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Author Topic: Computer Help  (Read 1017 times)

Masterjack

Computer Help
« on: March 02, 2012, 06:28:15 pm »
After NWN crashed 10+ times during Tuesday's quest I decided to find out what was going on with my computer. I pulled my video card and started to use the integrated graphics from the motherboard thinking that if the problem was the graphics card then I would have no issues. Well I still have issues with my display adapter not responding. I even installed my old Video card that I upgraded from when I had no problems and now it has problems.

Could it be something wrong with the motherboard?

I'll post my computer spec later for you all to look at. Right now I have a CDQ to run.
 

Xaltotun

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #1 on: March 02, 2012, 06:41:12 pm »
You say you pulled your graphics card and started to use the integrated graphics from the motherboard... I take it you changed the video settings in your BIOS? And are all your other BIOS settings AOK?

Assuming you did, check out your sound card and it's drivers. I know it may sound weird, but sound cards do affect the video display with crashes and so on, so try removing/disabling your sound and try again with your video to see if it has any effect.

You could also be getting crashes if your power supply is failing - I have seen that happen beforee but that is a check for further down the line.

You also don't say what the last software that you loaded was/ driver update etc, as it may be that is a problem, but I would check out the sound card first.
 

miltonyorkcastle

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #2 on: March 02, 2012, 08:20:33 pm »
Yup, Xaltotun has it about right.
- Bios (there might be a needed update to your bios, even)
- Sound drivers/card
- Power supply
 

Juzzo

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #3 on: March 02, 2012, 08:22:49 pm »
Yea, assuming you haven't recently installed the game, (I had a few problems with a GOG install) this could be a number of problems.

I would first off, run an error check on the hard drive, more often that not, problems stem from those buggers going bad. Mother-boards are usually the last thing to go. Hard-drive or a dying ram stick would be the first place I looked.

Possibly go into your error reports on your control panel (Assuming windows here) find the first crash on the list, and post it here.
 

Masterjack

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #4 on: March 02, 2012, 09:58:08 pm »
Power supply is a Corsair 1200watt and is 6months old. I got a new one thinking my old 620 Watt was causing the issue.
Bios is the latest one available
Sound drivers are the latest ones available.
The whole computer is only 10 months old and I built it myself.
I even bought new ram to make sure it was not it.

I had no problem for the first 3 months till I installed the new video card.
SPECS:

Power supply is Corsair AX1200 (replaces Corsair HX620)
Motherboard is ASUS M4A89GTD PRO/USB3
RAM 2x 4gig DDR3 XMS3 Corsair
CPU is AMD BE Phenom IIx4 695
Video Card is ASUS GTX560 TI DCII/2DI/1GD5 (currently pulled out and started issues)
 

Juzzo

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #5 on: March 02, 2012, 10:14:12 pm »
I have the same card. Have seen people say that the factory overclock isnt always stable, and backing it down helps. (822 MHz / 1645 MHz)

Might be beta drivers if you are running them.

Still curious as to what the error report in the "Problem reports and solution" part of the control panel says...Usually pretty telling. (At least to get ya on the right path)

Edit: Thinking on it, you saying it caused problems with or without it, makes me lean towards a driver problem.
Edit 2: Leaving the card out and running something like this would confirm or deny that theory.
 Download Driver Cleaner Pro v1.5 (freeware) - AfterDawn: Software downloads
 

Masterjack

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #6 on: March 02, 2012, 10:22:37 pm »
Quote from: Juzzo
I have the same card. Have seen people say that the factory overclock isnt always stable, and backing it down helps. (822 MHz / 1645 MHz)

Might be beta drivers if you are running them.

Still curious as to what the error report in the "Problem reports and solution" part of the control panel says...Usually pretty telling. (At least to get ya on the right path)


Right now I have the card pulled and I'm using the integrated graphics of the motherboard and I still have the problems.

I also checked the bios settings and they seem okay.
 

Juzzo

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #7 on: March 02, 2012, 10:24:51 pm »
Driver cleaner? See edit above.
 

darkstorme

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #8 on: March 03, 2012, 12:29:18 am »
Hasn't been asked yet:

What form does the crash take?  Are we talking BSOD taking down the whole computer, NWN vanishing with an error message, NWN vanishing without an error message...?
 

Masterjack

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #9 on: March 03, 2012, 07:54:36 am »
With the ASUS video card I would crash with an OPENGL error. The reason they give for the problem is that I either over work my video card or it is over heated. So they suggest decreasing the setting to make it easier on the video card. Neither of those can be the issue, the temp never goes above 30deg Celsius and The video card is over powered for the game.

THe problem I have out side of NWN is that I will occasionally get a random error just after my screen blinks a few times that pops up quickly. Its saying that my display adapter driver just recovered from a crash or error. This error is the only error happening with the integrated graphics card. During the CDQ I ran yesterday I crashed twice and one was so bad I had to reboot the computer. I did not get the open gl error.

The two things that helped improve performance was the upgrade of the power supply. Before that I would sometimes get a forced restart, I have not had one since till last night. The second was the latest drivers published in Dec 2011, since then I have gotten fewer errors. Just before Christmas I even wiped my HD and reinstalled Windows 7 from scratch thinking that may have been the problem, nothing changed.

I tried the driver cleaner before I reinstalled windows. It did not help.

