[Runa]

Hello!

 

The issue: When playing certain games, or having certain installers running, the sound stops and the screen freezes. Being left like this for a few minutes gives no change. Requires a restart using the button on front of the case.

Details: This error occurs when playing the following games at any graphical settings:

• Neverwinter Nights 2
• Kerbal Space Program (both 32 and 64 bit)
• Mount and Blade: Warband
• Mount and Blade: With Fire and sword.

This error also occurs while running Final Fantasy XXIV updater.

The error does NOT occur with the following games, even at high/maximal graphics settings:

• The Witcher 3
• Dota 2
• For Honor
• Warframe
• Stellaris (even 8 hour long games work fine)
• Crusader Kings II
• Europa Universalis
• Star Trek Online
• Space Station 13
• The Sims 3
• The Sims Medieval

Anything suspicious:

• Occurs mainly after reloading multiple times in KSP, a long continuous mission doesn't cause it.
• In NWN2, occurs mainly when updating a server or after transitioning to a new map
• In Mount and Blade (both), it occurs only on the overland map, never mid battle.
• WhoCrashed is empty.
• After some of these blackouts, I found temporary settings have reset for a number of applications.

Any changes:

• Hardware-wise, I had a lightning fry my motherboard, RAM, PSU and GPU. I replaced those. Kept CPU, HDD and SSD. No errors occurred since.
• I am only using my HDD, my SSD is kept as a backup drive in sense of "if my HDD dies, I will install windows on SSD" and is not formatted at all.
• Had a few total blackouts in my village over the winter. When I rebooted after such an outage, my fans whirred a bit more loudly than they should have.
• Sometimes fans spin up real fast on boot up, after some recent black outs again, but calm down once the OS loads.

 

Originally, I thought it was overheating or PSU unable to provide power, but with how taxing Witcher 3, For Honor and Warframe are graphically, I'm inclined to believe otherwise. 

 

Then I thought it had to be CPU, but Paradox titles are known for being CPU intensive, especially lategame. This doesn't seem to be the case either.

 

I'm suspecting it to be the RAM, the windows installation itself or my hard drive.

 

I could test my HDD/windows by installing it onto my SSD separately and trying games that way, but I'm unsure if I can install windows twice on the same PC using the same CD key.

 

Do you guys have any advice? Is it possible to try what I am thinking? I only have Win8 installation media, and don't have a spare disk of sufficient size to make an installer, and my pendrive only has 4 GBs.

 

System specs are attached.

 

http://speccy.pirifo...sTRWjdZdfpQDWAh- online version

 

Edit by phillpower2: Removed members Windows product key from attachment for security.

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   Runa,

 

Can you post the brand and model name or number of the PSU for us.

 

Couple of things I noticed in your Speccy report;

 

 

RAM 8.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 803MHz Having only a single stick of RAM means that you are only getting 50% of the performance that the RAM is capable of, for dual channel mode to function and the RAM to run at 1600MHz you need two sticks of compatible RAM.

 

Your HDD is rather on the hot side at 41 °C,  50 °C is normally the point at which you will start getting problems with freezing etc.

 

Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Computer type: Desktop

Installation Date: 18/05/2018 05:19:47 Did you install the MBs drivers after you had installed Windows.

 

Power Profile

Active power scheme: High performance This setting is a form of overclocking that causes instability and overheating which in turn causes instability such as freezing etc, change the setting to Balanced in the Windows Power Plan.

 

Hibernation: Enabled This setting is known to cause various problems and should be disabled, see info here for how to disable Hibernation on a desktop.

 

Turn Off Monitor after: (On AC Power): 15 min Best to have both of these set to Never on a gaming rig.

Turn Off Hard Disk after: (On AC Power): 20 min

 

Antivirus

Avast Antivirus You don't need this when running Windows 10 and by not having it installed you will be freeing up resources and removing potential conflicts.

 

Some info courtesy of admin, Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 come with an improved Windows Defender, it offers the same real-time anti-virus/anti-malware protection as Microsoft Security Essentials. Windows Defender also shares the same malware signature definitions as Microsoft Security Essentials, and Forefront Endpoint Protection. Technically, Microsoft Security Essentials has not been renamed Windows Defender, or combined with it in Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.

