[SOLVED] WoW and computer freeze crash. [SOLVED]

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I have a new problem with my new video card. Yesterday, my WoW froze and I couldn't do anything. The music playing from my WinAmp suddenly stopped, the whole game froze and I couldn't move the cursor at all. It's like taking a screenshot and staring at it right after that. Today, it happened five or six times in less than two hours. I tried not playing music from my WinAmp or anything else. I just played the game, and it crashed a lot later than expected. However, it started happening frequently again even after that. Most people in-game say that it's the video card that's causing this. Mine is an ATi Radeon 9200 SE with 128 mb memory and has the latest driver version, which is 6.11, I think. I tried searching for other or older drivers, which are compatible with this card, but then WoW.exe fails and says that I need to update to the latest driver version and get DirectX 9c. Nothing worked, so I reinstalled that driver and now I'm back where I was before. Only restarting the computer can get me out of this, but then, I know it will happen again, and it does. I'm writing fast, because it might screw up any moment now. I'm not sure if playing a game makes it easier for the computer to freeze crash, but I'm not gonna risk it. /sigh... Some comeback, huh?

Answer fast. I need help here.

[Tia]

Yo,

it really looks like a graphic card issue. Since you want a fast answer, I cannot come up with many possible solutions, but I can come up with one

I had similar problem like you describe, though I had a nvidia chip, when my PC would froze when playing PC games and I had to reboot. The problem was that the GPU had issues operating on the default frequency and I had to underclock it a bit. Then everything was fine. Thing is I do not know where I put the program to underclock GPU nor I remember the name since it was a few years back. But maybe I will be able to dig it up somewhere...

Maybe this helps

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So, there's an opposite of overclocking, huh? I didn't know that. This might actually work. And you think that my problem is somewhat the same and I should do try what you did? Well, at this rate, I'd do anything to get this out of my face, forever! I can't believe that after all these two months I still haven't made it go away... /sigh... I'm tired of all this video card exchange bit, I've already had 5 video cards, including this one... My first one was an nVidia 5.2k FX, then the awesome ATi Radeon 9550/x1050, which is still the best of all five, then I had the nVidia 5.7k FX, then the Chinese piece of junk Matrox G400 with 32 mb memory and no TMU support, which was needed for WoW to start, and finally, this one... I just want to make a decent return to WoW and at least play like I used to. I've already got used to my old playing style, and... -_-' I've stopped dying so often. I almost got into a WSG match, but we needed one more Hordie. Then, my computer freeze crashed and I probably missed it, since I was busy searching for something else and re-installing. I hope you remember about that program you used. As Fenris would say:

Keep digging, Watson, keep digging...

[Tia]

I just presented the first idea that came on my mind. First of all, you should check if the card does not overheat or something when playing because that might be causing crashes as well. I shall try to find the program, you could try searching the internet a bit if there were any issues with your GPU when playing WoW, or any other games in the meantime. I'd visit the blizzard Technical support forums and their knowledge base first...

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Even though it's your first idea, it's good and worth trying. My computer is still "alive", so I think it's really happening when I play WoW or any other game. I'm afraid to run my WinAmp and listen to music as I wait, even! How can I check the temperature of my video card? Does Everest have this? Because I remember that when I had an older version, I could see the processor's and other stuff's temperature as tray icons.

We're not done yet, Watson, keep digging.

[Tia]

If there is a sensor in your GPU Everest should show up the temperature.

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Damn it, it's not showing me the temperatures of anything now! Not the processor's, not the GPU's, not anything! I haven't worked with EVEREST for a long time now... Before my computer's video cards started dying on me, I could see the temperatures. I even remember that the processor's temperature was pretty high...

[Tia]

Cleaning the PC once in a while cannot harm...

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You mean opening it and cleaning it inside? It might be true, since when my father opened up the computer to change the Matrox with this ATi, the Matrox was very dusty. You could feel it just by touching it.
I'm searching in google about underclcking and I think I've hit something. Let's just hope it's not a virtual rock.

[Tia]

Yep, cleaning the dust inside is what I meant.

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Hmm... I'll try it later. Anyway, what if I open it and leave it like this instead of being all closed up like a computer box should be? My father had the habit of leaving it like this, saying that it cools better. The cards where changed last night, at 23:00, maybe. Is it possible for the card to get so much dust?
I found this:
"You can underclock your video card by using an overclocking program. They are usually used to increase clock rates but they can also be used to decrease them. A video card has two clocks which you can underclock: the GPU clock, and the video RAM clock. You should reduce each of the clock rates individually to see if underclocking solves your problem. If that doesn't work then try reducing both of them at the same time. When you're reducing the clock rate, reduce it in small increments rather than all at once. Some components can become unstable when underclocked by too much. Just reduce the clock rate by a small amount like 10% and then test the card. If that doesn't solve the problem then continue to reduce it in small steps. GPUs can usually be underclocked as much as you want but there's not much point in going beyond cutting the clock rate in half. Video RAM often has problems when underclocked by too much. Take it down to half its original clock rate if possible. If you start getting screen artifacts when underclocking the memory, then just stop at the lowest clock rate where there are no artifacts. If your video card has DDR memory, then the clock rate which appears in the overclocking program may be half of what you expect. It is common for 200 MHz DDR memory to be refered to as 400 MHz but that's not technically correct. The programs usually modify the actual clock rate which is, in this case, 200 MHz."
There's also more, but I just thought of copying this here, so you could see it for yourself.

More stuff. Do you remember any of the programs under the text here?
"Overclocking is very popular among hardware enthusiasts so there are lots of different overclocking programs. This page shows how to underclock using the following approaches:
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(Programs)
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ATITool
CoolBits
PowerStrip
RivaTuner
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If you have an ATI card and you're using Windows 2000 or Windows XP, then you should start with ATITool. It has an artifact checker which can help you determine when your card is functioning properly. If that doesn't work on your ATI card, then you can try PowerStrip. If you have an NVIDIA card, then you should start with CoolBits because it uses controls provided by NVIDIA. If that doesn't work then you can try PowerStrip. If PowerStrip has problems then you can try RivaTuner . If your card isn't an ATI or NVIDIA, then just try PowerStrip."

By the way, my computer crashed again about 5-10 minutes ago.

[Tia]

I used EVGA Precision, but I had nvidia chip. I had to underclock the video Ram by cca 50Hz if I remember correctly...

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...I only understood the first sentence you wrote. What is "cca"?

Anyway, to continue, here's how the first program, used mainly for ATi cards, looks like.

[Tia]

circa, approximately, about

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Ah, okay. Does EVGA work for ATi or any other cards, except for nVidia?
I think I should first try out the ATITool.