PC freeze with sound looping

[Guest]

Hello everyone,

I joined TH because of this extremely annoying problem. First of all I would like to say that I have done quite a research on forum sites about this problem and yes there were thousands of entries about the very same specific problem but yet I could not bring it to a conclusion.

My problem is:

Whenever I play certain games after some random time like 30 minutes the laptop freezes with a repetitive annoying buzz sound (yes, sounds like a machine gun sound as it repeats the last sound it played over and over). To end this annoying situation I have to either cut the power or press the power off button until it shuts down.

Games affiliated with this problem: Battlefield 2 (playing online) and Blacklight Retribution (playing online).

DETAILED PC SPECS:

<<< System Summary >>>

> Platform : Intel Calpella

> Mainboard : TOSHIBA PWWAA (TOSHIBA SATELLITE C660 PSC1GE)

> Chipset : Intel HM55

> Processor : Intel Core i3 380M @ 2533MHz

> Physical Memory : 6144MBDDR3-SDRAM (1333 MHZ)

> Video Card : ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5470 (512 MB dedicated)

> Hard Disk : TOSHIBA MK5065GSXN (500GB) (2 Logical Drives 2x250GB)

> Hard Disk : RAMDiskVE (524MB)

> Monitor Type : SAMSUNG - 15 inches

> Network Card : Realtek Semiconductor RTL8101 PCIe Fast Ethernet Adapter

> Network Card : Atheros Communications AR9285 Wireless Network Adapter (PCIe)

> Operating System : Windows 7 Ultimate Professional Media Center 6.01.7601 Service Pack 1 (64-bit)

> DirectX : Version 11.00


ADDITIONAL RELEVANT INFO:

I have another Windows 7 installed (Windows 7 32 Bit Basic or Home Edition not sure right now)
When I try to play Blacklight Retribution on other W7 (32 bit one) the game does not cause freezes or anything of that sort. Note that I have the game installed on 64 bit and I play it on 32 bit as if it is portable since the registry entries are not made on 32 bit.

When I bought this laptop it had 3 GB DDR3 memory (1x2048 + 1x 1024) and I bought an additional 4 GB Corsair (micron tech) RAM which is fully suitable to this laptop.


I play other games that require good specs, such as Saints Row 3, Bioshock 2 etc. With these games the laptop pushes hard too but they don't cause any crash. I also use a laptop stand that has 2 fans underneath, more or less they help keep the laptop cool.

IMPORTANT:

My ATI drivers cannot be updated and they are 17 months old. It cannot be updated because when I go to ATI website and download it, it says I gotta download it from manufacturer's website or contact them but I check the latest version on Toshiba and it is the version I use.

Between these two windows operators there is no difference in terms of graphics drivers etc. I downloaded all the drivers for the windows I installed myself from the Toshiba website choosing the proper options.

I would like to know what causes the problem and why. I thought it was my RAMs but I ran memtest86 for 2 hours and no error occurred. I also ran Furmark and other stuff from Hiren's boot cd to test the pc but no errors came up. HDTune also shows that HDD is in good shape with no bad sectors. It is probably a software error. It happens on W7 64bit so I think it must be related to some characteristics of 64 bit.

Thanks in advance for any help

 

[WR2]

From what I see your hardware is fine.
Your operating system is also fine.
And you have no problems with your hardware drivers.
Other games work as expected.

Do Battlefield 2 and Blacklight Retribution run normally when in single player mode, not connected to the internet?

Test online at the very lowest game quality settings. Any problems there?
Also test online with the audio set OFF. Any problems?

Increase game quality settings once at time to see if you can duplicate the fault and tie it to one or more game settings.

 

[Guest]

Well, BLR is Multiplayer only so it is impossible to say, I did not try BF2 to be honest but the thing is I am not playing that game anymore, I just mentioned it for information matter. BTW a difference I know between two operating systems is that on 64 bit I have some part of RAM (512 MB of it) as RAMDisk, it has some little game on it which runs extremely stable as it runs directly from RAM but maybe it causes these crashes. (I think it is unlikely) Is it possible?

