Sudden Computer Lockups While Playing Games

Wulfgang

New Member
Messages
3
Hello, I've recently bought a computer which has has Windows 8.1 installed on it from the very beginning--had it for about 3-4 weeks by now. Everything off-games works great. 'Net runs smooth, boots up very well, etc. This is also a computer meant to play/run all sorts of games--it was benchmarked a bit higher than the average gaming computer.

Mind you, I don't really have much experience with the technological side of computers--I only know some small things. Reformatting, Opening the Event Viewer, etc. I'm very cautious about what I do on that side of the computer--that being said, bear with me.

This is the exact PC that I have, without any custom changes. And it is also the place I got it from with a warranty--you can also find the computer's more detailed specs in the link: CybertronPC Beast II TGM1214A Gaming PC - AMD FX-9590 4.70GHz, 32GB DDR3, 2TB HDD, DVDRW, 3GB GeForce GTX780, Liquid Cooled, Front Fan Control Panel, WiFi, Windows 8.1 at TigerDirect.com

My Problem: I noticed my problem happening when I have tried to play various games--Neverwinter Nights 2 (even though it is old, I think it still applies), Elderscrolls Online, The Secret World, WoW, Saints Row 4 (their newest one), The Forest (an alpha game on Steam) and some various others in between--some have less problems than others, however for the most recent one, I was playing Saints Row 4, and it completely froze the computer; I could not even use CTRL + ALT + Delete to get out of the game, so I was forced to press the Restart Button to restart the system.

*It is also worthy of note, that some games have less crashes than others. For example, NWN2 does not crash as often since I optimized it's settings and put it in compatibility mode. But sometimes it will flash black, then go back to the game screen, black again, etc.--it does this about 3-4 times before erroring and saying it needs to close, but that I can live with. I just wish to fix the complete lock-up freezes that make me restart my computer.

Most times I get these freezes, on the various ones I play, I get this warning in the Event Viewer, timed JUST before the freeze
:


"A pointer device did not report a required angular physical range." - Event 259, Win32k (Win32k) (Warning)

+System
-Provider
[ Name]Win32k
-EventID259
[ Qualifiers]32768
Level3
Task0
Keywords0x80000000000000
-TimeCreated
[ SystemTime]2014-06-25T09:29:29.551083000Z
EventRecordID4414
ChannelSystem
ComputerZach-PC
Security

-EventData
00000000010000000000000003010080000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000000


Binary data:

In Words
0000: 00000000 00000001 00000000 80000103
0010: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0020: 00000000 00000000

In Bytes
0000: 00 00 00 00 01 00 00 00 ........
0008: 00 00 00 00 03 01 00 80 .......€
0010: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0018: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........
0020: 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 ........


I was thinking that the recent graphics card drivers may have something to do with something, however I'm uncertain. I was also told by one of the Geeksquad at Bestbuy that my mouse or keyboard could be the problem, however I have used the keyboard and mouse that the computer had originally came with, so I am unsure why that would be an issue--however I did try switching out the plugs into other USBs, switching keyboards, switching mice, etc. I also have a flatscreen TV-monitor which is a Samsung, however I switched out an old monitor that died on me, but it had been doing the same thing before the switch as well.

I'm very unsure what to do at this point--I can play my games, but there are various interruptions (randomly) throughout play that make me regret getting this computer (I had a Windows 7 that ran 99% of my games, without any sort of problems; and the Windows 7 wasn't even geared to the teeth like this one is.) I have also attempted to run these games in Windows XP/etc compatability modes, to no avail.

