Windows 7 64bit Crashing

[chiyio]

try letting the memtest run overnight instead of just a quick once through. Been watching this thread for a while, but these problems are super hard to pin down. Can't even really tell if it's hardware or software. Somebody suggested booting off live linux disk and running that for a while to see if you get any crashes. Grab this, http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

by default it'll just boot into a "live" ubuntu environment without touching your disk, so you don't have to worry about ruining your windows install.

[Isiolia]

Try updating network drivers, and if you have a wireless card that you're not relying on, try uninstalling it and see how it goes. I had an issue a few years ago with a machine halting and rebooting that turned out to be the wireless card, and I've seen it happen a handful of other times with laptop wireless.

[Not Kuno]

Try updating network drivers, and if you have a wireless card that you're not relying on, try uninstalling it and see how it goes. I had an issue a few years ago with a machine halting and rebooting that turned out to be the wireless card, and I've seen it happen a handful of other times with laptop wireless.

Is this part of the mobo stuff? One of the mobo drivers weren't letting me install. Saying incompatable or something. I don't have a wireless card.

try letting the memtest run overnight instead of just a quick once through. Been watching this thread for a while, but these problems are super hard to pin down. Can't even really tell if it's hardware or software. Somebody suggested booting off live linux disk and running that for a while to see if you get any crashes. Grab this, http://www.ubuntu.com/desktop/get-ubuntu/download

by default it'll just boot into a "live" ubuntu environment without touching your disk, so you don't have to worry about ruining your windows install.

I'll run memtest tonight. And I'll try linux tomorrow night. It usually freezes overnight but not always. It freezes a lot more during starcraft though. Fucking starcraft. Any way to play SC2 during linux to see if it crashes it?

[drwaffles]

When it freezes and makes a loud sound, does your PC then lose power or do you have to turn it off manually? Just curious since from that description it sounds eerily similar to the problem I had with my new Windows 7 64-bit PC last summer. Tried everything imaginable and eventually found out the power supply was damaged.

[Not Kuno]

When it freezes and makes a loud sound, does your PC then lose power or do you have to turn it off manually? Just curious since from that description it sounds eerily similar to the problem I had with my new Windows 7 64-bit PC last summer. Tried everything imaginable and eventually found out the power supply was damaged.

Most often than not, it makes a horrible sound and has to be manually reset. Like, the screen is froze at what you last saw and have to hit it. Sometimes the screen is borked, NES style. Sometimes, it ends up at blue screen (rare). Also rarely, it manually restarts itself. But I think that mostly stopped since someone told me to change a setting.

[drwaffles]

That's different from my issue then, but it kinda sounds like faulty RAM (although someone's probably mentioned that already).

[chiyio]

Is this part of the mobo stuff? One of the mobo drivers weren't letting me install. Saying incompatable or something. I don't have a wireless card.



I'll run memtest tonight. And I'll try linux tomorrow night. It usually freezes overnight but not always. It freezes a lot more during starcraft though. Fucking starcraft. Any way to play SC2 during linux to see if it crashes it?

not going to be able to play games, but you can surf the web, watch video's, etc.

[Not Kuno]

not going to be able to play games, but you can surf the web, watch video's, etc.

Darn. While it freezes every 6-12 hours or so w/o games, starcraft 2 boosts the rate of crashing to "every fucking game".

[Not Kuno]

Um.... I think Memtest froze. Or something. I'm not sure how the program works.

When I woke up it said like 00:05:21 and the test was at 28%. The patented dos underscore (_) was still blinking so I'm not sure if it actually froze but.. the timer wasn't moving and the test was completely stopped. I have no idea what dos freezes are like and if the blinking _ at the bottom means it could still freeze. Also all the buttons (press C to config, etc) weren't working.

[chiyio]

sounds like it crashed to me, try it one more night maybe? been a while since I"ve run it but I don't remember it ever being unresponsive when it's running correctly. memory is super duper cheap, so might be worth it to just replace it and hope you got lucky that that was the problem.

[Not Kuno]

Well my mobo only supports DDR2. That shit is pricy. More than DDR3 at least. If I have to get a new mobo too I'm gonna choke some bitches.

[chiyio]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820231098

or if you want super cheap

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16820178133

[Not Kuno]

Well if one of my sticks is bad, I'll have to replace it with another 2gig stick, right? Cause right now I have 4gb ram and 4 spots so I think it all has to be equal or some shit.

