Gateway P-7811-FX Crashing Issue

I have a gateway P-7811 FX laptop that when i try to play games on it crashes at random or specific points in the game with every game i own. When it crashes the screen just shuts off and the last two seconds of the sound that was playing begins to loop. To try and fix it so far I have reformatted the hard drive used multiple graphic drivers. If anyone has any ideas that may help me fix this problem i would greatly appreciate it. I cannot seem to find a fix that works and gateway just told me to send it in which i really don't want to have to do.

 

I'm editing this post to make it easier to read and follow what is going on.

I have the same issue as Lanthor. The only game I can successfully play without my computer blackscreening is Counter-Strike: Condition Zero, a low graphic intensive game. Current games its doing it for is Aion and WoW. It is not an overheating issue. GPU tops out at 73, CPU at 67, HDD at 55. I have even applied a bag of ice to the underbelly of the PC and got the HDD down to 20 degrees but to no avail. The issue started seemingly randomly. I have owned my laptop since October of '08 without this issue.

I have tried disabling the ethernet adapter, which only caused the problem to become more frequent. I could sometimes go several hours without the issue, but now even after re-enabling it, the screen blacks out, sound loops and the computer becomes unresponsive after about 20 seconds of logging into Aion (an entire process of starting, logging in and loading of about 3 minutes).

Things I have tried so far:
Uninstalling graphics drivers and installing the new beta drivers with modified INF.
Turning graphics all the way down on Aion, to the literal bare minimum.
Turning the graphics all the way up, maxed out.
Disabling ethernet adapter.
Changing power saving options plugged in and on battery. Both PCIexpress and Adaptive Display to off.
Checked for updated sound drivers, already updated.
I've ran the Prime95 stress tests and CPU max load at 67 degrees. Still have not confirmed its a TZS0 issue, but the symptoms don't describe my own, specifically the screen blacking out and not just "hanging up".

Things to still do:
Reinstall chipset drivers.
Update BIOS from factory BIOS (doubt this is the issue since I have been problem free for almost a year now).
Apply AS5 to GPU and CPU (doubt this too since its not a heating problem...)

I will keep this post updated as I try and solve this.

UPDATE:
Just ran a GPU stability test (not 3Dmark) allowing it to run for about 10 minutes, making my GPU temp rise to 77 degrees max. No problems. I also downloaded a program and had it run my RAM for any problems. Granted I only ran it for 1% of my open RAM, it could still technically be an issue.
I just ran Aion again, max settings. Ran smoothly, beautifully, then the black screen and lock-up. Time to update the chipset drivers and see what good that does.

UPDATE 2:
Been doing even more research, we're about 7 hours in so far. My powers of deduction have lead me to one conclusion: OpenGL. Counter-Strike: Conditon Zero runs flawlessly, it is an OpenGL application. Pretty positive, if not completely sure, that WoW and Aion are not OpenGL applications. Therefore, the issue lies within running games on the backbone of whatever engine those are ran off of. I will continue my endeavor and refine my Google search phrase...

 

I found a viable solution for the issue perhaps

There are others that say stuff about PSU and the like, but even so, we should not be experiencing this problem if we unplugged our PSU to begin with. Anyway, I'm trying this now and I'll keep you all posted.

Didn't work. We can't even edit all the settings for the overclocking with Rivatuner so it doesn't work at all...=/

 

Well, I still haven't found any fixes. Just updated my chipset, flashed my BIOS and updated that. Tried running Aion on the very low settings, lasted a bit longer than on max, perhaps 3 minutes or so. Still crashes. I emailed Gateway to find out if I'm still in warranty, if I am, I'm sending it in...If not, I'll invest 16 bucks for some AS5 and if that doesn't work, this is getting craigs listed for $200.

I'll miss her, this last year has been a blast.

 

Did you try disabling the ethernet adapter? It had a similar problem and it worked for me:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=419094

 

COD MW crashes on me all the time. I can play for 3 hours no problem. Load it up the next day and freezes in a few secs. Luckly it starts responding after about 30 sec most of the time(ist just closes the program. I have read its due to it not being supported on Vista 64 bit which could be the case with some of the games your playing. Its been awhile since i played a different game but i think they crash also not sure though.

 

Alright well I have found the fix you have to update your bios from this link http://forum.notebookreview.com/showthread.php?t=303626

I used the V28 ones and it allows Over clocking. Installed Rivatuner and enabled Force Constant Performance Level where the clock speed would never change. from the Performance 3D level one. And that has been successful so far, none of the games crash. Though now my sound card drivers don't seem to work, anyone know why? gives me a stupid "Not digitally signed" issue.