 

[Guest]

BTW I tried running it at lowest settings but it happens approximately after same time period. I will test it like you say.

 

[WR2]

I'm thinking the problem might be in the game code.

Do other Blacklight Retribution players report the same issue?
Are there any patches, game updates or other techniques they use to combat the problem?

 

[WR2]

I guess I'm most interested in how the game runs with all audio options turned off.

 

[Guest]

OK, now I turned the RAMdisk off, I will turn off the audio like you said, I will report ASAP.

 

[Guest]

I tried it and it crashed at around 40 minutes of gameplay. I had the RAMdisk turned off and audio turned off also but audio options are more like volume controls of effects, overall, damage, etc. It is not like they turned the usage of audio completely. I also tried it by uninstalling the audio drivers once but that did not work too. Funny thing is that it is the same computer and it does not cause any issues on windows 32 bit version, really weird. Could it be my RAM timers perhaps not suitable for 64 bit? As I previously said the drivers of all components are from toshiba website so they should have worked without problems. I also submitted a ticket to the game devs.

 

[WR2]

does not cause any issues on windows 32 bit version

I have a strong suspicion it's the game code itself. That audio effect when it stalls is more a symptom than related to the actual problem.

 

[Guest]

But would you say that it is a specific problem that applies to me because of all these components and this operating system? Otherwise forums would have some information on this due to high number of 64 bit users nowadays.

 

[WR2]

Windows 7 (64-bit) IS a recommended OS for Blacklight Retribution.
And I can't find much in the way of other BR players reporting similar issues.

 

[WR2]

But would you say that it is a specific problem that applies to me because of all these components and this operating system? Otherwise forums would have some information on this due to high number of 64 bit users nowadays.

I'd have to agree that's all correct.

You had already done a good job (IMO) troubleshooting possible hardware issues before you showed up here.

Do you know what game engine BR uses?

 

[WR2]

Are there any helper apps or game mods you're using that might not be standard to BR?

 

[Guest]

Well, I hope so.

It says it is supported by UNREAL engine.

BTW I did some specific search about BLR and this issue it turns out I am not alone.

http/superuser.com/questions/406766/computer-randomly-freezes-when-playing-games

http/blacklight-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=244331

http/blacklight-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=283991

http/blacklight-forum.perfectworld.com/showthread.php?t=251201

So, I will look into these threads but since I have played around with many settings in and out of the game I am not really hopeful. I will report back if I can find anything useful or if I am still stuck. Thanks so far.

 

[WR2]

Im looking at a couple things too.

Can you find a server that doesnt require punkbuster to test with that app uninstalled?

Also, Im guessing you've tried different servers with the same result?

 

[robustus64]

Ok number one its overheating no laptop is gonna play bf3 and not over heatg sorry,,..That being said go get a quality laptop cooler as this will help but may not remedy the problem completely...And i would just about bet money on this being the problem......

 

[Guest]

Yes, I have played on a quite number of servers and it happened in all of them mostly after 30-40 minutes gameplay.

I am starting to think, as stated in one of those links, that this is an issue with onboard Realtek and Punkbuster. BF2 had Punkbuster so does BLR. They both cause crashes. Why it happens on 64 and not on 32 is beyond me though.

I will check if there is a no-PB server and try it there.

@robustus64

The heat is not a problem in this case, my specs are above the required settings for minimum settings and I stick with min settings.

 

[Guest]

I fixed the issue. There are two ways to fix it:

1) Buy and/or use a headset and switch to head set from configuration.

2) Make sure that you have all windows updates installed including 971033 one which has to do with activation. It turned out that mine was not yet activated so I have activated it. If you are not PROPERLY activating it then that should be the problem, I have no idea why it would cause such a thing though.

Thanks for help, regards.