[Not Kuno]

I used one stick of ram. I play through a game a bit then the game crashes. I try again and the pc freezes 2 seconds in.

I put in the other stick of ram.

3 seconds into a game SC2 freezes with this:

Spoiler: show

================================================== ==============================
StarCraft II (B17811)
Time: 2011-03-18 17:24:57.203
Exe: C:\Program Files (x86)\StarCraft II\Versions\Base17326\SC2.exe
Parameters: -opengl
Exe Built: 2011-02-17 19:35:36.709
User: Kuno
Version: 1.2.2.17811
Branch: branches/1.2.b
Revision: 90756
Locale: enUS
================================================== ==============================

ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xC0000005)
occurred at 0023:00C972F7. The memory at '0x000006D8' could not be read.

What the fucking fuck is wrong with my computer?

[chiyio]

run the mem test with each of your memory chips separately. try and let it go over night for each, slow process I know Also, if you don't get a problem, could just mean that one of your ram slots is not working, not the ram itself. So if you get an error, try another slot and see if it still does it.

if it errors on one hopefully you'll have found your problem. googling ACCESS_VIOLATION (0xC0000005) shows a ton of starcraft 2 specific posts and some other general posts but they mostly point to memory being the culprit.

honestly at this point, might be faster to just rebuild and see if it still is crashing. Plus with all the messing around trying to get it to work, you've probably messed some other stuff up.

Did you ever try booting the live linux cd and seeing if you could get that to crash?

When you installed your gfx card driver (I think you said you just got a new card) did you remove the old driver properly with driver sweeper before installing the new driver?

Throwing out all the stuff I can think of. If you get super desperate I can send you a file that opens a reverse VNC connection to my workstation and I'll have a look and see if I see anything glaringly wrong with your windows setup. (reverse vnc means I run the server, you run a file that connects to it and lets me see your pc)

Really feeling your frustration here, wish we could get it working for you

[Not Kuno]

Did you ever try booting the live linux cd and seeing if you could get that to crash?

No, was going to do that tonight. Yesterday night was ram. Today I'll test just this one thingy of ram.

When you installed your gfx card driver (I think you said you just got a new card) did you remove the old driver properly with driver sweeper before installing the new driver?

I didn't do this. But my PC has always been constantly crashing, since I got it. But a long time ago it would crash once a week or once every few days. Now it crashes all the freaking time. Nobodies ever had a solid answer for it. '~'

[chiyio]

No, was going to do that tonight. Yesterday night was ram. Today I'll test just this one thingy of ram.



I didn't do this. But my PC has always been constantly crashing, since I got it. But a long time ago it would crash once a week or once every few days. Now it crashes all the freaking time. Nobodies ever had a solid answer for it. '~'

well, if it's the memory that would make sense. as your windows install has gotten more bloated you're accessing more memory, so hitting the bad spot more often maybe. Also sounds like SC:2 uses a lot of memory, so it hits that magic spot and boom.

have a spare/old hard drive sitting around anywhere? hook that up instead of your current one, install windows and star craft, see what happens. That way you don't have to blow your current install away to test if it's your software or hardware. (if you had any options specifically set you'll need to set them again, boot device, etc)

looking at your motherboard, there have been a few bios updates that specifically say "Enhanced memory compatibility"

what version of the motherboard bios are you on, looks like the latest one is F9e. Updating that could be something to try.

Also, if you go into your bios, on the right side there is an entry that says "Load Fail-Safe Defaults". select that and then try running star craft again. Maybe you'll get lucky and your ram was just set to too aggressive of a setting.

since you're only using 2 of your 4 memory slots, move the ram to the other two and see if that helps.

Trying to throw everything I can think of out here, heh.

[Not Kuno]

How do I check my mobo bios version?

[Melena]

Typically if you go into bios you should be able to find the bios version. Just hit delete when it's posting and keep tapping it and you should get in.

[chiyio]

also, found this on newegg.

BTW, Gigabyte recommends setting the memory voltages/timing manually instead of letting the BIOS read the SPD automatically. I think this is more important if you run 2x2GB sticks, and one of their techs had a note that you needed to bump the memory voltage up to 1.9 or 2.0 depending on the memory brand. I tested Geil and GSkill extensively in this board, and the BIOS did fine with the Auto settings and 1.8V standard, but if you use OCZ apparently the higher voltage helps stabilize it.

what's the exact memory you have?