I think Gamebooster destroyed all my PC games

[Netsurfer733]

About a day or two ago I started to freeze up after using Gamebooster for a few weeks. The thing was that a few days before that, I started messing with Gamebooster to get more than a slight benefit to my Planetside 2 fps. It worked. I ended up getting 10-40fps better than I had been, and I was extremely pleased.

 

Long story short however, obviously a few days later the freeze/lock-ups started happening, and now I literally can't play ANY computer game on my laptop for more than 10-15 minutes (the most recent example being The Old Republic - a game totally unrelated to anything Planetside 2). Most of the time I can't even get a game to load up past an initial loading screen without a computer lockup.

 

I should mention that I tried as many things as I could think of to fix this problem (though I know I'm not very tech savvy). This included undoing the tweaks I did through Gamebooster, and even reverted back to Windows defaults, also an option under tweaks. Of course I also uninstalled Gamebooster, to no effect.

 

This all seemed to start really happening frequently after I got a blue screen of death yesterday. I also got shocked when hitting the power button (I don't remember this happening before) to turn it off, when these freezes occured, sometimes.

 

These are some very wierd occurances, the likes of which I've never experienced in all my years of PC gaming. It's really difficult for me to believe it could be anything other than Gamebooster.

 

So I ask you guys - do you think that Gamebooster is even capable of this? If you have great doubts then I might even reinstall it after I uninstall windows, if I find I have to (it's really looking like that right now). Otherwise I'm going to have to wait until the full release...if it's even coming. (An incredible shame - it helped my fps SO MUCH).

 

More importantly...is there any way I can fix this without a windows reinstall? Will THAT even help? I bow to the users on this forum's superior knowledge.

 

 

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(2011 Alienware m17x Laptop) System Information

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Time of this report: 2/4/2013, 00:24:35

Machine name: VISITOR2POINT0

Operating System: Windows 7 Ultimate 64-bit (6.1, Build 7601) Service Pack 1 (7601.win7sp1_gdr.120830-0333)

Language: English (Regional Setting: English)

System Manufacturer: Alienware

System Model: M17xR3

BIOS: InsydeH2O Version 1.0 A12

Processor: Intel® Core i7-2630QM CPU @ 2.00GHz (8 CPUs), ~2.0GHz

Memory: 8192MB RAM

Available OS Memory: 8140MB RAM

Page File: 7885MB used, 8391MB available

Windows Dir: C:\Windows

DirectX Version: DirectX 11

DX Setup Parameters: Not found

User DPI Setting: Using System DPI

System DPI Setting: 120 DPI (125 percent)

DWM DPI Scaling: UnKnown

DxDiag Version: 6.01.7601.17514 32bit Unicode

 

Graphics Card: nVidia GeForce GTX 560M

[Cicely]

Hi Netsurfer733,

 

Have you tried to play games without loading Game Booster to see whether you still have this problem? If not, please try to see the results.

 

As you said these issue are mainly occurred after you get blue screen.

 

Please find Minidump folder under C:\Windows and send this folder to us.

 

Our engineers will look into the mini dump files to find the cause of the blue screen, which may be the reason of the lock up issue.

 

You can send the minidump folder to support@iobit.com with providing a link to this thread.

[Netsurfer733]

My apologies, I could have been a bit more explicit; yes I certainly have tried to run games without Gamebooster, in addition to running them many times after having uninstalled Gamebooster (and undone all of its Tweaks) completely (even trying resetting to Windows Defaults under Tweaks).

 

To clarify further, I only got the blue screen of death once - it has not happened since, only computer lockups/freezes whenever I try to run a game.

 

As for the Minidump folder, I am sorry to report that I seem to be unable to email it. It says an error has occured when trying to put the folder in. Perhaps it's because the folder contains 0 bytes? It says that it is literally taking up 0 space on the computer. I tried to send it anyway but as mentioned, it doesn't seem to be letting me. I hope the fact that it's 100% empty is at least some help to you! (Upon second look actually, I see it's related to blue screens - unfortunately as I said, this has only happened once, days ago. It just almost seemed like the catalyst since the lockups I'd only received a few times before that [for a day or two] are now unavoidable whenever I try to load up a game.)

 

Thank you guys again for the support; what can I try next?

