Ok, so heres the problem! I try and play any game such as Tomb-Raider Legend or any Steam based game like Counter Strike and my pc screen goes blank (like it goes into standby or something, the computer is still on and sound loops)! I then have to manually power off and restart and everythings fine until i come to play again and the same happens. My pc specs are:

Foxconn/Winfast 760GXK8MC/R-S Motherboard
Amd Semperon 2600+
NVidia Ge-Force4 Ti 4200 AGP8x (Has fan and everything)
320W PSU (dont know make but good PSU)
768MB Ram (Lol)
40GB HDD 7200RPM

I think that would be all you need and here are the temperatures + speeds i recorded:

Motherboard : 38 C
CPU : 37 C
Power : 30 C
HDD : 40 C
Chassis Cooling fan : 2909 RPM
CPU : 4000 RPM

Here are voltages :

+12V : 11.97V
+5v : 4.81V
Core : +1.38V
+3.3v : 3.17V
AUX : +2.67V

Graphics temps and rpms:

Fan Speed : 5000RPM
GPU : 51 C
Ambient : 51 C

Voltages

Core +2.47V
Bus : +3.31V

Right so i recon thats all, i made this computer myself by the way so...

Also, i have latest chipset drivers, graphics card drivers and DirectX 9.0c. I have scouted the internet trying to find some awnsers and have come out blank. This is all i can think of doing so any help would be appriciated.

Oh and im on Windows Media center Edition 2005 , have tried it on vista and bog standard xp and it does the same

Please help!

Xigna

Are those readings while idleing? or while in the game?

They look about right for idling temps and volts.. maybe give your case a good dusting with some air pressure.. that should help a bit.

The fact that you dont know the make of the psu is worrying.. there should be a sticker on one of the sides that has all your info.

Right, the case is a brand new case with like air slots all over so i dont think that it could overheat too easily. The PSU is: FSP Group INC - FSP300-60PN.

Thanks, Xigna.

the first likely cause would be your PSU... if you don't know the make, how do you know it's a good PSU?

its rated for 320w, but how many amps can it provide on the +12v rail? the wattage means nothing if it has a low power output on the +12v rail.

The PSU is likely the cause of your problem because it happens when your PC is under load, and you're not overheating. your PSU can provide power under normal operation, but it probably cannot provide enough juice when the PC is stressed

Voltage: 115/230VAC
Frequency: 47Hz to 63 Hz
Input current:10 amps maximum/115V,50Hz
5 amps maximum/230V,50Hz
Inrush current:90 amps cold, 120 amps warm measured at 264 Vrms

MINIMUM
LOAD
NORMAL
LOAD
MAXIMUM
LOAD
LOAD REG.
LINE REG.
RIPPLE & NOISE

+3.3V
0.3A
14.0A
15.1/28A
± 5%
± 1%
50mV P-P

+5V
1.0A
10.75A
30/21.5A
± 5%
± 1%
50mV P-P

+12V
0.2A
3.3A
15A
± 5%
± 1%
120mV P-P

-12V
0.0A
0.4A
0.8A
± 10%
± 2%
120mV P-P

-5V
0.0A
0.15A
0.3A
± 10%
± 2%
100mV P-P

+5Vsb
0.0A
1.0A
2.0A
± 5%
± 1%
50mV P-P

based on a google search of the part#, that is a sparkle power supply. sparkle is a decent brand.

your voltages are not the problem. it probably just can't get enough "juice". like I said earlier, the +12v rail is the most important, but that PSU only provides 18A max.

the problem isn't that the PSU is cheap, because I don't think it is. the problem is a 300w PSU like that is designed for older systems which do not require a beefy +12V rail.

Would downgrading my OS or anything like that be wise? Something along the lines of ME or XP Stripped? Or would i need to get a new PSU? Any cheapish ones you can recommend?

1. power requirements are based on hardware, not software. so changing to a different OS would not do anything. it would still require the same amount of power when playing games.

2. i would not recommend anything "cheappish". the power supply is the most important component in your system. the PSU doesn't have to be super expensive, it just has to be made by a reputible brand (like Antec, Enermax, Fortron, PCP&C to name a few). sparkle is also good if you want to get another one.

I personally use an Antec TruePowerII 380w PSU. wattage wise, it's not much more than yours, but it has two +12v 16A rails (total of 32A on the +12V). so you see you can't go by wattage alone, your system may run fine with 300w, but it needs more power from the 12v side.

use a PSU calculator like this one that gives required amperage (not just wattage) to determine what your power requirements are, then add some as a safety margin.

You PSU is marginal at best. but there is another posibility for a source of your troubles. your anceint Ti4200 may be the culprit. one of the last batches of those cards made had defective capacitors some failed right away some after a few months and some after a year or two. if you have access to another video card try it. if yu have no problems then you know your card is bad.

I'm not sure if it is correct but, what screen resolution you use?
I encounter that when playing at 1024 x 768 my monitor goes black and looks like on standby but the games is continues running (I hear a sound that indicate it still playing). try to change you're resolution.

I have a question.

did you try to press alt + F4 if you're monitor goes black when trying to play games?
What happen if u press alt + F4 do you go back to you're desktop?
if yes, then the game setting is wrong or the monitor refresh rate do not support the current resolution when playing particular games. (e.g counter striker playing at screen reso of 1024 x 768 - 60 hz) if the monitor dont support that reso then u will see black screen and you will notice that youre monitor still on even you don't see anything.

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again please someone correct me if I'm wrong like on my previous post on other thread <<