Computer Freezes/Reboots During Gaming

[morningsdreams]

Hi. I'm about at my wit's end. I purchased the computer in October and immediately began having problems. I currently play World of Warcraft, Sims 2 and Lord of the Rings Online -- or well, did.

With WoW, at random intervals the computer will freeze, the sound loops in a dull buzzing and the computer will restart itself. I don't see a blue or black screen unless it's happening in the time of a blink. With Sims 2 and LotRO it's worse; they will run for anywhere from five to twenty minutes before the computer freezes and restarts.

The computer's taken four trips to the computer technician, where he reinstalled one ram chip, ran diagnostics all times and otherwise could find nothing wrong with it. >.> Before I just dealt with it since I didn't have a lot of play time, but now that I do I am feeling back to being so very frustrated and hating that this just won't work right.

I've done all the normally suggested steps to take, but nothing's worked so far. The cpu heat was also tested and that wasn't the problem. Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Here are my computer specs (I'm hoping I didn't forget anything):

Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 3 (2600.xpsp_sp3_gdr.090206-1234)
System Manufacturer: INTEL_
System Model: DG43NB
BIOS: BIOS Date: 05/09/08 11:12:06 Ver: 08.00.10
Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7200 @ 2.53GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 2012MB RAM
Page File: 595MB used, 3310MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 8500 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 8500 GT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_0421&SUBSYS_C7473842&REV_A1
Display Memory: 512.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: Realtek HD Audio output
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: HDAUDIO\FUNC_01&VEN_10EC&DEV_0888&SUBSYS_80860024&REV_1002
Manufacturer ID: 1
Product ID: 100
Type: WDM
Driver Name: RtkHDAud.sys

---------------------
Sound Capture Devices
---------------------
Description: Realtek HD Audio Input
Default Sound Capture: Yes
Default Voice Capture: Yes
Driver Name: RtkHDAud.sys
Driver Version: 5.10.0000.5628 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Date and Size: 7/3/2008 04:53:33, 4800000 bytes
Cap Flags: 0x41
Format Flags: 0xFFF

 

[McFlapnJacks]

Make sure your graphics card isn't loose, that goes for anything else in your computer. It's a nice computer so I really don't know why it would just restart. But if it only happens when playing games/handling graphically intense things, than i would suspect a problem with your graphics card. Try taking it out and using your on board graphics. Or update your graphics cards driver to the newest version available.

This is the newest one available for you "http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_169.21_whql.html"

These are some release notes about the driver "http://us.download.nvidia.com/Windows/169.21/169.21_WinXP_Forceware_Release_Notes.pdf"

(remember to remove the quotation marks.)

 

[McFlapnJacks]

Don't forget to back up the drivers you have now, and have you tried rolling back to a previous system restore point?

 

[Bobbye]

Another thought:

Since the problem made itself known in October, you should still be in warranty. The problem could be:
1. Bad graphics card
2. Bad RAM chip

Both should be covered under warranty, both are hardware.