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Screen freezes sporadically
XPS 435MT
i7 920
6gb DDR3
ATI 4800 (I think it is a 4850) 512mb
This Desktop was purchased in early Jan so it's not been that long ago. The only hardware item that I've added is a blu-ray/hd drive/DVD burner combo internal. It came with a CD/DVD burner combo.
This has only started recently and I'm not sure what the issue is. When I'm playing Crysis or Left4Dead, my screen freezes sporadically (there is no telling when it will freeze) and when it does, I have to push the power button to reboot, ctrl-alt-del does nothing. I've noticed that this screen freezing has started happening when I'm streaming TV via hulu.com too but not as often as when I'm playing those games.
I've updated the bios and the video driver from dell.com support and it does not appear to have helped. I've not contacted Dell support yet but thought I'd see if anyone else has seen or experienced this issue first. I downloaded the coretemp app to make sure the temp stays within range of what it is supposed to be and it is consistently at or near 110F for all 4 cores.
Any help or comments greatly appreciated.
Rickbass
1 Message
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July 27th, 2009 14:00
Hey geekzod...rickbass here
I am having Exactly the same problem with the same system except it happens with arma2 and cod:waw. I used ati4850 overdrive to turn the fan all the way to 100% when I game. I then turned the graphics down to high instead of very high. Seems to work for a while. What I have found out is the nedd to upgrade the cooling system for the gpu and also the pwr supply up to 500 to 750 watts and then upgrade the fans in the back.
http://www.voidware.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=43&Itemid=2 Info at that link to upgrade the fans and then google 'cooling the ati 4850' for a list of gpu video card coolers. Hope this helps Rickbass
geek_zod
10 Posts
0
July 27th, 2009 15:00
Hello Rickbass, thanks for your tips and link.
Specifically, which 750W PSU did you upgrade to? I want to make sure I get the correct one that will fit the case. Do you have the ATI4850 512mb or 1gb? Would upgrading to the 1gb or another one like the 4870 give me any difference in game feel and performance? The current PSU installed is 360W.
stingray2009
5 Posts
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December 2nd, 2009 21:00
Having the same problem with my new Dell XPS 8000 ( two weeks old) It has happened 5 times already. I am not a gamer either. Sometimes when I am on my desktop, sometimes when I watch youtube on the web, the screen freezes up. The mouse and keyboards stop working. I have to press the power button to reboot and then I am OK. Any Ideas?
i-7 860, Windows 7 (64), 8 Gig DDR3, GT220 graphics, 24" monitor
HarveyHopson
3 Posts
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May 3rd, 2010 17:00
Hey Stingray2009, came across your post and was wondering if you ever resolved your freezing issue. I'm having the same problem with my XPS 8000.
DELL-Chris M
Community Manager
Community Manager
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54.3K Posts
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May 4th, 2010 11:00
HarveyHopson, stingray2009
* In Control Panel, Power Options, uncheck the Dell power plan, and check the Balanced power plan. Test the PC
* Update to the latest retail Nvidia driver 197.45 which has been shown to fix the issue with the GT220. Test the PC
Windows 7 64bit
Windows 7 32bit
* If still no go, Dell should replace the Nvidia GT220, part number F834P with the Nvidia GTS240, part number 9JDYJ
stingray2009
5 Posts
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May 8th, 2010 23:00
Hi HarveyHopson,
Have not had that problem for about 3 months now. I have updated the Nividea drivers twice and the the regular Windows updates seem to have taken care of the problem by itself. If not there seems to be a solution now by Dell(ChrisM)on this post. I would suggest that either go to the dell driver site or the Nvidea site http://www.nvidia.com/Download/index5.aspx?lang=en-us and download the latest driver. Nividea now has a smart scan which will scan your PC and determine if you have the latest driver nor not. Hope this helps.
HarveyHopson
3 Posts
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May 18th, 2010 20:00
Thanks stingray2009, I had already downloaded all the new drivers, did all the Windows updates, and everything else I could find to update to the latest versions and this fixed an earlier problem I had with my screen randomly turning black and then flickering back on but didnt fix the freezing problem. I even had already changed my Power options (as Chris-M suggests) with DELL tech support and had already done everything they could think of including re-installing my system. And still the same freezing issue. It literally completely froze 5 minutes after I had re-installed my system, requiring a hard re-boot. Frustrating...
The good news is after reading several different other DELL users complain about the same problem on various forums I saw the point of Anti-Virus programs sometimes being an issue. I discounted this originally, as being coincidence and fond it hard to believe this could be the problem but in my case it also seems to have solved the issue. I had "AVG" Anti-Virus installed and after un-installing it I literally havnt had my computer freeze since (Its been 3 days). Previously it would have froze about 15 times, by now.
Anyway, for anyone else seeing this, its definitely worth a try. Un-install your Anti-Virus program and see if that solves it. Not sure, what about the program was causing this but I now use a differnt free Ant-Virus program "Avira" with no problems.
Hope this helps anyone else with the same problem.
stingray2009
5 Posts
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May 23rd, 2010 11:00
HI HarveyHopson,
I guess I spoke too soon. A few days after I posted the above message my cursor froze as I was switching between web pages while using Firefox. The only thing I could do was does a power button reboot as the entire screen was frozen. It does not seem to happen as often as when I first got my PC. I used to get one or two episodes per day, now I guess it takes weeks or a month before the screen freezes up. BTW - I have Microsoft Security Essentials for my anti-virus since day one.
HarveyHopson
3 Posts
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May 29th, 2010 22:00
Hey Stingray2009,
Well, sorry to hear your problem cropped up again. If it only happens once every few months, its not so bad, I guess.
I seem to still be going strong here with my AntiVirus switch.