Computer crashes during games

It might be the GPU (video processor unit) overheating. Turn off the PC and remove the grahpics card. Blow out the cooling fan with compressed air (canned air) if you have it. Avoid touching the electronic parts unless you properly ground yourself, even keeping a hand on the case can help ground you.

Also try to uninstall the video drivers from Device mananger and then the video card itself from the device manager. Then reboot and let windows find the card again automatically. When t asks to install drivers, direct it to the self install ATI driver package.

You can download Speedfan from download section here to check your system temps and the temp of the video card.

Cheers.

so i took out the gpu cleared the fan of dust, put it back in. everything seemed hunky dory, till the f'in problem happened again.

uninstalled everything as you said, reinstalled and it happened again.
i'm considering buying a new graphics card. this ones old anyway. but dont want to do it just yet, in case its not the card thats acting up. (tho i'm beginning to suspect its just that)

anyway

here are my specs as requested (sorry it took so long, guess what...the internet keeps going down....i'm considering burning this PC in a field as well)
MOBO
MAINBOARD: SOLTEK
MODEL:75FRV
CPU
AMD Athlon XP 3000+
GRAPHICS
Radeon 9600 series

not sure if you need this lot but
CHIP TYPE: ATI RADEON 9600 series AGP
128MB

PSU

I'll just post a pic of that label.....



thanks for the help

You might try updating the VIA KT400 chipset drivers, but this is a long shot. You can find an update at Soltek website (if they have an update). I think it's either corrupted RAM (try running on just one stick, then the other, if you have more then one stick) or the video card is dieing.
The system RAM actually gets the video information first and then passes it on to the gfx card for processing. If the RAM is faulty it appear as a faulty video card. You can download memtest86 from this sight and run it for several passes. If all is well then I'd definately suspect a failing gfx card.
Your PSU appears so be enough for your system, btw.

Cheers.

well I just found my old GFX card and took everything ATI off my system and put that back in.
and its fine
nothings gone wrong with anything (touch wood)

thanks for the help tho Kirock, given me some insight into my PSU

now,
I'm on the market for a new GFX
you got any recomendations?

just had a quick look and found these two so far

http://www.ebuyer.com/UK/product/97827

http://www.ebuyer.com/customer/prod...hvd19wcm9kdWN0X292ZXJ2aWV3&product_uid=100942

Tho I'm looking for something with TV out... i like my home theater

Well there is DirectX10 coming next year, which is really a next generation, completely new concept to video card workings, but with that being said here's a list from Tom's Hardware



I'm sorry but there are just too many choices out there right now to definatively suggest this card over another, unless it's the top card of each (ATI or nVidia).
Your choice should start with the above guide and card score (fps, etc.). Then ask yourself how much is that worth to me? How long will this card be useful. AND...Does my present system justify buying the best card I can afford? (i.e will the card improve the performance or am I CPU/RAM limited anyway?).

Cheers.

Hey guy's im having the same problem 2 , about an hour or 30 minutes into playing my game suddenly freezes and restarts and it started when i was playing spore a week or so after i bought it it suddenly crashed! pls. help

my sys. specs:
-intel core 2 duo 4400 2.0ghz windows xp professional sp2
-1gig ram
-intel integrated graphics card 256mb

games that crashed so far:
-spore(i thinked wen i patched this game the wierd things started to happen)
-sims 2
*both are all on default settings

this is the first time i encountered this problem so any advice is useful as to the one who posted this whole thread tnx. in advance

hmm. Been a while since the last poster posted, but hopefully they'll still get this.


go with what some others have said in this thread, generally when a game crashes like that it can be because your Power Supply isn't adequate enough for your GFX card or other hardware in there and is working in over time.

to which the suggestion would be to either replace the PSU with something more powerful and better fans in it for more efficient cooling, or (and I'm not sure how advisable this is)

try unplugging some of your non essential hardware internally to see if this helps alleiviate the problems? (of course only try doing this if you know what you're doing, it's a simple enough task, but can go horribly wrong.)

Since I had this problem I've changed computers but I do remember that when things like this were happening to me before it was generally an overheating problem caused by a heavy buildup of dust inside the computer, all over the components.


So I had to very, very carefully remove the CPU heatsink and gently blow and vacuum the dust. This helped immensely, I gave the insides of my computer a general spring clean, clearing the vents and fans of dust and it did help.

again you have to be so so so careful when doing this, the slightest nudge on the wrong area, or static charge and you've destroyed your computer. So I'd recommend getting help if you dont' feel up to it.



of course there is also the possibilty that your problems have nothing to do with what I've just posted above, but I found out over the years of owning and maintaining a PC that these are just the pitfalls of being a PC gamer. Oh, and usually it will be the last thing you look at that was causing the problem


Anyway, I hope that this helps you, and anyone else who might have a similar problem.