Games freeze & 100% CPU usage

[Stan Blazejewski]

This problem isn't on my computer but lately my son's computer
(AMD Athlon XP 2.16Ghz / 1.5G mem) has been freezing in games & sound goes into
a fast loop mode during the freeze. Running process explorer shows that the
game is using 100% (or close to it) CPU.

XP was clean installed about a month ago & all updates have been installed.
Some of the games have been on this computer for quite some time & have been
working fine in the past. This freezing/sound loop problem has been steadily
getting worse, it was one of the reasons for doing the clean install.

All other aspects of the computer seem to work fine.

Can anyone give me some pointers as to where I should start looking for the
problem?

Thanks

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[Elmo]

This problem isn't on my computer but lately my son's computer
(AMD Athlon XP 2.16Ghz / 1.5G mem) has been freezing in games & sound goes into
a fast loop mode during the freeze. Running process explorer shows that the
game is using 100% (or close to it) CPU.

XP was clean installed about a month ago & all updates have been installed.
Some of the games have been on this computer for quite some time & have been
working fine in the past. This freezing/sound loop problem has been steadily
getting worse, it was one of the reasons for doing the clean install.

All other aspects of the computer seem to work fine.

Can anyone give me some pointers as to where I should start looking for the
problem?

Thanks

Run DXDiag and see if it complains of uncertified drivers; try lowering
graphics and sound hardware acceleration, etc.. Also look at the
computer manufacturer site and the graphics card manufacturer site for
different drivers. Try upgrades, reference drivers, and drivers for
other model cards till you find one that works. Do a search at
http://groups.google.com entering the game and sound card model for more
suggestions.

See if there's a BIOS upgrade for your system. Look at the
manufacturer's site, Compaq, PB, etc., and also at the motherboard
manufacturer's site.

Besides DXDiag, you can lower sound hardware acceleration in Control
Panel, "Sounds and Audio Devices", Audio tab, Advanced button,
Performance tab.