Total Shutdown in Gaming mode

Hi again..

A couple of things. I have noticed today that the MBM readout is showing the CPU as 3004Mhz, whereas yesterday it was 3008Mhz! The thing hasn't crashed yet but on 2 occasions the sound has gone during gaming. This also happened a few days ago as well. It's Flightsim in case ppl are wondering, which can be a pain anyway for some hardware to run smoothly at the best of times.

I have noticed the more intense and features the aircraft has the more it tends to fault, clearly meaning the CPU must have to work harder. (as an aside i have used FS for many years. anyone who has used this sim will know the pitfalls of it all too well)

On all recent tests the Temps were fairly low for both the CPU, GFX Card and Case, as said above.

Could the CPU have numbering errors or the like - i'm sorry i don't know the correct term for it..

Regards
Steve

Not to sure why mbm5 is showing different mhz for your cpu.

I`m not sure what you mean by cpu numbering errors.

As to your gaming problems maybe it would be better to test your system using another game that you know isn`t as problematic as the flight sim.

The fact that your system has not crashed yet is a good sign.

Regards Howard

Howard..

I have just tried Colin Mcrae 4 and the sound went during that about 10 minutes in! I have no sound problems in any other mode, in Windows for eg which i use a lot.

You're up late over there btw

Steve

So it would appear that your system is not crashing now, but a sound problem has developed. Is that correct?

Have you tried updating your sound drivers?

Check in device manager to see if there are any yellow exclamation or question marks, next to your sound devices.

Yes i am up late or early depending on your point of view lol.

Sometimes I just don`t sleep so well and usually end up back on Techspot for a while.

Regards Howard

PSU Check?

Something that has not been addressed yet is the strength/quality of your PSU. If you power supply is a generic 300W unit, and you are trying to run a power gaming system off of it, strange things are bound to occur. However, if you are using a namebrand quality purepower PSU, preferably at 400W+ then you may want to take it to your local computer shop and have it tested.

As far as the intermittent sound issue is concerned, I've really only heard that occuring in older Win98/98se/Me systems, so I definately lean more toward a driver issue. I think the sound issue is unrelated to the system shutting down.

Hope this helps,

C0d3Warr10r

Big Blue:
Asus P4P800 I865PE
P4 2.8GHz 800MHz
2048MB KingMax PC-3200
Maxtor DiamondMax 9 /160GB /7200RPM /8MB Cache
ATI Radeon X800 Pro
Enermax 420W PSU
Aspire X-Dreamer II
Lite-On 12X DVD+/-RW
Sony 48X CD-RW
Samsung SyncMaster 997DF 19" CRT
3DMark03 Score: 10,035

Well not quite, the sound problem was there at the beginning of this current set of problems. I was considering trying another game, but hadn't installed any after the Format i did 2 weeks ago.

There are no probs in Device Manager. Sound drivers are the latest.

I believe this problem whatever it is must be related to the CPU in some way as it works fine until a game is run. Well unless the Mobo is to blame.. Maybe it got hot at some point and has been damaged. I have another hard drive with an O/S on it (it was the old one before i upgraded) Maybe i'll put that back in and see what happens..

I know what you mean by sleeping badly, i'm the same and it hacks me off

EDIT: Just seen your reply. It's a 550W PSU that was put in at the time of the upgrade of the Mobo, CPU and RAM.

Regards
Steve

Smafie said:

EDIT: Just seen your reply. It's a 550W PSU that was put in at the time of the upgrade of the Mobo, CPU and RAM.

Regards
Steve

Click to expand...

Just becuse it is a 550w power supply does not mean it is putting out 550w heck if is a cheap one it only puts out about half of that? Who makes it.

You're quite right. It's a Q-Tec. Not that i know if that is good or bad i'm afraid.

Further to the above, upon putting in the old HD, which was a little slow doing stuff, the machine DID run without incident for 40 mins under load of Flightsim. So this is getting weirder now.. The reason for Formatting the HD 2 weeks ago was related to bad performance and glitches that were unrecoverable. I'm not in the habit of formatting unless it's really neccessary. It's beginning to look as if i might have to format it again at this rate. I hate that, it's so tiresome.

Thanks for the help guys, i do apreciate the advice..

Regards
Steve

NOt to sure about that Q-Tec powersupply i will have to find few more specs on it also post your complete system specs or you can do your own math Here but keep in mind there still a unknow efficenty factor involved here ...

Since yesterday i have reloaded Sound drivers, the Mobo driver utils etc, 2 different Nvidia drivers and uninstalled them again. Been through the Bios settings checking each bit. For some reason there is now a delay in bootup after it says Checking NVRAM - whereas before it went straight to the mem count and proceeded.

I think i have stopped the sound problem but it crashed again this afternoon..

ASUS P4P800-E Deluxe
P4 3.0Ghz HT
1Gb Kingston RAM
80Gb Maxtor 7200 HD
FX 5950 Ultra 256
MSI DVD RW
Q-Tec Triple fan 550W PSU

I have noticed that the CPU temp is very cool with ranges from 16-26C depending on use, not that it's bad of course but it seems very low compared with other similar chips which seem to be in the 30/40's. Is this normal?

I've gone back to an older GFX card driver now as it appears to be more stable than the 66.93 and 71.84 i have tried. Mainly cos it was perfectly ok previously to the current troubles..

Regards
Steve.

Well looking at the makers web site of your power supply they really not that beffy on the 12v rail side only around 12 amps this is actually kinda a cheap powersupply so lets say this only about 50% efficent 550w/2=275w I did a quick figure on your power needs got around 289w so u see the problem ... I suggest getting a better power supply and the reviews on this are not all that great... This very well could be the problem and the most over looked part of a computer you place a lot of load on it when you play 3d games..

Yeah, and i left out a few smaller items so as not to put a list of insignificant stuff, and my calcs made it over 350W. So this could be a suspect item.

Can anyone give me suggestions for a somewhat better PSU to go for?

Thanks..

Good power supply OCZ Thermotake Antech and personally I have good luck with Raidmax ps not sure what ones you can get acess to but these are probbly good place to start.

Thanks, i recall the Antec name now. I've checked out all and I'll have a look in the local places here and see what is available..

Regards
Steve

Update..

I got an Antec Neo 480 at the local computer mall, and quite cheap too at £57 or $104US. The first thing that impressed me straight away was the Silence! The old one has 3 fans in it and is very loud, something that always annoyed me, now i can only hear the CPU fan, so it was worth the money for that alone.

I now just have to sort out the odd gfx glitch. I've gone through 4 drivers atm, uninstalling the old ones first but there is still a minor fault somewhere, but this is far better than it was, so i'm glad about that. I did have to reload the sound driver again after another 'sound' dropout in a game for some reason. This time i loaded the latest one for the AC97 - a370, so hopefully that will work.. I've never experienced a sound problem in a game before now.

Thanks for the tips..

Steve

You got a much better power supply now this is great you are all set now.. Remember to keep in mind if you build a nother computer do not overlook the power suppy a lot of people do ... :chef: