Windows XP SP 2 crashes when playing games

[Pipotjo]

When I play Call of Duty United Offensive (1.51) online or FarCry (1.33) single player for about 15 minutes (sometimes after 1 hour or 25 minutes), Windows XP crashes and just after a lovely BSOD :evil: my computer reboots. It happens every day. :dead:

The system:
Intel Pentium 4, 3 GHz
Memory: 1536 MB
Video: Asus 9800 XT
Driver: CATALYST 5.8, ati8_141_w2kxp of Asus site and older drivers: didn't solve the problem.
Sound: Audigy 2, driver 5.12.2.444
Seagate (SATA) drive Silicon Image SiI 3112 SATALINK Controller, NoRAID
DirectX 9.0C

I've tested the memory with memtestPlus 1.60: no errors after 3 hours.

Measurement with Motherboard Monitor (MBM) 5.3.7.0 while playing Far Cry: temperature CPU just before BSOD: 54 degrees Celsius.

Measurement with ATITool 0.24 while playing Far Cry. Temperature just before BSOD:

GPU: 64.0 degrees Celsius, while
GPU environment: 57.0 degrees Celsius

I never use overclocking because I have troubles enough with the default clockspeeds: Core=412 Mhz, memory=365Mhz.

Who can help me???

Some debuglog information:
See the attachment!

 

[Rik]

A gpu temp of 64 is a bit on the high side, i recommend better cooling. My graphics card used to overheat so i now have a slot cooler next to it. I highly recommend that you also get one as on my system it has made a huge difference.

Hope that helps. Rik.

 

[Pipotjo]

A gpu temp of 64 is a bit on the high side, i recommend better cooling. My graphics card used to overheat so i now have a slot cooler next to it. I highly recommend that you also get one as on my system it has made a huge difference.

Hope that helps. Rik.

Thanks Rick,

I have a slot cooler too, the Vantec VGA Fan Card with two fans next to the Asus 9800 XT. So that's no solution to my problem.

Do you have a 9800 XT graphics card too? How hot does it run while playing your games? What tool do you use to measure the temperature?

(By the way; an addition to the specs: I have a Gigabyte 8knxp rev 2 mobo: with BIOS fk since yesterday. I hope that makes a difference).

 

[Rik]

I use an ATI 9550 256meg graphics card and i use a program called speedfan which can be found in the downloads section on this site.

You should check the heatsink on your graphics card to make sure it sits flat and check that the fans are clear of dust. Also, remember a slot cooler pulls air out and any fans on the graphics card pull air in. I have no fan on my graphics card so my slot cooler is next to the heatsink, if i had a fan on it i would put the cooler on the other side of the card as the pcb side can get hot too.

Hope this helps. Rik.

 

[Pipotjo]

Thanks for your reaction. :grinthumb

I use an ATI 9550 256meg graphics card and i use a program called speedfan which can be found in the downloads section on this site.

You should check the heatsink on your graphics card to make sure it sits flat and check that the fans are clear of dust.
Also, remember a slot cooler pulls air out and any fans on the graphics card pull air in. I have no fan on my graphics card so my slot cooler is next to the heatsink, if i had a fan on it i would put the cooler on the other side of the card as the pcb side can get hot too.

There are two clean fans on the Asus 9800 XT, rotating normal (visual observation). I have a systemfan on the other side of the graphics card and two other sytemfans in my case. One systemfan beside the graphics card pulls air in. I think this is enough to cool the card and system.

Have you take a look at the minidump?

 

[sllewe]

64 Celsuius is not hot for a gfx card at all. Espically under full load. Im not saying heat couldnt be an issue, but GPUs have a much higer heat threshold then CPUs.

I still feel like the RAM had the potential for problems..but i gotta go now, so i will check that mindump later

Good Luck

Sean

 

[Pipotjo]

64 Celsuius is not hot for a gfx card at all. Espically under full load. Im not saying heat couldnt be an issue, but GPUs have a much higer heat threshold then CPUs.

I still feel like the RAM had the potential for problems..but i gotta go now, so i will check that mindump later

Good Luck

Sean

Thanks Sean :grinthumb ,
I agree with you about the temperature. Asus technical service didn't mention 64 degrees as too hot...
Maybe the minidump can tell you something I hope :hotbounce .

 

[lordxanthrax]

yeah, that temp is low. I've actually almost burnt myself with my 6600gt one time. That thing gets MAD hot. But never any artifacts, even overclocked it, and it's been going strong for about 5 months.

 

[Pipotjo]

64 Celsuius is not hot for a gfx card at all. Espically under full load. Im not saying heat couldnt be an issue, but GPUs have a much higer heat threshold then CPUs.

I still feel like the RAM had the potential for problems..but i gotta go now, so i will check that mindump later

Good Luck

Sean

Did you check the minidump yet? :hotbounce

 

[vegasgmc]

Thats very hot for a Radeon. They dont seem to be heat tollerant. My 9800 Pro would get so hot I couldnt touch the area around the core. After I installed a VGA Silencer it only got warm, even when it was overclocked and running HL2 at 1600x1200.

 

[sllewe]

Vegas, maybe its just my personal expirence, but any ati card i have owned has never had problems handling a 60+ temp. Now im not saying that a the threshold on a x800 is greater then a 6600GT.
my x800 gets hot, at least mid 60s, and i have no problems with stability at all. That is with a OC.

ANyways that minidump IMO looks like classic IRQ bull****. I think there is a thread here totally devoted to that problem...i will find it and post back

 

[Pipotjo]

Minidump/Updated BIOS mobo

I have updated the BIOS of the Gigabyte 8KNXP (rev 2) mobo to version "fk". Call of Duty UO is stable now for about a week (played everyday) :slurp: , FarCry crashed once while playing (onetime) puke: .

Maybe it's the combination of the memory with the BIOS of the Gigabyte mobo that's sort of "incompatible".

Did anyone take a look at the minidump to find an explanation of the problems?

Thanks so far....

 

[Arc3]

zzzz

zzz i have the same problem when playing World of warcraft, i have Ati radeon graphics card, dont understand what u did can u tell me how to fix this? :dead:

 

[Pipotjo]

zzz i have the same problem when playing World of warcraft, i have Ati radeon graphics card, dont understand what u did can u tell me how to fix this? :dead:

Go to the site of the motherboard's manufacturer and download the latest BIOS. You can flash the BIOS (read the instructions of the manufacturer).

 

[Arc3]

how cn i find the name of the motherboard im noob at this stuffs =S

 

[Arc3]

oh ok i found the name of the motherboards manufacturer nd went to their site but nothing about a BIOS,

 

[Pipotjo]

oh ok i found the name of the motherboards manufacturer nd went to their site but nothing about a BIOS,

Ok, what's your motherboard's manufacturer? Maybe I can help...