Graphics card crashing [Solved]

[Fiodis]

For the past few weeks, whenever I start up a game, it runs fine for 5-15 minutes, then freezes up. Usually the image itself is distorted into vertical or horizontal stripes. Usually, this progresses to the monitor going into power saving mode. I should be able to wake it up by moving the mouse or tapping a key, but nothing happens when I try this. I'm forced to hold the power button on my CPU until it shuts off, then restart the computer.

I've said "usually" a few times there. What happens the rest of the time is that, after the game freezes, I get a bluescreen. It's hard to read the words, since the bluescrean itself is distorted into vertical or horizontal lines, but the couple times it's happened it talked about an overheat. I thought the fan might not be turning on my GPU, but I checked, and it is. I sent it out for repair, and the repair people said they couldn't find any physical problems with it, that the "usb/chipset drivers" were to blame, and that they recommend I downgrade my o/s or download Win7 SP1.

I downloaded the SP1, but that didn't seem to fix it. I rolled back my graphics card drivers, then when that failed I updated to the latest versions. Neither of those actions seemed to help. I found my chipset model and downloaded the latest drivers - no go.

Then I downloaded RivaTuner and adjusted my fan to run at 100% speed all the time. Minecraft and BF2 stopped crashing, and I thought the problem was solved. But today I tried playing With Fire & Sword multiplayer, with the fan running at 100%, and the same problem occurred. I rebooted the computer and started the game again, this time in windowed mode, ran the fan at 100%, and left the case of my CPU lying open. It felt like it lasted longer - I wasn't really watching the time - but I kept an eye on the temperature of my graphics card core and during the last few minutes, it plateaued at 93 degrees.

At this point I have no idea what to do. A month ago I could play Mass Effect 3 with no problems whatsoever, and now the exact same system can't manage Warband.

The graphics card is an NVidia GeForce 7900 GS, driver version 296.10. OS is Windows 7 64-bit. Chipset model is P965/G965. Let me know if you need any more information. I just don't understand why everything would start crashing so suddenly, without me even downloading some new software or anything.

[ANDEWEGET]

Maybe check if there's a lot of dust in the fans, I had that before. After I cleaned the fans my CPU(still applies to your graphics card I suppose) was ~10° C cooler.
Judging from the detailed info you posted you didn't overclock it?
Are your other fans working(dunno if that could cause such a problem, still worth a try)?
Did the repair people check the graphics card's fan? Maybe somethings broken and it can't get to full speed.

[Marth8880]

Try updating your chipset drivers. Also, you might wanna apply some new thermal paste to your graphics card's heatsink under the fan.

[Fiodis]

Try updating your chipset drivers. Also, you might wanna apply some new thermal paste to your graphics card's heatsink under the fan.

I had tried updating the chipset drivers, that didn't work. I haven't yet tried replacing the thermal paste, that's something I'll look into. I've not been overclocking. The other fans are working properly. I'm not sure what the repair people specifically checked for; they just reported back that they couldn't find any physical problems. I did clean the fan, though with a small, hand vacuum cleaner rather than compressed air. I'll give it a second cleaning and see if that changes anything.


EDIT - Alright, I got some more dust out of the fan. Running the same game (AI-intensive SP this time, no good servers were up. ) causes the core temperature to stabilize at around 88 degrees, compared to the 93 I'd gotten earlier. It didn't crash for the full twenty minutes I'd tested it, though it did lag a small bit. Is it safe to have the graphics card at this temperature for 20 -60 minutes at a stretch?

[THEWULFMAN]

88°c? That should be okay. It's a tad on the high side of the safe range, shouldn't go over 90°c.

[Marth8880]

Around 88 Celsius is where you wanna start worrying; try the thermal paste; it should be replaced annually anyway, at least for your CPU.

[Tears2Roses]

Just a thought, but it could be a virus. Some viruses may use up a lot of CPU/graphics causing heat. If you haven't already, try a virus scan and see if that picks up anything. That could cause everything to crash suddenly/stop working. In the free software sticky there some free anti virus programs.

[Fiodis]

I ran that AVG anti-virus in the Clean your PC thread, and it detected some adware, which it couldn't remove because "Permission denied," even though I was logged on as Admin. It couldn't remove it when I temporarily disabled UAC because UAC was disabled. Oddly, Kaspersky PURE, my default antivirus, doesn't seem to want to launch. It pops up briefly in Task Manager's processes list, then vanishes. I can't get it to start.

I'm hesitant to fiddle around with thermal paste since I've never really taken apart a computer before, and don't want to damage anything. With a bit of experimentation and more underclocking, I've got it down to ~81 °C, even when playing Skyrim. Is that a temperature I should feel fine with?

