system shuts down whenever playing a game

[janissary]

guys.. i am at my wits end here... i just installed a brandnew maxtor 40 gig 7200 rpm drive... fresh intall winxp sp1.. and whenever i play cs.. my computer after awhile simply shuts down.. also happens when i play cricket 2004. I dont know why this is happening.... everything is fully updated.. all drivers are current... any advice?

system:

mobo: asus a7n8x deluxe nforce2
athlon xp 2200+ @ 1.80 ghz
512 mb ram
msi geforce 4 ti 4200 128 mb ddr
and 3 fans for cooling

 

[BlackMountainCow]

- What are your CPU and case temps? (both idle and load)
- What PSU do u use?
- Does the problem also occur with non game application like Prime95?? So u can tell if it's gfx or CPU related thing.

 

[janissary]

how do i find : What are your CPU and case temps? (both idle and load)... sorry big time newb

psu: Enermax 350W EG365P-VE Dual Fan

also.. i downloaded prime 95 can u tell me how i should use the thing if thats not too much trouble... do i just click stress test?

 

[BlackMountainCow]

For temps: download Aida32 and go for the Computer-->Sensors. If your board has any, it'll tell u the temps.

Prime95: Yip, just the stress test. It'll "torture" your CPU. If it looks as well, u know better where to look for the prob.

 

[janissary]

aida says:

Sensor Properties
Sensor Type Winbond W83L785TS-S
Sensor Access SMBus 0h, SMBus 2Eh
Motherboard Name Asus A7N8X

Temperatures
CPU Diode 84 °C (183 °F)

 

[BlackMountainCow]

OUCH!!!!

That is WAY to hot man!!!

 

[BlackMountainCow]

A temperature of about 40 to 50 is what most ppl desire to have, mayb 55 is ok as well, even 60, but at 84 u gonna fry your CPU in no time. (my XP +2000 for example runs at 41 at 100% load)

Take back any overclocking!! Are u using the stock HS and fan or an aftermarket one?

Try this: Open your case and point a normal household fan (those u use in summer for cooling) inside the case at full speed. Does your system still crash? How is the temp of your CPU then?

But u definitly got to do something about those temps. The max temp for an AMD is 90 or 95 °C ... And the more temp the shorter your CPU will survive.

 

[janissary]

i think it was mess of nforce driver problems... installled the latest unified version 3.13.. and didnt then go and separately install the 53.03 geforce drivers.. just used what came from the unified version... and it seems no crashing during games well over 30 mins of playing...

What do u guys think.. still way to hot?? and if so any suggestions?

Yes im using the cpu fan that came in the retail amd 2200+ box
Im not doing any over clocking.. i have 133 mhz fsb at a 13.5x mulitplier giving me 1.80 ghz
My power supply is an Enermax 350W EG365P-VE Dual Fan

and aida gave me this on sensors after just using the unified 3.13 drivers

Sensor Properties
Sensor Type Asus ASB100 Bach, Winbond W83L785TS-S
Sensor Access SMBus 2Dh, SMBus 2Eh
Motherboard Name Asus A7N8X

Temperatures
Motherboard 24 °C (75 °F)
CPU 64 °C (147 °F)
CPU Diode 90 °C (194 °F)

Cooling Fans
CPU 3709 RPM

Voltage Values
CPU Core 1.70 V
CPU Aux 1.70 V
+3.3 V 3.44 V
+5 V 4.97 V
+12 V 12.42 V
-12 V -12.33 V
-5 V -4.67 V

 

[janissary]

also i want to add that i have 3 80mm fans that are running 2.. under the power supply and one on the side panel, and the temperaturses posted above.. were right after i exited the game.

after about a few mins aida gave:

Sensor Properties
Sensor Type Asus ASB100 Bach, Winbond W83L785TS-S
Sensor Access SMBus 2Dh, SMBus 2Eh
Motherboard Name Asus A7N8X

Temperatures
Motherboard 21 °C (70 °F)
CPU 57 °C (135 °F)
CPU Diode 84 °C (183 °F)

Cooling Fans
CPU 3709 RPM

Voltage Values
CPU Core 1.70 V
CPU Aux 1.70 V
+3.3 V 3.42 V
+5 V 4.97 V
+12 V 12.42 V
-12 V -12.33 V
-5 V -4.67 V

 

[BlackMountainCow]

Glad u got that problem fixed and your machine doesn't crash anymore.

But still, I higly suggest that u take care of those temps. Mobo 21 °C is perfect. What worries me is the CPU temps. The diode temp will always be higher. But if 57 °C is taken after u quit playing and the machine has been sitting idle for let's say 15 mins it's still too high as far as I am concerned.

As u said u use the standard HS. So I guess u don't use any thermal compund neiher and just this heat-sticky-thing-pad-crap that came with the HS.

Don't get me wrong: If your system is stable now (u can do the Prime95 test to examine that) and u don't worry about temps cause u say "ah, I gonna buy a new CPU every 2 years anyway" then don't change anything. But if u plan to keep that CPU for longer I'd invest a few $, EUR or whatever in a good HS, fan and some good thermal compound.

