Legit Reviews

Perhaps this is the wrong section, but I was looking for a little help in figuring out what's wrong with my computer.

Just built it a week ago and have been having issues with it freezing in the middle of gameplay in both WoW and Fable (haven't tried any other games on it yet, still unpacking from a move)

Specs:

Antec Nine Hundred Black Steel ATX Mid Tower Computer Case

PNY VCG85512GXPB GeForce 8500GT 512MB 128-bit GDDR2 PCI Express x16 SLI Supported Video Card

ZEROtherm BTF90 92mm Silent UFO CPU Cooler - Retail

APEVIA ATX-CW500WP4 ATX 500W Power Supply

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA804

ABIT AN52 AM2 NVIDIA nForce 520 MCP ATX AMD Motherboard

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Black Edition Processor Model ADO5000DSWOF


When it freezes, areas of the screen change colors and/or the whole picture pixelates into a crazy mess and the system freezes up entirely. Music continues playing for a few seconds, and then goes to skipping in the same repeated section.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Sounds like your vid card did not like the move. Take it out and re-seat it, try it again. If it still fails try another card or put your card in another system.

try updating to the latest NVIDIA driver -- the newest beta is 169.01 - http://forums.legitreviews.com/post86266.html

Also make sure you have all the NVIDIA HOTFIXES installed for Vista. - http://forums.legitreviews.com/post81775.html

The hotfix 940105 is critical to have.

No no, this is a brand new build. Desktop was built after the move. I'll try reseating the card anyways though.

And I have no other system to put it in to test :/ My only other systems are laptops.

Gonna try the nVidia patch, thought I got them all, it's possible I missed one. (EDIT: Since the new patch just came out Saturday, guess I did miss it xD)

I don't have Vista on this thing, Vista patches shouldn't affect me.

Brand new build or not, your symptoms sound like video card / video drivers related. Reseat card, if that doesn't work, uninstall video drivers, use driver cleaner, reinstall drivers, Try again, post results.

ibleet wrote:Brand new build or not, your symptoms sound like video card / video drivers related. Reseat card, if that doesn't work, uninstall video drivers, use driver cleaner, reinstall drivers, Try again, post results.

yup, usually with artifacts and a new build it's a driver issue or a bad memory module on the graphics card.

Reseated the card, haven't had a chance to uninstall/reinstall drivers yet. Will do once I get home from work and have some free time. Anyways, back to work I go... home on lunch/dinner break >.<

If you can elminate the video card, I'd say power could be an issue. I've seen many Apevia's die on people quickly, as well as one disemboweled on a college campus, but that's a different story

It doesn't seem to be a power issue. It's freezing up, not dying. All my fans/LEDs/peripherals are still running, it's just that all processing freezes and I get the messed up screen.

when you say messed up screen you mean like blotchy and around your mouse is like a square shaped box with dots all in it that is a distinguished color compared to the rest of your screen. Altho the screen gets the same way everywhere

Well, it seems to have been resolved by updating to the newest Beta driver. Been doing some heavy gaming with Fable and Stronghold 2 (since I can't seem to find the disc for Oblivion, dammit >.<) and haven't seen it freeze up again yet.

I got that on my card before when I had overclocked the memory too much. I figured I could overclock the core by 100 so I can for the memory. I was wrong I could only bring my memory up 50

Alright, still having that issue every now and again, but not seriously gaming on it yet, still working with it. I've decided I'm going to save the money and get a a 8600 later.

However, I'm finding something else. I saw this a while ago when I played around with the nTune monitor thing, but didn't really think much about it, thought it was misreading. However, my CPU is *constantly* at 50% usage. It will go up from that percentage, but never below. What could be causing that?

CPU is listed in the first post, but here it is as well:

AMD Athlon 64 X2 5000+ Brisbane 2.6GHz Socket AM2 65W Black Edition Processor Model ADO5000DSWOF

Do you have any background processes running?

Check the Performance tab in Task Manager to see if it's not just nTune showing wrong information

I checked Performance tab.

