I am sorely afriad I already know what the problem is, but I am hoping it is somwthing different so I ask your help.
First and foremost let me say that my computer has worked perfectly fine for about 9 months without any problems. Previous to that I had to learn the hard way that gigabytes bargain mobos arent ment to be trusted.
My system now is...
AMD athlon 64 3000 1.8 ghz
abit KN8 v1.1 mobo
PCIe ati X600 pro
1 gb of ddr 400 ram
430 watt antec PSU
Then for some reason a couple weeks ago games on steam would start glitching then about 30 min later my computer would crash. Sometimes the screen would turn black or the game would freeze with looping sounds forcing me to reboot. At first I thought it was just steam as this is not the first time STEAM has messed something up and had to be reinstalled. So I followed the STEAM tech support forums and reinstalled drivers for damn near everything. I am not a real big game player eaither so the only games I really ever play anymore are on STEAM. So I reinstall STEAM but the problem continues and actaully begins to get worse. To the point that it is Glitching then crashing after about 2 min. So then I figured something is deathly wrong with STEAM so I try a different game. Samething happens to that game. Thats when I realize I have a big Uh Oh on my hands.
So I do the google thing looking for the same problem on the net and a potential solution. I have come to the conclusion that it could be damn near anything. So I began to rule things out.
First, I reinstalled windows. Got the newest drivers for all my hardware. Still doesnt work. I even tried back issue drivers for my vid card, mobo, .NET framework, audio drivers... everything I could think of.
Second, I checked my cooling. I am not an overclocker and I have 5 fans on my case so my CPU runs at an average of 30 C and the SYS is around 35 C. So I would play game, crash, then immiediatly reboot to bios and check temps... It showed things being a little hotter about CPU 35 C and sys 40 C. Which I believe would be considered cold to other systems when playing games. But to be on the safe side I took the side off my case and got a house fan. SYS droped to about 30 C and CPU stayed at about 30-35 C when it would crash.
Third, I thought maybe some 1 in a million chance that dust bunnies have clogged something or done something wrong. So I take the sides off my tower and give it a nice compressed air cleaning. Lots of dust. I then take my video card out and look for blown circuits and the likes. I then put it all back together and tried again... still notta.
Forth, I read somewhere that it might be my memory. So I did the memtest for a solid 24+ hours strait... No problems there but problem still exists.
Fifth, I thought it might be a power problem. The x600 is not a beefy card at all and I have 430 watt PSU but you never know. So I hooked the house fan up again, diconnected all case fans and tried again. Nope. Still crashes.
I have almost come to the point were I just except the fact that my video card has retired and refuses to do anything remotely stressfull. So I am hoping you guys have some other ideas I havent thought of yet. And if you have actaully read all of this I know your dedicated and thank you.
Thanks
JAKE
First and foremost let me say that my computer has worked perfectly fine for about 9 months without any problems. Previous to that I had to learn the hard way that gigabytes bargain mobos arent ment to be trusted.
My system now is...
AMD athlon 64 3000 1.8 ghz
abit KN8 v1.1 mobo
PCIe ati X600 pro
1 gb of ddr 400 ram
430 watt antec PSU
Then for some reason a couple weeks ago games on steam would start glitching then about 30 min later my computer would crash. Sometimes the screen would turn black or the game would freeze with looping sounds forcing me to reboot. At first I thought it was just steam as this is not the first time STEAM has messed something up and had to be reinstalled. So I followed the STEAM tech support forums and reinstalled drivers for damn near everything. I am not a real big game player eaither so the only games I really ever play anymore are on STEAM. So I reinstall STEAM but the problem continues and actaully begins to get worse. To the point that it is Glitching then crashing after about 2 min. So then I figured something is deathly wrong with STEAM so I try a different game. Samething happens to that game. Thats when I realize I have a big Uh Oh on my hands.
So I do the google thing looking for the same problem on the net and a potential solution. I have come to the conclusion that it could be damn near anything. So I began to rule things out.
First, I reinstalled windows. Got the newest drivers for all my hardware. Still doesnt work. I even tried back issue drivers for my vid card, mobo, .NET framework, audio drivers... everything I could think of.
Second, I checked my cooling. I am not an overclocker and I have 5 fans on my case so my CPU runs at an average of 30 C and the SYS is around 35 C. So I would play game, crash, then immiediatly reboot to bios and check temps... It showed things being a little hotter about CPU 35 C and sys 40 C. Which I believe would be considered cold to other systems when playing games. But to be on the safe side I took the side off my case and got a house fan. SYS droped to about 30 C and CPU stayed at about 30-35 C when it would crash.
Third, I thought maybe some 1 in a million chance that dust bunnies have clogged something or done something wrong. So I take the sides off my tower and give it a nice compressed air cleaning. Lots of dust. I then take my video card out and look for blown circuits and the likes. I then put it all back together and tried again... still notta.
Forth, I read somewhere that it might be my memory. So I did the memtest for a solid 24+ hours strait... No problems there but problem still exists.
Fifth, I thought it might be a power problem. The x600 is not a beefy card at all and I have 430 watt PSU but you never know. So I hooked the house fan up again, diconnected all case fans and tried again. Nope. Still crashes.
I have almost come to the point were I just except the fact that my video card has retired and refuses to do anything remotely stressfull. So I am hoping you guys have some other ideas I havent thought of yet. And if you have actaully read all of this I know your dedicated and thank you.
Thanks
JAKE