Weird blocks in screen and occasional freeze

While playing GW, I get after about 5-30 minutes.

Image

This happens after a freeze of about 5 seconds. Sometimes it stays frozen. I am still able to alt+tab out of it then, although very slowly.

I do not think my videocard is overheating, I have a fan on it and 2 casefans running at maximum speed. I also have the latest drivers.

It used to run ok on this comp, this is happening since yesterday.

The only things I changed are:

- Put off System Restore
- Changed virtual memory, but that's back to normal already
- Defragged

System:

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 1
Internet Explorer 6.0.2800.1106 (IE 6.0 SP1)
Computer Name TIM
User Name _Tim
Logon Domain TIM

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Pentium 4, 1500 MHz (3.75 x 400)
Motherboard Name Intel Billings D845BG (6 PCI, 1 AGP, 2 DIMM, Audio)
Motherboard Chipset Intel Brookdale i845D
System Memory 384 MB (DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type AMI (11/13/01)
Communication Port Communicatiepoort (COM1)
Communication Port Communicatiepoort (COM2)
Communication Port Printerpoort (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce FX 5600 (256 MB)
3D Accelerator nVIDIA GeForce FX 5600
Monitor Iiyama Vision Master Pro 410 A702HT

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Intel 82801BA(M) ICH2 - AC'97 Audio Controller [B-5]

Storage:
Floppy Drive Diskettestation
Disk Drive ST310212A (10 GB, 5400 RPM, Ultra-ATA/66)
Disk Drive WDC WD64AA
Optical Drive ASUS CD-S520/A (52x CD-ROM)
Optical Drive MSI DVD-ROM 16X (16x DVD-ROM)

Partitions:
C: (FAT32) 6137 MB (3796 MB free)
D: (NTFS) 9767 MB (3820 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard Standaardtoetsenbord (101/102 toetsen) of Microsoft Natural PS/2-toetsenbord
Mouse Microsoft PS/2-muis

If you need more info, ask, I have about 200 pages of info about my comp.

I'm no expert, but the first thing I would check would be the power supply. Also, make sure all your fans and heatsink fins aren't clogged up with dust bunnies.

How can I check my power supply? I don't need a step-by-step explanation, but I have no idea how to check it.

EDIT: Found it out already, but I don't think it's my power supply =/

I had a similar problem and the power supply was what was causing it. Install something like PC Wizard 2006 and go to "Voltage". You should have the voltages running normally (ie. 3.33v = 3.3v | 5v = 4.9-5.2v | 12v = 11.5-12.5v). Then check on the sticker on your power supply inside your case. It should list the rails and the Amps. (Represented by the letter "A"). Make sure it has at least 20A on the 12v rail. Oh, and 250 watt minimum is recommended.

If not that, then it must have been a game update changing something that caused it, since it started happening recently.

Are you sure you did not install any hardware into your computer recently that could be using more power?

If not any of those then I have no clue.

Good luck finding a solution :-)

A defrag may or may not cause corruption in the gw dat file. A very good practice on defrag should be done after a chdsk has been run and when VM is shut off. The system you posted is going to be slow alt tabbing no matter what. Although that appears to be a typical "artifact" problem it could very well be corrupt texture map(s) as well. I would start with a clean install of gw complete with downloading fresh updates and check back with us.

My CPU voltage is only 2,07V. Is that normal?

The rest is ok. (3.34 , 5.15 , 11,90)

Depends on the chip...I'm assuming it's a 478 (going by the 400 fsb) and the voltage is 2/3 +-%2. It wont be a core voltage issue especially with that motherboard. If it detect's out-of-spec voltages it will shut-down or not power up to begin with. If your machine was shutting off during this artifact glitch I'd look to the supply, but you didn't mention that being the case. As i mentioned before about the defrag, I would try installing a fresh copy. If that doesn't fix it (since you have it with fans running at full speed, i doubt it's heat either) I would contact Nvidia since it's most likely a problem with the card or a driver issue they can walk you through.

I formatted my HD, maybe it will work with a clean install.

I hate it when things don't work >_>

Thanks everybody with the help so far

Omg, still the same.

Any more help? Contacting NVIDIA isn't really an option I think, the card is a few years old and I'm the second owner.

Also, I don't think it's a driver issue. I have used the same driver for about 5 months I think, never had problems with it.

Hrmmm, sounds as if the card has reached it's life-span then. Other then over heating and graphic file corruption, there doesn't seem to be much else that could be wrong for it to happen overnight like that.

Sorry, artifacts like that mean your video card is going bad. Could be the GPU, could be the memory, but at this point that's irrelevant. Unless you got a warranty of some sort still, you're going to need to shop for a replacement card. Looking at the rest of your system, you won't really need to spend much for the same level of performance. A 256MB 6600 AGP can be had for under 100$, and it'll be a tad better than what it's replacing.

If you can afford it, you should get a little extra system memory too. Even just adding an extra 512MB would make a big difference in your overall performance.

If you're running a P4 1.5GHz, you've had your computer long enough to justify investing a little money into its longevity.

May the GeForce FX 5600 (256 MB) rest in peace. Yeah it's dieing and I did not even read the responces.

So there's absolutely nothing I can do to prevent it from/slow down the dieing?

You can try underclocking it, but that's no guarantee. Go to guru3d.com and download the Coolbits registry hack (or get RivaTuner) and then lower your core and memory clocks in 10-20MHz increments and see if you can hit a spot where it runs stably.

But understand this- if it's not a heatimg problem, if it's an actual defect, then underclocking will solve nothing. But if it is heat, you may be able to regain playability at the expense of some speed.