games crashing, possible faulty card or system overheating?

[msmith44]

i seem to be having abig problem when playing any game on my pc, the game will start fine then when u actually get into the game it will crash within seconds.

i tried an old game (midtown madness 2) and figured something out.
if i set it to run on hardware only i have no trouble, but if i set the game to run with hardware and software thats when it crashes, ive downloaded the latest drives for the graphics card, forceware version 78.01. at the moment my cpu temp is 35C so maybe it isnt overheating.

any help would be great as im out of ideas

thanks

 

[msmith44]

well i took another look at the temp, and im a little concerned..

Temperatures:
Motherboard 46 °C (115 °F)
CPU 42 °C (108 °F)
Maxtor 6Y080L0 51 °C (124 °F)
MAXTOR 4K040H2 34 °C (93 °F)

Cooling Fans:
CPU 4383 RPM

Voltage Values:
CPU Core 1.82 V
+3.3 V 3.30 V
+5 V 5.05 V
+12 V 12.35 V
+5 V Standby 5.03 V
Debug Info V 72 00 CE BC C1 00 00 BB (F7)
Debug Info T 42 46 127

 

[vnf4ultra]

I suppose there could be several causes.

Bad ram would be one, a inadequate power supply would be another, overheating would be third, a game bug could possilby do it(probably not if it does it in all games), a bad video card could possibly do it as well.

To test your ram, download memtest and let it test at least 5 times (500%) w/o errors, if you get errors, it means bad ram(or incorrect ram settings).
http://hcidesign.com/memtest/

Can you list your power supply specs and brand?

Do you know your video cards core temperature?

You might try different(older/newer) drivers for your video card as well.

Your temps look ok, the cpu should be less than about 60C, which it looks like you are. Graphics cards can tolerate a bit more temperature.

 

[msmith44]

well ive got all my specs in profile but i will list them here

AMD Athlon XP, 1533 MHz (11.5 x 133) 1800+
Asus A7V8X-X (6 PCI, 1 AGP, 3 DDR DIMM, Audio, LAN)
System Memory 512 MB (DDR SDRAM)

NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 (128 MB)

Maxtor 6Y080L0 (80 GB, 7200 RPM, Ultra-ATA/133)
MAXTOR 4K040H2 (40 GB, 5400 RPM, Ultra-ATA/100)

DVDRW IDE1108 (DVD+RW:8x/4x, DVD-RW:8x/4x, DVD-ROM:12x, CD:40x/24x/40x DVD+RW/DVD-RW)

AMD Athlon(TM) XP 1800+
External Clock 133 MHz
Maximum Clock 2250 MHz
Current Clock 1533 MHz
Type Central Processor
Voltage 1.7 V
Status Enabled
Socket Designation SOCKET A

i know the power supply is 300watts, but ive had the same power supply on the same system for a year, and now its starting to play up. ive recently added a new hard drive the 80GB maxtor drive, maybe 300watts just isnt enough now. the GPU has a heatsink, and i cant find a temp

 

[msmith44]

i used memtest and it found 0 errors, do you think its worth me buying a 400watt psu?

 

[vnf4ultra]

You could check this out.
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp
Just enter your specs. I got less than 250w, when I entered what I know of your rig, but you should have headroom above the amount shown, usually about 30% more.

At least you know it's not your ram .

So the system has worked properly in the past?
What changed in the system recently? You said you added a hd.
I think it could be that the psu is overloaded, especially if it only has acted up since it's addition.

Check this thread to see what brands of psus to avoid.
http://hardforum.com/showthread.php?t=792566

Here're some psus that are good.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817103935
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16817101508
(^if you don't mind doing a rebate, then that one is a super deal).

 

[msmith44]

went to the pc shop today, got a new cpu fan and heatsink, and an exhaust fan, its cooled my comp right down to 30C , but its still crashing in games, he said it could be bad memory on the graphics card? is there anyway to test this

 

[vnf4ultra]

I don't know any way to test graphic ram(there may be a way, I'm not aware of one though). To fix it though(if that is the problem), you'd basically need a new card. I don't know how it could just suddenly go bad though, didn't you say it worked fine for a good while? The only way I can think of would be if you overclocked the graphics memory too high, which would cause it to overheat and then it would be trashed.

 

[msmith44]

well ive had the card about a year now, and its worked fine, started doin this about a month ago i think i will just have to get a new card test that, and if i still have the problem i know it wont be that.

what seems to be happening now is that when u go and play a game, the monitor will switch off, and the computer will just power off and reboot on its own

 

[vnf4ultra]

Your symptoms sound similar to when a person has an underpowered power supply. Typically if it's underpowered, it will make the computer crash when you start to play or after you've played a few minutes. Power supplies do go bad(especially some makes), so it may be starting to go, if you've not had the problem before. It also could be a messed up v card. So I can't say for sure, maybe someone else here has some ideas?

 

[Ayasha]

heh heh.. all I could think of when I first read your post was.. "why would anyone want to run a game in hardware and software mode at the same time.. let alone software mode...".

In anycase what you've described is a failing power supply. Or depending on how many devices are connected to your PC, a power supply that can't supply enough power. The system reboot gives it away as a power supply issue, since it happens when the devices come under load and thus pulling more power than the PSU can supply. Get a good power supply, there are links a few posts up I'm sure you've looked at. Happy gaming to you when you get your new PSU.