[fenzodahl512]

err... driver and BIOS are two different things.. I dont recommend you update the bios. Erm.. I'm running out of ideas. perhaps we should wait for James to reply

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I know that drivers and bios are different things. The BIOS update was for the card and it said that the update was to increase fan automatic fan performance. The drivers I have updated to the latest. And yeah Just waitin' on James

[muffins]

I know that drivers and bios are different things. The BIOS update was for the card and it said that the update was to increase fan automatic fan performance. The drivers I have updated to the latest. And yeah Just waitin' on James

[james_8970]

Did you press 8 to turn the multisampling up to 16x and did you run it at full screen. If you don't run the program in full screen mode, the 3D temps won't kick in.
Can you list your complete system specs, including the number of hard drives and so on.
What was the card you had installed before this one?
What video card drivers are you running?
Have you disabled you onboard sound card?
James

Edited by james_8970, 20 December 2007 - 08:31 PM.

[muffins]

Did you press 8 to turn the multisampling up to 16x and did you run it at full screen. If you don't run the program in full screen mode, the 3D temps won't kick in.
Not to 16x. I'll try that. I did have it fullscreen.

Can you list your complete system specs, including the number of hard drives and so on.
NVIDIA GeForce 8800GT Superclocked http://www.newegg.co...N82E16814130303
Intel Core 2 Quad Q600 2.40ghz http://www.newegg.co...N82E16819115017
Corsair 520w PSU http://www.newegg.co...N82E16817139001
Creative Soundblaster X-FI XTREMEGAMER (this doesn't make a difference. Crashes with Audigy SE too)
4GB G-Skill RAM (2x2gb sticks) http://www.newegg.co...N82E16820231122
Intel BLKD975XBX2KR LGA 775 Intel 975X ATX Intel Motherboard http://www.newegg.co...N82E16813121060
ATX Mid Tower case 2 fans http://www.newegg.co...N82E16811119068
Windows XP Pro SP2


What was the card you had installed before this one?
None. I literally built this computer about a week ago

What video card drivers are you running?
http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_169.21_whql.html

Have you disabled you onboard sound card?
I did at one point and I think it still crashed, but I'll turn it off again

James

[james_8970]

If you don't turn on 16x multisampling it will not heat up your card.
Be sure onboard audio is turned off when the sound card is in.
James

Edited by james_8970, 20 December 2007 - 08:45 PM.

[muffins]

I just did it @ 16x for about 40 minutes. It only got up to 73c.

[muffins]

My second memtest is up to test #6 and so far no errors.

[muffins]

I just played WoW for about 40 minutes with Enable Sound unchecked in game and it didn't crash.

Then I checked Enable Sound and about 10-15 minutes later it froze up. I'm going to play again for a really long time with sound to confirm a sound problem.

It was tough getting the CPU to recognize the soundcard at first. In my BIOS I turned off Audio and and something called On-Board LAN. How can I remove ALL sound related things and started over?

[muffins]

Meh, still crashed after about 45 minutes of play with sound off. I'm going insane here. I just wish I could prove DEFINITELY which thing is causing the problem.

I WAS in Ventrilo though while I was playing and that started looping during the crash. (Ventrilo is a voice chat program). I don't have time to figure out if it'll crash without the sound card enabled period. I have to get up tomorrow @ 8am EST. I will be up for another 20 mins or so though.

I just tried using this Sound Card test program just to see if it would lockup my system. I got a BSOD when I ran it.


Also this comes up when I press Stop after recording something in Sound Recorder.




EDIT: nvm about sound recorder http://support.microsoft.com/kb/284893

Edited by muffins, 21 December 2007 - 12:25 AM.

[james_8970]

Turn your onboard sound off period. Don't keep turning it back on, you do not want a onboard sound and sound card on at the same time, conflictions start and your computer will crash.

Please uninstall all of your sound card drivers. Then install the ones for the card you wish to run, be sure that you install the right driver for the right operating system.
James

[muffins]

How do you FULLY remove sound drivers? Theres nothing in add/remove programs. I can do uninstall from Device Manager for the soundcard.

Also I'm not turning my onboard sound back on. I'm just not 100% sure that I have it completely off. I chose Disable next to the Audio option in my BIOS.

EDIT

http://www.intel.com...20642.htm#addin This is what I did so the onboard hasn't been on during these tests.

Would I be better off just using my onboard soundcard?

I really wish there was some some software that can test my entire system. The NVIDIA control panel has something that stress tests the system. Maybe I'll run that.

Its kinda annoying that we can't seem to pick a single culprit :[ I feel like I should steal a GeekSquad handbook

Edited by muffins, 21 December 2007 - 12:45 AM.

[muffins]

I'm really out of ideas. Is there anything else I can try?

Is it possible that 4gb of RAM is messing with things?

EDIT

I tried disabling my sound card completely AND turning off sound in game at the same time and it still crashed.

Edited by muffins, 21 December 2007 - 09:17 AM.

[muffins]

I just did a clean sweep of all my drivers and now its crashing within 5 minutes of opening WoW.

I think we've narrowed it down to either a bad card or a bad PSU.

EDIT

http://www.lockergno...dware-problems/

I found that link. This is really describing what is going on. The RAM in the system is fine.

Now there are a bunch of things pointing to the PSU:
- Lockup or freeze is a symptom
- There is a possibility it is a bad PSU
- I know that you think you may know whether the PSU is enough for the system but many people and calculators keep saying that its not enough.
- The freezes get closer and closer as if the PSU is just dying
- The card is running at normal temperatures and not overheating.
- The RAM is clean according to memtest and microsoft ram diagnostic tools.

Also, I was just looking at the reviews for the PSU I have and they talk about how a lot of them died after a few boots and that this PSU runs too hot (140F).

2nd EDIT:

I really don't know what to think anymore. So many conflicting things.

Edited by muffins, 21 December 2007 - 01:34 PM.

[fenzodahl512]

Hi muffin, dont panic, you can always RMA your PSU and VGA card (within warranty period) as long as you didn't do any modification on it Only the downside is you may have to wait few weeks for the replacement

I dont know wether Forceware 169.09 version support 8800GT or not as it is relatively new card (but I think it should), but most gamers (in my place) swore thats the best driver for their 8800GTX/GTS till now.. you may download it here and give it a shot..

-edit-
about PSU, in my case, I overclocked my quad to 3.6 at 1.400vcore and my X2900XT consumed lots more power than your 8800GT. That's why my old Silverstone Strider 560watt couldn't handle it. Plus I have two 12cm high performance fan and using two SATA HDD and one Raptor (as my primary). But in your case I think your PSU should be enough.....

good luck
fenzodahl512

Edited by fenzodahl512, 21 December 2007 - 02:53 PM.

[muffins]

I think I fixed it accidentally xD!

Today I opened up my case to put on this alternative CPU cooler I have and it was a tiny bit bigger and wouldn't fit the slots correctly (or I'm too stupid to do it right) and so I ended up putting the old CPU cooler back on. Before I put it back on though I opened the processor area and readjusted the chip. I also reduced the card to 900mhz and turned the fan up to 100% when I'm gaming. Since then I've played WoW for 1hr+ periods time several times today and no crashes.