For suggestions on HS, fan and thermal comound just take a look into the case/cooling or CPU/overclocking forums.


Hope I helped ya a bit!

 

[janissary]

yo thx for the info man... big help.. can u actually recommend a good thermal whatever thats not too expensive?

btw here's where i shop : http://www.canadacomputers.com/cpus.html#acc

 

[BlackMountainCow]

On that site I'd go for "ArctivSilver 5" (the best that is around these days and that tube will last till the end of your life )

If u ask me about a HS+fan for your CPU then all I can tell u is that I use the "ThermalTake Volcano Extrem 12" (also on this site) and I'm very very satisfied with it. But I do have to say that I do lots of overclocking and I'm somwhat an enthusiast about that stuff, so my opinion is not neutral at all

But there r lots of other good ones. Just keep in mind that if u plan on upgradin somewhen in the near future, that all AMDs now require a HS with at least a copper core, if not all copper (like the Volcano 12). So if u buy a new HS keep an eye on the future.

 

[pspada]

Um, you might want to check to ensure that your heatsink is not on backwards.

 

[BlackMountainCow]

Um, you might want to check to ensure that you heatsink is not on bockwards.

Errr ... I hope that this is not the case, isn't it? Janissary?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Originally posted by: pspada
Um, you might want to check to ensure that you heatsink is not on bockwards.

Indeed, I go so far as to remove and reinstall it after applying a very thin film of thermal compound to the CPU as the diode temps you listed, even given some inaccuracy of reading, are too high for a 2200+ even a Palomino with the stock cooler and thermal pad.

 

[janissary]

what do u mean on backwards?... i followed the exact instructions to install the damn thing....i mean there is only one way to install the heatsink/fan isnt there ? ... the stock retail one that is...

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Well if the cut out in the bottom of the heatsink is lined up with the raised notch on the socket you did it the right way but it doesn't necessarily mean it's seated properly.

 

[janissary]

good point... i did have a lot of trouble getting the clips to fall into place when i was installing the damn thing.... would the enthusiast ones listed above gove me less trouble if i try and reinstall?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

The AeroFlow is hands downs, the easiest to instll sktA cooler I've ever used and cools extremely well, plus for $25 and changed to your door shipped FedEx 3day it's a great deal link It sounds like during installation you may have scraped some of the thermal pad off the sink and it's not getting proper contact with the core. You could probably invest in a tube of Arctic Silver Ceramique' and be good to go, but you need to carefully follow the directions and only apply a thin layer. You also have to clean the heatsink very well first too. I'd get the AeroFlow and Ceramique', and since you don't overclock just keep the stock cooler the way it is so that you protect you warranty and can send it back with part of the thermal pad still on it and eliminate the potential for warranty rejection by using the Ceramique'.

 

[janissary]

but if by the new heatsink why do i have to clean it?... also that volcano extreme thing is not good enough ?..

also this arctic silver one is different from the one listed by black crow eh

 

[janissary]

hmm looks like the same shut down problem during a game happens.... cpu temp is at 59 degrees celsius however.. should i just try 1 stepping the voltage of the vid card?

also MSI 3d turbo experience says:

temperature of vid card = 47 deg celsius

fan speed = 3479 rpm

voltages:

gpu = 1.680 V

Memory I/O = 2.6 V

Memory core = 3.22 V

mem clock : 513 mhz
core clock : 250 mhz

this thing has me beat as to why this random shut down is happening... my power supply is a good 350Watts enermax dual fan. this all started after i installed the new 40 gig maxtor 7200 rpm as primary and made the old 5400 rpm maxtor 8 gig secondary... may be i should just remove the second drive.. since i always ran only one drive.. but then again the power should be more than enuff.

any suggestions?

 

[DAPUNISHER]

ignore the 57c temp unless it's the CPU diode temp as that's the temp reading taken from the CPU's on-die temp sensor and tends to be much more accurate than the other temp which is the sensor under the CPU in the socket on the board itself. Also, I didn't mean to imply that you should clean the new heatsink, only the stock one if you plan to keep it as you can't reuse the thermal pad again and thermal compounds like Ceramique' require that you throughly clean it first. As to the Volcano, you won't find many serious computer enthusiasts who live in the U.S. using Thermatake sktA coolers as they don't tend to have the best price/performance ratio in their respective classes and are a PITA to install unless things have changed radically of late.

 

[janissary]

well ok thats damn good of a clear up by you.. but what do u think of that hardrive thing i mentioned at the end ?

i mean my comp has never had this problem... until i installed this new HD

 

[DAPUNISHER]

Anything that's changed since shortly before the instability began is suspect so by all means see if disconnecting that drive gets things going. It could be drawing too much off your PSU, particularlly if the PSU isn't high quality.

 

[janissary]

thats what i am going to do... but man an enermax 350W dual fav ve.. jeez ..