Hey everyone I was not sure were to post this thread but my problem is when I play Lord of the Rings the Return of the King for about a hour or to the computer crashes and restarts with out warning and I have to start all over agean. It doesn't do that every time I play. I don't know if it's getting to hot or what I doen't have the cpu overclock and the temp is about 45c after playing.

do you have a decent video card? that usually plays a part in gaming. also, ive noticed some games will work better(if they have the option) depending whether its set to say direct 3d or opengl

I have a 5200 128mb agp x8 card two months old.

I can play a game such as Battlefield Vietnam for about 4 minutes and then the game locks up and then the computer restarts. Can anyone help with a solution, or give me some ideas on how to troubleshot this problem???

I have a monitor pgm checking the CPU & MB temps., and it says they are in OK range.

My specs: ASUS ABV Deluxe K8T800 Pro MB w/ AMD Athlon 64 3400+ CPU
ATI Radeon 9700 Pro video
3 chassiy cooling fans & 450w Power supply w/fan
1gb memory

What do you mean if you have the option. :hotbounce

not all games have that extent of video options

I have a similar problem. When I play games I get about ten minutes play, then the PC beeps a few times, the red 'thinking' light comes on and I can't do anything exept restart.

My specs are

AMD Athlon XP 2400 2.01 GhZ (not overclocked)
768mb of Ram (256 is Pc2100, im not sure what the rest is)
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb
120GB HD
GIgabyte RZ or something like that

The computer screwed up last year, we replaced almost everything, got the graphics card in November. Then half of the 512 memory screwed up so we were left with 256 mb, and then bought a new stick of 512 from the local shop. Could it be an aftermath of one of these things. Also, i updated the Graphics card drivers off a PC Gamer disk (the newedt issue) but there was no change.
Please reply ASAP

It might be the new drivers you installed. That was my problem. :knock:

Could be heat related, but at least some of you say it's not. If you are not sure, download Motherboard Monitor and check to see how hot things are getting.

I don't see any power supply specs. This could be related to that. How big is your power supply, and is it of good quality. This could be the problem.

One other thing is you could be running out of memory, but all of you seem to have enough that this is not the case.

I think all of you said you have the latest video drivers.

Do you have your audio drivers updated to the latest.

Another thing you can do, is stop your computer from restarting when it crashes, you will get an error message, and then you probably can see what might be causing this to happen. See below.

start/control panel/system/advanced/startup and recovery/settings under "system failure" uncheck the third box "automatically restart"

This problem really sounds familiar. I pretty much have the same issue while playing Far Cry and any other 3D game.

Read this thread: http://www.techspot.com/vb/topic22675.html
...and try those potential resolutions.

I have found some remedies for some of the gamers lockups and shutdown problems. The first IS the heating problem of either the motherboard or the CPU. This can be fixed by getting more fans for your case (good ones), either card fans and exhaust fans. Also the cheaper cases are made out of steel, and if the ambient room temperature is normal or above the fans have a hard time keeping the inside of a heating up case cool. Putting in more and better quality fans worked for me. Also, you may want to switch to an aluminum case if possible, as they are a much better dissipater of heat.

Video cards are also very heat sensitive, and if your card does not have a built in fan (like a lot of the newer ones now do), I'd reccommend getting a card fan to install in your case. In addition, be sure your power supply is at least 450w or higher in order to run it properly.

Obviously the latest drivers for the card and the motherboard chip set are needed to bring everything up to snuff. You can check with your manufacturer on their websites to see if you have the latest updates and download them if need be.

Hope some of these ideas help...they cured my problems.

I know my PSU is 350W but i cant remember who made it, i think it was about £20-£30.
A few times i checked PC Health in the Bios and after a freeze the CPU temp was about 65 Degrees!!! However the technician guy who helped us fix the PC in its various screw ups said CPus could usually go over 70 without problems, and he semed very experianced in computer matters. I also dont have a sound card, the PCs just running off onboard sound. Also, i really dont want to messing around with programs that might not work, or techncal solutuions that are expensive or difficult, im only fourteen and its not really my pc, my dad deals with most things, however all advice is welcome.

isatippy Go back to the 66.93 drivers and try disabling v-sync see it that helps you any let me know.

More often than not, its not that power rating that is suspect, but the quality of the power coming from the power supply. Motherboard Monitor is a free program and will tell you all your motherboard's voltages and temperatures. If you paid less than $80-100USD for your PSU then the quality is immediately suspect. Stick with quality, namebrand components and I think this problem will be resolved.

C0d3Warr10r

Big Blue:
Asus P4P800 I865PE
P4 2.8GHz 800MHz
2048MB KingMax PC-3200
Maxtor DiamondMax 9 /160GB /7200RPM /8MB Cache
ATI Radeon X800 Pro
Enermax 420W PSU
Aspire X-Dreamer II
Lite-On 12X DVD+/-RW
Sony 48X CD-RW
Samsung SyncMaster 997DF 19" CRT
3DMark03 Score: 10,035

I think my PSU was made by Sumvision, what are they like