Application Hang-Ups

[Ailsa]

Skyrim will play smoothly for between 45 minutes to 1 hour plus and then my pc freezes totally.  I have followed all the advice on using SKSE, ENB Boost and the new memory feature to no avail.  After several days of Google searches, and microsoft help articles I have found and deleted the major problems like an SBRE reference caused by problems with Avast.  However I now know that I have 3 or 4 serious Registry issues.

 

I run Windows 7 Home Premium and the cost of getting a Microsoft Certified Technician to repair these items is £180 sterling.  I do not have that sort of money available.

 

If anyone could give me any advice I would be very grateful indeed.  I am wondering whether, as a last resort, I should wipe my pc and re-install Windows et al - though I would rather not if possible.

[blabba]

Try a registry cleaner?

 

CCleaner is pretty good and free:

https://www.piriform.com/ccleaner

[Guest Mogie56]

Does it freeze only while playing Skyrim?

[Ailsa]

I have run CCleaner Orange3, thank you though.  

 

@ hmmm Skyrim is the most frequent, but also on Google Chrome now.

[gvman3670]

Don't use Chrome. Well, if you don't mind being spied on go ahead and use it.

 

You should be able to exclude apps and processes in security software. Make sure skryimlauncher.exe, TESV.exe and skse_loader.exe are added to it so your antivirus doesn't get in the way while playing.

[blabba]

I have run CCleaner Orange3, thank you though. 

 

How'd you figure out my secret name?!?!

 

Ahh, well that sounds more or less like a memory problem then (skyrim and chrome are notorious at using memory inefficiently)

 

But I dunno, guess your last option besides the re-install/refresh would be to try a system restore point:

http://pcsupport.about.com/od/fixtheproblem/ht/system-restore-windows-7.htm

 

Though, you've probably already tried that so really dunno what the alternatives would be sorry

 

[Ailsa]

LOL

 

I think that the System Restore option might well be the best for me.  I have never used it before Orange3 so thank you very much for the link.  How far back can I go on System Restore - I couldn't immediately see an answer to that.  

 

I moved to Google Chrome after Firefox crapped out on me and became a total memory hog on my old pc gvman3670.  

[blabba]

I think that the System Restore option might well be the best for me.  I have never used it before Orange3 so thank you very much for the link.  How far back can I go on System Restore - I couldn't immediately see an answer to that.  

 

Pretty far back, Windows makes a master restore point as soon as you install it, this oone would basically reset your entire system folder to back when it was freshly installed, so if you had any Windows tweaks it's likely to get reset.

 

As for other dates/times, it all depends on whether or not you setup the automatic backup times or whenever a really thorough program install forces you to create a system restore point.

 

I've only ever had to do this once myself , so not on expert on how/what it changes exactly but it did get rid of whatever problem I had at the time.

 

[myuhinny]

There are many addons that you can get for chrome that prevent google from spying and other sites as well. There is do not track there's hide my ass there's ghostery and probably more out there.

 

How many addons do you have installed for your chrome? The more addons you have the more it will use because when you open chrome it will then open each and every addon that you have turned on and you can see each one in the task manager.

[Ailsa]

I have Ad-block, do not track and a couple of scripts for a social site.   I think it is a total of 6 - I got rid of a few because they became out-dated.

 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank everyone for their kind and helpful advice    Please wish me luck as I am now going to read everything I can get my hands on about System Restore and then give it a go   

[ZepD]

OP your description sounds a lot like your GPU is overheating to me. That would explain why it runs smoothly then starts going to shit after 45 minutes.

 

Check your temps, IF it is you need to check and make sure your fan speeds are not locked at something stupid like 20% by your driver suite, make sure your tower is in a open space and not directly against a wall, in a well ventilated room, and make sure your PSU isn't sucking the carpet if your case is set up like that.

 

same thing for CPU

 

As far as temps are concerned 80 degrees is the limit and it should only be near that under heavy load. 60-70 is fine, 65 is a good temp average to shoot for. The freezing is probably caused by your GPU/CPU shutting itself down after reaching a temp threshold usaully around 100-120 degrees.

[psammeticus]

Concur with the temps possibly being high. A good cleaing could also help. I have dust issues in my house (dirt road) and have to clean out the case every other month or suffer a host of issues.

 

Reinstalls and system restores tend to be last ditch maneuvers for me.

[Ailsa]

Thank you both - I will have to get someone to clean it for me as I am not strong enough to move the case to open it 

[Ailsa]

Update

 

Temperatures are well within correct parameters - check

 

Check Disc found no errors - check

 

BIOS has been up-dated - There have been 4 BIOS updates since I got this system in December 2011.  We (computer engineer friend and I) chose the one specifically for system stability, Raid Stripe memory management and stability.