 

If any AV product that you have is a paid for version you should always make sure that you have a copy of the product key kept somewhere safe just in case you ever wish to reinstall it.

 

Avast clean removal info here

 

Take care of the above steps, get Windows fully up to date then post back with an update for us.

[phillpower2]

   Runa,

 

Can you post the brand and model name or number of the PSU for us.

 

Couple of things I noticed in your Speccy report;

 

 

RAM 8.00GB Single-Channel DDR3 @ 803MHz Having only a single stick of RAM means that you are only getting 50% of the performance that the RAM is capable of, for dual channel mode to function and the RAM to run at 1600MHz you need two sticks of compatible RAM.

 

Your HDD is rather on the hot side at 41 °C,  50 °C is normally the point at which you will start getting problems with freezing etc.

 

Windows 10 Home 64-bit

Computer type: Desktop

Installation Date: 18/05/2018 05:19:47 Did you install the MBs drivers after you had installed Windows.

 

Power Profile

Active power scheme: High performance This setting is a form of overclocking that causes instability and overheating which in turn causes instability such as freezing etc, change the setting to Balanced in the Windows Power Plan.

 

Hibernation: Enabled This setting is known to cause various problems and should be disabled, see info here for how to disable Hibernation on a desktop.

 

Turn Off Monitor after: (On AC Power): 15 min Best to have both of these set to Never on a gaming rig.

Turn Off Hard Disk after: (On AC Power): 20 min

 

Antivirus

Avast Antivirus You don't need this when running Windows 10 and by not having it installed you will be freeing up resources and removing potential conflicts.

 

Some info courtesy of admin, Windows 8, 8.1 and 10 come with an improved Windows Defender, it offers the same real-time anti-virus/anti-malware protection as Microsoft Security Essentials. Windows Defender also shares the same malware signature definitions as Microsoft Security Essentials, and Forefront Endpoint Protection. Technically, Microsoft Security Essentials has not been renamed Windows Defender, or combined with it in Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.

 

If any AV product that you have is a paid for version you should always make sure that you have a copy of the product key kept somewhere safe just in case you ever wish to reinstall it.

 

Avast clean removal info here

 

Take care of the above steps, get Windows fully up to date then post back with an update for us.

[Runa]

Hello!
 

PSU is : corsair vs series vs450 450w

 

My understanding is 450w should be enough, especially if we're talking Corsair.  The age of this set up is roughly 1 year old (I got all the components after it got wrecked in 2017 august).

 

A friend advised me to download "CrystalDisk", which is supposed to check HDD health. It came out "Good", not sure if conclusive. 

 

Afterwards, I've decided to reinstall windows. Worst case scenario, I do some much needed cleaning (I swear, files hide in the most random corners!), best case it fixes the issues. I am unsure if it fixed them yet, as I am currently reinstalling. However, just recently, while watching youtube and downloading server files with Neverwinter Nights 2, I've had a system freeze that fixed itself in a few moments.

 

Afterwards I got around to finally checking this post (lengthy reinstall)

Regarding the Instructions:

I set it to "Balanced as Instructed" now, and also disabled hibernation.

 

I also did not download Avast this time, but I did get Malwarebytes and got a 14 day free trial again. Woo!

 

Regarding the RAM, I can't do much about it. I don't have the money to afford a new stick, although I have the inkling that it's the memory that's faulty if HDD and windows turn out to be OK.

 

Regarding temperatures, the 40 degrees is relatively stable for the HDD. CPU tends to spike to 60 when particularly taxed. Fan set up is 1 rear and 1 side fan in addition to GPU/CPU fans - been meaning to get a front case fan but cable came out too short. Set it up so that there's a positive pressure. Been mostly cleaning it with a brush - will need to buy a can of air when I can afford one.

 

Regarding MB drivers, I'm used to just relying on the drivers that ship with the OS.

 

Will provide further updates on the reinstall and new settings' success once I get some testing done.

 

 

Edit:

 

Ran Windows' built-in memory tester, but apparently computer shutdown sometime during the process and I've no logs in EventViewer. Uncertain if power outage or crash.

 

Edit 2:

 

Ran it again on "Normal" settings rather than extensive. It found no errors. However, EventViewer is showing a number of errors and warnings otherwise. I am attaching them to this file.

