Game freezes at random

[ArdenRayer]

I don't know why, but while I play oblivion, sometimes I play 30 seconds, sometimes 3 hours but the game will randomly just freeze on me, the sound goes crazy, then silent, And I am forced to restart my computer, because it seems to lock up. What gives?

 

I am using an xfx GeForce 8800 series

4 gig of ram

SLI platinum motherboard

2.6 ghz quad processor phemon 9950

 

I am running some mods on my computer, but after close reading of there incompatibilities, they all seem to work just fine, and the game will freeze randomly, from the swamps of leyawiin, to the shores of anvil, randomly! any help?

[Maigrets]

I don't know why, but while I play oblivion, sometimes I play 30 seconds, sometimes 3 hours but the game will randomly just freeze on me, the sound goes crazy, then silent, And I am forced to restart my computer, because it seems to lock up. What gives?

 

I am using an xfx GeForce 8800 series

4 gig of ram

SLI platinum motherboard

2.6 ghz quad processor phemon 9950

 

I am running some mods on my computer, but after close reading of there incompatibilities, they all seem to work just fine, and the game will freeze randomly, from the swamps of leyawiin, to the shores of anvil, randomly! any help?

 

Do you have an on board soundcard built into your motherboard, because it sounds like an audio issue.

 

Some people recommend NOT to use integrated sound cards, but I've been using Realtek on board sound with two computers and have had no issues at all. My new system has one, same brand, and plays Fallout 3 and Oblivion plus other new games with no problems.

 

But, that doesn't mean everyone is as fortunate.

 

There is a mod that can fix issues related to foot sounds for on board sound cards. It only adds dummy sound files for creature footsteps which put quite a load on your sound card.

 

Quiet Feet Max

http://www.tesnexus.com/downloads/file.php?id=12331

[bben46]

Sometimes the cause of freezing is another program has temporarily stolen the focus from the game. Depending on how much load is on the system and what is happening in the game at the time it can lock up. Sometimes the game can recover from these short interruptions and sometimes it can't.

 

The worst offenders are programs that try to access the internet - whether you have internet active or not. IM programs, Skype, update programs, call home programs such as MS genuine (dis)advantage. Antivirus and antispyware programs can also steal focus when they try to check things in the background. Auto defrag programs that start with no warning, Windows indexing service and Ram managers that 'flush' your RAM periodically can all cause a freeze or crash.

 

An older version of the HP printer driver called home to check for updates daily. If you were not on line it would retry every 10 minutes until it got through. Of course, by the time you were able to open Task Manager to see what was happening, It had stopped and you didn't see anything. The newer driver has a function to set when it calls and how often - Mine is set for once a month during a time when I am not playing games.

[Maigrets]

Sometimes the cause of freezing is another program has temporarily stolen the focus from the game. Depending on how much load is on the system and what is happening in the game at the time it can lock up. Sometimes the game can recover from these short interruptions and sometimes it can't.

 

The worst offenders are programs that try to access the internet - whether you have internet active or not. IM programs, Skype, update programs, call home programs such as MS genuine (dis)advantage. Antivirus and antispyware programs can also steal focus when they try to check things in the background. Auto defrag programs that start with no warning, Windows indexing service and Ram managers that 'flush' your RAM periodically can all cause a freeze or crash.

 

An older version of the HP printer driver called home to check for updates daily. If you were not on line it would retry every 10 minutes until it got through. Of course, by the time you were able to open Task Manager to see what was happening, It had stopped and you didn't see anything. The newer driver has a function to set when it calls and how often - Mine is set for once a month during a time when I am not playing games.

 

Yes!

I believe this is the cause of the occasional freezes I get in Fallout 3. I disabled LIVE with a mod, but of course Windows Update, which is usually the culprit when I have to reset, still does it. Like the OP says, it can be 30 secs or three hours. So, it's a random thing. But I don't get the sound going nuts, just a sudden freeze, silence and a hard reset.

 

Occasionally it happens in Oblivion, but it recovers after a pause usually. Fallout 3 is a bit more demanding so it just dies. :ohmy:

 

Thanks for the reminder to disable Windows Update when I play. Actually, I usually prefer to turn it off altogether and manually check every so often for updates. But after the last OS reinstalll I haven't got around to doing it.