 

Ryan, digitally signed is only a warning, you should still be able to install with accepting that warning. Second, this is a confirmed fix. I have been playing Aion max settings for over two hours now without a single crash. I have some stuttering, but stuttering is better than not working at all. Thank you Ryan. As for anyone having issues with the forcing performance level, you need to enable it in Power User settings. Its under "Overclocking" and the name of it is "Enableperflevel" or something like that. Enabled, restart, fixed. Rep you Ryan.

 

hey long time lurker on these forums and im having the exact same black screen sound loop crash on most games on my p7811. any follow up on the BIOS update solving the problem?

 

We really need a definitive sticky thread about all the problems we're having with this laptop with some ideas or links to known fixes. It would really help as looking through and searching every thread is rather cumbersome to find a supposed fix.

I took mine apart and put Arctic Silver 5 on the GPU and GPU memory, as well as on the CPU. Still getting constant freezes while playing Arkham Asylum on High Settings.

IBaird, I didn't quite understand your last post. What was the fix that stopped your laptop from freezing?

 

Are you volunteering for the job or wanting it to just magically appear (i.e. me having to do it)

 

from what i gather the solutions may or may not be : update your bios and force the gfx card to run at a high level all the time, disable your ethernet adapter, or buy a cooler, apply a heat sink and clean all the dust out of your computer.

this all leads me to believe the solutions is one or all of these things

 

This was an issue for people with S/N P2887 almost a year ago to date. At that time everyone was trying to trade in or obtain a S/N P2888. Now almost a year later it seems the problem has resurfaced.

My P-7811FX is of the latter serial number and I have the same problems with games going black and the sound looping (it worked flawlessly for a year). It started about two months ago and because of work I haven't had time to even look into it. My searching has indicated to me that the problem has resurfaced for most everyone posting in the last few months.

Now if we could all figure out what we changed two months ago, or what has changed, we might be on to something.

Later this week I should have some time to check more into mine, hopefully we can collectively come up with a solution.

 

i took a look at the event viewer to see if any errors were coinciding with the lock ups and found i got one of these bad boys every time it happened.

//./root/CIMV2
SELECT * FROM __InstanceModificationEvent WITHIN 60 WHERE TargetInstance ISA "Win32_Processor" AND TargetInstance.LoadPercentage > 99
0x80041003

i googled it and it seems to be a fairly common problem. You can get rid of the messages by running a script but that does not solve the problem. A lot of the people who are getting this problem do seem to be on laptops. The 7811 in particular but ive seen a few people with other models and brands post about the same problem. Curiously enough MMOs seems to big the culprits though lol being a big addict myself i think MMO players go a little nuts when they cannot play their favorite game and are more likley to post

so it could be vista and it could be hardware or vista interacting poorly with hardware. i curious is 7 will makes this problem go away. my microsoft buddies who are already running 7 say its the greatest thing since sliced bread.

 

I upgraded using a Windows 7 disk to update from Windows Vista so I'm not sure if I just imported the problems I had with Vista into Windows 7. I'm gonna do a fresh install of Windows 7 and report back with my findings.

 

im going to try testing my power supply. in all my googling ive come across a couple of people who say black screens are usually power issues. perhaps the combination of graphics, hard drive and internet use caused by games like mmos is the problem and the standard power supply cannot give it enough juice. i doubt the average benchmark tests involve online games. the stress tests ive seen just push the processors gfx and hdd but none add constant internet activity in too.

. i just finished a 45 minute no crash session of aion after unpluggin the psu and running it only on the battery.

the thing that encourages me (slightly) is that i was running aion max settings and it was probably the smoothest its ever ran. im going to recharge my battery and try another session later tonight.

 

I'm leaning more towards this being the issue right now but, this seems like a bandaid fix.

I was able to load up a couple older OpenGL games (The Chronicles of Riddick - Escape From Butcher Bay and Doom 3) I know these are far from current but they were the only OpenGL games I had or at least the only I can think of. In either of these I can play as long as I want. Running Need For Speed Shift or Dead Space results in an immediate crash immediately after the opening cut scenes when the actual game loads.

 

i tried aion again tonight with just battery power. running nearly maxxed setting ripping along at 35-40 frames even in the big city. battery got low (lasts about 45 mins on high performance even though it says an 1.5 hours on full charge) and i plugged in the power supply and locked up within a few minutes of doing that.

the psu does run fairly hot and has been punished since i got the comp. lots of hours of Age of Conan, WoW, Fallout 3, Dungeons and Dragons online,champions online and now Aion but it doesnt get any hotter then the tiny brick my titanium g4 had.

im going to keep trying with just the battery but it is hard because i can only run it for 50 minutes or so and ive been able to play aion for 2-3 hours before without the crash with the power cord plugged in.

