HELP! UT3 / Graphics Problems

Cody

Any time I do something graphics intensive, like open the unreal 3 editor, or play a game. [Like TF2, counter strike, or TM nations] my computer freezes after doing one of these things for like 5-10 minutes. Any ideas? This sucks. I'm trying to do some work in the unreal engine and it keeps frezing and i have to restart. I have a xp 32bit, with an AMD 6000+ 3gb ram and a pretty good nvidia graphics card. it used to run everything great. could it have something to do with my hard drive being too full? which it is. i wouldn't think so but i guess anything is possible. please help. thanks

EarthQuake

Try updating your video drivers? Sounds like maybe the video card is overheating, check it to make sure the fan still works(if there is one) on the card.

Cody

OK, checked. the fan is indeed spinning, and i have tons of case fans, so that rules that out. I'll try updating my drivers. thanks.

alexk

defragging your harddrive may help. I'm no expert on how harddrives allocate their space, but if your system drive is getting full, it may not have the room to do certain functions efficiently, hence the stalls

Cody

will do, in the meantime if anyone knows anything else it might be please help. I updates my mobo drivers, cpu drivers, and graphics driver.

kary

Are your GPU and CPU temps okay? Even with lots of case fans dust could be the problem. UE3 runs the computer as hot as the game would, so it'd make sense for it to trigger the problem as well.

Kawe

yeah, what matters is temperature and not amount of fans. just ask any computer support what happens during summer. they get a lot of calls with people who have overheated computers. cause well.. during summer it is just warmer. I mean if it is really warm in your room all the computer fans in the world won't help you.

are you able to work with RAM intensive programs? could also be that the RAM broke and you won't notice it until you actually get up to those sectors. but I think that usually warrants a crash and not a freeze.. not entirely sure though. but might be worth checking the RAM with one of those neat applications (I dont have any links sadly).

otherwise it should be a problem with the GPU I think. if you have any old cards try plugging it in and see if it helps.

Jonathan

Maybe go to Run-->Dxdiag-->Press Enter-->Display Tab and post a screenshot?
That way we'll know what GPU/drivers, etc. you have installed.

Is your PC plugged into a powerstrip? I fix computers on the side, and one PC I was fixing "for freezing," I ran several tests on it, and found nothing wrong. Asked the owner if they plugged the PC into a power strip, they said yes, I told them to try it without it, and freezing went away.

Possible issue.


Eitherway, it sounds like a power-related issue, either power supply, a connection, or something else.

Cody

cool. ill check that out tommorow

breakneck

alexk wrote: »

defragging your harddrive may help. I'm no expert on how harddrives allocate their space, but if your system drive is getting full, it may not have the room to do certain functions efficiently, hence the stalls

this helps with the most bizarre problems for me.

i'm having massive issues w/ ut3 on my computer as well. anything from freezing to not working at all to characters and weapons to flicker on and off. however i'm running a notebook and i don't think the game was tested on notebook graphics cards.

when i ran Bioshock on my computer after like 10 mins it would crash and i realized it was a lack of ram causing crashes. but after i upgraded more ram ut3 still has problem.

- i bet money that most of my problems come from the video card (GeForce Go 7400 512MB). . . .which i was told i can't upgrade. . . .anyways - useless ramble but . .. ohwell -

Cody

so i plugged my comp strait into the wall and got a good ten minutes of gameplay. which is an improvement, but then got the blue screen. it was there too fast for me to see what it said, but ya. i checked all the connections in my case, and they are all good..

Rik

I had a similar problem back in November/December. Like someone said above, your temperatures may be too high. In December, the heatsink for my processor was loose. This caused excess heat to build up on the processor and literally baked the thermal compound onto my motherboard.

If it is a temperature problem, your system might be freezing up/not turn on/shut off randomly; its the computer's way of saving itself from overheating and frying xxx components inside.

Each motherboard and motherboard manufacturer put different applications on their driver discs. Tools for over-clocking, temp monitoring, etc.

If you haven't already solved the problem, or think it might be a temp issue.

I recomend you download a program called 'everest'. It goes through your system information (procesor, memory type and speed, etc) but also the temperature of your CPU, motherboard, graphics card, etc. That's how I knew my computer was on the verge of meltdown.

http://www.download.com/Everest-Ultimate-Edition/3000-2086_4-10499291.html?hhTest=1&tag=lst-1&cdlPid=10832752

I'm not sure what happened to the free full version, but I'm sure you'll think of someway to get the full version if you like it.

Michael Knubben

This does sound exactly like what I had at one point, which was my card overheating. I can't really give you any advice to fix it, as mine just burned through and I had to get a new one.

t4paN

I had an ATi x850xt at one time that I used for two full years and the cooler got filled with dust so packed it was like mud or something. It never froze, but it would give me a hell of a lot of beeps when playing games up until the time I cleaned it with a toothbrush.

My bet would be on your ram having gone bad.

Rik

t4paN wrote: »

I had an ATi x850xt at one time that I used for two full years and the cooler got filled with dust so packed it was like mud or something. It never froze, but it would give me a hell of a lot of beeps when playing games up until the time I cleaned it with a toothbrush.

My bet would be on your ram having gone bad.

Aresol can of 'compressed air' + rubbing alcohol + Q-Tips = cheap and easy way to clean any dust/residue off of your fans. Just don't drop the bottle into the case... And don't light anything on fire when doing so either