Have 40 processes running, nothing that looked unusual. Have 61 processes running on the laptop I'm typing on right now, and it's down at 1-4% usage on a 1.79gHz processor.

This is from sometime after I made the first post, it wasn't 'til after that that I had issues with it. It's been taking forever to shut down the past few days, and this CPU usage thing would be the cause of that.

Yep find out what processes are running in the background. Also, do you have an "always on" broadband connection? Check for virus / spyware lately?

I have 32 processes running and my CPU usage ranges from 0% to 1%.

The thing's not attached to the internet at the moment, though it's possible I got something before I took it off the network as it has no virus protection aside from Windows Defender at the moment.

It's not a big deal, as I'm thinking about formatting and playing with Linux for a bit until I get the money to play with Vista (by which point they might have an SP out <.<) for Crysis, among other games.

I'd just like to make sure there's nothing wrong with my processor. It was working fine, not sure exactly when this issue started up.

Here we go:

actually.. I seem to have fixed the problem. I had installed the uGuru to play with it though it was intended for a different Abit mobo, and apparently it was hogging my CPU, or giving false readings, or something. CPU usage is back down to 0-1% with 38 processes running after I uninstalled that on a hunch.

I had an ativa wireless and the program was causing the error.. SAME THING. when I closed ativa my cpu went from 50% to 0-1% If anyone knows the answer to why it does this let me know here is my convo with belkin the makers of ativa.. keep in mine look at the dates its been over 3 weeks and they have yet to give me an answer. Check the pics I posted on photobucket. The links are in the convo


Hi Chris,

Thank you for contacting Belkin Technical Support.

We understand that you are facing issue with the USB adapter.

To resolve the issue, please follow the steps given below:

1. Right click on "My computer" Icon.
2. Click on Properties.
3. Click on "Hardware" tab and click on "Device Manager"
4. Click on + sign next to network adapter.
5. Right click on Belkin adapter.
6. Click on Remove.
7. Close all the windows.
8. Double click on "My computer" Icon.
9. Double click on C Drive.
10. Click on Program files.
11. Right click on Belkin folder.
12. Click on Delete.

You will get "Found New hardware" wizard once the computer restarted, continue with the installation. The install wizard will prompt a message "Use Windows to configure my wireless network". Put a tick mark in the box and continue with the installation.

If you need further assistance please feel free to write back to us and we will be happy to assist you.

Chris, if you have any other questions or problems you may also call us toll free at 800-223-5546 (Extn. 2263). Alternatively, call us on 310 898 1100 Ext. 2263.

Regards,

Spencer Jones
Belkin Technical Support.
Customer Call Details Oct 20 2007 05:27
I just deleted the ativa program from the start up sequence and it works flawlessly I just figured I`d let you know so that you can maybe fix your future applications and drivers for people who buy the item and can`t figure it out. But, I was kind of scared I tried playing battlefield and it was stuttering on me
Belkin Response Oct 20 2007 09:20
Chris, we understand that you are facing issue with the USB adapter.

To resolve the issue, we suggest you please uninstall and reinstall the adapter if issue persists.

If you need further assistance please feel free to write back to us and we will be happy to assist you.

Chris, if you have any other questions or problems you may also call us toll free at 800-223-5546 (Extn. 2263). Alternatively, call us on 310 898 1100 Ext. 2263.

Regards,

Spencer Jones
Belkin Technical Support.
Customer Call Details Oct 21 2007 08:44
you nimrod, What do you think I`m a noob writing you? i know how to uninstall and reinstall I`ve installed this adapter for 3 computers here at this house. EVERY SINGLE ONE runs the cpu at 75% -100% The only one that runs at 75% is my overclocked amd 6000
Belkin Response Oct 23 2007 23:31
Thank you for contacting Belkin Technical Support.

What Operating System are you running on the computer(s)?

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us again. Thanks for your interest in Belkin products.

Ken Burt
Escalation Agent

Belkin International, Inc.
Technical Support
http://www.belkin.com
Customer Call Details Oct 24 2007 00:16
1 week later for service . xp pro 2002 retail 32 bit
Belkin Response Oct 25 2007 01:13
Thank you for contacting Belkin Technical Support.