 

Reformatted and installed Windows 7 on mine. No changes, still freezes up. Definitely hardware related. What could it be? Could it still be the BIOS? TZS0?

 

try unplugging your power supply and playing with the battery. i play 3 games right now that have had the crash. Champions online which has only done it once and ive probably played 50 hours. DDO which had one bad stretch where i could not even log on but is now fine and i can play for hours and Aion which will crash at least once an hour.

ive charge the battery to full 3x now played Aion til the battery got low then plugged the power supply. its crashed all 3x times with 15 minutes of hte power supply getting plugged back in.

im still not ready to declare it the power supply YET because im having such a fun time trying to figure this out i would be sad if actually found the answer im going to try a few more times tonight or tomorrow.

 

Well imanujakku, looks like you might have found whats causing the issue. After playing Arkham Asylum for a solid hour without the power supply, there was no crashing or freezing to be found at all. The game will freeze after a 10-15 minutes and I'll get the fast looping sounds and have to hard reset the laptop.

So now the question is, if it's a power supply issue, will buying a new one solve the problem or is there something we can do with the current power supply?

 

Hi, I have exactly same problems with fx 7811. My laptop crashes after 45 min of gameplay and then after hard reset it keeps crashing every 20 min. I have tried everything and still no solution. I have noticed that, when it was quite chilly in my rooms (my windows (not os) sucks) laptop run for longer period of time with no crash. Anyway, iam not sure if the culprit of crashes is overheating or power supply problems or some evil spirits.

One more question: how you can play on battery? When i run World of Warcraft on battery i have nice slideshow.

 

Your problems going away on battery may just be because the laptop is downclocking everything when running on battery. Generally speaking the power adapter supplements the battery, even if its not producing enough juice the battery should act like a UPS and smooth things out (your laptop doesn't crash or turn off when you unplug it, or when the power goes out). I seriously doubt the power brick is your problem.

 

I've noticed that my temps while playing Arkham Asylum reach to 157F while using the power supply. While unplugged the temps are about 138F, and that's without a notebook cooler, just having the laptop propped up on a DVD case or two. Yeah it's definitely not the battery. I ruled that and the memory out a few days ago. I had never just played on battery power alone as I'm using an external drive which uses more juice. But yeah, it looks like the power supply adds an excess of 10-15 degrees of heat alone which is bad for this laptop...

 

The reason for the more higher heat is that the GPU runs at a higher speed generally on A/C. The GPU runs usually at the lower, or middle, speed setting while on battery. This is then causing another issue.

The issue is in the speed changes of the GPU and its memory. When it down clocks to cool off can cause timing issues within the card and thereby cause the lockups. I saw where someone had modified some settings within the video bios that then eliminated the lockups. WAY more daring than I would do as you can easily brick your system.

So it is more likely a video bios issue you can message with battery only use, the other option could be to stock clock or even under clock your GPU's to keep them cool..........

 

Right, because when my video card hits up to around 157-160F is when the lockups occur. How does one under clock the GPU? Is it done in rivatuner? Or would editing the video BIOS be a more sound option? How would I accomplish that?

 

if i am running high performance mode on the battery is it still downclocking the processor ?

. im still under warranty but im thinking im going to have ridiculous time explaining to the geek squad that in order to replicate this problem they need to play aion for a hour with the power supply plugged in. if it a BIOS problem then im screwed anyways...the average best buy warranty does not cover software problems.

 

I've been having the same problems with my P-7811 for quite some time now. I'll summarize my problem and my troubleshooting attempts in hope that someone may be able to shine some light my way or help someone else. I'm incredibly frustrated.

The Problem:

-Laptop freezes while playing games. The lockup may occur 10 times in 20 minutes or once every 12 hours or even more (I've left games running for over 24 hours and no lockups have occurred). The most recent games I've played - World of Warcraft, Team Fortress 2, Aion. These are the only games I've played in the past couple of months and I don't recall if previous games caused this as well.

-When it freezes, the screen goes black, the sound loops, the lights stay on, and Caps-Lock/Num-lock are unresponsive. I can only recover by hard rebooting my laptop (pressing the power button for a few seconds).

What I've tried:

-At first, the most obvious thing to think of would be overheating. So I monitored my temps and saw nothing abnormal. Over a couple of months I've cleaned the inside of the computer with compressed air. Applied Arctic Silver 5 to the CPU and GPU cores. I also purchased the NZXT Cryo laptop cooler and the problem still persisted. I have pretty much ruled out overheating as as a contributor.

