Games freeze up every 4-5 seconds

[RTW]

A few days ago, my games started to freeze up.
I am able to play them fine for about 2-3 minutes and then they will freeze up for 4-5 seconds, then unfreeze for 4-5 seconds and repeat. I thought this was just for World of Warcraft, but I tried it with Counterstrike and I was getting the same problem. I even ran Supreme Commander in campaign mode and it gave me the same problem as well.
All of my drivers are up to date, and I even dusted out my tower.
This is a recent problem and I have been looking around for answers, none of the other forum threads seemed to get me to my problem, so I decided to post this thread in search of answers to my problem.
Thanks for your time.

Power Supply: Antec, TruePower 2.0, 550 watt, EPS 12
Motherboard: ASUS, A8R32-MVP Deluxe, Socket 939
CPU: AMD Athlon 64 X2 4200+, 939, 3000 MHz
RAM: Corsair, DDR2, 2x512 MB, 400 MHz each
Video Card: Radeon, X1300/X1550 Series, PCI-Express, 256 MB, Crossfire
Hard Drives: Maxtor, IDE SATA, 122 Gb
Maxtor, IDE SATA, 122 Gb
Seagate, IDE SATA, 250 Gb
OS: Windows XP Professional

[Demos_sav]

Is your processor or video card overclocked? If they are get them back to normal and try again

[theonetruewill]

Is your processor or video card overclocked? If they are get them back to normal and try again

Look at his processor speed. A 4200 X2 @3Ghz

[Demos_sav]

Look at his processor speed. A 4200 X2 @3Ghz

Sorry I ain't good with AMD processors..I never had one:ohwell:. I don't know if that is overclocked or not. I thought it is because I think AMD 6000 work at 3GHz:o

[RTW]

Yeah, it's not overclocked.

[Kreij]

It could be that something is running in the background and eating up CPU cycles (thus causing the slow downs). Try killing any processes that you don't need to play the games and see if that helps.

If it does, you will have to figure out which one is the rogue process.

[Demos_sav]

Yeah, it's not overclocked.

Correct me if I am wrong but I just found a link that sais the 4200 is clocked at 2.2GHz. Are you sure it isn't overclocked?(by 0.8GHz?)

[RTW]

Correct me if I am wrong but I just found a link that sais the 4200 is clocked at 2.2GHz. Are you sure it isn't overclocked?(by 0.8GHz?)

That's what my system says it's at, but when I ran it through a diagnostic program it gave me 3.0 GHz.
I have not messed with a single thing to make it overclocked.

[Demos_sav]

That's what my system says it's at, but when I ran it through a diagnostic program it game me 3.0 GHz.
I have not messed with a single thing to make it overclocked.

Post a screenshot of cpu-z in idle and load

http://www.cpuid.com/download/cpu-z-140.zip

[theonetruewill]

What diagnositc program did you use: and do what demos says.

[Demos_sav]

What diagnositc program did you use: and do what demos says.

Don't be so sure it's the program faults.... My friend had a mobo that automatically adjusted the cpu speed by load

[RTW]

http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/Sensai-Sama/CPU-z.jpg

This what you mean?

[Darknova]

Yup, that's what he meant...and as you can see it is running at 2.2Ghz, so that other program was reading the CPU speed wrong.

I had this problem recently, and for me atleast, it was a problem with hard drive caching. What you need to do is a thorough chkdisk, as well as a full defrag (might have to do it upwards of 5 times to be sure). Also you might want to delete your pagefile, and put it on another drive (preferably one that's not used all that often).

[newconroer]

Er, hold off on moving the pagefile. You can delete it and make a fresh one, but moving it elsewhere isn't necessary.


RTW have you made any system related changes since?

Unless he's had a sort of system corruption, it shouldn't just up and start crashing him.

Did anyone even mention a possible virus/virii?

[Darknova]

Er, hold off on moving the pagefile. You can delete it and make a fresh one, but moving it elsewhere isn't necessary.


RTW have you made any system related changes since?

Unless he's had a sort of system corruption, it shouldn't just up and start crashing him.

Did anyone even mention a possible virus/virii?

That's what I was pointing at. The MFT table on my HDD had corrupted and that was causing the problem. He never said it was crashing, but freezing up for a few seconds then it would work again for a bit, then freeze again, exactly what I had.

Also, moving the pagefile to another drive so it's not the main drive, increase performance as it decreases read and write times.

And no, I never thought about a virus to be honest :laugh:

RTW, you might want to do a full system scan, and get a copy of Spybot and Adaware and do full scans with those as well.

[newconroer]

Increase performance? Hardly. If you manually move your data to the physical end tracks of your drive, then you can place the page file wherever you like in regards to the other data that's near those outer tracks(usually right behind the MFT). A contigous page file is easily reached and read. The only place you'd see a performance difference is in a synthetic benchmark program, not in your applications.

