During some games PC crashes and monitor goes into power save mode.

Hi Folks.

In two games(dead space and NeverWinterNights 2, both legitimately purchased, no cracks in play) I am crashing within a minute of getting into the game. Whatever sound is playing gets stuck in a very short loop, and the monitor loses signal and displays the power saving mode message. Both games are freshly installed and updated to the newest patch.

It is worth nothing that I can play plenty of other games at 1680x1050 with all settings maxed.(far cry 2, warhammer online, fallout 3 have all had a lot of play time recently)

Specs:
2x2GB OCZ platinum @ 800
intel C2D e8500@ 3.16
sapphire hd4870 512mb @ stock speeds(temp never getting higher than 70C)
sound blaster audigy
generic dvd burner
3 500gb barracuda 7200rpm HDDs
cooler master real power pro 650w PSU
22" lcd, 1680x1050

Windows Vista Ultimate 64bit SP1(+the stability update)
Latest ATI drivers 8.11
Latest sound and chipset drivers
directx 10


What I have tried so far:
Reinstall hardware drivers(chipset,sound, video)
Reinstall directx
Try another catalyst version(8.10)
Disable all sound devices
Uninstalled sound drivers(still crashes)
Underclock video card(by 50 and 100mhz)
Made sure all Vista updates have been applied


Can anyone possibly shed some light on this? I normally can get just about anything working right, but I feel like I must be missing something here.

 

That's a common problem, similar to the nV4 endless loop error on Nvidia cards.

Try reinstalling your drivers that normally fixes it.

btw what drivers are you using for your audigy? The latest ones caused bsod on my system.
Something else to look at if my first suggestion doesn't work.

 

I've reinstalled all of them so far. Currently using the newest SB drivers for my card(dated 2/14/07). I thought it might be sound so I disabled the SB and the problem still happened.

 

What happens when you uninstall the Audigy drivers and try an older version?

I use KX Drivers btw

 

use the xfi mod driver ^^ youll love me for it, it unlocks everything and makes ur audigy act like a xfi card XD crystalizer is awesome T_T

 

Tried it but was to buggy. I think the KxDrivers make music sound a lot better using ASIO.

 

The problem happens with the current drivers and an older version, but since it happens with the sound card disabled completely, I doubt it is the sound card.

Any other ideas?

 

Doesn't matter if you have the soundcard disabled or not, the drivers are still installed and functioning....

 

Uninstalled the sound card from device manager, and checked the delete drivers box. Crash still occurs, so I am pretty sure it isn't the sound drivers.

Anybody have any ideas?

thanks

 

Make sure the cable, DVI ou VGA, is properly connected between graphic card and monitor.
Update mobo bios.
Reinstall the motherboard drivers.
Disable any OC related feature in bios.
On controlo panel, power options under the PCI field choose max performance or a similar stuf, don't remember exactly.

I had a similar issue and i fixed it, going trough these steps. Not sure which one did the trick but its working.
Good luck

 

Already done all of those, but thanks. :/