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Post by puddy26 on Aug 19, 2005 8:10:30 GMT -5
Maybe someone can help me out with this. Sorry in advance for my long post and rant. I bought my XPS Gen1 in September of 03'. It more or less works for everything that I do. Mostly games and some photoshop/fireworks stuff. When I first got the system, I found out that at random times when I was playing a game, the PC will just freeze up causing me to give it a hard reset via the power button. Most of the time the game will get stuck on a sound and just hang there and freeze. The screen stays the same, no black screens or wierd visuals happeing. No lines or messages either. I believe a poster before had this problem, but he was having lines and blank screens. Now, sometimes this happens 5 minutes into a game, 3 hours into a game or sometimes not at all.
I was originally running a 5200, then a 5700 and now a 6800GT. The problem persists although not as much. I spoke to Dell about this over a 4 month period and got absolutely no where with them. Plus I got tired of being put on hold, so I just decided to deal with it. I have upgraded every driver I could upgrade, tried different drivers with different configs but it's always the same. I thought maybe it was my cpu so I invested in some cooling. New case fans and HS/F. They keep my cpu nice and cool and it still happens. I can't think of what else it could be. I ran "memtest" on my RAM 3 different times with no errors, so I know its not the RAM. The only thing I can think of is either the Sound Card is FUBAR or the voltages are wacky, and I know nothing about voltages. Anyway, here are my temps and specs.
CPU - 28 IDLE 40-41 LOAD
GPU - 53 IDLE 73 LOAD
CASE - not exactly sure but I'll find out. It's not high at all.
SPECS
P4~2.8
2GB 3200@400
6800GT ( with pci slot fan next to it for cooling)
120 GB Ultra ATA 7200RPM HD
460 PSU
SB Audigy2
BIOS A3
Oh yea, I also disabled HT cause a Dell Rep told me it was causing the crashes but I guess not! This also happened once or twice when I was playing some music from real player. Thanks for reading my long post and any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. And btw, this site is very helpful and informative.
puddy.
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Post by crusier on Aug 19, 2005 14:12:45 GMT -5
First off, when it hard locks, don't use that power button. Instead, pull the ac power cord out from the chassis. This prevents any issues with the windows shut down trashing the hdd (os and data).
Second, the vid card temps seem a bit on the high side.
Third, turning the ht on and off requires both a bios setting change and a change of the driver for the system.
Lastly, all too many issues are driver related. To get an idea of the problem be sure to read the items corrected and the outstanding issues that come with the driver releases.
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Post by puddy26 on Aug 20, 2005 7:05:42 GMT -5
Thanks for the reply crusier. Yes, I was thinking of investing in a new cooler for my gpu, but then someone told me that my temps were pretty normal for a 6800GT. I guess not though. Time to visit newegg I guess. I'll run a driver cleaner for my gpu just incase and reinstall my drivers. Like I said, this doesn't happen nearly as much anymore, but it still happens. Oh, and thanks for the tip about unplugging the ac as opposed to the power button. I had no idea.
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Post by devnull on Aug 20, 2005 16:19:21 GMT -5
I had a problem like this. It wasn't the video card, but rather bad drivers for the sound card. I had an audigy 2 in a 3 year old HP Pavillion and it just messed things up. I find it hard to believe that its a video card issue alone, seeing as you changed video cards a few times. Instead, I think its perhaps a conflict with the graphics card and the sound card, maybe IRQ problems (which ended up also being an issue with my Pavillion, its geforce3 and the audigy). Since windows automatically assigns IRQs, however, there isn't much else you can do but change PCI slots
Also, why does the power button have anything to do with the way the thing shuts down. I mean, neither way (with button or pulling the plug) lets the hard drive write or anything. After all, the thing has locked up. *shrug*
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Post by puddy26 on Aug 22, 2005 7:22:00 GMT -5
Yes, I had a feeling it was the sound card because this problem happens even when I put in a cd for music and I minimize realplayer or whatever media player I'm using. I have changed pci slots so maybe that's why it's not happening as much. If it starts to get real bad again, I'll just invest in a new better sound card. thanks fellas.
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Post by devnull on Aug 22, 2005 11:06:47 GMT -5
Hey, I would talk to dell first. See what they can do. I know that you might not have a replacement warrantee anymore, but you do have their lifetime XPS service. Even though the guy that told you to disable HT was probably a dorkon, they have access to a large database of troubleshooting tips. I really don't know what to tell you because I never got my sound card problem fixe don my HP, instead I got my XPS ^.^, still, I think its something that has a logical solution and can be fixed.
Best of luck man, and welcome to the forums
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Post by puddy26 on Aug 31, 2005 11:47:54 GMT -5
Yes, I talked to Dell the other day and they wanted me to buy a new card from them cause after a year and a half, they finaly determined the problem to be with the Creative sound card. I can get a cheaper one from newegg. I also looked at Creatives SB Audigy forums and I guess I am not the only one who has had this problem. There was a post with people talking about the SAME exact thing I was going through. I downloaded some third-party drivers for the card and it hasn't given me a problem since. I'm just gonna stay away from creative from now on!
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Post by Zefram0911 on Aug 31, 2005 14:28:45 GMT -5
I don't know... their new X-fi card looks very tempting... albeit at a high price.
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Post by puddy26 on Sept 1, 2005 8:59:08 GMT -5
Yea,
I mean this is the first time I had a problem with thier products, but it really put me off. I've been looking at sound cards from Turtle Beach, Blue Gears and M-Audio. Some have good reviews, some bad. I guess each person has a different experience. Oh and the new X-Fi cards do look nice!!!
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Post by devnull on Sept 1, 2005 19:19:19 GMT -5
They are especially nice because BF2 is suposed to support the new X-fi standard.
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Post by unknowngod430 on Sept 1, 2005 21:56:01 GMT -5
i've never had a problem with my creative cards and thats all i've ever bought.. till the card i have in this comp.. maybe dell just has a bad batch.. after all they're oem versions maybe they screwed something up
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Post by puddy26 on Oct 6, 2005 12:16:01 GMT -5
Well,
I feel like a complete tool. After getting myself a new sound card(TURTLE BEACH), my problems persisted. I was SO damn frustrated. I decided to borrow my brothers Creative External Sound device that goes into the USB. I had a feeling it was a problem with the PCI slots so I went this way instead. Worked awesome for like an hour and then, crash. Same problem. I was just about to call it quits when I decided to test the RAM AGAIN!!. Low and behold, the f'n machine locks up!! I tested the RAM before but it never locked up so I thought it was kosher. I guess not.
I decided to test the newer set that I bought a couple of months ago and they ran for about an hour with no errors. I tested the original pair that came with my Dell and they froze up each and every time, 3 times to be exact. I have no idea why they didn't before, but I think I found the culprit. I'm happy to say I haven't locked up once since I took the original RAM out four weeks ago. I just had to let someone know my joy. Granted, I went from 2->1G of RAM but I can play any game hassle free now.
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Post by TRow on Oct 7, 2005 2:34:35 GMT -5
You should run memtest86+ on each of the original sticks to see if you have a bad module. SuperPi 32M is another Ram sensitive test to consider, as well as "Blend" test on Prime95.
Just google the appz, but definately run memtest on the suspected pair. Glad to hear you "fixed" your problem.
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