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Hello yall, im a new member =) but thought id best off post my first being a problem rather then introductory one so i apologise for that.

ike the title says, im having some graphic problems on my PC... setting the scene;

OS: XP Professional
Proc: AMD Athlon XP 3200+ ~2.2GHz
Memory: 2046MB RAM
Harddrive 140GB
Display: RADEON 9800 Pro 128MB

Ive had the computer for ... approximately 2 years, temperature runs fine, but up until last year, i stopped gaming (WoW, America's Army, Eve) because it kept on crashing, so i thought maybe because of all the crap i have on the computer.
But it wasnt until recently i rebooted and reinstalled Windows, so only installing the key components and updating them, i wanted to see if i still crash, and lo and behold, i still do.

When it crashes, it goes to a black screen, yet i hear the computer fans still running, so it is on, but nothings showing up, sometimes goes to a blue screen but not recently as of yet, so because it just goes black, it doesnt give me a minidump either.

It is quite stable when not operating any high graphically required programs, but whenever i start a game, or even SolidWorks, it works fine for a little awhile, then crashes, usually within 10mins.

Device driver problem or power supply or whatever your imagination can conjure?

My spec is suitable for the games and i have around 80GB of harddrive space, i did used to play for a long time without any complaints for quite a number of months, but then it started happening...



Any ideas?

Are your drivers up to date for your graphics card?
What version of DirectX are you running?

Google and get memtest and run it for at least 8 passes to test your ram!!!!

What make and wattage psu do you have????

yeah ... ATI 6.10 ... direct x 9.0c or so? cant remember but they are the latest from the windows update site

What make and wattage psu do you have????

im not home currently, but it is 450W i think which is enough? Like i said earlier, the computer was running the game fine for around 6 months before it started happening, so would a device driver update make the power consumption beyond that of what im using?

ill get a more detailed PSU information when im home

Thanks =)

a device driver is just a software update that makes the device in question somewhat more efficient and most importantly, work properly. It won't take more power out of the PSU unless the hardware is taking the power.

Some PSU's get on with age, and some are just plain crap generic stuff, others are top notch, and its good to know what you have..

memtest will check your ram for errors, but it could as easily be a video or power problem..

one thing to add to your list of to-do's is just having a look at your motherboard and components and seeing if you can spot anything irregular like marks, stains, burns, capacitor damage etc.

one question ... what exactly does the memtest show? i let it run for just 2 passes, yes it may not be enough, but just as a quick general look, although it was ran for just over 3 hours... i got values of:

Test: 0 Errors 0
Test: 1 Errors 0
Test: 2 Errors 6176
Test: 3 Errors 0
Test: 4 Errors 18092
Test: 5 Errors 1280
Test: 6 Errors 0
Test: 7 Errors 0
Test: 8 Errors 3690
Test: 9 Errors 0

It means that your ram is faulty and in need of replacement!!!!!

What ram have you got exactly????

all i can find about it is 2047MB RAM
Chipset: VIA KT400(A)/600
if that helps? o.O

You will have to open up your pc and pull the ram out and have a look at the labels on it all!!!!

REMEMBER TO GROUND YOURSELF and make sure the computer is unplugged. The slightest static shock and your memory is gone.

Yeah it would hurt to get shocked by your computer pulling out parts when it's still on =P

LOL. But it's very true. The slightest static will kill memory very easily. I know, I talk from experience :'(.

lol that sucks Rage =P

A shocking story Rage!!!!

on the chips themselves...
Matrix
16M84X-9

if that helps? no other sticker except "warranty void if removed" hehe

Yeah, I s'pose I 'ppreciate the pun . As for Waccky, it will take some time but remove each stick, and test each one individually i.e. alone in one slot, with memtest to find out which one is bad.

hmm, my friend who built it says he might have te invoice for the ram ... and see if its lifetime warranty, if so ... goodie =)

thanks for the help ...

#1 spot