Curse

Dahl · Jun 25, 2010, 06:19 AM // 06:19

Lately, in the last 3 days or so, I've been experiencing freezing. All of a sudden the mouse stops, the picture stops, and my keyboard doesn't work, but I can still hear in-game music and ambiance. Alt tabbing doesn't work of course, nor does Ctrl Alt Delete.

This makes me have to force my computer off with the power button, which as you know is very bad for your pc.

The music and ambiance does not skip the same 2 seconds over and over again like a scratched CD, it plays like normal. Sounds that other players make, like fireworks and whatnot, stop, which is unusual considering the music and ambiance continue.

Does anyone know of a fix for this?

Archress Shayleigh · Jun 25, 2010, 07:34 AM // 07:34

It's called lag.. Is your internet OK?

rhade_adama · Jun 25, 2010, 07:38 AM // 07:38

I don't think its lag. If it were the curser would still move and you could use Ctrl+Alt+Delete. This sounds more like the PC itself is actually freezing. Specs of the machine you are using could be helpful info.

Scary · Jun 25, 2010, 11:21 AM // 11:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by Archress Shayleigh

It's called lag.. Is your internet OK?

in general, yes..it's calld lag. But no.. its not always the internet connection
that might be a issue.
mine internet connection had never a problem. last two days though.. I'll tried to get some claws for Nico. And was playing in US dis. even though I was playing solo The grame freezed several time, and even was kicked out ones.
This also happens when a server is to small. So is your internet ok ???

is kind of a dull answer

Elder III · Jun 25, 2010, 12:27 PM // 12:27

does this only happen in Guild Wars? If that is the case, your PC may be over heating which would cause it to freeze - download a hardware temperature monitoring program and post the temperatures that you get while playing GW.

tijo · Jun 25, 2010, 02:35 PM // 14:35

If you are looking for a temp monitoring program, you can get GPU-Z from techpower up for the video card. Programs like HWmonitor, HWiNFO32, Everest will allow you to monitor all your temperature sensors.

If it's overheating, the culprit is probably your GPU unless you have an intel GMA.

Like rahde said, could you post your computer specs?

Dahl · Jun 25, 2010, 04:17 PM // 16:17

I think I fixed the problem.

No it's not overheating, I regularly monitor my temps.

ever since I bought my new video card, every couple hours the game freezes for a sec, goes black, comes back on and I get an error that says "Display driver amdkmdap has stopped responding and has recovered." This happened in ALL of my games, especially starcraft 2.

I believe that this freeze was a severe version of this error that didn't recover like it usually did. But I fixed everything by disabling Windows Aero theme. It's been about 6 hours and no errors at all.

Apparently ati Catalyst reeeeally hates Windows Aero on vista. This is a problem a lot of people experience, but if you look it up, the answer is very hard to find, it took me a long time. So if you hear of display driver issues with Catalyst, tell them to change their theme to windows vista classic. (Aero is the theme that makes your taskbar and window title bar semi-transparent in appearance).

Elder III · Jun 25, 2010, 10:04 PM // 22:04

eh which version of CCC do you have and what GPU?

Dahl · Jun 25, 2010, 10:19 PM // 22:19

Newest one, 10.6 I believe? Just released on June 16th. The amdkmpap has stopped responding error was happening with several older versions as well.

I'm on a powercolor hd5770.

Quaker · Jun 26, 2010, 01:59 PM // 13:59

I recently had a problem similar to this. I opened up the computer and wiggled/reseated the video card in it's slot, and the problem went away.

Dahl · Jun 29, 2010, 03:01 AM // 03:01

My problem didn't go away. It just happens much less frequently with aero off (talking about the amdkmdap issue), the more severe freezing doesn't happen at all anymore. Still looking into the full permanent solution.

I'll try taking the vcard out and put it back and see how it goes. Playing DDO tends to make this occur really often, although it only happens in GW once every couple days.

****

Well, it didn't work. I dunno what to do. Both the gpu and psu are new, my drivers are up to date, and it seems risky to mess around with the bios like a lot of the topics on google say to do, as I don't know anything about it.

moriz · Jun 29, 2010, 04:16 AM // 04:16

it's possible that your graphic card is defective. in that case, return it and ask for an exchange, or RMA it.

Quaker · Jun 29, 2010, 03:29 PM // 15:29

Btw, even though the video is freezing, it could be because of a driver conflict caused by any driver. So, make sure Windows and all your drivers are up to date.

If you don't want to chase around after drivers and/or you don't know what drivers you have, you could try running Windows Update to see if it lists any updated drivers for your machine. (Some may be listed as "optional updates")

majoho · Jun 29, 2010, 03:47 PM // 15:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dahl

I think I fixed the problem.

No it's not overheating, I regularly monitor my temps.

ever since I bought my new video card, every couple hours the game freezes for a sec, goes black, comes back on and I get an error that says "Display driver amdkmdap has stopped responding and has recovered." This happened in ALL of my games, especially starcraft 2.

That's IS actually typical for the GPU overheating, in the olden days you got screen corruption and weird colors, these days both ATI and Nvidia acts like you describe.

Dahl · Jun 29, 2010, 09:34 PM // 21:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by majoho

That's IS actually typical for the GPU overheating, in the olden days you got screen corruption and weird colors, these days both ATI and Nvidia acts like you describe.

I said I monitor my temps. My core temps don't go above 45*c (usually 40) while gaming, and my GPU doesn't go above 50*C(usually 45) while gaming.

This could be any number of issues. Some say the GPU, some say the PSU, some say the drivers, some say the Mobo. I've been told to plug the pc directly into the wall instead of a power bar. I've tried taking the video card out and putting it back in, I've tried all kinds of different video driver versions. I've been told to re-adjust the wattage in the bios, but I don't know enough about that to risk tinkering with it.

I don't have any techie friends where I live, and the only specialist store that's nearby charges $80, regardless of whether or not they manage to fix the problem. Last time I went there, they just told me my gpu was fried (back when I had my 8600gt and a 350w psu), and took my $80 anyway, which doesn't sound ethical but I guess that's how the business works.

***

I just made it freeze again by playing DDO, which makes it always happen quite quickly. I had speedfan going next to the window so I could take down the temps DURING the freezing.

Temp1 47*c
Temp2 44*c
Temp3 -11*c
Core0 46*c
Core1 44*c

This is playing DDO on max settings, with all dx10 settings on. I'd say it's running pretty cool considering the load it was under.

I get the feeling it's got something to do with voltages.

moriz · Jun 29, 2010, 10:42 PM // 22:42

ontario canada... i can potentially give it a look, assuming you live close enough to where i live.

canada computers usually have very good tech support. you can trying finding one close to where you live and let them have a look at it. i know for a fact that they don't charge for diagnostics, only for repair.

Dahl · Jun 30, 2010, 12:10 AM // 00:10

That all depends on where you live :P

And yeah I live about 10 mins away from the St Catharines store.

moriz · Jun 30, 2010, 02:55 AM // 02:55

so niagra falls area? yeah, that's too far away for me.

your card is still under warranty, so you can try to RMA it. no idea how good powercolor's RMA system is though.

Elder III · Jun 30, 2010, 03:05 AM // 03:05

are any of your components overclocked?

you could try going into the BIOS and selecting Default (might say Fail Safe) settings; should be an option on the main screen when you first get into the BIOS - might clear up the issue and won't do any real damage if it doesn't.

Dahl · Jun 30, 2010, 03:51 AM // 03:51

The video card is overclocked, but that was done by newegg, not by me. So it was tested and safe. I don't think I'm comfortable going into the bios. Doesn't changing the clock speed void the warranty?