People, I need help in these desperate times... My computer keeps crashing or giving errors while I play games(WoW, C&C:Generals, Rise of Nations)... At first I thought I could be my graphics card, but I borrowed my friends 9800 pro and I still get the same problem. So I went crazy defragmented my computer blah blah blah... and still problems. I ran Prime95 several times doing some torture testing. I torture tested Small FFT's(Max FPU stress, Data fits into L2 cache, Ram not tested much) It passed. Then I tested Blend(tests some of everything, lots of RAM tested) and it gives me a Hardware failure in less than a 5 minutes. pls share anything you know that could help. Specs: P4 2.4Ghz (no oc) Gigabyte GA-8SR533 no HT 333Mhz DDR 514MB NO-ECC 80GB Seagate 80GB Maxtor 128MB ATI Radeon 9800 Pro Pioneer Dvd Pioneer Dvd Writer(A106) 300 Watt Audigy 1x80mm Fan
Download MemTest86, install it to a floppy diskette, leave it in your floppy drive and reboot, run ALL the tests (this could take well over 12 hours so leave it on over night if you can). MemTest86 will detect errors in your memory, you can only be sure of this if you have run ALL the tests available. If it finds errors you then know that your memory is damaged and it needs replacing or returning. Also something that does concerns me: Is the fact that your running a 300Watt PowerSupply, this is NOT enough power for your system.. Your running a very power hungry system, 2 Hard Drives, 2 Optical Drives, a SoundBlaster Audigy, Pentium 4 2.4GHZ not only that.. but a ATI 9800Pro :O Running a Pentium 4 2.4GHZ / 2 Hard Drives / 2 Optical Drives / 1 Peice of Ram, would be pushing the powersupply as it is.. let alone running an Audigy SoundCard and a ATI 9800Pro (2 VERY demanding components). Basically your powersupply is not about the "Wattage" (300W / 400W) all it means is that your powersuppy can outpu a Maximum of "300W", powersupplies have different "V Rails" (Voltage Rails): +3.3V +5V +12V -5V -12V and these are calculated by the "Amps" the powersupply can supply to these "Rails" On a good 300W powersupply you would still be pushing to provide enough power on your Voltage Rails to have a stable system.. if you can in your bios you should be able to check the Voltages that are being supplied to the different V Rails for example: +5V is showing up in your BIOS as: "4.35V" then that is TOO low, your powersupply should be providing enough power to supply your Voltage Rails with slightly more than was is required, in my pc: my +5 is +5.11V (example) Run the MemTest, if you do get errors, you will need to replace your memory, and you will need to get a new powersupply as this is most likely the cause of your troubles.
I agree and I also know from experience that using a generic crappy PSU, even a high wattage model can damage your components after time. Mine died after a few months of working and then took the HD with it.
