Recurring and seemingly inescapable crash

T

tjknight83

Geek Trainee
I have a problem with about 75% of the games I own. They all crash in exactly the same way at some point or another. Sometimes after playing for an hour, sometimes after playing for just a couple of minutes; and it really pisses me off.

It happens in some games which are graphically demanding and at points where the computer is having to work very hard, and it happens when I am playing a football manager sim and just looking at a page of statistics. The computer completely locks up, doesn't respond to any input and loops the last 1 - 1.5 seconds of sound (if any) mixed with static. My only option is to reboot.

I have tried the latest graphics and sound drivers, and I have tried older ones. I have disabled or minimised use of my graphics card and my sound card. I have wiped my hard disk a number of times (in fact I swear that some games are doing it now that never used to before I wiped it).

My hardware, from what I can remember, is:

AMD Athlon 3000+
512MB RAM (whatever type was popular when I bought this in late 2003)
Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB
Soundblaster Audigy PCI
Windows XP SP2

A list of some games that are giving me grief:

Knights of the Old Republic 1 & 2
Total Club Manager 2005
Rome: Total War (on the campaign map or during loading)
SWAT 4 demo
Need For Speed Undeground 2
The Sims 2

Some that are working fine:

Half Life 2
Pro Evolution Soccer 4
Madden NFL 2005

Please have a stab at helping me if you can. If you need any more information then let me know. I can provide test results of my PC from PCPitstop and my Dr. Watson crash log files if you need them.

Thankyou
 
This is usually down to overheating from your CPU. Try getting a better HSF, first can you post the any temps your getting.
 
Also what PSU are you using? That's a pretty beasty system, infact similiar to the one I'm using. I have a 520W PSU and its fine.
 
Thanks for the response, guys. Not sure what you mean by 'any temps' and 'PSU' though, sorry. Could you enlighten me as to what they are and whereabouts I might find or find out about them?
 
Well for a starter on Temperature (temps) you could open the case and feel the air flow above the cpu and heatsink. If its blisteringly hot/uncomfortable to hold your hand there, then it is likely your system is overheating. If it seems cool, which is should do as that chip runs at very low temps, then its possible your PSU (power supply unit) is either faulty or not sufficient.

Look on the PSU inside the case, its the box like thing at the back. It will say a brand name and a wattage, and whilst the wattage isnt how you tell if its powerful enough, it will give us some idea.
 
Well the temperature is warm - I stuck a thermometer in there and got a reading of about 35 degrees C (95 F). Certainly not uncomfortable to hold my hand there though.

As for the PSU - it's a 'Suntek' with a total output wattage of 300W max.
 
Right, sounds to me like its the PSU not being powerful enough to cope with the stress of the gaming on the hardware.
I've never heard of Suntek, and even if it was a non-generic brand, 300W is definitely not enough for that hardware.

Consider upgrading the PSU to a 450W Antec or Sparkle, that will be more than enough, and much better quality.
 
Okay. Since those posts I have bought and installed a new 450W PSU - but the problem remains.

Any other thoughts as to what might be causing it?
 
I had the exact same problem you're experiencing. For me, it turned out that the power supply was only partially at fault. It had gone out, and damaged the northbridge in the process. I had to replace the motherboard before everything was kosher... :x:

For you though, RAM may be a factor. Grab & burn Memtest86+, boot to it and do a few test cycles on your RAM.

-AT
 
Hi,
I also am experiencing the same problem with a very similar configuration

Radeon 9800 Pro/128
Asus K8v Mobo
Athlon 64/3000
512MB Kingston Valueram
350 Watt Enermax PSU (so probably not the cause)

Win2000pro

Also the games TJknight mentiones are similar. So there seems to be a pattern

Problems
- Kotor2
- Far Cry (not terribly instable)
- Tron 2.0 (an older game surprisingly)

NO problems
- HalfLife 2
- DooM 3 (which is heavy on CPU & vid)
- BFME

What i tried:
- Installing an extra cooler to decrease CPU temp. Now 42 Idle. 48 stressed
- installed an extra casefan to improve airflow
- Underclocking the card
- Installed a VGA silencer (better cooler)
- defragmented harddrives
- Installed newest drivers
- Enabling/Disabling cool&quiet (no difference)

After installing the latest drivers, i played Tron for 3 straight hours! Maybe it was a coincidence?

After installing the VGA silencer i was able to play Kotor without further problems, but TRON 2.0 until this day is very unstable.


So. I too would be very happy if someone found a solution. From one side it looks a hardware temperature issue, but from the other side it's more like a driver issue.
 
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