-According to suggestions I've tried unplugging the mouse, re-seating my memory, disk scans, memory tests, using various video drivers, using various sound drivers, different anti-viruses and power options. I've also tried reformatting and switching from Vista64 to Windows 7 64bit and recently back to Vista64 and the freezes still persist.

-I've changed video resolutions, lowered graphic settings, increased video card fan speeds and whether I'm on WiFi or LAN the problem still persists.

-This might sound silly but in Aion, the game I'm currently playing, I've had sessions where I've played for over 12 hours and I have experienced no lockup. Recently I moved to an area surrounded by water and my laptop will freeze about 5-10 minutes into the game. This has led me to believe that this might be a rendering issue and a faulty video card. Again, I tried playing with different drivers, lowered graphic options and resolutions and even uninstalled and re-installed DirectX, no avail. I have not tried running an open GL game.

Things left to try:

-Update the bios.

-Replace the power brick/battery (and I'm avoiding this because I don't feel like shelling more money into this laptop).

-Replacing the video card (again, hardly an option).

-Smashing the laptop with a hammer.


I'm pretty much out of luck as my 1 year warranty ended with Gateway last month. It seems IBaird and I are having the exact same problem. I will try the solution RyanFoxy proposed and see if that is any help to me and I will post results.

This is definitely the last time I ever purchase a laptop for gaming.

@IBaird - how has your laptop been holding out after the bios update?

 

nomios, try playing without the power supply for as long as your battery has power. If I'm right, you shouldn't have any lockups because the Power Supply generates heat and the battery doesn't. Try playing a few sessions after charging up your battery then let us know what your results are.

Anyone else thinking class-action lawsuit here? Geez!!!

 

Frankly if you have the guts I'd take the laptop apart and check the video card heatsink seating and thermal compound. Unfortunately that requires complete dis-assembly of the laptop. A lot of them have had issues just because the HS wasn't installed that well from the factory. As for the questions about locking high performance on battery, I don't believe the power theme effects the NVIDIA clocks which are still automatically lowered on battery power. The power brick doesn't add any heat to the system directly, if anything it should cool it down a tad from the battery not working as hard, but it does heat up things more in that generally everything runs faster with it plugged in.

 

I actually took my laptop apart twice in the last week (No extra screws). The first time so I could apply Arctic Silver 5 to the GPU. Then I took it apart again when I realized I forgot to apply some AS5 to the memory modules. I did not notice any kind of temperature decrease after I did so... lame....

 

Well apparently the first time I tried to enable constant performance 3d levels I did it wrong.

I've correctly configured it now and will update as soon as I have results.

 

You need ICD for the memory chips at least. There is a slight gap and AS5 will boil out. You will not see a temp change on the chips as I do not think it is monitored to see a change.

The problem isn't the CPU underclocking to cool but the GPU and relative memory undercolcking on the fly too cool..........

 

What is ICD?

So should I underclock my GPU? If so, does anyone have a guide? I see that as the solution, especially if the power supply spreads heat and makes the GPU overheat... Or would a new power supply be the answer?

 

i dont think there is a guide kid dinomite lol...just a lot of trial and error were you hope some tweak has a small chance to remedy the problem and large chance to turn your comp into a fancy paperweight.

im a bit hesitant to start opening the case and fiddling with the BIOS/clockspeeds because of the stupid warranty i bought from best buy which lasts for two more years and is likely null and void if i decide to play macguyver with the comp.

so far we have : force constant performance good in theory but it also seems like the lockups are protecting the innards of the comp from frying itself ?

update BIOS to latest unofficial official version obtained from some shadowy gateway techs in another country and underclock the GPU. this seems to have the least downside but more than a little outside my knowledge base.

check heat sink and reapply thermal paste ? well i had a calulator apart when i was 10 and never got it back together. this is a last resort for me

 

Well, it seems that forcing the performance level to 3D all the time has fixed my problem. I've played a total of 5-6 hours today and no freeze so far.

Here is what I did (credits to RyanFoxy and IBaird):

1. Download the latest version of RivaTuner here: http://www.guru3d.com/index.php?page=rivatuner

2. Install RivaTuner and Run the program.

3. In the Main tab, click on the arrow next to Customize under Driver Settings to bring up more options then click System Settings (the first Icon)

4. In the Overclocking tab, where it says "Force constant performance level" select performance 3D.

5. Click apply, and reboot the system when prompted.

If for some reason the "Force constant performance level" drop-down is grayed out you will need to go to the "Power users" tab in the initial RivaTuner window. Then click on the "+" next to "RivaTuner \ NVIDIA \ Overclocking". Look for "EnablePerfLevelForcing" and under Value type 1. Click apply, this should allow you to modify "Force constant performance level." Finally, follow steps 3-5 above.

