Constant freezing?

My screen always freezes when I play a game...i have to wind up hard shutting it down because CTRL ALT Delete doesnt even work.

I also had this problem playing starcraft a few days ago:

 

Need more information about your system before we can really offer any advice or ideas.

Great idea to create a signature under the Quink Links tab and put your computer hardware information into it for easy reference. Kinda like my signature.

 

mk i did it, if i missed anything let me know

 

video OC can cause this type of patterns, or rather overheating of the video cards. I recommend checking drivers, temps, fans and the cards before anything else. Should be a quick task to do with CPU-Z apps or hwinfo.

 

how do i check the temps and fans? Is there a program or do i have to do it manually?

 

hwinfo.com

run hwinfo32 and close the initial window. On the toolbar there's a icon for "sensors." All the info you need will be display. Start your game and monitor your temps. Report back

 

Mk i installed hwinfo32 and started SF2. I then alt tabbed and looked, these are the results:

For CPU Digital Thermal Sensor I got:
Core 0: 143 (all in Fahrenheit)
Core 1: 143
Core 2: 149
Core 3: 147

For Alienware M17x-R1 EC
Temp 0: 147
Temp 1: 136
Temp 2: 116
Temp 3: 105
Fan 0: 1990 RMP

NVIDIA MCP:
MCP Temperature: 173

S.M.A.R.T.

s9500420ASG: 118
s9500420ASG Airflow: 118

nVidia on-die @ GPU [#0]
GPU Temp: 116
GPU Voltage: 0.850 V
GPU Core Load: 1.000%
GPU Memory Controller Load: 5.000%
GPU Memory Load: 20.629%

If u need anything more (i got tired of typing)....jsut tell me

 

So you have SLI, HWinfo should show the temp of your second GPU as well.

Your first GPU's temperature looks ok at 46C... Oh and everyone that posts here posts in °C since alot of the posters are from all over the world.

What drivers are you running? You can check that on the info part of HWINFO as well.

 

(in celsius now)
nVidia on-die @ GPU [#1]
GPU Temp: 60

NVAPI @ GPU [#1] NVIDIA Geforce...
GPU Temp: 47
GPU Voltage: 0.850 V
GPU Core Load: 0.000%
GPU Memory Controller Load: 5.000%
GPU Memory Load: 20.629%

nVidia on-die @ GPU [#2]

NVAPI @ GPU [#2] NVIDIA Geforce..
GPU Temp: 71
GPU Voltage: 0.900 V
GPU Memory Load: 20.629%

 

Your GPU temps are high compared to mine at 37 but still acceptable. Are these values from running the game(s) or idel (minimal tasks)?

 

well what i did was i started the game and when it got to the log in screen i alt tabbed and then recorded the temps...

 

Is it freezing at the login screen or after you actually start to play the game?

 

Well, no, it freezes like midway through the game.....even when I play minecraft. It just freezes and i can't do anything but hard reboot. And the pic is when I was playing starcraft. It went black and blinked and made a weird noise...

 

have you updated drivers or anything recently?

 

I seem to be having the same problem but not during gaming. I am trying to locate if one of my software has a bug that is doing this. It seemed to have started when I updated the vbios from Dell for 5850. But not really sure.
Seems like a quite a few alienware owners are having this problem. I always see one or two posts on this almost everyday.

I haven't overclocked my GPU or CPU. My BIOS is A08 and current GPU driver is 10.10 from AMD website.
Also my temps are usually around 40-50 degrees for GPU and 45-55 for CPU when this happens. Somehow I have never got a freeze during gaming and my FPS were like usual. I have tried dell drivers as well as ati drivers, but they both have freezing.

My freezing occurs when the system is idle or doing some light work (web surfing, typing a document etc).

What I have noticed is when the system freezes, the GPU + CPU fan speed up and warm air rushes out from both. Not really warm (like the type from gaming or benching) but it does.

 

Well a few weeks ago i was getting a black screen when i logged on so i contacted dell and they deleted all my drivers and reinstalled them

 

Sounds like you're running the Dell released 257 nVidia drivers.... so join the club of people having an issue with the 2xx drivers.

We're not sure what's causing this yet and as of my last call to Dell they "have not heard of anyone else having this problem at all." (actual quote, even pointed them at NBR).