Back_Blast

Yup. Check your version. Check your fans to make sure heat isn't it. You could also try running the game in Safe Mode. (Not the windows kind). When the updater comes up to the EULA, look for the Safe Mode checkbox. That forces the game to run at minimum graphics settings. If you can't run that, you've got a big issue. Does the system otherwise boot and run fine? Desktop look ok and all that?

There any info on when they plan to have a full driver out? I may go ahead and pull the preview but I'm curious to know.

Odd, I can have Firefox maxed and not have that problem as you do. But I also have two monitors so if FF is up, I tend to have it on the second screen so I can see it.

well I'd consider it unusual but yes I do believe that the HDD could be at fault depending on just what is wrong with it. I have seen issues like that before. So you could try your suggestion and see if it comes up. You don't even *have* to have a drive if you want to see if it will just POST. Just plug it up and go. If it does more than it did before, like POST, then you know you're on the right track. As for going back in time to shoot the inventor of the computer, you'll probably need a computer to compute the time jump...

One other thing to try is this, unplug the system and then press and hold the power button for 10-15 sec. Then plug it back in and see what happens. It's possible the system had a small power surge. Doing that will clear the capacitors and may allow the system to come back on. If that doesn't work, you may have a dead PSU or issues with your power strip/UPS/whatever it's plugged into.

Ever try just clicking the mouse somewhere on the screen? Mine does that some but all I have to do is click, say, on the password box and it comes to the fore and works fine.

Well an unstable CPU can cause issues. So I'd imagine it's at least possible that is the root of your problem. Run it at the lower or even stock speed for a bit and see what happens. As for why it is unstable, the stock cooler being insufficient could be it but also it's possible the BIOS profile used is not quite right for your chip. Overclocking is not an exact science. Tweaking the profile might render it stable at that speed, or it might fry the chip altogether. OC at your own risk.

My immedite suggestions would be to check your memory and HDD for issues. There might be a problem there with file corruption or something. You could also try a full wipe and reinstall of just the game and see what that does.

Does it do this for any other game or program?

A new card isn't necessarily the solution. If you want to try and eliminate the card as the issue, I'd suggest seeing if someone you know has a comparable card you can borrow for testing and try using that in CoH and see what happens. That way you don't shell out $$ for a card only to discover it's something else causing the problem.

And you could try rolling back the BIOS as you've considered though I'm not sure that will do anything. I'd try a card swap first though.

Also, I'd tend to guess you can't take the card back to where you got it. But if it is still under warranty from the manufacturer and you can show that the card is faulty, then you may be able to get the maker to do something.

Good to see you seemed to have fixed it. Here's hoping you truly have.

Well something that regular would almost have to be a program or something similar. I can tell from your screenshot you have at least iTunes and what I take to be Yahoo chat open. Try running the game all by it's lonesome. Shut off everything extra you can and see what happens.

Further, are there other machines online with you? If there are, perhaps the spikes originate from them somehow. They might be running something that is putting out big bursts of traffic.

Also, check for viruses and such. Perhaps you've got one 'dialing home' and causing your issue.

And finally, try running the Resource Monitor or similar and watch your network activity while the system just sits idle to see if the spikes are truly related to CoX. If it starts having big bursts of activity while doing nothing, you know it's not CoX and is something else.

Well "IGPs" and "raw power" are rarely if ever used in the same sentence. Unless it's to tell you the first lacks the second.

Keep in mind that IGPs are really never meant for gaming. It's budget video for folks who don't need much because all they do is web surf and use Office. Doesn't take a huge card to do that.

Well unless the two integrated boards offer you something *overwhelmingly* fantastic compared to the board without, take board #1 and reuse your card. Both of those chipsets are a step down from what you have now.

Did some searching on your error and while my search was hardly exhaustive, a common issue I did see was with the audio drivers causing this. In some cases, updating them fixed the issue, in others, they had multiple apparent audio drivers that were conflicting with each other. Disabling the extras seemed to fix the crashes.

In the first case, the common denominator seemed to be with Realtek audio and a search of your mobo indicates it has a Realtek audio chip. This may be your problem.

In the second, it seems at least some ATI cards have some sort of audio driver with them (not quite sure why) and disabling it fixes the conflict. As you have an Nvidia card, this may not be relevant. Not sure if Nvidias have such as well. In any case, you might look for additional audio type devices and try either updating or disabling them as well.

Keep in mind the above only *may* be your issue. It could easily be a HW problem of some sort but those seem to be common solutions that I found in short searching.

Interestingly, I run Win 7 and would technically fall into both categories (Realtek + ATI) but fortunately I'm not having your problem. (And I hope I never do.) Something to check out and see what you find.

You can also check the Event Viewer (Control Panel --> Administrative Tools --> Event Viewer). Error messages from past crashes ought to be recorded there as well which might point a bit to what is going on.