I just noticed that he said they'll unfreeze. Well that actually might help diagnose it a bit easier.

But until we know whether he changed anything, it'll be a crap shoot.

[RTW]

The only system related changes that I did was update all my drivers. But the problem didn't happen till a day later. I had thought that the updated drivers might have been the case, but I rolled them all back and it didn't fix anything.

I ran Ad-aware yesterday, and I just ran Spybot.

I'm going to restart my comp now and have it run chkdisk and then I will proceed to defrag it a few times.

Also, where would the pagefile be located?

[newconroer]

If you mean to remove it:

START>Run:

Regedit

Find: "clearpagefile"

It may return an entry that's not what you're looking for. Continue to "find next" until you find the entry:

"ClearPageFileAtShutdown REG_DWORD 0X00000000"

You'll want to double click on it and change the "value data" to "1"

Now continue to "find next" and repeat the process of entering "1" value for any entries of ClearPageFileAtShutdown.

Then reboot. Your system will take a while before it restarts, and when it starts Windows again, it will be slower than normal.

After this, return to the Regedit, and do the same process as above, but return the values to "0"

Then reboot and you're done.
If you want to properly defrag the drive, use Ultimate Defrag.


The simple assumption would be as mentioned above, that something is using up clock cycles and /or attempting to seek data on your drive.
Could you give us a Hijack and Process list screenshot(run a game where this freezing happens, then Alt-Tab and then take the screens).

[kwchang007]

How do your temps look? Have you changed your gfx settings in the games? Also, have you forced AA in CCC?

[RTW]

So far I have run chkdisk.. (Had to go do some groceries, so it was finished by the time I was back)

I downloaded the Ultimate Defrag, and I started the defraging of my main drive but stopped it because it went to what seemed would be 24 hours of defraging?!
I think I'll try the normal defragging with windows.
After defragging I will do the pagefile thing you suggested.

Here is the Process, Hijack I think you were talking about?
http://i2.photobucket.com/albums/y10/Sensai-Sama/test.jpg

How do your temps look? Have you changed your gfx settings in the games? Also, have you forced AA in CCC?

Temps seem ok. I haven't messed with gfx or Anti-Aliasing.

Temp1: 41C
Temp2: 35C
Temp3: -128C
HD0: 36C
HD1: 37C
HD2: 38C
Core: 41-42C

Vcore1: 1.39V
Vcore2: 3.30V
+3.3V: 1.98V-3.03V
+5V: 5.00V
+12V: 12.16V

[newconroer]

First, you have to really read and learn the Ultimate Defrag manual/help guide. If you don't it's useless to you.

The defrag on most people's systems, moving the data to the outer tracks will take about one or two hours, then you do it once more after that. As I said, READ.

Normal windows defrag won't do anything for you.
And you need to remove the page file first usually, but if not using Ultimate than bleh nvm.

Second, that's not Hijack or the Processes.

Thats WOW and CPUZ :D

[RTW]

Second, that's not Hijack or the Processes.

Thats WOW and CPUZ :D

Oh, lol, then what is Hijack and Processes? Are they programs that I need to download?

Is the processes the processes in Task Manager (that's my guess), but I've never heard of Hijack.

I'll read through the Ultimate Defrag manual.... it's just that I have been :banghead: for the past couple of days with doing a lot of stuff on my comp and nothing has been improving.
But I am up for anything to get it working again.

[RTW]

Ok, I read most of the vital parts of the manual, I'll do the pagefile first and then i'll start the Ultimate Defrag like you suggested.

[RTW]

If you mean to remove it:

START>Run:

Regedit

Find: "clearpagefile"

It may return an entry that's not what you're looking for. Continue to "find next" until you find the entry:

"ClearPageFileAtShutdown REG_DWORD 0X00000000"

You'll want to double click on it and change the "value data" to "1"

Now continue to "find next" and repeat the process of entering "1" value for any entries of ClearPageFileAtShutdown.

Then reboot. Your system will take a while before it restarts, and when it starts Windows again, it will be slower than normal.

After this, return to the Regedit, and do the same process as above, but return the values to "0"

Then reboot and you're done.


I did as you said, from 1, restarting, then back to 0 and restarting.

Is it odd that it didn't "take a while before it restarts, and when it starts Windows again, it will be slower than normal"?
Because it didn't take any longer than usual to start up both ways and my computer wasn't any slower when switching back to 0.

[RTW]

Alright, well, I have ran dskcheck, done the clearpagefile thing, and the Ultimate Defrag.
I restarted, and I ran WoW. After a few minutes, like before it started doing the freeze, unfreeze thing.

Anyone have any other clue as to why I am having this problem and a solution to fix it.

Not sure if it matters, but I get a about 100 more ping rate with WoW than I used to, thought Counterstike still gives me the same ping as before this big mess of freezing and unfreezing.

[newconroer]

Err, how long it takes to clear the page at shutdown varies, but a good twenty seconds or abouts. I meant your programs will start a bit slower the first time you use them AFTER clearing the page file, as it's remounting data.

