Computer Shuts off During Games

[Alex389]

Hi
I am really stumped on this one.
Whenever I play a high graphics game on my computer, after some time, it just shuts off. All of the fans stop and all that works is an LED light in the front. This started happenening a little while ago and I thought it was my video card so I bought a new one. I replaced my old FX5200 with a Radeon 9600. However, while the problem occurs much less often, I am still having these random shutoffs during games. This happens ONLY in games, because I can leave my computer on for many hours without it crashing until I play a game. Another thing is that I cannot turn my computer on for about 30 seconds after these shutoffs.

I suspect its either my power supply or processor, as it is unlikely that the ram or hard drive are causing this.

I am going to run a program called memtest and another called hotcpu tester to test these out tonight but I don't think that this will help.

Does anyone know why this could be happening. Just to clear this up, I have all the newest drivers for my video card, mother board, etc. I also checked the temperature of my CPU and my Video Card, which is staying at about 110 and 90 degrees Fahrenheir, respectively. I really have no idea what to do, so any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

[pkroks]

im almost certain its a fried power supply (or maybe its not big enough for your system). post your specs including your power supply and we can have a look... :grinthumb

 

[Alex389]

I have:
Intel Pentium 4 Processor (2.8 Ghz)
SOYO P4VGA Motherboard
Ultra (brand name is Ultra) Ram - 512 mb DDR
80 Gb Western Digital Hard Drive
Sapphire Radeon 9600 256 mb video card
1 Samsung CD RW
1 Lite-On DVD RW
3 fans total, not counting power supply fan


My power supply has 400 watts and I have a spare 350 watt one I can try, but I don't know if its working or not.

Ya I've been running some cpu testing programs, everything looks ok so far, so im starting to think it is my power unit.

 

[chaz d.]

sounds like a heating issue to me....your cpu is probably getting too hot, or the grafix card is getting roasted....re-check your temps...
Also, you can change the threshold of the temp in the BIOS....maybe your BIOS have it set to where your comp shuts down when the cpu is at a certain temp, even though that temp is safe...
Check your BIOS and the thresholds that are set for you processor....

Chaz D.

 

[Alex389]

no, i have a temperature monitor for my cpu and i had this problem with 2 video cards, also i used a thermometer to check the temperature of the video card heatsink and it was not even 100. im pretty sure its the power supply and im going to replace it with a spare in a little bit and c wat happens

 

[Alex389]

also, sometimes, the computer doesnt turn off, but my monitor goes into power save mode by itself and i cannot get out of it. this happened the second time a few min ago and i had to restart my computer about 20 times before it worked

 

[Prisea]

this is my story...

I used to have the same problem before. My pc used to reboot while playing a MMORP games. Other than that I used to experience the "blue screen of death" and the IRQ error messages ( whatever that is ). I was so frustrated with all the errors I've been receiving and it all started when I installed my Radeon 9250 video card. Of course, I thought it was the video card that's causing all of the problems so I returned it to the store to be checked and they said there's nothing wrong with it. I checked the temps, BIOS, and all other methods that the people suggested in the world wide web but still no avail. I eventually realized that the RAM was the problem. I did run a memtest to it and tried to check if it's properly placed in its slot so I never thought it was the problem. I removed my DDR 266 128MB RAM and replaced it with a DDR 333 256MB RAM. It worked! Although my mobo ( MSI P4MAM2-V ) specified that it runs with a 266/2100 DDR Ram, I still wanted to see if it'll work and it did! All the error messages and the shut downs have all disappeared and I've been playing online games for days. The key is to use a faster RAM. I'm no pc genius and I'm not sure if this will also work with your PCs but I guess it's worth to try.


Pentium 4 2.27GHz
MSI P4MAM2-V motherboard
40 GB Seagate HD
Powercolor ( Radeon ) 9250 128MB
DDR 333/2700 384MB Ram ( I added another 333 128MB DDR Ram )

 

[Neo_Snake]

I have this problem now!

my fault it posted wrong

 

[Neo_Snake]

I have this problem now!

I was playing starcraft recently and it had been working fine. it just shut off randomly.I don't know exactly what theproblem with this computer i tried checking the temperature and my graphics card but its only starcraft. So i tried to play runescape since i hadn't played it in a while because its really low graphicsized but you know i still have no idea someone help me okay!

I also have a 512mb ram card so that can't be the problem...Any other ideas
I only played runescape and starcraft was the only game installed on the pc after it was reformatted to windowsxp pro. edition