Windows 7 Brand new computer - no games will run

[EgonTowst]

Hey everyone. I hate doing this when I know there are already other similar discussions, but I haven't found any solution to my problem and since it sounds like most others who have experienced this problem have done so after upgrading to Windows 7 from a previous OS, which is no the case with me, I thought I should ask.

So I've got a brand new Dell studio laptop. It is not even 24 hours out of the package, so I haven't played around with overclocking my CPU or anything like that. I've done nothing to the computer at all but install firefox, a few games, and update my video and sound drivers. It came with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-Bit installed on it, and I'm having some strange problems with it.

First, all games I try running end up crashing. A few of my older games, such as Homeworld, don't even make it past the intro movies. I'm not sure if this has something to do with compatibility issues (the game was released in 99) ... please be patient with me, I'm not particularly computer savvy. The one game I've tried that I was actually able to play any was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, but it too crashed about 5 or 10 minutes in, at the moment I tried slashing someone open . It will work fine if I just let it sit there. But once I pull out a weapon or try interacting with a character, it freezes for about 10 seconds, then the screen goes black and soon I'm sent to Desktop with an error message saying the program had to close.

Like I said I've updated my video and sound drivers. I tried running the games before and after doing so, but no change. DirectX 11 came on the machine so I assumed I didn't need to mess with that.

Any thoughts or suggestions? Below are my specs. I can't imagine that it would be a CPU or memory issue if the PC is at stock settings, but again, I'm not very computer savvy so I'm not even sure how to check that stuff. So any help would be much appreciated.

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System Information
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Time of this report: 3/27/2010, 12:07:21
       Machine name: SCOTT-PC
   Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_rtm.090713-1255)
           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: Dell Inc.
       System Model: Studio 1558
               BIOS: Ver 1.00 BIOS A04 PARTTBL
          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5 CPU       M 520  @ 2.40GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.4GHz
             Memory: 4096MB RAM
Available OS Memory: 3956MB RAM
          Page File: 1679MB used, 6231MB available
        Windows Dir: C:\Windows
    DirectX Version: DirectX 11
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
   User DPI Setting: Using System DPI
 System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)
    DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled
     DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode
          Card name: ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4500/5100 Series

I don't know how to check CPU temp and all that, so if more info is necessary I could use some pointers there.

 

[Mike]

As for the GPU temperature, there is no ATI OverDrive tab in my CCC (See first attached image)

Also if it's of any help, I've always had graphics glitches as well, with any and all drivers I've used. In a game there will be small neon green and sometimes purple spots on textures, 3D models will sometimes be disfigured, and sometimes there will be flashing lines and shapes (see the black shape in the left part of the second attached image for example). I'm not terribly annoyed by it, but I didn't know if that might provide any additional hints pointing to the source of the problem.

This is why I think you have a faulty card. The type of artifacting and crashing you are having usually only occurs in overclocking/overheating scenarios. For temperature and more information try GPU-Z:

GPU-Z Video card GPU Information Utility

 

[EgonTowst]

Huh, this is interesting. I don't know what I'm really looking at, but seeing as I have never tampered with anything am I right in assuming that the "Default Clock" and "GPU Clock" should not be different? The first two attached images are with no applications but Firefox running. The third image shows the highest readings while a game was running (on lowest graphic settings and screen resolution). The GPU Core Clock shoots up to 680Mhz, but the default says 500Mhz. GPU Temp also went from 50 to 61 after 20 seconds of gameplay. Again I don't really know what all of this means.

 

[TorrentG]

That gpu clock is supposed to be as the default shows it. Something is overclocking it by a large margin.

Try using ATI Tray Tools to set the clock speed to 500 MHz and then play a game as a test to see what happens.

 

[EgonTowst]

Augh. Can't get ATI Tray Tools to work. I downloaded and installed it, tried running it, and the computer just freezes. I reinstalled it but no change. Tried reinstalling it in safe mode too but comp still hangs :\

 

[TorrentG]

Here's the version I use. Should run well for ya:

 

[EgonTowst]

Nope, still freezing :\

 

[kemical]

It never did work properly. I created this thread just a few days after the computer was shipped to me. I don't remember if I had already updated my drivers before trying out a game or not, but I did later roll back multiple times to the drivers that came on the machine, with no change. What I was trying to do at one point was install the 8.12 driver, because through a bit of research on other forums I found several cases similar to my own (with the same video card on Win7 machines) that seemed to have been solved by resorting back to that older driver. I was never able to get it to fully install on this computer, however, because upon reboot the machine automatically installs the driver that came on it when I would install an older one.