For the ultimate defrag, you have to use file/folder feature, and make sure to move your files around. Without someone guiding you, it's a bit yuck at first.

But at least you got a defrag out of it :)


I'll take some time out later to try another solution for you.

[RTW]

Oh ok.

Yeah for the Ultimate Defrag I went with auto and set the ratio to 20/80, which seemed to be what the manual suggested. I'll try a file/folder later.

Alright, thanks, I'll take any more solutions you can think of.

Oh, when you were talking about Hijack... did you mean Hijack This?
Did you want a HJT Log?

[newconroer]

Hold off on the ultimate defrag. Send me a PM and we can synch up on a messenger so I can walk you through it.

Yes, Hijack this. I wanted to see if anything was running at startup. Also the processes was the basic process list in your taskmanager.

That's the first step. I would imagine you can see anything suspicious, but you never know.

Also please do an advanced search on your C: for "ddaby.dll" and "vuttu" with no extension, anything as "vuttu" make note.


Sound acceleration in these games? Or Hardware sound are you using it? Try to trim that down or goto software as a test.
I know that you upgraded your video drivers, but then rolled them back. In upgrading them, it may have cause conflict with sound(not that it should.) Each time I upgrade vid drivers, I slap on DirectX each time, just to make sure there's no driver or .dll conflicts.

By this time I imagine you've wiped all drivers, mobo, dx, gpu, sound and tried again?

[RTW]

Hold off on the ultimate defrag. Send me a PM and we can synch up on a messenger so I can walk you through it.

Yes, Hijack this. I wanted to see if anything was running at startup. Also the processes was the basic process list in your taskmanager.

That's the first step. I would imagine you can see anything suspicious, but you never know.

Also please do an advanced search on your C: for "ddaby.dll" and "vuttu" with no extension, anything as "vuttu" make note.


Sound acceleration in these games? Or Hardware sound are you using it? Try to trim that down or goto software as a test.
I know that you upgraded your video drivers, but then rolled them back. In upgrading them, it may have cause conflict with sound(not that it should.) Each time I upgrade vid drivers, I slap on DirectX each time, just to make sure there's no driver or .dll conflicts.

By this time I imagine you've wiped all drivers, mobo, dx, gpu, sound and tried again?

I would presume that this is the HJT log.

Logfile of Trend Micro HijackThis v2.0.0 (BETA)
Scan saved at 1:52:52 PM, on 7/18/2007
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
Boot mode: Normal

Running processes:
F:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
F:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SPBBC\SPBBCSvc.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\LEXBCES.EXE
F:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\LEXPPS.EXE
F:\Program Files\Symantec\LiveUpdate\ALUSchedulerSvc.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\CTsvcCDA.exe
F:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\DefWatch.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Microsoft Shared\VS7DEBUG\MDM.EXE
F:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Ulead Systems\DVD\ULCDRSvr.exe
F:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
F:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy2ZS\Surround Mixer\CTSysVol.exe
F:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy2ZS\DVDAudio\CTDVDDet.EXE
F:\PROGRA~1\Maxtor\OneTouch\Utils\OneTouch.exe
F:\WINDOWS\MXOALDR.EXE
F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_01\bin\jusched.exe
F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe
F:\Program Files\Winamp\winampa.exe
F:\WINDOWS\RTHDCPL.EXE
F:\WINDOWS\CTHELPER.EXE
F:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\MOM.EXE
F:\Program Files\Common Files\AOL\1145602864\ee\AOLSoftware.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
F:\Program Files\Creative\MediaSource\RemoteControl\RCMan.EXE
F:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\ccc.exe
F:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
F:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe
F:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SpybotSD.exe
F:\Documents and Settings\Leif\Desktop\HiJackThis_v2.exe