Any possible solutions/help is very appreciated!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
wow,not much to add but ,make sure you have latest video driver installed .and if you are trying to run old games on this new setup they may never work correctly even in xp compatibility mode. did you check event viewer in control panel for more error info ,did a search of part of the error in you post and they all point to mouse or laptop touchpad errors
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    win8.1.1 enterprise
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Hinze57
    CPU
    AMD FX 6100 6core 3.30gHz
    Motherboard
    gigibyte ga-78lmy-s2p
    Memory
    4gig ddr3
    Graphics Card(s)
    Radon hd5000 Series
    Sound Card
    onboard realtek hd
    Monitor(s) Displays
    19" viewsonic/ 22"Samsung
    Screen Resolution
    1680x1050
    Hard Drives
    128gig ssd Kingston
    80gig WD 10000 rpm spinner
    Case
    micro
    Keyboard
    microsoft curve 200
    Mouse
    Logitech wireless M215
    Internet Speed
    high speed 20
    Browser
    ie 11
    Antivirus
    windows defender
    Other Info
    updated enterprise apr 2/14
Definitely sounds like a video driver problem. One thing, are you using the GeForce Experience to automatically configure your games? I would look in it and see if those games are being auto configured. If one of the games is listed and not optimized, try clicking on the optimize button. If it is optimized, try turning it off. See which, if any works for you. I don't use Nvidia's utility at all and have no problems (GTX580).

Also don't automatically use compatibility mode on games. Try them first without, then try different settings until you find something that works.

I've tested over 100 games from disc, Steam, DOS, etc and most work flawlessly. Here a video: Windows 8 Game Compatibiity - 100 Tests - YouTube
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1 Pro with Media Center
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
    System Manufacturer/Model
    Self Built
    CPU
    Intel I-7 860
    Motherboard
    Asus P7B
    Memory
    8GB
    Graphics Card(s)
    Nvidia 580
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Acer (Primary), Asus (secondary), Sony TV (third)
    Screen Resolution
    1920 x 1080
    Hard Drives
    Kingston 128GB SSD Windows 8 Boot Drive
    WD Black 1 TB (2 ea)
    WD Red 3 TB
    WD Black 500GB
    Keyboard
    MS 1000
    Mouse
    MS Flip
    Internet Speed
    Verizon FIOS 35/35
    Browser
    IE 11, Google Chrome, Firefox, Opera, Safari
    Antivirus
    Windows 8 Defender (MS Security Essentials)
wow,not much to add but ,make sure you have latest video driver installed .and if you are trying to run old games on this new setup they may never work correctly even in xp compatibility mode. did you check event viewer in control panel for more error info ,did a search of part of the error in you post and they all point to mouse or laptop touchpad errors

Hehe, I tried to be as forthcoming with info as I could, since I know the information is typically needed to solve problems. :)

But, I have not checked more error info; I will check that out ASAP (headed out for a while, but I will try to get it posted up if I find anything with the more error info). And it is very weird that it points to a mouse-error...

I did hear from another friend that most pre-built machines are also 'overclocked' by default--could this be a possible culprit? I really dont know anything about overclocking/underclocking--I know not to mess with it of course unless I know what Im doing, but I figure if it does seem like theres a chance changing something with that, I could have someone do it for me who is more experienced.
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
Definitely sounds like a video driver problem. One thing, are you using the GeForce Experience to automatically configure your games? I would look in it and see if those games are being auto configured. If one of the games is listed and not optimized, try clicking on the optimize button. If it is optimized, try turning it off. See which, if any works for you. I don't use Nvidia's utility at all and have no problems (GTX580).

Also don't automatically use compatibility mode on games. Try them first without, then try different settings until you find something that works.

I've tested over 100 games from disc, Steam, DOS, etc and most work flawlessly. Here a video: Windows 8 Game Compatibiity - 100 Tests - YouTube

Yes--I have used the GeForce experience to update my drivers and such; I believe only Elderscrolls Online and World of Warcraft are detected as 'optimizable' games; the rest it doesn't seem to find. I did try Elderscrolls Online in compatibility mode, it seems to work, so far. However, as the freezes seem to be very random (before I switched to compatibility mode on ESO, I used to get freezes like, every 10 minutes on the dot. However now, it seems to be much less, but in high-combat situations with lots going on, it seems to freeze. This is just an observation though.) To me, it almost seems like the computer is too 'fast' itself to comprehend whats actually happening in the games, if that makes any sense? I was thinking that if it really is 'that', it could be that the computer needs underclocked. However Im not sure what that even does--I just know if you do it wrong, it can fry the computer.

--Apologies if I sound really stupid hehe; just putting thoughts out there in case something sounds like it might be something else/vice versa, looking at all angles.

I will also look into your youtube link. Thank you both for your replies!
 

My Computer

System One

  • OS
    Windows 8.1
    Computer type
    PC/Desktop
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