Crashing Computer When i play games

AndRoiD

recently i got a new comp. I installed xp, drivers etc. When i play games such as cs and age of empires the whole computer freezes and there is nothing that work. I tried re-installin the drivers and i also reformated to try and sort the problem. This had no affect Was wondering if anybody has any tips on what it could be and has it happened to anyone else?

satchmo

Could be an overheating problem. Did you build the machine yourself? What sort of cooling have you got?

Stephen

Have you got recent drivers for your graphics card?

AndRoiD

naw its not overheating. I just re-installed the gfx drivers and it doesnt crash anymore but there is no sound. so i guess i will just have to mess around with the audio settings. thanx anyway

aidan_walsh

Is this all games, or just one in particular? If so, which one?

AndRoiD

earlier i thought the computer was fixed because it was no longer crashing when i play cs and doesnot crash anymore. But when i go to play any other games such as age of empires it crashes. was wondering what was the problem because if it is no longer crashing in cs but crashing in age of empires what could the problem be

RicardoSmith

Could be anything, software, drivers, hardware, user error, anything.

What machine is it? Whats the spec. Whats the OS

Did you add any software recently like new drivers that could be causing the problem?

How do you know its not overheating? What temps are you getting?

Have you taken out all the components and added them back one by one to identify the fault?

AndRoiD

What machine is it? Whats the spec. Whats the OS

How do you know its not overheating? What temps are you getting?


the pc is an amd 3000+ 512 ddr 80gig hd and a radeon 9200. it is windows xp that is installed atm. when the computer freezes it is only around 40 degrees. it is something to do with the drivers because now i can play cs but not aok

Bass.exe

40 degrees is the Case temp I assume? Your GFX card or CPU could be overheating.
Tell me, does it play for about 5 - 15 mins before crashing? Because that's about how long it takes for the components to reach their maximum temperature. Oh, sure, it'll go up another degree or two 40 mins later, but the first 10 minutes are critical.

RicardoSmith

AndRoiD wrote:

What machine is it? Whats the spec. Whats the OS

How do you know its not overheating? What temps are you getting?


the pc is an amd 3000+ 512 ddr 80gig hd and a radeon 9200. it is windows xp that is installed atm. when the computer freezes it is only around 40 degrees. it is something to do with the drivers because now i can play cs but not aok

Whats about 40 degs? gfx, cpu, system? My 2400+ runs at 40 degs btw.

If its something to do with the drivers, have you tried earlier or later version of the Radeon drivers?

Whats aok mean?

AndRoiD

Bass.exe wrote:

40 degrees is the Case temp I assume? Your GFX card or CPU could be overheating.
Tell me, does it play for about 5 - 15 mins before crashing? Because that's about how long it takes for the components to reach their maximum temperature. Oh, sure, it'll go up another degree or two 40 mins later, but the first 10 minutes are critical.

That is exactly what happens. i can play games for around 5mins(variable) and then it crashes. Now tho i can pla cs and it doesnt crash but when i play other games it crashes after like 5-10mins. What do i do to fix this problem?
Do i need a new cooling fan?

po0k

Take apart your cooling setup.

Get rid of those horrible little thermal pads.

Apply some Arctic Silver paste with a credit card. Just a layer as thick as skin.

Apply the heatsinks.

Start the "Burn-in" procedure to settle the paste.

I assume you're running the latest DirectX9.0c.

You might also want to download Memtest and let it run for a few hours.

stevenmu

Could also be the power supply struggling to keep up. What rating has it got and what make is it ?

[CrimsonGhost]

AndRoiD wrote:

the pc is an amd 3000+ (

This is a known problem with some boards and AMD 64 chips reporting the temperature incorrectly. I had problems where mine was running at about 39 or so but reporting 79 in the bios. Problem with the board, an MSI one. I flashed it with a beta bios at the time and that fixed it.

It sounds like you have the same problem there.

kencleary

Also if you're using an Nvidia GFX card disable AGP Fast Writes in the system BIOS.

RicardoSmith

Is it just me or are you guys jumping in the deep end, with flashing bios (with betas no less) and applying artic sliver, and burning in etc. For a user that may not be all that technical or experienced with the inner workings of a PC? If he messes with those things and gets it wrong he can damage his PC!

While its great to give advice. At least read his posts first!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. He has a RADEON card! (did you even read the post?)

2. Do these games require Dx9c?

3. Is it a Dx9 card?

3. Did he say his temps are misreporting?

4. Did he say he had a a64 3000+ or a Athlon 3000+?

5. Maybe check what bios he currently has?

po0k

RicardoSmith wrote:

Is it just me or are you guys jumping in the deep end, with flashing bios (with betas no less) and applying artic sliver, and burning in etc. For a user that may not be all that technical or experienced with the inner workings of a PC? If he messes with those things and gets it wrong he can damage his PC!

While its great to give advice. At least read his posts first!

He said it's a self-build PC.
So chances are he just went with the stock thermal pads found on most HSFs .
They are shít.
If he was able to build a PC he will have no problem getting rid of the thermal pads and replacing them with something better.
Even if it's not the exact problem, it should still eliminate one of the variables, and leave him with a bit of knowledge for again.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

1. He has a RADEON card! (did you even read the post?)

2. Do these games require Dx9c?

3. Is it a Dx9 card?

Valid points

3. Did he say his temps are misreporting?

4. Did he say he had a a64 3000+ or a Athlon 3000+?

5. Maybe check what bios he currently has?

3. No, but then again, how was anyone here to know whether he knew about that issue or not? Again, reducing the variables.

4. amd 3000+ paired with a 9200 would lead me to believe that it's an AthlonXP, though it *could* be a semperon, or he could have a A64 and just didn't have the cash to get a better card at the time.

5. "Sounds like" and "You definately have this specific issue" are not homogenous. The guy was trying to help.

People are so eager to help that they sometimes go on assumption, draw from their own experience, and try to give as many suggestions as possible to hasten a positive result for the thread-starter.
In contrast to this, Android could really do with running a System Audit and attaching the log file to a post

RicardoSmith

Where did he say it was self build? I thought he said he "got" a new computer. Maybe I missed something. Thermal pads is not the most likely problem IMO.

Giblet

Have you got more detailed specs?
Motherboard, ram, even keyboard!

po0k

RicardoSmith wrote:

Where did he say it was self build? I thought he said he "got" a new computer. Maybe I missed something. Thermal pads is not the most likely problem IMO.

Apologies I stand corrected. Was thinking of another recent thread.

Even so, just reading through the specs, and the mention of temp readings, seems to indicate a white-box PC, which - imho - makes Android different to you're normal Dell drone.
Even if he/she didn't build it him/herself, I get the impression that he/she would be up for fiddling.

RicardoSmith

satchmo wrote:

Could be an overheating problem. Did you build the machine yourself? What sort of cooling have you got?

It could be either heat or power related, a software glich, or a driver problem. But hes not giving us enough information for some reason, even though hes been asked specific questions. satchmo's question above for example. The 9200 is not a gaming card, and probably has a passive HD on it. That said the games hes playing are not very demanding so they wouldn't need much of a card to play them either.

Since its only new, I suggest bring it back to where it was bought and let them sort it out.