R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Page_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Default_Search_URL = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R1 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Search Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=54896
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=69157
O2 - BHO: Adobe PDF Reader Link Helper - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - F:\PROGRA~1\SPYBOT~1\SDHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: SSVHelper Class - {761497BB-D6F0-462C-B6EB-D4DAF1D92D43} - F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_01\bin\ssv.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [IMJPMIG8.1] "F:\WINDOWS\IME\imjp8_1\IMJPMIG.EXE" /Spoil /RemAdvDef /Migration32
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PHIME2002ASync] F:\WINDOWS\system32\IME\TINTLGNT\TINTSETP.EXE /SYNC
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [PHIME2002A] F:\WINDOWS\system32\IME\TINTLGNT\TINTSETP.EXE /IMEName
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTSysVol] F:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy2ZS\Surround Mixer\CTSysVol.exe /r
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTDVDDET] F:\Program Files\Creative\SBAudigy2ZS\DVDAudio\CTDVDDet.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SBDrvDet] F:\Program Files\Creative\SB Drive Det\SBDrvDet.exe /r
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [UpdReg] F:\WINDOWS\UpdReg.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MaxtorOneTouch] F:\PROGRA~1\Maxtor\OneTouch\Utils\OneTouch.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [MXO Auto Loader] F:\WINDOWS\MXOALDR.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SunJavaUpdateSched] "F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_01\bin\jusched.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ccApp] "F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccApp.exe"
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [WinampAgent] F:\Program Files\Winamp\winampa.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [StartCCC] F:\Program Files\ATI Technologies\ATI.ACE\Core-Static\CLIStart.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [RTHDCPL] RTHDCPL.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [amd_dc_opt] F:\Program Files\AMD\Dual-Core Optimizer\amd_dc_opt.exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTHelper] CTHELPER.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [CTxfiHlp] CTXFIHLP.EXE
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [Symantec NetDriver Monitor] F:\PROGRA~1\SYMNET~1\SNDMon.exe /Enterprise
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] F:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [RemoteCenter] F:\Program Files\Creative\MediaSource\RemoteControl\RCMan.EXE
O4 - HKUS\S-1-5-18\..\RunOnce: [SetDefaultMIDI] MIDIDEF.EXE /s:'Creative SoundFont Synthesizer' /w:'SB Audigy' (User 'SYSTEM')
O4 - HKUS\.DEFAULT\..\RunOnce: [SetDefaultMIDI] MIDIDEF.EXE /s:'Creative SoundFont Synthesizer' /w:'SB Audigy' (User 'Default user')
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://F:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_01\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - F:\Program Files\Java\jre1.6.0_01\bin\ssv.dll
O9 - Extra button: Research - {92780B25-18CC-41C8-B9BE-3C9C571A8263} - F:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~2\OFFICE11\REFIEBAR.DLL
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - F:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - F:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: {0A5FD7C5-A45C-49FC-ADB5-9952547D5715} (Creative Software AutoUpdate) - http://www.creative.com/su/ocx/15030/CTSUEng.cab
O16 - DPF: {CD995117-98E5-4169-9920-6C12D4C0B548} (HGPlugin9USA Class) - http://gamedownload.ijjimax.com/gamedownload/dist/hgstart/HGPlugin9USA.cab
O16 - DPF: {F6ACF75C-C32C-447B-9BEF-46B766368D29} (Creative Software AutoUpdate Support Package) - http://www.creative.com/su/ocx/15030/CTPID.cab
O20 - Winlogon Notify: awtrool - F:\WINDOWS\
O20 - Winlogon Notify: winjyg32 - F:\WINDOWS\
O22 - SharedTaskScheduler: Browseui preloader - {438755C2-A8BA-11D1-B96B-00A0C90312E1} - F:\WINDOWS\system32\browseui.dll
O22 - SharedTaskScheduler: Component Categories cache daemon - {8C7461EF-2B13-11d2-BE35-3078302C2030} - F:\WINDOWS\system32\browseui.dll
O23 - Service: Adobe LM Service - Unknown owner - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Adobe Systems Shared\Service\Adobelmsvc.exe
O23 - Service: Ati HotKey Poller - ATI Technologies Inc. - F:\WINDOWS\system32\Ati2evxx.exe
O23 - Service: ATI Smart - Unknown owner - F:\WINDOWS\system32\ati2sgag.exe
O23 - Service: Automatic LiveUpdate Scheduler - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Symantec\LiveUpdate\ALUSchedulerSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Event Manager (ccEvtMgr) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccEvtMgr.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Settings Manager (ccSetMgr) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\ccSetMgr.exe
O23 - Service: Creative Service for CDROM Access - Creative Technology Ltd - F:\WINDOWS\system32\CTsvcCDA.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec AntiVirus Definition Watcher (DefWatch) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\DefWatch.exe
O23 - Service: InstallDriver Table Manager (IDriverT) - Macrovision Corporation - F:\Program Files\Common Files\InstallShield\Driver\11\Intel 32\IDriverT.exe
O23 - Service: LexBce Server (LexBceS) - Lexmark International, Inc. - F:\WINDOWS\system32\LEXBCES.EXE
O23 - Service: LiveUpdate - Symantec Corporation - F:\PROGRA~1\Symantec\LIVEUP~1\LUCOMS~1.EXE
O23 - Service: SAVRoam (SavRoam) - symantec - F:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\SavRoam.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec Network Drivers Service (SNDSrvc) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SNDSrvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec SPBBCSvc (SPBBCSvc) - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Symantec Shared\SPBBC\SPBBCSvc.exe
O23 - Service: Symantec AntiVirus - Symantec Corporation - F:\Program Files\Symantec AntiVirus\Rtvscan.exe
O23 - Service: Ulead Burning Helper (UleadBurningHelper) - Ulead Systems, Inc. - F:\Program Files\Common Files\Ulead Systems\DVD\ULCDRSvr.exe
O23 - Service: WMDM PMSP Service - Unknown owner - F:\WINDOWS\system32\MsPMSPSv.exe (file missing)

--
End of file - 8139 bytes



I did the advanced search for the "ddaby.dll" and "vuttu", and nothing was found.