 

I am now going to cross my fingers and see how things go   

[ZaZ]

I am Having a similar Issue ,

 

1.Formatting C: drive Done Re-installed windows - Problem Persists

2.Check Disk and Scan disk - Problem Persisits

3.Switched from Chrome to Firefox - Problem Persisits ( But NO Freezing when I use Mozilla Firefox )

4.Checked my Bios version is updated and ran memtest - problem persists 

5.GPU temperatures are ok

 

This Happens when I use Blender Too Somtimes

 

 

[Ailsa]

I reduced the frequency partly by cleaning my registry with CCleaner, and getting rid of a file left over from an Avast up-date.  The final fix seems to have been up-dating my BIOS.  I have just played Skyrim for 3.5 hours without any issue at all.   I never did the System Restore suggested because I didn't have one prior to when the troubles started.

 

I wish you good luck in finding your solution ZaZ Chris.

[CGi]

@ZaZ Chris: What are the Windows logs saying about this?

Windows can usually catch a dirty shutdown and create a log entrie for it, the next time it starts up.

[Ailsa]

Windows Error Reporting is the last item in the Software Environment when you look in System Information ZaZ Chris

[ZaZ]

Yeh that was valuable ,

The Crashes Seem to Occur because of an NTFS Read Error ( Bad Clusters or Sectors ) , im 100 % sure its in my d:Drive because thats where all programs are installed .

 

Time to Replace a HDD

 

Cheers and Thanx

 

 

[Hitom]

Yeh that was valuable ,

The Crashes Seem to Occur because of an NTFS Read Error ( Bad Clusters or Sectors ) , im 100 % sure its in my d:Drive because thats where all programs are installed .

 

Time to Replace a HDD

 

Cheers and Thanx

 

Did you try and check the health status of it with crystal disk? Just a thought

[Nshell]

zaz I did a Ram disk to play FPS you wont believe the read times it has...

 

[ZaZ]

Heh, when I run this on D: , it Freezes my pc .

There is Definately a some write errors or read errors

 

Cheers

 

The Event Log

 

The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume LENOVO_PART.

 

 

 

I have run Chkdsk but still issues

 

[Nshell]

doesnt Auslogics DiskDefrag checks for bad clusters and trys to move data away from bad clusters to fix it? I dunno maybe you can try it. Not sure though

[lidowxxx]

Heh, when I run this on D: , it Freezes my pc .

There is Definately a some write errors or read errors

 

Cheers

 

The Event Log

 

The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume LENOVO_PART.

 

 

 

I have run Chkdsk but still issues

That is clear sign your hard disk is going south, you'd better backup your files and prepare for the worst in case of sudden failure.

[CGi]

Yeh that was valuable ,

The Crashes Seem to Occur because of an NTFS Read Error ( Bad Clusters or Sectors ) , im 100 % sure its in my d:Drive because thats where all programs are installed .

 

Time to Replace a HDD

 

Cheers and Thanx

You're welcome.

it's ofc self-interesst as i want to see the new zAP.

 

Heh, when I run this on D: , it Freezes my pc .

There is Definately a some write errors or read errors

 

Cheers

 

The Event Log

 

The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume LENOVO_PART.

 

 

 

I have run Chkdsk but still issues

Checkdisk can not solve hardware based errors and my guess is that the board of your HD is damaged/errornous.

As you didn't notice it, i don't think the surface of the drive is damaged as normaly the hard drive becomes noticably louder then, caused by it trying to (re-)read the damaged secor(s). And even if it doesn't become louder, the re-tries for reading the data would have slowed things down drasticly.

So ya, i guess the board is damaged. if you can find a similar (same model, series and version) drive, you can replace the board yourself.

 

P.s.: i don't think your PC froze for good, as Windows will eject (in terms of software) the hard drive after a while so you can work with the OS again.

How long the PC freezes is based on how long the hard drive takes/the time-out is, so sometimes you only notice that a drive was ejected as a drive letter is missing all of a sudden. Happend to me once, did send the drive to a data rescue center, got the report of a damaged board together with a suggestion to not use this drive model ever again as it's known for such errors and my data back, completly error free and on a new drive.

 

P.p.s.: Sometimes you can still copy the data as long as the drive is still accessible using TestDisk. Didn't work for my damaged drive, because as i was about to try it Windows was no longer able to recognize it. if i had acted sooner i could have copied it myself, which would have saved me some money. Yes, TD even copies when Windows reports an unformated drive/unknown file system due to an damaged board on the HD. if the Zone Bit Recording is damaged (which could be the case too), i don't think there's anything you can do yourself, unless you got a controller that can low-level format your drive, which is very unlikely and older controller with low-level format will simply destroy your disk (as those tracks are pre-written by the manufacturer), so don't let people fool you in using an iDE<->SATA adapter for the matter of using low-level format.