Reboots during games or loss of video signal!

[tekkitan]

Well, I have been having this problem for about a month now. It first started happening when I was playing CS:Source or DoD:Source. Randomly while playing I would get a blue screen with some error on it that I could not read because it disappears too fast, then my computer resets.

Now I have bought Quake 4 and it is doing the same thing. Except in Quake 4, sometimes it auto reboots my computer, sometimes I just lose video signal and sometimes it comes back sometimes it doesnt.

Specs:

DFI LanParty NFII Ultra
AMD Athlon XP 2500+ 333mhz barton core
1gb DDR333
ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128mb AGP
Antec TruPower 480watt PSU
3 x 200gb WD SATA hard drives
1 x 300gb WD SATA hard drive
1 x 180gb Hitachi 180GXP EIDE hard drive
Turtle Beach Santa Crus Catalina 7.1 sound card
liteon dvd-+rw
liteon cd-rw
intel 10/100 network interface card
4-5 case fans

i think thats it lol.

edit also: i thought maybe it was my drivers. I had cat 5.9's installed, just installed 5.10 and no improvements.

Also I have Windows XP SP2

 

[rbV5]

Are your Motherboard drivers up to date?

 

[tekkitan]

yes they are.

 

[Markbnj]

Well it sure sounds as if you have a hardware problem on the video card.

Edit: or maybe power? 480 watt is pretty beefy, but you do have a lot of stuff in there.

 

[tekkitan]

yeah i just tried unplugging all my hard drives except for boot. it still does it in quake 4 but not as quick as it was. didnt do it in dod:source at all though. seems i'm drawing too much power

edit: i've got a new mobo, waiting for some more money so i can get the other parts. as soon as i do, the extra hard drives are going in the old system as a file server.

i'm going intel for the first time in 6 years. got me an msi p4n diamond.

 

[rbV5]

Not that this is your issue, but my Antec 480 truepower is a POS, weak on the 12v Rail, although I had thought I just got a bad unit since my other Antec PS were/are great.

 

[tekkitan]

mines been working great ever since i got it about 2 years ago.

 

[rbV5]

Originally posted by: tekkitan
mines been working great ever since i got it about 2 years ago.

Mine works great too...until I put it in the rig with the X800XL or AIW9700pro, at some point I'll start getting VPU errors and then artifacting. It took months in my AIW rig before it started having issues, and about 2 months in my X800XL rig. I got mine about 2 years ago as well. In both cases I replaced it with cheap enermax and fortron models which have been flawless since, and it was somewhat difficult to troubleshoot since it was intermittent.

 

[tekkitan]

i've been running this psu with the 9800 pro for the almost two years. this is the first time i've had any problems power wise what so ever.

 

[Inappropriate4AT]

Sounds like a hardware problem. Run Prime95, SuperPI, and Memtest. Report back with results.

 

[tekkitan]

Originally posted by: Inappropriate4AT
Sounds like a hardware problem. Run Prime95, SuperPI, and Memtest. Report back with results.

um, read above...

 

[Inappropriate4AT]

Originally posted by: tekkitan

Originally posted by: Inappropriate4AT
Sounds like a hardware problem. Run Prime95, SuperPI, and Memtest. Report back with results.

um, read above...

.....
GL is all I have to say

 

[jiffylube1024]

It's often a heat related issue. I've had heat issues with a 9800 Pro, and a 6600GT. Overclocking is a big factor but in general cards run so hot these days that these errors sometimes happen.

I often buy a Silencer for whatever card I'm going to keep long term, it drops temperatures tremendously.

 

[xtknight]

Screw around with AGP speed and switch around fast writes. 4x/fast writes off seemed to be the most stable for my previous VIA KT400/Athlon XP machine. I think it was only fast writes that made the difference though. Mine used to lose video signal and become completely unresponsive. I also vaguely remember some Athlon AGP fix thing for Win2k.

 

[Rage187]

also make sure that you do NOT have the video card sharing a molex connector w/ anything else, absolutely do not have it hooked up to the same power cable as a harddive.

 

[tekkitan]

guys. read above. problem was found. thanks.

 

[Pete]

FYI, you can read those BSOD messages by either changing a setting (right-click My Computer> Properties> Advanced> Startup and Recovery) or by checking past messages with Event Viewer (Ctrl Panel> Admin Tools).

I still kind of doubt it's a power issue given your PSU, but it's quite likely I'm wrong and you're right. You can be sure by buying a digital multi-meter (as little as $10) and checking the PSU line voltages (specifically, +12V) when you game to see if anything drifts too far out of spec. I've learned that software voltage readers (like MBM, Speedfan, etc.) rely on rather inaccurate MB sensors. I had reboot issues with a bunch of demos and later CS:S, but they all seem cured. The cure seemed to have been updated Catalysts and possibly a new soundcard, but I can't be sure. All I know is my system is stable, for now, and all my DMM did was prove that my Antec 300W PSU wasn't at fault. I had a pretty similar system, BTW: nF1, XP 2400+, 2x512MB, 9800P, nV Soundstorm -> Audigy 2 ZS, DVD drive, CD-RW drive, three slow case fans. Only one HD, though (originally 80GB, now 160GB). HDs don't draw much power in use, maybe 10-15W. The big draw is when they have to spin up, when the system boots (~30W each).

If you're at all curious about those BSOD messages, check Event Viewer.

 

[xtknight]

oh

 

[Madellga]

Originally posted by: tekkitan
yeah i just tried unplugging all my hard drives except for boot. it still does it in quake 4 but not as quick as it was. didnt do it in dod:source at all though. seems i'm drawing too much power

edit: i've got a new mobo, waiting for some more money so i can get the other parts. as soon as i do, the extra hard drives are going in the old system as a file server.

i'm going intel for the first time in 6 years. got me an msi p4n diamond.

Just curious, why did you go Intel?
It can't be for price, performance or thermal output....