 2x1 kit
    Graphics Card(s)
    PNY Nvidia 8400 GS 256MB
    Sound Card
    On board RealTek
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer X163W LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1366x768
    Hard Drives
    Western Digital 160 GB SATA 3G (3.0Gb/sec)
    7200 rpm
    Western Digital 160 GB IDE
    PSU
    Dynex 400w
    Case
    Nothin Special
    Cooling
    Stock
    Keyboard
    Standard 102 key with volume and sleep buttons
    Mouse
    Wireless Logitech LX7
    Internet Speed
    Comcrap 10mb cable
    Other Info
    Insignia 2.1 speakers, wireless Xbox 360 controller w/plug n play charger, Belkin wireless G + mimo usb network adapter.
Well, the problem with using event viewer is that because the PC 'freezes' and does not crash, it does not actually log or report to me what caused the freeze to happen.

I am currently installing an optimized installation of windows vista ultimate-32 bit, and going to see if the problems continue in that environment.
 

My Computer

I had problems with Nvidia drivers and a NX7600GS. It would crash and lockup. I could not find drivers to work, I was able to install a ATI 1900 card with no problems, up graded to a Saphire 4850 agp card. no problems. I think there is an issue with Nvdia drivers.
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Built by me with help from a lot of different newsgroups
    CPU
    2 dual core 275 opterons
    Motherboard
    tyan 2885
    Memory
    4 gigs corsair reg ecc
    Graphics Card(s)
    ATI 3850 agp graphic card
    Monitor(s) Displays
    1 SynMaster 2253LW 1 SyncMaster 206BW samsung 32 inch LCD
    Screen Resolution
    1680 x 1050 1600 x 900 still working on it
    Hard Drives
    Highpoint raid 1820 raid 5 5 raptors, just repaired 3 more for photos scratch spare
    PSU
    2 power supplies about 1500 total watts
    Case
    2 Thermaltake cases married together
    Cooling
    stock
    Keyboard
    logitech wireless
    Mouse
    logitec wireless trackball
    Internet Speed
    DSL 1024 down 350 up, wireless mesh 4500 down 3500 up
    Other Info
    Win tv 1600 with satalite tv connected to it.

    just had to replace primary monitor, old just plain failed
    2253 LW is pretty cool almost 4 more inches wide mode than previous which was big, this is massive almost don't need second monitor
A clean install of vista 32 ultimate yielded the exact same issues with freezing the games, since I have no shotgun or similarly destructive resources at the moment, I am going to shrink the primary hdd and create a new partition to install windows XP in a dual-boot configuration, here i go again!
 

My Computer

A clean install of vista 32 ultimate yielded the exact same issues with freezing the games, since I have no shotgun or similarly destructive resources at the moment, I am going to shrink the primary hdd and create a new partition to install windows XP in a dual-boot configuration, here i go again!

Running away doesn't solve problems.

Is it overheating, this can cause a freeze, or even a crash.

Why not put the original 64 bit Premium back.?
Thats what it was designed with.
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    INTEL QUAD 6600
    Motherboard
    Gigabyte EP35-DS4
    Memory
    4 gb
    Graphics Card(s)
    GeForce 8800gt
    Monitor(s) Displays
    24" ACER
    Screen Resolution
    1440 X 900
    Hard Drives
    500 GB
    320GB
    PSU
    700WATT
    Cooling
    ARCTIC
    Internet Speed
    Av.MTH, Download 8.27, Upoad 0.91
Designed with or not, the simple fact is that it coninued crashing, and as such I am determined to find out why. I don't think it is a PCI-E power failure since the same problem happened with the onboard ATI HD video set, which eliminates either a PCI-E culprit, as well as a driver issue for both ATI and NVIDIA.

I split the primary HDD into two partitions, and I installed all of my games to the second HDD. I'm running Vista Ultimate 32 in the primary partion, and XP Pro 64-Bit in the second partition. The games are all configured to be playable from either partition since they are installed to the secondary HDD. OffTopic - This is actually a really nice configuration, other than the instability, which I'm about to test as soon as configuration is complete.
 

My Computer

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Core 2 Quad Q6600 G0
    Motherboard
    Asus P5Q
    Memory
    8 Gig's OCZ Reaper DDR2-1066
    Graphics Card(s)
    BFG GTX 275
    Sound Card
    OnBoard
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Samsung 216BW 22" LCD Widescreen
    Hard Drives
    WD 250Gig
    PSU
    Corsair 850TX
    Case
    Antec Nine Hundred
    Keyboard
    Razer Lycosa
    Mouse
    Razer Death Adder
    Internet Speed
    7Meg Cable
Problems with freezing occur in 32 and 64 bit versions of both vista and xp, the system is drawing 231 watts of power from a 450w supply. the components are all running at expected temperatures with no components overclocked. I've scheduled to have it sent back to get the motherboard replaced, but i just don't feel right.

having a pci-e bus power fault wouldn't impact the on-board video would it? I can't seem to wrap my head around a hardware fault if the computer runs absolutely, 100% perfect at all other times. something just feels wrong to me, but i can't find any bios updates, and the chipset drivers are all up to speed as well.

oh well, live and learn. i hate losing to a computer during troubleshooting :(
 

My Computer

After doing some research I've come across several people that have had this problem and ultimately discovered poor IRQ assignments to be the culprit, particularly with video/usb sharing the channel. Well, my video card is on the same channel as my 1394 driver and 4 seperate USB media card readers.

Going to invest some time into understanding how this stuff works, and figure out where to move things. Also, these are all sharing PCI 18, while my sound card shares PCI 16 with 2 other usb controllers....this could be somewhat responsible....
 

My Computer

If i'm suspectings its a PSU problem, is there a way to test how much it needs before purchasing one?

Find and install a system stress test application. Or, just run a good benchmark.

If you opt for a benchmark, I recommend doing things other than gaming benchmarks. In fact, stay away from anything that uses DirectX. I'd recommend something like a multimedia encoding benchmark.

If your system goes belly-up, then it may be a PSU issue. You could also have an overheating CPU or video card. The capacitors on your motherboard might be leaking/faulty... or a myriad of other "fun" things.

On the other-hand, if your system does not go belly-up when you run a benchmark, that indicates that your hardware is perfectly capable of handling a system load. That puts us firmly back with your system drivers and such.
 

My Computer

While I'm sure this will not be much help to you, it may help you rule some things out.

I am running a Gateway DX4200 with Vista Home Premium 64 bit with an AMD RS780 Motherboard. Currently I am using the onboard graphics (ATI Radeon 3200) and it has anAMD Phenom X3 8400 Triple-Core Processor.

I play WoW and now Warhammer online and I have not had any problems (other than some slight lag in WAR, which I am fixing with an upgrade to the Nvidia GEforce 9800 later today), so there is not some back door system incompatibility with Vista.

I feel for ya man, it seems like you've covered all your bases and if I were you, I would be pulling my hair out. Good luck, I hope you fix your problem!
 

My Computer

Back
Top