problem when playing games

[Evilization]

hello guys
im having a problem when i play video games
at random moments, the whole screen will turn to crap (as shown in pic) and there is this buzzing noise. The whole thing just freezes at that point and i have to force the power off using the power button on the case.
Temps are all fine with the GPU, CPU, and mobo



my gear:
gtx 280
2 GB ram ddr2 800
cpu core 2 duo e6850
PSU PC power and cooling silencer 750 W
mobo intel ASUS P5KLSE

[K PhaNTOM]

I found that most freezing happens out of

1. Video Card overheat
2. Ram overheating/craping out

Chech dos, dos.

[{CLR} ObiTroy]

Looks like a problem I had several years ago when my PSU was on it's way out. It would work fine under normal, no-game conditions... but was getting to a point where it couldn't handle the required load for gaming.

[{CLR} Cobalt]

Buzzing noise cant be good. Like mentioned already it could be an electrical problem.If you have access to a spare PSU, you could run it and see if things change. Trouble shooting on PC's can be tough. If you have multiple issues at a time it can be even tougher.

Its a matter of a process of elimination if you have the parts to work with. What PC shops do. They just keep changing things until they find the one that was bad if it's hardware related.

[Evilization]

the buzzing noise is from the game freezing
not from the PC itself

anyway it reminds me that I plugged in all my american PC parts to a step down device, since in indonesia the voltage is 220 V. the step down device smelled like it was burning inside a couple days back but i ignored it because everything was working fine. It also happens that the device has relatively low Ampere. Can it be the cause of my problems?

Also, all the american parts are labeled 110V-240V. I wonder if I can just plug them directly without using a step-down?

[Dead...Again]

EDIT: Some PSUs have a switch that will switch it from 110 to 220. They probably auto-switch otherwise, but I'm not sure if I would be willing to bet on that unless you have a backup.

[Evilization]

i checked, there isnt
can it change automatically?
because all my external hard drives are labeled the same and they dont have a single switch

[Dead...Again]

Sorry, I was editing my previous post:
EDIT: Some PSUs have a switch that will switch it from 110 to 220. They probably auto-switch otherwise, but I'm not sure if I would be willing to bet on that unless you have a backup.

[Warhead]

Looks exactly like the 280 "pink screen of death" to me. If that is the case, it will continue to get worse, sometimes being triggered by web browsing and eventually you won't be able to get past the login screen because even aero will trip it. Make sure you have a spare video card on hand, preferably not another 280, if you need this PC for more than just gaming.

[Reconsnipe1]

Mine did almost that exact thing when my grapics card burned out. I couldnt even see my desktop and spent hours working on it then finally found out that was the problem.

[{CLR} Cobalt]

Umm. with someone that has lived on the other part of the planet for over 4 years. The converters/inverters can be bad juju real fast.

Evil, first off look at your PSU closely. If it doesnt have a switch to toggle between 110 - 240 check to see what the limits are on the voltage. If both voltages are listed then it is an auto switch and you dont need the step down. Looks like you just might have a voltage problem if the inverter was smelling bad the other day. I had that a couple times too. Had to get another one. I dont know where you bought the inverter but if overseas they arent made that well to begin with.

If the start over with the PSU being auto switch and you plug directly into the power source there and still get the same problem, you may have damaged the PSU somehow. If you can eliminate a bad PSU (by trying a different one) then the only thing is the vid card at this point.Even with old drivers it will work.

If the PSU was bad I dont see how it would run the rest of the system or even boot up. Or , maybe the power demand from the Vid card is just enough to not work but still power the rest of the system. Once again , you have to go with the process of elimination and try and figure it out.

Start with replacing stuff if you can. Find someone that has some spare parts lying around and ask if you can borrow them for testing purposes, and go from there.

Hope this helps.

[Evilization]

problem solved
it was indeed the GPU. There was this one time that psod happened and the monitor went into 'power save' mode, so i figured the problem had to be display-related.
Anyway, RMA from across the world would be too much of a hassle, so i bought a GTX 480. It's all good now.
thanks guys

[Duke{CLR}]

Congrats on the new GPU.

[Warhead]

problem solved
it was indeed the GPU. There was this one time that psod happened and the monitor went into 'power save' mode, so i figured the problem had to be display-related.
Anyway, RMA from across the world would be too much of a hassle, so i bought a GTX 480. It's all good now.
thanks guys

RMAing those psod 280s is a freakin nightmare, I lost count, but it took me a year (to the month) of RMAs to get a 285 that I have to manually increase the fan speed for.... and I kept it!

Gratz on the new card, and saving yourself a lot of trouble.

[Dead...Again]

sux that the GPU crapped out, but I'm glad you got it worked out.