System Lockup

[Toasteddude]

Today I was playing Left 4 Dead and suddenly my computer just locked up. Whatever sound was played last kept looping over and over again, and blue lines went across the screen. I restarted the computer thinking it was a just a one time problem but it occurs when playing any game. This wasn't happening yesterday. I have had no problems with the computer for over a year now.

After a restart, the artifacts on the screen remain, the computer reverts back to its original resolution (640x480). nTune reports no video card present. If I restart again, the artifacts disappear and everything starts up as normal. I ran a stability test on the GPU and the first time it failed, second time it passed. After it passed, I tried to play another game (Fallout 3 this time) and the problem happened again. Since this did not happen yesterday, I tried a last ditch effort to System Restore to yesterday to try again but to no avail. So now I think that it is a Video problem. The time it passed the stress test, the GPU temp stayed at 70-74C.

Any ideas (short of swapping hardware components)?
System Specs
CPU - Core 2 Duo E6700 2.66
GPU - GeForce 8800 GTS (640)
MB - nForce 680i SLI (A1)
RAM - 2 GB Corsair XMS (800mhz)
PSU - Corsair HX 620 Watt

 

[Mustachio]

Sounds like definitely video card related... check your temperatures frequently because it almost sounds like overheating (i dont know operating temps for the 8800, but 70-74 seems reasonable for under load).

Check your other system temps and make sure everything is running cool enough, if not, redo the ventilation of your system if you can.

I would try swapping the vid card out, or giving it some time to rest, then if you know how, possibly try and reseat the heatsink and fan on the video card (only attempt if you know what you are doing though)

I had somewhat similar problems a ways back and it turned out that the heatsink on the video card came loose and the card was overheating. Thats the only real thing i can think of short of, your video card is fried.... which is probably not the case.

 

[Toasteddude]

The other temps are fine as well. When monitoring the temps a while ago, the highest they ever went was when playing Crysis. Even then, the GPU never went above 78C. I am running a bunch of anti-virus programs now just in case. Do you think it may be a DirectX problem?

If it helps, I am running on the second latest drivers, 178.xx . I had to go back to these because the 180.xx gave me game crippling stuttering in L4D.

 

[Arn0t]

so are you saying that the temperatures that you are getting with your graphics are normal? if not you could always try cleaning it out using compressed air.

 

[Toasteddude]

Ok, now I'm really confused. After all of my scans ended (they only detected the usual stuff, tracking cookies) I decided to test again. This time I played Far Cry 2 and Fallout 3 for ten minutes each and encountered no problems. Then I started up Half Life 2 and the blue lines came back right at the menu screen. This time I was able to get to the Task Manager and end the task. I fired up HL2 again immediately after and this time it loaded to a save game which I played for a few minutes. I am now running a longer stability Test, but strange.

 

[WitchPuncher]

mmm you know computer this days lol going to fast i have had problems like that