Is that with Service Pack 2?
I have not heard of any issues, but will look into the problem you have had.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us again. Thanks for your interest in Belkin products.

Ken Burt
Escalation Agent

Belkin International, Inc.
Technical Support
http://www.belkin.com
Customer Call Details Oct 25 2007 11:46
yea its weird. I have a plenty fast computer. that is why I don`t know why I would run into this problem. And I keep trying to send a screen shot with your program on and off but, I can`t upload more than 1mb
Belkin Response Oct 26 2007 00:56
Thank you for contacting Belkin Technical Support.

Have you tried to zip the file and then send it/upload it?

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us again. Thanks for your interest in Belkin products.

Ken Burt
Escalation Agent

Belkin International, Inc.
Technical Support
http://www.belkin.com
Customer Call Details Oct 26 2007 01:39
you mean upload it to you? I can do that but, I figured you`d fear a virus or something.
Belkin Response Oct 29 2007 21:37
Thank you for contacting Belkin Technical Support.

If you do it through this interface, it should be OK.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us again. Thanks for your interest in Belkin products.

Ken Burt
Escalation Agent

Belkin International, Inc.
Technical Support
http://www.belkin.com
Customer Call Details Oct 29 2007 22:00
the exact copy from the cd you gave me is over 113mb. I can send screen shots of my cpu useage using your product and software the not using your software. I don`t know why It just won`t work for me. It uses a lot of my cpu when it definitely shouldn`t.
Belkin Response Oct 30 2007 01:14
Thank you for contacting Belkin Technical Support.

Yes, I was asking about the screen shots.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us again. Thanks for your interest in Belkin products.

Ken Burt
Escalation Agent

Belkin International, Inc.
Technical Support
http://www.belkin.com
Customer Call Details Oct 30 2007 03:56
alright here you go, 2 pics one pic is with ativa and one without, you can distinguish the 2 because my cpu useage is higher on the one with ativa. One of my cores is at 66%. Not only do you have 2 ways to see my cpu useage I kept task manager open so you can see your program is running and while it runs my system speed goes up like crazy. Also to tell nothing else was running you can clearly see that the ONLY application thats new is ativawireless about half way down. by itself using 6% and then causing my system to be around 32% constantly. on everyday use I wouldn`t notice the difference. But, if I`m online playing a game with ativa open I get horrible frame rates. I`ll send you a link to the 2 because for some reason 1024x768 is more than 1mb? weird. well its a photobucket link so that you can see. either copy and paste the link in your browser so you can be sure I`m sending you to a safe page or click on it
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h126/ ... hativa.jpg
http://i63.photobucket.com/albums/h126/ ... oativa.jpg
Belkin Response Nov 6 2007 18:07
Thank you for contacting Belkin Technical Support.

I will be checking with our Product Management Department to see if they may have any information about this problem.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us again. Thanks for your interest in Belkin products.

Ken Burt
Escalation Agent

Belkin International, Inc.
Technical Support
http://www.belkin.com
Customer Call Details Nov 6 2007 21:34
its been over a week any ideas?
Belkin Response Nov 6 2007 23:27
Thank you for contacting Belkin Technical Support.

Sorry, but it may take some time to get more information. Usually they will try to replicate the problem. Once they can they will have to see what is causing the problem and then see if a solution can be found.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us again. Thanks for your interest in Belkin products.

Ken Burt
Escalation Agent

Belkin International, Inc.
Technical Support
http://www.belkin.com
Customer Call Details Nov 7 2007 03:48
it just makes no sense since my computer runs fine without ativa on. but, as soon as its on its using all my pc power. It`s not a virus since its a fresh installation of windows not an old one
Belkin Response Nov 8 2007 02:14
Thank you for contacting Belkin Technical Support.

Thank you for the information, I will have to see what our Product Management team comes up with.

If you have any further questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us again. Thanks for your interest in Belkin products.

Ken Burt
Escalation Agent

Belkin International, Inc.
Technical Support
http://www.belkin.com