Unstable system-- brand new. Games crashing. Advice please :)

[Eichhorn18]

Hi. You guys have been great help so far. I need a bit more help though to make my system stable.

Some of you will have already seen this in a previous thread. I am reposting to consolidate most of what was there and to update on what testing I have done on my build.

My system specs are in my sig.

The Problem: Some games have been crashing on my system before I even get into the game, i.e booting the game up etc. The issue is occuring with Company of Heroes and Bioshock, both of which I am launching using the Steam application. The failure occurs in both these games when the initial boot screen pop up. Company of Heroes specifically fails right after the Divx logo has disappeared. Other games I have run on my system not using Steam include Call of Duty 4 on MAX settings and it runs fine with no error.

In the previous thread I mentioned that when the failure occurs the screen freezes and my speakers start making very loud irregular static almost like a TV but with more screeching sounds (sort of like paper being put through a paper shredder...but with static) Someone suggested I remove my sound card and try onboard audio which I did.. no change.

I have made absolutly sure that all my drivers for audio, video and bios are up to date. My bios settings are all set to AUTO currently and I have not overclocked anything.

Tests I have run:

Prime95
I ran Prime95 yesterday overnight on the Torture Test setting with Priority 10. I followed a sticky thread on stability testing. The test ran for 7 hours and then failed I assume because when I woke up my mouse and keyboard were not getting power and not responding at all. I tried plugging in a wired usb mouse (a second mouse) and it did not respond. My screen was black and I could not get from the black screen to the desktop. So I was forced to reboot.

3dMark06
Later yesterday I ran 3dMark06 (the free version) and it was working until it finished the test with the flying pirate ship near the waterfall. It looked like the test finished and then the screen went black almost like it was loading the next test but it never came out of a black screen and I was forced to reboot.

Memtest
This morning I ran memtest from a boot cd (Ultimate Boot CD). This test was the only one that has passed so far. I ran it for ~11 hours and everything passed with no errors.

Can anyone point me in a direction to go next in terms of fixing my system/making it stable.

Thanks so much,
Eichhorn18

 

[hajalie24]

I was getting a black screen in 3dmark vantage but installing monitor drivers fixed it, it bet it might work for you.

 

[Zurvan]

Hmm ...you seem to have all reliable components in there, must be a driver issue. I cant say why Prime is hanging though. But games crashing during startup are generally driver/DirectX issues.
IIRC, Bioshock and CoH are DX10 capable, you play them in Vista (DX10 mode)?
If you have an XP installed, try playing in that.

 

[wa77ss]

Sometimes it autos to settings that aren't what you need. Set your vdimm, and timings to absolutely stock settings, and also your FSB.

What are your CPU temps when running a load?

 

[Eichhorn18]

Hmm ...you seem to have all reliable components in there, must be a driver issue. I cant say why Prime is hanging though. But games crashing during startup are generally driver/DirectX issues.
IIRC, Bioshock and CoH are DX10 capable, you play them in Vista (DX10 mode)?
If you have an XP installed, try playing in that.

I am running Vista 64 bit Home Premium. I think direct X10 is installed. I assume it installed with the Catalyst drivers from the CD I got with my vid card. I recall seeing a direct X10 install screen but other than that I have not updated that...

In terms of using the DX10 mode in vista, is this setting something I have to switch manually in the OS or is it automatically set when I install the DX10 drivers. I have not changed any DX10 settings in vista. Where do I do this?

Sometimes it autos to settings that aren't what you need. Set your vdimm, and timings to absolutely stock settings, and also your FSB.

What are your CPU temps when running a load?

I was going to switch all the auto settings to their stock settings. Where do I find the stock settings for my components? Just as an aside is there any settings in the bios in terms of cpu or ram that I can change that if I do it wrong would damage the part? I am not that familiar with switching these settings but I have overclocked in the past with assistance.

My mobo temps that read on PC Probe which is an Asus app that comes with the motherboard, idle temps for the cpu are saying 25 deg C. I ran Prime95 and temp went up to about 40-45 deg C. But I dont know if this program is accurate.

I tried installing motherboard monitor but I could not find my model of motherboard in the drop down menu when selecting it in the program setup.

 

[oakstave]

I had major stability issues with Asus software. It is now Banned on all my rigs.

Check your tasklist after uninstalling all Asus software and see if you see any applications called Asus ACPI
or ACPI Cneter (Mispelled on purpose) If they are still popping up after you've uninstalled the Asus trash, you will need to rip them out of the directory by hand. Not fun.

It wasn't until you mentioned Asus PC Probe 2 that I had a clue what could be causing this.

 

[Eichhorn18]

Update: I removed all the Asus software. No change still. I also installed core temp to monitor temps on the cpu. I`m getting mixed results. In core temp my idle temps on all cores are around 56 deg C!!!. BUT in Sandra my temps are reading around 25 deg C. My bios temp for the core reads around 25 deg C also. Which is right!