 Eventviewer errors.txt   18.24KB   397 downloads

 

Edit 3:

 

So far things seem fixed. However, I won't make any promises. I did change more than 1 variable in disabling skype while playing. 

 

Furthermore, someone playing some of those games mentioned it may (have) be (been) related to directx 9. Any clues if their hunch may be correct?

Edited by Runa, 13 July 2018 - 07:24 AM.

[phillpower2]

Apologies for the late reply Runa, for some reason your reply went to my spam folder and so I missed it.

 

My understanding is 450w should be enough, especially if we're talking Corsair. 

 

 

The following for info only atm and not saying that your PSU is bad. Your GPU requires a minimum of a 300W PSU that can produce at least 27 amps on the +12V rail so you would expect that your present PSU would be appropriate and yes Corsair is a trusted brand, problem is that VS = Value series which means entry level and not ideal when there is an add on video card present, Corsair actually state the following;

 

The CORSAIR VS450 is a great choice if you’re building a home or office system with lower power demands,

 

 

and the VS range are rated as Tier 6 here with Tier 7 being as low as it gets.

 

CrystalDisk is a great tool and if was green then the drive should be ok, try running it after the computer has been under load and check for any amber or red warning/s for the drive being too hot.

 

I set it to "Balanced as Instructed" now, and also disabled hibernation.

 

 

Good, should help with lowering the temps and load on the PSU and disabling Hibernation should help with Windows not suddenly falling over on you.

 

MBAM free premium trial is good but be sure to make sure that after the trial has expired Windows Defender has auto enabled and have it fully update and scan your computer.

 

The errors in your logs are network related, could be an ISP problem, a software issue as in your AV blocking content or driver/firmware update/s being required or it could be a hardware problem with the modem, not sure that the errors would produce the sort of symptoms that you describe in your OP though.

 

Regarding the RAM, I can't do much about it.

 

 

Fully understand and you do already have 8GB but it running in single channel mode at 800MHz will be impacting the performance of both the CPU and GPU.

 

Windows memory tester is ok but it is basic and only running memtest four or five times will give you accurate results, other than the RAM only being able to run in single channel mode there is no reason to suspect that this is a memory problem.

 

Regarding MB drivers, I'm used to just relying on the drivers that ship with the OS.

 

 

You cannot do this, Microsoft are not responsible for providing the drivers for the MB the manufacturer of the board is and after any clean install the MBs drivers should be installed as soon as Windows has been installed, driver disks provided with the board will normally have an auto installer but if not the first drivers that should be installed are the chipset and then the storage device drivers.

 

Furthermore, someone playing some of those games mentioned it may (have) be (been) related to directx 9. Any clues if their hunch may be correct?

 

 

Not sure what they may be suggesting tbh as your GPU is DX 12.1 standard so way more advanced than DX 9, unless they are saying that some of the games being so old may require them to be played in compatibility mode, again though that would not cause the symptoms that you describe in your OP.

 

Will look out for an update from you both in the inbox and my spam folder.

[Runa]

I am uncertain as to what led to the fixing of the issue, but I think it may lie in one of the following three steps: I will list them in order of probability of fixing the issue.

 

• Disable Skype when running a game that uses DirectX9.
• Reinstall DirectX9
• Clean reinstall windows. (Recovery options -> factory reset is sufficient)

I'll also go and install MB drivers then.

 

Unless I somehow achieved an island of stability that spans 5+ hours of active NWN2 play, I think the issue is solved!

 

 

Re: the DX9 comment - most of the games I had the issue with ran using DX9, rather than the most recent versions.

 

Hypothesis: During one of the power outages, for some reason my DX9 installation became corrupted in a subtle manner. 

Edited by Runa, 17 July 2018 - 03:52 PM.

[phillpower2]

Best Answer

I am uncertain as to what led to the fixing of the issue, but I think it may lie in one of the following three steps: I will list them in order of probability of fixing the issue.

 

Disable Skype when running a game that uses DirectX9.

Reinstall DirectX9

Clean reinstall windows. (Recovery options -> factory reset is sufficient)

 

 

Or it could have been none of the above, always nice to know what solved a particular problem but dont suppose that you will mind as long as things stay stable.

 

Be sure to create a new system restore point while the system is stable.