Hi all,

I have a consistent issue playing ARMA2. I've read all I can find but really am stumped. I've read:

"PC reboots, freezes or shuts down during gameplay

* 9 times out of 10 this is due to an unstable overclock. Try running CPU, RAM and GPU(s) at stock clock speeds. For CPU overclock stability testing, try running Intel Burn Test for a good few hours."

So here is my set up.

Win 7 x64 - very large page file on a separate partition by itself. (Same disk)

Gigabyte MoBo with latest firmware. Standard settings except for FSB.

EVGA 8800 GT KO (186.18 drivers and DX10 if that's relevant) Huge cooler and fan so it doesn't overheat. Also tried multiple driver versions using Driver Cleaner to completely remove old artifacts

G-Skill 4GB RAM
RAM is now at Standard speed with the 7 x 400 adjustment. Read below.

Intel Core 2 Duo E6550, 2800 MHz (7 x 400) Now yes it is FSB overclocked however this is a "standard" OC and proven well within the CPU's capability. Plus I have a huge cooler and fan so it's not overheating.

Corsair PSU is a 650w and all power rails are through putting correct levels.

So ARMA2 is the only games that does this. I can be playing and the screen glitches to small rectangles. Alternate bright pixels / game screen / bright pixels / game screen. Then the video just shuts off. My screen goes into sleep mode / standby but I can still hear the game running. I need to reset my PC and reboot to resurrect.

So I believe the system isn't stretched, the voltages are ok, heat isn't an issue and I want to play ARMA!! /cry

Any suggestions?

Cheers.

Sounds related to your graphics card. Maybe driver is crashing. I've had it a few times where my actual "graphic display driver not responding" or something bizarre like that.

Change your performance options for your video card. Set them all to pretty basic settings (low quality, AA off, etc) and see how that goes.

Your driver is definately crashing, doesn't neccessarily mean it's your graphics card though, could be faulty RAM or something.

things to try:
- run arma at the absolute lowest settings and see if the issues occurs
- run a memtest (the bootable version not the windows exe)
- run a GPU stress, something like furmark or the equivalent of ATI tray tools (not too sure what nvidia cards use)

Thanks for the responses guys.

I downloaded the latest FurMark. 1.8.2.

Options were:

Stability Test
Log GPU Temperature
Xtreme Burning Mode
Displacement mapping
Post FX
MSAA - 16x

I ran it full screen, 1920 x 1200 for 10 minutes.

Idle temp was 36c
Max reached and stable was 47c

A walk in the park in my books. Now I have tried different drivers but I fail to see if the above test doesn't bust my system, why would lowering the ARMA2 settings? Or is there a glitch with the ARMA2 engine or something that causes the issue?

Thanks again for your help. I'll try dropping the detail in game and see how we go.

Cheers.

Yes, ArmA has many glitches (although with OA it's much much better) which conflict with different hardware/software.

Stressing the GPU is best way to determine if it's a hardware fault.

Lowering your graphic settings (inside ArmA, and outside using your NVIDIA control panel) is best way to determine if it's driver/ArmA engine conflicts. For instance ArmA 2 used to run fine on my PC, but up the resolution to 2560x1600 and I got more memory leaks and crashes. Same happened with high AA settings.

So you've passed the stress test, now lower your video card settings (lower your AA and AF settings, turn off v-sync, disable triple buffering, etc). Unless you find someone with same video card and similar problems (with a working solution) it'll be trial and error with changing your settings.