I just use the Hardware sound from my Soundblaster. I updated both my HD Realtek sound which is on the motherboard and my Soundblaster Audigy 2 ZS.

What do you mean by "slap on", as in reinstalling DirectX? or just running a dxdiag?

How do you mean by wiping them? Just rolling them back?.... Or something else?

[newconroer]

Err you're running on board and PCI slot sound? Ack. I was referring to hardware acceleration and EAX style sound options in games. While you may have used them in the past without problems, a driver change even if not related to your sound might have been a culprit. So using non hardware acceleration might be something to try.


Slap on meant ya, reinstall the DX.

Wiping them : Not roll back, but uninstalling, so you have no drivers, then reapplying them in order.


Holy hell I'm always amazed at how much stuff is running on people's comps.

My active Hijack :>



Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 8:25:06 PM, on 7/18/2007
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\Pkgs\Security\BlackIce\blackice.exe
C:\Pkgs\Security\BlackIce\blackd.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\Pkgs\Security\BlackIce\rapapp.exe
C:\Pkgs\Internet\Firefox\firefox.exe
C:\Pkgs\Security\Hijack\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,SearchAssistant =
R0 - HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Search,CustomizeSearch =
O23 - Service: BlackICE - Internet Security Systems, Inc. - C:\Pkgs\Security\BlackIce\blackd.exe
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
O23 - Service: RapApp - Internet Security Systems, Inc. - C:\Pkgs\Security\BlackIce\rapapp.exe

[RTW]

Err you're running on board and PCI slot sound? Ack. I was referring to hardware acceleration and EAX style sound options in games. While you may have used them in the past without problems, a driver change even if not related to your sound might have been a culprit. So using non hardware acceleration might be something to try.


Slap on meant ya, reinstall the DX.

Wiping them : Not roll back, but uninstalling, so you have no drivers, then reapplying them in order.


Yeah, I don't use hardware acceleration and EAX style sound as far as I know. (95% sure)

Btw, how do YOU usally reinstall DX, cause i've tried it in the past, and you usually can't unistall it... Do you just go to the website and download the client then just install it? Which would override the older DX?
I did it a long time ago, and I just downloaded the client and installed. Is there a better way than that?

EDIT: Ok, So my sound was accelerated, but I turned it off, and nothing.

[newconroer]

There isn't full support for removal of DX like you can with other drivers. I imagine it would cause more havoc than it's worth. I think I tend to clump mobo/dx/video/sound drivers as one thing you do altogether. After that, any time you update one of the three :dx/video/sound, you should update the other two as well.

I have a habit of forgetting you don't actually uninstall DX, though technically you could..

The latest copy is June I believe, and you just extract the .cab files to a temp directory then run the setup/install program. It's fairly straightforward, then you reboot. Then you can apply video/sound.

Ok so it's not hardware acceleration. Damn.

How are we looking on the virii front? I'm going over your process log, but some of the stuff is alien to me, I don't know what it is. I'll leave it to you to use NOD32 or something similar and check for any threats.

[RTW]

Yeah, I just got the June copy of DX.... (though, all they have is dxwebsetup.exe) So I wouldn't know how to extract the .cab files from that.

As for viruses, I should be good. I've gone over my process log and other previous logs from other programs, and nothing ever seemed out of place and if it was an odd file I would just google it up to see, but nothing.

I've ran CCleaner, Spybot, Ad-aware, and about 3-4 others, only small malware crap every once in a while. So, I seem to be without any bugs... seems this is more of a software/hardware issue. I'm starting to think a driver/software problem.... It doesn't seem like my gpu or sound cards went kaput, I can't really say for sure though. (I hope it's not broken hardware.... but it was too coincidental that problem started when Drivers were updated, even though rollingback didn't fix it.)

[RTW]

I've recently run memtest and a few other things.
This is the weirdest problem I have ever had with a computer.

[TheMishKin]

Exact same problem here. Had it once before & managed to fix it, but can't for the life of me recall what I did, I think it may have been a virus. I've scanned with everything, new drivers etc... and still the same thing.

If you find a solution let me know cause i'm stumped as well.

[RTW]

Exact same problem here. Had it once before & managed to fix it, but can't for the life of me recall what I did, I think it may have been a virus. I've scanned with everything, new drivers etc... and still the same thing.

If you find a solution let me know cause i'm stumped as well.

My problem isn't a virus, because I just completely reformatted my drive, and I still get the same problem.

[Namslas90]

Killing Ati HotKey Poller in MS config, might help. Also most mobo's need to have "onboard sound" disabled in BIOS when a soundcard is installed(Creative\SBAudigy2ZS). The only other thing I can see is the NORTON(Symantec) processes that are runing. That has always caused me problems while gaming online.

