Dell XPS Crashing Issues

[stillman]

I had some odd problems after the patch. I lowered the settings so I can listen to a youtube video while playing without it getting choppy. My mouse pointer turns into this block that looks like a can of soup with the label peeled off. The game also went black, requiring me to turn off the comp. I'll go turn the settings back up, I guess. Seems like a rather silly solution...

[Tilitoon]

I have some problems like that, but it happens seemingly randomly. This afternoon d3 was working fine, but when I came back at like 7ish my fans were blowing like crazy. No idea what changed but sometimes my card cranks up for no reason other times it's silent.

Do you have a Dell XPS ? If you make sure you update the BIOS with the new fan profiles. In any case it's better if your fans spin a bit higher but your GPU / CPU don't overheat. Monitor the temperatures to be safe.

I had some odd problems after the patch. I lowered the settings so I can listen to a youtube video while playing without it getting choppy. My mouse pointer turns into this block that looks like a can of soup with the label peeled off. The game also went black, requiring me to turn off the comp. I'll go turn the settings back up, I guess. Seems like a rather silly solution...

Flash has been known to cause problems with video games in the past. But it should only do it WHILE you are on websites that have Flash on it. This is because Flash is now hardware accelerated and sometimes it messes with the video settings (it can even cap your GPU frequency). Not sure if it's still a problem but you may need to test the game without any other programs running to eliminate any possibilities.

[droppin]

Do you have a Dell XPS ?

If that is a video card I have a ATI Radeon HD 4800 series. Normally the games run fine without any problems btu every now and then stuff just crashes. I had problems playing Half-Life 2, but Left For Dead 2 works perfect (both using source). I eventually got hl2 fixed by following some crazy changes in a forum post I googled. Today it's crashign just on the login screen, not even at character select or in game, just idling checking for foums while alt tabbed.

[Tilitoon]

If that is a video card

No it's a laptop model. But thanks for telling us your video card model.

So, what is your GPU temperature (idle and full load) ?

[droppin]

No it's a laptop model. But thanks for telling us your video card model.

So, what is your GPU temperature (idle and full load) ?

Idle it's like 84 with diablo it's like 90+. Someone told me to check if the fan is working (I'll check it sometime), but the temp has been like that forever :/. LFD2 and SC2 have the same temp+GPU clock, so I'm thinking it's software idk :'(.

[droppin]

k, I just opened it up and the fan is running. I sprayed the dust out and it's idling about 65. ON the D3 login screen it's about 85ish.

[Tilitoon]

I know it's hot in Florida but 85+ at login screen is starting to get hot, not alarming hot but still, the lifespan of your video card may be diminished. I don't remember the 48xx serie running very hot, not as much as the GeForce 470 for example. That said they should be able to keep working up to 99degrees (not that's a good thing to keep it running at those temps). Do you know which model it is exactly ? I would keep a close eye on the cpu temperature too, I suspect it's getting hot too. Adding one or two case fans would be a good move. Since you already removed the dust, there aren't any more easy things you can try. One last thing would be to alter the fan profiles so that they would spin a bit higher.

But, if I understand correctly you are saying you cannot go further than the login screen without the game crashing ? If that's the case, then overheating would not be the primary issue causing that, that's for sure. Have you gone through the standard "update video card drivers", "reinstall the game", "disable any other programs" stuff ?

[stillman]

Edit: I just updated my AMD driver and haven't had any more problems. Hope it stays that way!

[droppin]

@Tilitoon. The comp would crash at unspecific times. Sometimes I would be searching the ah for 10 min and a crash, sometimes afk at login and crash, and sometimes in game after 3 hours and crash. Currently it's now working properly so idk what the heck happened. I updated drivers for pretty much everything when I first intalled D3 and again after the patch. I do need some new equipment but that will come when the $$ comes in. It's an ATI Radeon 4800 HD Series.

[Tilitoon]

It's an ATI Radeon 4800 HD Series.

I know, but which model exactly 4850, 4870 ? Which brand, Sapphire, Asus ?