Audigy 2 ZS crashing games, I think?

[Deadman93723]

I have had the same Audigy 2 ZS for 2 1/2 years now, and have never had problems with it. I have been out of the loop in gaming for a while now, just getting back into it. Now, my system is stable, I have tested it, a lot. I have just recently got FEAR and Quake 4, when I play Quake 4 for about 20-30 min, the whole system locks-up, and I get all kinds of wierd sonds and stuff. In FEAR it is not so bad, sometimes I can play it for over an hour, and it never locks up, but sometimes I can play FEAR for only 20-30 min before it locks up the whole system just like Quake 4 does.

I have the latest drivers for the sound card installed, the latest OpenAL driver(even though I am not using OpenAL settings at the moment), I have the lastest chipset, video, and any other drivers you can think of installed, no IRQ conflicts, or anything.

My question is, is my Audigy 2 ZS overheating maybe, even though I have very good case air flow, or is the card just getting old and worn out, or is it something else?

Any input would be appreciated, this locking up crap is getting old.

[cadaveca]

agp/pci locked?

[Deadman93723]

Originally Posted by cadaveca

agp/pci locked?

Yes, at 66.66/33.33.

[Deadman93723]

Nobody has any other ideas? I have reinstalled the sound drivers and checked all other hardware, everything is fine. When the games crash I get a loud squelth from the sound card.

edit: now it is doing it in more than just games, is my card dying?