I've been monitoring temperatures and they are normal - so I doubt this fix will cause any severe damage to my video card.

This has so far worked for me - it doesn't necessarily mean it will work for you, hopefully it does. I'll give you guys an update within a few days.

Update: After 15 days, no lockups. This is a confirmed fix for me. However, every once in a while my sound will go crazy and start looping under certain games - but no lockup. The sound seems to fix itself after a bit.

 

Right, forcing 3d performance level stops the timing issues in downclocking the GPU/Memory to the 2d levels to cool the GPU. Again a timing issue. The power supply itself is a seperate item and will NOT transfer heat to the laptop. Alternately though there supposedly is a video bios mod that can be done as well, can anyone say instabrick!

 

I've also figured out how to underclock my GPU using Rivatuner. Under Driver Settings hit the Customize button, click on the icon that looks like a video card, check Enable driver-level hardware overclocking, under performance level 3D you can change the slider, left for underclocking, right for oveclocking. You can check the Apply Overclocking at Windows Startup option if you want the settings whenever Windows starts.

I changed the slider from 400 to 395 and so far my laptop hasn't overheated while having the Power Supply plugged in and playing Arkham Asylum!!! I also have not noticed any performance decrease while playing on High Settings with all the options on!!

Hopefully this fix will last and the issues are resolved.

 

well i went with door number 1 and forced constant perf level and it seems to be working. 2 hours so far with no crash. im keeping my fingers crossed. the thing that is crazy is the heat around the back of laptop seems to have dropped considerably.

if both these fixes work we need to get this info consolidated and stickied because a ton of people have this problem and not just on this laptop

 

Well so far no problems. Anyone else using any of these fixes have issues?

 

Yeah my temps have been running as cool as ever and I did not do any sorts of underclocking.

Force Performance Level has been working great for me. Over 12 hours of gaming so far and no lockup. Surprisingly it has also seemed to fix my random sound stutters - maybe they were related somehow.

 

I think I'll try your solution. Seems like a safer way to go without having to change clock speeds on the video card, especially if you're able to play for that long without any issues.

 

The force perfomance level is the better solution IMHO. Downclocking is not really a solution but an option. Downclocked the timing issue is still there you are attmpting to avoid it, by 3D perfomance level you are permanently bypassing it.........

I only mentioned it to be as an option, I remember seeing elsewhere about the performance level along with the bios mod mentioned...........

 

I am having the same problem. I am running Windows 7 64-bit. The first time I saw this problem was last night. It seems like it was out of the blue. I've been playing Left 4 Dead all week, but last night it did this once. Then tonight I had the problem again. I did install Operation Flash point: Dragon Rising. This installed the Microsoft C++ Redistributable and Microsoft Live ID. I'm going to get rid of them and see what happens before I go all drastic with Riva Tuner.

 

I have been playing for over 1 h yesterday after aplying rivatuner fix and didnt experience any lockups. However i noticed small decrease in performance.Who knows, maybe this is the ultimate fix for fx 7811 crashing problem. I will play more today and tomorrow and inform you if any lockups appear.

 

Well after using the fix that was posted by nomios I haven't had any freezes or lockups since. I think this should definitely be an official fix for all 7811 users who are having problems with their 7811's freezing on them while playing games.

 

I have done some gaming and....no lockups since fix. Rejoice all users of fx 7811, now we can enjoy our laptop fully.

 

three days and no locks much props to the forums because i dont think best buy or gateway would have been able to help at all.

 

Thank you GREATLY for this..... it has pretty much solved my problems, I have been playing WALL-E with the highest settings for 3 hours now, and no problems with overheating, and the air coming out the side of my computer is just a LITTLE above room temperature now.

I don't know what 'magic' RivaTuner does, but it seems that NVidia might want to include whatever fix RivaTuner found for this into their graphics driver.

 

I was really excited when I saw this thread, because I've been having almost this exact same problem for ages (except the screen freezes rather than going back, and the sound replay is more like 0.2 seconds than 2 seconds, making it more of a generic buzzing or ratcheting). But I set up RivaTuner to force Performance 3D as described, and it didn't change anything at all. I still crash after a little more than an hour in almost any modern game.

Does anyone have any idea what might be wrong, or how my issue might be different? Has anyone else had this not work? I've been putting up with this crashing for months now, and it's really getting on my nerves.