What is wrong with my Computer??

[dalesamaroo]

Everytime I try to play any game on my computer after about 5 minutes the game crashes to windows with no error message. Also when attempting to capture video after around 3 minutes my computer will restart itself. I have tried to resinstall windows but again while doing this my computer will restart itself.

I am running;

AMD 64bit 3800+
Asus A8V-MX Mobo
1024MB Ram
ATI Radeon x700 XT

and was running a 350W power supply thinking this was the problem I went out and bought a brand new 500W Supply and still the same problem, If anyone has any ideas please let me know.

 

[rr5678]

Maybe it's the capacitors on the motherboard. Did you check the capacitors? If so, do they look bulged or do they have leakage?

 

[nickslick74]

Could be that the video card is overheating. Does it shut down when you are doing non-graphic intensive things like surfing the net? If happens only when gaming and such, then it's probably overheating.

 

[easystreet]

had same prob.

hi mate, sounds like an overheating prob; I had the same probs previously and when i took the side panels off my case and blew a massive office fan inside while running ( grossly crude i know) it seemed to do the trick.

improved cooling could bring an end to your woes. should be cheap to fix too.

hope it helps

 

[dmill89]

Yah sounds like the video card is overheating. You may want to replace the stock GPU cooler with simething like this http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.asp?Item=N82E16835118117
However this will void your warrenty so if your card is still under warrenty you may want to send it in for replacement.

 

[dalesamaroo]

Would this explian the problem with reinstalling windows as well? Other than gaming and VID Capture the only other time it restarts is when trying to install windows.

 

[nickslick74]

Try what easystreet did. Take the side panel off and use a fan to blow air into the case while installing windows. It could be that your cpu is overheating, but most likely it is your vid card. If you have a different card around you may want to try that or use onboard grahics.

 

[easystreet]

what is the exact spec you are running. write everything you have in the case and what case you are using... no of fans, hard drives, pci slots etc.

maybe a reconfig of the parts could cool better.

i was running an aluminium case (bad thermal design as it had paint on it) with two hard drives, two dvd drives, two fans, graphics and used two other pci slots. i ended up running it with the side panels off, becomes dusty but it worked.

 

[easystreet]

got a new idea try running a cpu intensive task, like dvd conversion or dvd burning and push it to the max. if it cuts out then it is def a system cooling problem

 

[dmill89]

got a new idea try running a cpu intensive task, like dvd conversion or dvd burning and push it to the max. if it cuts out then it is def a system cooling problem

A CPU intensive task will do nothing to tell weather or not a video card is overheating. The fact that it restarts during games makes it seem as if the video card is overheating. Running a Video intensive task like a game with high grapgical requirements of a video bench mark utility will determine this. The CPU intensive task may still be a good idea to eliminate the CPU as the problem source but since the computer restarts during games a CPU issue is unlikely and a video card problem is likely.

 

[dalesamaroo]

Update

Alright after much time and more problems and HD wiping than I would ever care for, I decided to try and switch out my new s939 AMD 64 bit CPU and ASUS MOBO and see what would happen with my OLD socket A mobo and amd CPU and presto not a single problem runs all of my games without crashing and vid capture fine as well. Only problem, the Cpu is very old 1.2ghz and just runs them real slow i think i'm gonna go out today and buy a new
s939 MOBO does this sound like the right solution??

 

[krismeister]

dusty heatsink

I was experiencing random shutdowns / interuptions on an older machine similar.

It ended up being that my CPU heatsink being very very dusty.
I took off the heatsink blew all the dust off, cleaned the thermal paste off my processor and the contact on the heatsink with acetone and put everything back together.

After that my machine was perfectly stable.