Vista 32 locks up while gaming - please help!

Good afternoon all.

I'm running a new comp (q6600/p5k/4g 8500 ram/8800 GTS) non overclocked at the moment - waiting for my heatsink and fans to arrive.

Vista is experiencing lockups when running high end games. Call of Duty 4 comes to mind. What happens is that I'll be playing happily and then the whole system will lock up and the sound will be stuck in an infinite loop (like a high-pitched pulse).

I was wondering if you could help me diagnose the problem.

However, I'm not sure what information I need to provide.

Graphics drivers are 169.09? dated nov 13 2007.

Thanks for any help you can give me in sorting out my issue (and probably educating me on Vista hah).

Kylt

You might want to try increasing your Vcore (VID) in the BIOS. I know you mentioned that your system isn't OC'd at the moment, but some MB's undervolt (called Vdroop)... meaning the actual VID (for example, default VID voltage range for a SLACR Q6600 is 0.85V – 1.5V) may be somewhat or well below what it's set to in the BIOS, especially under load like when playing a game like COD 4 for example. Use a program like Everest, Coretemp, CPU-Z, SpeedFan, etc. to monitor your VID in Windows... and possibly set it up to log the VID readings. This way you'll be able to later access the log, and see what the voltage reading was just prior to the lock-up.

Thanks for the reply.

Everything clock related in BIOS is set to Auto but hardware monitor is reporting a value of 1.256V.

Speedfan is showing Vcore @ 1.12-1.17 V. (one spike @ 1.23).
CPUZ is showing Vcore @ 1.120-1.256 V.

The above readings are at idle (while typing this out).

To up my Vcore I just change the O/C setting in bios to Manual and just adjust the vcore value while leaving everything else auto? What should I look at increasing it to?

Also and forgive my eternal newbishness but is there some sort of error log in Windows that I can poke around to see if anything funny was reported just prior to the crash?

Thanks again.

Kylt

Kylt said:

Thanks for the reply.

Everything clock related in BIOS is set to Auto but hardware monitor is reporting a value of 1.256V.

Speedfan is showing Vcore @ 1.12-1.17 V. (one spike @ 1.23).
CPUZ is showing Vcore @ 1.120-1.256 V.

The above readings are at idle (while typing this out).

To up my Vcore I just change the O/C setting in bios to Manual and just adjust the vcore value while leaving everything else auto? What should I look at increasing it to?

Also and forgive my eternal newbishness but is there some sort of error log in Windows that I can poke around to see if anything funny was reported just prior to the crash?

Thanks again.

Kylt

Click to expand...

If that's the swing in voltages that may be an issue. I don't think the power saving features change the voltage of the processor when in idle, just downclock it. If 1.120-1.256V is the swing that's pretty dramatic and definitely could explain the stability issue when tasking the system. If this can be traced to an insufficient power supply then raising the voltages on the vcore will only exacerbate the problem (widen that fluctuation). If it's normal behavior and a tech I'm not aware of, then 1.30V would be the max I would raise it with the retail cooler.

There's logs kept by windows and severe lockups like you describe will be reported in the application or system log.

click start --> control panel --> administrative tools --> event viewer

I read some threads elsewhere about vcore fluctuations on the P5K and have some more newbie questions.

Would enabling CPU Voltage Dampener in the BIOS help alleviate this vcore fluctuation?
Would doing the pencil mod described here maybe help? Or is that a bad thing to do?

Thanks again.

Kylt said:

Would enabling CPU Voltage Dampener in the BIOS help alleviate this vcore fluctuation?

Click to expand...

Yes, enabling the CPU Voltage Damper option greatly reduces Vdroop. And like Pinky suggested, try raising the VID to 1.3 - 1.35v

Here's some more diagnostic data for you to mull over

Crysis gives the same lockup problems. World of Warcraft does *not* give lockup problems when played for ridiculous amounts of time.

So I'm wondering at this point if it's the vcore that's the issue or maybe an internal windows setting?

Thanks again!

I'm going to jump in here because I'm trying to diagnose a similar problem, but I think it might be power supply related.

I triple boot my PC with XP SP2, Vista Ultiamte, and Mandriva. I have had OS lockups (no blue screen, jsut locked up) with all 3 OS while gaming (sometimes just surfing but mostly gaming). I did have a PS failure (Antec TruePower 550) replaced with one from a local shop here in town (a 600w I'd never heard of before). Now, before I didn't get any lockups...now, all the time. I'm going to monitor my voltages tonight with a DMM to see if the voltages drop. I just hope when the PS went it didn't fry my MB.

You don't state what kind of PS you are using, but it might be worth a look to see if it is up to the task.