Also, am I causing unneccesary damage by, er, leaving the computer case open? I think it's helping me get the card a few degrees cooler.

[Tears2Roses]

if you cant open your AV or remove detected adware then thats almost definitely im 99% sure about this a virus, and you should take it to the techs and get it removed. Beyond that, ask the techs about thermal paste and see if they cant change that for you too. As far as leaving the computer case open, unless your room is super dusty, it should be fine.

[Marth8880]

if you cant open your AV or remove detected adware then thats almost definitely im 99% sure about this a virus, and you should take it to the techs and get it removed. Beyond that, ask the techs about thermal paste and see if they cant change that for you too. As far as leaving the computer case open, unless your room is super dusty, it should be fine.

Yes, adware is indeed malicious software, I.E. a "virus"; but don't waste your money with tech support, it simply isn't worth it, and doing the work on your own is free of charge and gains you the experience to be able to do it by yourself in the future if needed. Look around in your local computer shop for Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Paste; watch THIS video to learn how to do so. (Wow, this kid is like, 12 and is already pretty dang knowledgeable with computers! That is definitely a trait I like to see in the kids of this generation.) And no, leaving your computer case open will not cause any harm to the components which it houses; just make sure you don't allow any cats, dogs, or other static-carrying objects/creatures/other things to get too close to it.

As for the adware, download and install Malwarebytes and run a scan, see what it picks up. Also, download and install CCleaner and have it analyze and clean your system; also, have it scan for/fix any erroneous registry entries/values.

[Fiodis]

Well, it's been over two weeks and I still haven't changed the thermal paste. Don't worry, though - I will shortly, possibly this weekend.

However, I'm not so sure an overheat even is the problem anymore. I've gotten the same crash (horizontal artifacts on screen, screen goes into power saving mode, keyboard and mouse are unresponsive and can't wake it up) within a minute of starting up Mass Effect 3, despite underclocking and running the GPU's fan at 100%. The temperature didn't even register above 65. Once the same type of crash occurred while I was just browsing GT forums - the temperature then was below 55. Most worryingly, if I try to restart the computer after a crash like this, the screen still won't wake up. I have to unplug it from the wall and leave it alone for 2 - 3 hours before it starts up properly; and even then it takes noticably longer than it should for the monitor to wake up.

I've run full-system virus and malware scans with AVG, Malwarebytes, and Kaspersky. They all came up clean. If I was confused before, now I'm absolutely bewildered.

[Tears2Roses]

More than likely something has been damaged from the past heat (this is my best educated guess, and i could be wrong, but stil....) Beyond that, im not sure what to tell you. Are you sure you didnt uninstall something important? Also, if you havent already, try a driver roll back/re-install. And, if you havent already, try getting the techs to check for system viruses. If worst comes to worst you will need a new graphics card. I hope you can get this fixed!

[Marth8880]

And, if you havent already, try getting the techs to check for system viruses.

Psh, why pay the know-nothing techs $100 to perform a simple task that Fiodis could easily just do himself?

[lucasfart]

Could be a piece of hardware is on the way out. Have you tried checking your RAM, motherboard, CPU etc for problems? If I was you, I'd definitely make sure to back everything up.

How old is your computer btw?

Might be worth running your computer in safe mode, and seeing if it still crashes when you use it for a while....

[Fiodis]

The computer's about six years old, though the hard drive's a couple years newer. Is that roughly 150 in computer years, or is it still young?

[lucasfart]

I dunno if 6 years is near-death old, but I had a desktop which died in 2009, 6 years after it was released. It died due to motherboard problems, although the model I bought was known to have problems. Might be worthing seeing if there's any particular defaults that people've found with your model of computer. Even if its not almost dead, I'd say it's probably time for a new computer anyway. 6 year old parts aren't likely to be that useful, unless you've continuously upgraded it....

[Marth8880]

Agh, that sounds pretty fatal. Try removing your graphics card and plugging your monitor into your motherboard's integrated graphics VGA port and see what happens then. If everything works like it should, the graphics card is at fault; if not, the problem could very easily be much bigger.

[Fiodis]

Actually, I don't see an onboard VGA port, or really a VGA port (the blue one, right?) anywhere, just the two white (DVI, I think) ports on the graphics card. At this point I think I'll replace the graphics card and see if a better one works.

[AQT]

Not sure if this will help, but I had a similar problem with a wireless adapter. I had installed it on my Windows Vista computer with the recommended Windows Vista version of the driver software, but it turned out the software was causing the freezing/distorted screen. So I used the Windows XP version instead, and it worked. Here was the topic: http://www.gametoast.com/forums/viewtop ... 37&t=16345

[Fiodis]

Installed a brand new NVidia GT 520. The problem seems to be fixed.

Thanks, everyone, for all your help. Who needs tech forums when you've got GT?