[Toppack]

Are you Over-clocking the CPU ?

If so, you may want to try lowering the base-frequency, to see if that helps.

(the Intel i7-2630 can not handle much over 2.00GHz, and what they call Turbo-mode may be too high)

 

We recently had a CPU that was rated at 3.2GHz, which I had over-clocked to 3.5,

and it ran problem-free, at that frequency, for several months, and then randomly started having lock-ups.

I lowered it to 3.4 and have not had a problem with it since.

 

Note - I think it was the North-bridge compatibility, of the Motherboard, that was the problem and not the CPU

[Cicely]

Hi Netsurfer733,

 

According to the actions you took, we can go to the result that this issue is not caused by Game Booster, but may be caused by this BSOD.

 

As the minidump file is empty, we can not analyze the cause of the BSOD issue, which may help us find the resolution to this issue.

 

If you get BSOD again, please send us the minidump file for analyzing.

[Netsurfer733]

Thank you guys for the responses. That is a scary thing about the turbo boost; my Alienware actually came like that. It's a bit scary to think that I could have received the computer in a state that would ultimately cause it to fail later on... Especially considering how you say it might be the motherboard. Damn. That being said I have never overclocked the laptop.

 

Regardless...something terrible has happened. 2 days ago, the same day you guys responded to me, my laptop exploded. All of a sudden, while feeling like I had finally fixed the problem because I was able to play for 20-30 minutes without a lock up by having reinstalled the graphics card drivers...my power suddenly turned off. I could not turn the computer back on, and whenever I so much as plugged my Alienware power cable into my computer, *it* would turn off (not sure why it does that - but in any case its blue light turns off whenever I try to put it in).

 

So now I have a corpse of a laptop, but thank god it's still under warranty. I suppose I should ask them about turbo boost when I get the computer back, but I was actually previously thinking OF overclocking it. So that makes me sad.

 

Any other suggestions of what I can do to keep the computer safe and running well when I get it back in a week or so?

[Toppack]

That is a scary thing about the turbo boost; my Alienware actually came like that. It's a bit scary to think that I could have received the computer in a state that would ultimately cause it to fail later on... Especially considering how you say it might be the motherboard. Damn.

 

Just to be Clear, for everyone reading this,

I was Not referring to Turbo-boost setting in programs,

I was talking about Turbo-Mode, which is a BIOS setting that may on the Motherboard,

(depending on the Mobo version you have)

that Increases the CPU clock-frequency from 2.0GHz to about 2.9GHz.

And 2.9 (or greater) may presently be too high for that CPU or Mobo.

(My main point is that Maximum clock-frequency can change (Lower) with age)

 

And yes the Dell-Alienware laptop does have that Turbo-mode capability,

so you may want to disable that to see if it helps, if you can still get into the BIOS.

 

I think it has an over-heat problem caused by too high frequency and maybe needs cleaning at air-inlets.

[Netsurfer733]

That's amazing - I actually think you're right! After I got the computer back...well they didn't fix it at all actually, but then after that they sent a technician to my apartment and he seemed to get it to work just fine...until maybe 20-30 minutes later, at which point it REALLY blew up. Then the computer couldn't turn off and, lo and behold, the computer ended up heating up like *hell*. I just about burned my skin when I touched the underside of the laptop.

 

(Then of course I had to send it back again, yesterday, so they're going to be better about fixing it this time - much better, I hope.)

 

So yeah, I think you may have been prophetic here!! Thank you very much for your insight. It is really a relief to think that Gamebooster was most likely not the problem. Do you think there was any chance it could have been this program given all of this, if I might ask? Because I can't help but wonder if I actually, technically did something to void my warranty by using the tweaks in this Beta Game Booster program...

[masterblaster]

I have been a long time user and supporter of Game Booster.

It is very hard to believe that this program can cause damage like you describe. When you boost your computer, the changes it makes are temporary. When you revert, everything is changed back. So if you boosted then reverted, your computer must have been set back to what it was before the boost.

[Toppack]

That's amazing - I actually think you're right!

 

Sorry to hear you are Still having so Much Trouble!

 

Yes, I have found that any Over-clocking usually needs Added Cooling.

(More or larger fans and air-vents)

And anything higher than CPU manufacturer recommended frequency should be considered overclocking.