So my theory is that something is making these errors that does not involve the Video cards them selves. Drivers are out of the question since they have been updated and different cards used. Power supply is way more then what is required for the system so is a non issue. I have good ram that has been tested in a separate computer and proven to work over a long period. That leaves me to think it is the mother board. I ponder that and think how can changing a video card cause the mother board to fail? Since everything worked perfectly for the first three month on my old video card. Could it be that I had a weak power supply at first and the lack of power did something to the Mother board? The new video card does require twice as much power then the old one.
 

Chazzler

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #10 on: March 03, 2012, 10:15:01 am »
Have you also updated your motherboards South & North Bridge drivers to a recent version? Since the north&south bridge chips act between almost all data going throughout the motherboard, the problem could also be there.

Chipset drivers, is what I mean.

And yes, having insufficient power with such a powerful card could do damage to the motherboard with surges of high or insufficient current.
I would check your Motherboard's capacitors (the round, cylinder components), and see if some or one has bulged, if so, it's the motherboard.
 

davidhoff

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #11 on: March 03, 2012, 11:00:19 am »
Disclaimer: You guys know way more than me on this...but..

Quote
I have good ram that has been tested in a separate computer and proven to work over a long period.


I know you say you have good ram and tested, but I had crashes running NWN and I changed out my RAM sticks and it totally fixed the problem!  You might wana buy some RAM sticks and try running it with the new ones.  Maybe if you keep your reciept the place you buy them will give you a refund if this does not work.  Its a pretty easy exchange, and worth a shot I'd say.

*salutes*
 

Chazzler

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #12 on: March 03, 2012, 11:39:47 am »
Yes, some RAM sticks are told to be not compatible with some select few types of Motherboards
 

Juzzo

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #13 on: March 03, 2012, 12:14:48 pm »
Quote from: Masterjack

I ponder that and think how can changing a video card cause the mother board to fail? Since everything worked perfectly for the first three month on my old video card. Could it be that I had a weak power supply at first and the lack of power did something to the Mother board? The new video card does require twice as much power then the old one.


Static electricity?

(I dont know, grasping at straws.)

Ive run a GPU on an underrated power-supply, didn't have a problem besides decreased performance. But who knows.

I googled around a bit, Im sure you have too. Cant find any question/answers that match your problem exactly.

Edit: I did find one that was somewhat similar. Person tried installing a new (second) hard-drive with a fresh install of windows, said it fixed the problems when he booted from that one. Said he would return with results of reformatting the original, but never did. heh.
 

Masterjack

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #14 on: March 03, 2012, 05:16:10 pm »
Okay I did some fine tuning in the BIOS and noticed that my memory was running at 1.5 volts when the specs suggest 1.65volts. I changed it in the BIOS and I hope that does the trick.
 

Chazzler

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #15 on: March 04, 2012, 06:08:13 am »
That low voltage easily can cause crashes indeed.
 

Juzzo

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #16 on: March 06, 2012, 06:35:27 pm »
Did the voltage change fix the problem?

(For curiosity's sake!)
 

Masterjack

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #17 on: March 06, 2012, 10:48:45 pm »
Looks like I have two problems. First one was the memory voltage causing BSOD, second is video card causing NWN to crash. I have no more BSOD. But I still get the open gl error while playing NWN.
 

Hellblazer

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #18 on: March 06, 2012, 11:40:45 pm »
Quote from: Masterjack
Looks like I have two problems. First one was the memory voltage causing BSOD, second is video card causing NWN to crash. I have no more BSOD. But I still get the open gl error while playing NWN.


how old is the card, sometimes Like I've found out recently when my computer died and I did a completely overall (less than two weeks ago) you can get a video card that is defective, it may not die right away ( like mine did only 8 hours after buying it) but it may still cause problems. Integrated graphics will always be shotty at best, I don't even use boards with integrated graphic chips on them anymore because of that, plus they can cause other problems if you don't disable them completely (bios) while running a video card. Anyhow, try getting yourself an other card (from a friend or even your shop if you're still under warranty) and try with that card.

Also, if you ran your card underpowered, you might have ill affected the agp/pcie 16x slot. I don't know exactly what test you could manually run yourself to see if it's that slots that has the problem, but if all of the above didn't work, at this point I would bring your computer to the shop so they can use their tools and find out where the problem lies.

After my computer ate my 4rth video card on the same mobo I decided I had enough and went and got myself an asus p8p67 evo rev3, an asus gtx 560 oc i gig, 16 gig ram (kingston) with an i5 2500k.. compared to my other set up.... sometimes I find it it's too fast now lol :D  joking.

Xaltotun

Re: Computer Help
« Reply #19 on: March 08, 2012, 02:25:59 pm »
It seems you are getting nearer a solution and are only left with the OpenGL issue.

If so, can you disable the OpenGL function on your graphics card AND on NWN (not sure about the latter as I run a low-spec card myself).

Check also if any 3D functions are set up on the card and disable them to see what happens. I have seen a card with 3D enabled on it cause a pc to crash when the program running didn't support 3D - disabling 3D on the graphics card solved the problem.

You could also try (although you have probably done this), turning down all the graphic options on the card and then reducing the video options in NWN and see if that makes a difference.

I am sure we are waiting to see how you are getting on :)