Computer Issue: Gaming

[Pathogen03]

Heya,

Just probing around for some help with this issue

I was playing through a bunch of games out of boredom, and about halfway through Bloodrayne 2 my computer decided to start rebooting randomly during games, sometimes just crashing to desktop.

My Setup:

Abit NF7-S
Mobile 2600+ @ 3200+
2x256 PC4000 Kingston HyperX
SB Audigy
Enermax 435wat PSU
Radeon 9600+ Pro with Aftermarket heat sink, non overclocked

This now occurs in all games I play.


Eve, Battlefield 2, GTA San Andreas, Rome-Total War, Area 51 and BloodRayne 2

I believe its not a heat issue, as I have a Vantec Tornado 92mm on a big arsed copper thermalright heat sink, with a brand new vantec orb on the northbridge. The Tornado is on a controller and even jacked up to max after a fresh reboot the issue can occur within 5 seconds. MBM doesnt show a CPU temp over 47c ever, case around 27c

Just reboots mostly, anywhere from 5 seconds to a few minutes into any of the games. Sometimes crashes to desktop instead. I havent a clue if its video, but ive updated video drivers and problem still occurs, maybe even more, though that could just be my imagination. And ive never heard of a driver failing on EVERY game Could be sound, updated those drivers as well. Done spyware/virusscan, no luck. Fairly sure its not the power supply, as it never happens at other times. Tried lowering the overclock from 200x11 to 200x10 @ 1.65 and the pc wont even boot.. its either 100x6 or 200x11
could be ram even, I am going to run memtest overnight to check that out.. but it only happens during graphics/sound-intensive things, have yet to see it on any other load-heavy programs. Will check Prime95 anyway.

Only modification ive done recently is the old northbridge fan died, so I tried going without it (heard people had success with that on my board, with similar overclocks), but it rebooted a few times, so I got a Vantec Orb, and believe I set it on properly. Will also try resetting that if nothing else works.

 

[BeakerChem]

This sounds like a heat issue to me, even though you are thinking it isn't. Can you check temps and report back?

What video card are you using?

 

[Pathogen03]

completely forgot about about video card.. wow.. added it to post

Radeon 9600 Pro with aftermarket heatsink, non overclocked.

I can run two of the games windowed, and the temps never go above 47 for the cpu and around 27 for the case.. dont have a thermal probe for video card, but I guess it is conceivable, not sure why it would overheat though.

 

[BeakerChem]

Had a video card I had to RMA that kicked out on me in 3d intensive games. It was heat dependent, but it wasn't over the specs max heat level. The new card now works great with no problems.

Try Prime95 for a long time to check the CPU
Try Memtest overnight to check the mem
Try 3dmark05 3-5 times in a row, just the graphics tests (so you may have to interrupt it if you are using the trial version and start it over after the third graphics test), to check to see if it is video card related.

Sounds to me (low level of ability to diagnose though ;o) ) like a component has gone bad on you and is kicking out at a lower temp than it should. The above tests should help you diagnose which one it is if that is the case.

 

[Pathogen03]

Video card was bought on the for sale forums here to replace one with shaky ram that kept crashing a specific game only, Eve, the new card has been working fine for months..



I dont know what could suddenly do that.. Ive even blown all the dust I could find out of the case incase it was a buildup of it.. but I will try Prime95 now


edit:

just started the small option for Prime95, for maximum cpu stress, minimum ram.. its running now.

 

[BeakerChem]

Everything has a useful lifetime, and other problems add to that I think.

Where I am at the power is horribly dirty. High and low voltages are so common that I had to get a AVR (voltage regulator) to even it out. It runs constantly, pulling voltages up and down. <Shrug>

After you try the test programs, definately report back.

My guess is that 3dmark will cause the creashes, since you see it mainly in games that use the card but not in general desktop use.

 

[Pathogen03]

Im under the same assumption myself, but I will hopefully have results that verify that.. I hope I dont have to RMA it, im not the original owner and it has an aftermarket heatsink on it..

 

[Pathogen03]

Prime95 as had no problem, running 3dMark05 now... I suspect its purely graphics


CPU temp went from 39 idle to 45 under hour-long load, with the fans standard setting.. not even near maxed..

 

[Pathogen03]

3dMark05 crashed within about 20 seconds of video test starting...

I dont know what to attribute that to.. it doesnt seem like heat could build up fast enough for that to be the cause, and I have verified the fan on the video card IS spinning..

So am I stuck just RMA'ing it and being sh!t out of a video card for 10-12 days? not to mention I dont even know if I have the stock heatsink to be able to RMA it..?



edit:

checked ATI site, seems there is apparently a 3 year warranty, mine will be ending in about 15 days I am not the original purchaser, but I know the date it was originally bought at a store. What do I do about the aftermarket heat sink.. should I take it off, then just claim the fan broke and wasn't working when I try to send it back?

 

[BeakerChem]

Unfortunately, an aftermarket heatsink voids your 3 year warranty with ATI. And I doubt they would be very understanding of a card with no heatsink appearing within 15 days of the end of the warranty.

Also not in your favor, every RMA I have had required a proof of purchase of some sort to show when you got it.

Sounds like it might be time to get a new video card...

 

[Pathogen03]

I just bought the video card 4 months ago on these forums.. damn that prick for selling me a dying card.

At the very least I can call and ask if I can return a card with no heatsink, as the fan died

 

[BeakerChem]

Lol. He probably didn't know the card was dying at the time. I think these things are all or nothing most of the time with ths size of the circuitry on them. And it is at the end of its 3 year warranty, which probably means the lifetime of the card is 3 years right? Did you pay close to full price for it?

 

[Pathogen03]

Payed 70 shipped, but they sold for about 110 retail then... Now a 9600XT 256mb is 95 shipped... I may just spring for that new on newegg, but I currently have a WTB thread in for trade/sale forums to probe

so in other words I paid 80% of full price for 10% of the operability time.

Thanks for watching this thread and helping, and the guy who sold me the card was actually very nice..

 

[Pathogen03]

Currently trying the standard Radeon video card fixes... allready had fastwrite disabled and AGP at 4x.. trying with VPU recover disabled too.

 

[Pathogen03]

none worked, tried swapping in an old Ti4200 128mb and it got to loading windows then freezes, rebooted and it said disc read error.

rebooting shows that again.

tested with finger on HDD, the thing never even spins up.. any idea?

 

[Pathogen03]

I got it to boot fine on its side

now it says the following file is missing or corrupt: \Windows\System32\Config\System and googling that says I need to repair windows XP with the windows XP disk. I havent a clue where it is, but I could probably find it need be, but I recall having this problem before.. just dont recall what fixed it..

 

[Pathogen03]

help?

 

[Pathogen03]

anyone?

Im just getting disk read error or the windows\system32\system file cannot be found..