Try shuting down Norton and go back on WOW(for a few minutes) and see if that solves the problem. If it does than get a better AV/SPYWARE program like AVG or NOD32.

A note on Crossfire; DID you clean ATI drivers before adding 2nd card? If you go to the ATI website and check the instructions for Crossfire it says the best way to start Crossfire is to;

Remove and clean ATI Drivers.
Install Both cards (connectors if required)
Download drivers from ati site(you will notice it will do a "Auto-check").
Reboot.

If you have had several diff ATI drivers installed and never cleaned properly, you may be better off defraging your HDD before installing new drivers.(it will remove all old ATI fragments and "refference points "- from previouse instalations).

[DRDNA]

Try reinstalling Directx9c and if you disable the hotkeypoller you will not be able to overclock your crossfire config via the CCC and I have yet to find an app that will allowe a holding overclock on the slave card besides the CCC.

[Namslas90]

Try reinstalling Directx9c and if you disable the hotkeypoller you will not be able to overclock your crossfire config via the CCC and I have yet to find an app that will allowe a holding overclock on the slave card besides the CCC.

I thought I saw an old thread about using ATI TOOL on both cards in crossfire??!!

[DRDNA]

I thought I saw an old thread about using ATI TOOL on both cards in crossfire??!!

Dear fellow plz find as I have tried all things to get away from the CCC to no avail. I think people are mistaken as the master will hold clocks but the slave will not hold clocks and I have tested on all versions of atitool and ccc's.

[Namslas90]

Dear fellow plz find as I have tried all things to get away from the CCC to no avail. I think people are mistaken as the master will hold clocks but the slave will not hold clocks and I have tested on all versions of atitool and ccc's.

Thanks for the clarification. :toast:

[newconroer]

To save you all the efforts, though appreciated...

He's reformatted and it's still happening. So we're going back over hardware configuration possibilities atm.

No crossfire is being used, nor onboard sound.

[TheMishKin]

RTW, got mine working again, without doing a format & reinstall, not 100% exactly sure what worked, but here's some of the things i did.

Did all the new drivers thing, then something about v-sync crossed my mind, so went into my Catalyst control panel & made sure that v-sync was off. then ran a program called Everest from Lavalys www.majorgeeks.com/download4181.html it's free, gives info doesn't fix anything, noticed when i ran the report that at the end it said that my video card was not powered, so i undid & redid the connections and boom, it worked, hmmm. So not sure if it was the v-sync or the lack of power to the card, but it's working fine now.

Hope this helps in some way. If you discover it's some other problem and find a solution, please post it as i'm sure it would help a lot of people.

Weird to think it was a power connection, since the new 3d cards do have a seperate power cable aside from the agp bus, maybe it makes some sense that 2d stuff would work, but 3d would require more power but wasn't getting it. Who knows.

Ciao

[tkpenalty]

Guys... its the PSU, Truepower's with their crappy Fuhjyuus...

[RTW]

Yeah, i've ran it a lot with newconroer. Can't really break it down properly, but I will try what MishKin did.
If that doesn't work needing either 1) New graphics card or 2) New power supply.

I've done some research for those... I've come up with X1950XT, and either SILVERSTONE ST75F ATX12V / EPS12V 750W or OCZ GameXStream OCZ700GXSSLI ATX12V 700W.

[wzhu85]

Hi guys, I seem to be having nearly identical problems as RTW so I thought I'd share some of my experiences with it and hopefully it'll help us solve this thing together.

This happened quite a while ago and I've been trying to figure out what's been causing it. Pretty much any 3d intensive game I play (WoW, Titan Quest, World in Conflict Beta), I will get 4-5 second freezes at completely random intervals and completely random frequency. Sometimes I can play titan quest for 30 minutes and it'll freeze twice, sometimes, it will freeze once every 2 minutes or so. I have noticed however that the more stress I put on the graphics, such as running World of Conflict beta, the more frequent the freezes become (once every minute or so). I have also noticed a good amount of artifacting while playing all my games.

Here is my spec (a bit general because I'm not at my computer)

Pentium 4 3.2ghz
Asus P5LD2 motherboard
2gb Kingston DDR2 PC4200 Value Select Ram
Silverstone 500W power supply (18A each on 2 12V rails)
EVGA 7800 GT CO graphics card
Seagate 7200.10 320gb Sata HD
Seagate 7200.10 500gb Sata HD
Maxtor 7200 300gb Sata HD

At first I thought it was cpu overheating, so I bought a Zalman9500 cpu cooler and installed that. My idle cpu temps are around 40C now and 55C at load and the freezes still occur. Next, I thought it was a video card problem, so I borrowed my roomate's EVGA 8800gts 320mb graphics card to try, and the freezes still occur. Then I suspected the ram, so I ran memtest, and it found no problems, but I borrowed some ram and replaced it to be sure, and freezes still occur. I then suspected a software problem, so I reformatted my hard drive and installed a fresh copy of WinXP on a brand new hard drive. I installed the latest Nvidia drivers and direct x and the freezes still occur. This should rule out any software / driver / virus problems I'd assume.