Also if it's of any help, I've always had graphics glitches as well, with any and all drivers I've used. In a game there will be small neon green and sometimes purple spots on textures, 3D models will sometimes be disfigured, and sometimes there will be flashing lines and shapes (see the black shape in the left part of the second attached image for example). I'm not terribly annoyed by it, but I didn't know if that might provide any additional hints pointing to the source of the problem.

If this is true then following what you've shown in GPU-Z (that's a huge overclock) the card must be faulty. It sounds like the cards bios is screwy... Return it.

 

[kemical]

Hmm... I just checked the spec for your GPU and it is indeed 680MHz. So the speed is actually correct but if you have been having problems ever since you got the machine then surely returning the machine is the only way to go?

 

[richie1913]

When looking at the gpuz screenshots why are the 4 boxes not ticked under computing,open CL,CUDA,physX etc.
And i have to agree with everyone else,sounds like a duff graphics card,

 

[kemical]

When looking at the gpuz screenshots why are the 4 boxes not ticked under computing,open CL,CUDA,physX etc.
And i have to agree with everyone else,sounds like a duff graphics card,

The reason those aren't present is that it's a 4-series chip (DX10.1 support only) and an AMD one at that (no physX).

 

[TorrentG]

MSI Afterburner should work to clock the chip at 500 mHz if you'd like to try that as a test. I understand that it was checked to be 680 mHz, but that GPU-Z screen makes me think that at 500 mHz, there will be no problems.

Look at the memory architecture. It is only 64 bit. It's not a performance solution by any means. I guarantee that 680 is messing it up. Or at least think so lol.

Here's my AGP solution:

 

[Mike]

Curious, did you ever come to a solution on this one? Best, Mike.

 

[EgonTowst]

I apologize for the long delay in response. I still haven't returned the card yet because I haven't had much time for gaming anyway lately. I've got some new info though:

I ended up reformatting the computer as a last resort just to see what would happen. Interestingly, after the reformat several games that had previously had crashing difficulties started running fine. I even left X3: Terran Conflict running all night one night just to be sure, and sure enough it was still running just fine in the morning.

But then I started installing some of the more graphics intense games. First I installed EVE Online. Install went fine, but the game suddenly crashed immediately upon loading the user login screen (the first screen you come to when running the application). And interestingly, at that moment I stared having the crashing difficulty again with all of the other games. So something happened during the install that caused all the problems. (I mentioned earlier that I was always having problems since I got the computer. But come to think of it I believe EVE was the first game I installed on it, so I would not have noticed if the problem already existed before then.)

I gave up on it for a while, but a few weeks later something prompted me to just give a game another shot. I booted up X3: Terran Conflict again, and suddenly the problem had once again ceased. Every game that I tried (though I didn't dare to touch EVE) worked perfectly fine. No crashes, no graphics glitches. Even very minimal lag on highest graphics settings. I can't remember what all I did to the computer during that time that may have caused the change. I know I did not update any drivers. Only the recommended system updates that the computer automatically downloads. The only graphics-related installs I made were a few codecs when installing DivX media player.

But then I installed Oblivion again, just now. My computer decided it really didn't like that. Upon installation completion, the computer froze for about half a minute, the screen flashed a couple of times (it has never done that before), and then it just completely shut itself off. When I booted the machine back up, the problem had returned for every game.

That just seems kind of strange to me ... how does an installation of particular games mess everything up like that?

Anyway, I'm still looking at getting the card replaced. I've got full hardware warranty so it shouldn't be any trouble, I just haven't gotten around to it yet.

 

[EgonTowst]

Dell tech support insists that it is a problem with the games themselves, not the video card. I am having a difficult time convincing them otherwise.

 

[TorrentG]

It is extremely rare for a game to cause a bsod in and of itself. If that ever happens in the rare instance, the game is immediately patched.

 

[nmsuk]

It's also imporabable that more than one game would do the same thing. Sounds like Dell trying it on to me.

 

[EgonTowst]

I agree. After arguing with support for a while I told them I want someone to come by my house and replace the part, which they said they'll do next week. Interestingly though the guy said they'll have to replace the whole motherboard, because the video card they claim is soldered onto the thing. I find that interesting considering that one of the reasons I chose this laptop was because unlike others it said nothing at all about an integrated video card!

 

[EgonTowst]

Well someone came by to replace the video card last week and that seems to have fixed the problem! Even set highest graphics settings for EVE Online and left the game running overnight, and it runs great. Very smoothly in fact. Thanks again to everyone for all your help! I'm sorry if I have been a hassle ... I knew I had warranty so I don't know why I didn't try exercising this option sooner.

 

[TorrentG]

Very cool. Glad all is well now and ty for telling us.