I am now running out of ideas and parts to replace. The only things that are left that I can think of is either a defective power supply, defective motherboard, or defective cpu. Is there anyway to tell if my power supply is providing enough amps to my video card to eliminate that from the list? It seems like one of the other posters that fixed this problem had a power related problem, so I am highly suspecting that our video cards are not receiving enough power.

Also, can a defective motherboard be a possible culprit given the symptoms. Another clue is when World in Conflict beta crashes, it seems to minimize the game and my HD Realtek audio program opens up and seems to think I plugged something into the audio jacks. Maybe it's an onboard sound problem. I hope someone here can help us out, not really looking forward to trying a new motherboard. Thanks for the help.


edit: I also realized that we both have Asus motherboards, thus we should both have Realtek onboard sound. May also be a clue pointing towards the motherboard. I really hope it isn't though, since it's the worst possible thing that can break on you. Getting a new motherboard is practically like building a new computer = / .

[newconroer]

BUMP:

Someone please address wzhsu85's Realtek point and question about monitoring 12v amperage, I'm about to pass out.

RTW SILVERSTONE FTW! That's a beefy PSU mate!

[TheMishKin]

could be a power problem, that wouldn't surprise me at all. sound? possibly, i have a soundblaster live value, so don't think it's the onboard sound. it's a weird problem, like i said, mine is working again, had the same problem once before, i'm thinking it's video related, either power or settings somehow, v-sync could be the culprit or lack of power forcing the card to hit the hard drive cache, not really sure. not lots of info out there on this one, have searched & searched, would be nice if we or someone could really lock this down, cause it's a bitch when it happens, takes a lot of fiddling to get it running again, but i'm leaning to power problem, but again, not positive on that one.

[TheMishKin]

wzhu85, could also just be a bad cable, not necesarily the mother board itself, when i fixed my problem, i removed one of the split cables & shortened the route to the video card, so coulda just been a bad wire, wouldn't be unreasonable.

[wzhu85]

I got a suggestion somewhere that it could be my motherboard's northbridge overheating, so I opened up my case and had a fan blow directly towards the motherboard. Now when I tried playing World of Conflict Beta, the freezing seems to have dramatically decreased. It hasn't gone completely though, happens once every 20 min or so still, but the fan seems to have helped. Either way, if this is the case, I'll be replacing mine with a new motherboard and make sure if that was the problem. If not, I'll replace the psu next. If RTW or anyone else went out and replaced the psu, let me know the results, and I'll keep you guys posted on mine. Thanks

[jsjolly]

Sorry to jump in on this, but I think if you have formatted your harddrive and the problem is still there, it could be software related. Try disabling your antivirus (symantec, big hog) and antispyware completely and basically anything you dont need in your taskbar (ctrl+alt del and make sure they have stopped running. check processes). I suffered stuttering and freezes in games until I disabled (completely) the offensive antivirus and antispyware software.

Just my 2p`s worth.

[RTW]

If RTW or anyone else went out and replaced the psu, let me know the results, and I'll keep you guys posted on mine. Thanks

Well, I got the Silverstone OP650, suggested by newconroer.
I also got a new graphics card, because that was another suggest possible hardware problem. (Plus it's an upgrade, and unless you can Crossfire a X1300PRO with a X1950XT, then my brother will be getting a free graphics card.)

I am going to plug the PSU in first and see if that fixes anything, then I'll either 1: Plug the old PSU back in and go with with my X1300 on the 550w or 2: Just switch out the X1300 for the X1950XT.

It won't be here until Tuesday or Wednesday, so I won't be able to give any results until then.

[RTW]

Sorry to jump in on this, but I think if you have formatted your harddrive and the problem is still there, it could be software related. Try disabling your antivirus (symantec, big hog) and antispyware completely and basically anything you dont need in your taskbar (ctrl+alt del and make sure they have stopped running. check processes). I suffered stuttering and freezes in games until I disabled (completely) the offensive antivirus and antispyware software.

Just my 2p`s worth.

Didn't even install any anitvirus on my first reformat. And used all the updated drivers.

On the second reformat, installed only Norton and used only the drivers on CD. (I even turned off Norton.)

[wzhu85]

Wow.... so I got a Psu and a mobo today. Replaced the psu with a Antec Smartpower 500W, freezes still happen. Then reluctantly, I switched the mobo to a EVGA Nforce 680i LT SLI, and the freezes STILL happen. I am now literally down to the very last component to replace, the CPU. Even though i ran the prime 95 test for 6 hours yesterday with no error, it's the only thing left that I haven't replaced yet... so I guess that's my last hope. If that doesn't do it, I give up.... Hope you have better luck RTW.

edit: I was also wondering if a processor that has been heat damaged could possibly exhibit these symptoms. Before i got a 3rd party cpu cooler, my processor got pretty hot at times when I forget to clean out the heatsink, so it may have been permanently damaged.

[newconroer]

A heat damaged processor could exhibit a whole territory of issues, but why would you have heat damage? You forgot to clean out the heatsink? Explain.

The fact that you replaced the motherboard and STILL get the freezing is absurd.
You may have to put that chip in a mobo that doesn't belong to you, in case somehow you've damaged both your motherboards.

You are indeed running out of components ;/


RTW is not at a complete loss. He needs to upgrade the PSU eventually and that Silverstone is nasty beefy GRUNT GRUNT GRUNT!

[RTW]

RTW is not at a complete loss. He needs to upgrade the PSU eventually and that Silverstone is nasty beefy GRUNT GRUNT GRUNT!

Hehehe....


On a lighter note, seems like the PSU won't be here until Thursday, so tomorrow....
(What's happening to UPS? They getting slower? Dang)

[wzhu85]

The motherboard i replaced is brand new, and the rest of the parts are either from my friends computer who has no problems, or brand new as well. Either way, the cpu wasn't the problem either, replaced it with a e4300 core 2 duo, and still freezes. I even replaced the dvd-rw drive as well, and that wasn't it. So I think now I have officially ran out of components. The only other component that I haven't replaced is the case, but could it even be possible that the case can cause these kind of problems? I googled around for people with simliar problems last night, and found that someone with this problems had a bad videocard. I guess i'll try new video card again with this new motherboard since the artifacts are pointing to video card problem and just in case both my video card and motherboard was bad. I'm close to giving up. Best of luck on your psu RTW, hope we don't have the same problem.

[newconroer]

I have these strange X-files feeling coming on..where the electronic devices around your computer are giving off signals that are being bounced back by aliens. The returned signals are at such a frequency, they cause your computer to bog down.


Have you tried plugging the system into a different outlet in the house?

I know RTW tried this, and still had freezes.

[RTW]

Well, I just tried my PSU, doesn't seem to be that.... now i'm off to place my new graphics card to see how that fairs.....

I guess I got a souped up PSU now.

EDIT: Alright!!!.... It's not the graphics card either.... wooooooo.......................

[TheMishKin]

Had mine working OK for a while, now it's doing it again

I'm surprised with the lack of help here, with all the Techies on here I woulda thought someone would have had some more ideas. Wait & see i guess.

[newconroer]

Well Mish, this thread did get a fair bit of response. While this type of problem may have effected more than one hundred thousand people in the world, the variables to the equation are difficult to identify, and the result is absurdly odd.

Consider that in each cases, every component has been replaced, to no avail.

I wondered if maybe they shorted part of the wall outlet/surge and are getting limited juice.


RTW, Wzhu, have either of you tried to run Prime95 or Orthos tests? As well as an Aquamark. You may not get any stuttering with Prime95 or Orthos, but if it's a power related issue, the stress tests my fail.


It is possible that RTW's board has gone bad, and Wzhu's CPU has gone bad ;/

I also want you two, to format again, and this time use a different copy of XP, or Vista.

[TheMishKin]

UPDATE...Was surfing and came across someone who said to check power cables, while i was fiddling around inside my pc i noticed one of the ram dimms was not sitting right, so i unseated & reseated all of them to make sure they were locked in place, reboot, game, no problems.

kinda makes sense, the lack of all the ram working forced the game to cache to the hard drive, SOMETHING was definately searching the drive for info, so i'm now kinda inclined to think that it is a MEMORY problem of some sort, ram not seated properly, or bad ram, or not enough.

if it starts up again i'll let you know, but couple 2-3 hours of playing so far & not one glitch.

[RTW]

Well Mish, this thread did get a fair bit of response. While this type of problem may have effected more than one hundred thousand people in the world, the variables to the equation are difficult to identify, and the result is absurdly odd.

Consider that in each cases, every component has been replaced, to no avail.

I wondered if maybe they shorted part of the wall outlet/surge and are getting limited juice.


RTW, Wzhu, have either of you tried to run Prime95 or Orthos tests? As well as an Aquamark. You may not get any stuttering with Prime95 or Orthos, but if it's a power related issue, the stress tests my fail.


It is possible that RTW's board has gone bad, and Wzhu's CPU has gone bad ;/

I also want you two, to format again, and this time use a different copy of XP, or Vista.

I actually ran Prime95 previously...

Either way.... I got a new board/CPU/RAM.... and everythings working....

Sooooo.... the problem was either the RAM/Motherboard/CPU..... And I can't really test down to that cause I don't have any other 939 motherboards to test this out.

So, I now have a few components just sitting around....

Solution to this thread: Get a new Motherboard/CPU/RAM.

[newconroer]

Hmm, well the RAM is testable...

Keep in mind Wz tried multiple boards.
Let's see if he finds a solution.