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AMD 956MHz Can't Run Games longer than 10 Mins

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rad89

Technical User
Oct 19, 2003
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Yes I have a problem with my computer...... When ever I play any games..... like halo solider of fortune anything really.... I jionn on a server or whatever the case.... I get around 5 mins sometimes 10 , 15 , 2 min , god knows how long but the computer seems to freeze up (skipp) while the screen goes Blank (no outpuT ) ... or the computer screen goes out and computer shuts down.. etc... I am really uncertian to what may be casuing this.

I don't have win XP anymore.. since last virus.... I formatted went back to win 98..... I ran a whole bunch of tests.. I totally..... Tested my CPu intensley.... no errors.... my RAM is good passed everything.... 256 MB and my Video card I tested it cranked up to like 96% and was getting no errors avg around 350 - 390 FPS , it tested my drives too... but... I don't know what could be wrong.. Thinking maybe only the Mother board......

I just wanna play games...... help me.....

950 MHz AMD
256MB ram
128mb radeon ATi 7500 tvout
Asus t-bird k133 MB
MAxtor HD 40 GB


Any help would be greatly appriecated.
 
Have you got the latest drivers for all of your hardware?
Are you sure that the CPU isn't getting overheated?
An overheated CPU can cause problems. Also a faulty PSU can cause some very strange things to happen.
What tests have you run on your CPU & RAM etc?
 
I had the exact same problem. For me, it was solved by updating the chipset driver for my video card. In my case it was VIA chipset drivers. On a GeForce2 32 MX.

Please let us know what you think of posts, feedback is always appreciated as this will help to further our knowledge as well.
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All that's required for evil to suceed is for good men to do nothing.
 
Video Card, CPU or Power supply unit are my guess. A bad software installation can also be a probable cause.

Did the freezing come suddenly or has it always been there?

Cheap generic Power Supplies are a major contributor to system instability. I would try another power supply unit and see if the problem still occurs.

CPU overheating is also a big problem, but again overheating problems don't just happen overnight. You can get a better CPU heatsink and some Arctic Silver thermal grease.

Get the latest Video Card Drivers for if you havn't done so already.

Also think back to the last software you installed before you noticed the problems. Uninstalling it and reinstalling it can often fix these types of problems.

Just a final note, adding a few case fans is a good idea. Expecially one on the top and rear sucking out air.
 
BurnInTest results
Operating system Windows 98
CPU manufacturer AuthenticAMD
CPU type AMD Athlon(tm) Processor
CPU1 speed 957.2 MHz
Level 2 cache size 256
CPU features MMX 3DNow!

RAM 267583488
Video card RADEON 7500 SERIES
Video resolution 1024x768x32
Test Duration 0h 01m 13s

Test Cycles Operations Errors
CPU - MMX 14 12691576 0 No errors

3D Graphics 75 240000000 0 No errors

Tried Rollback Drivers, Tried Maintence to CPU fan for optimization. tried highering my virtual ram.... then freeing up system resources. can get furthur than ever before in games. Made it to like 9 deaths before game stalling out. I have tried turning down performance level of graphics in system properties, for mouse optimization

Asus A7PRO PC133 200MHz FSB AGP pro 4x Socket A
min Virtual memory 1024 MB
Wireless Logitech Keyboard
 
The reported amount of RAM looks to be a very strange size, unless it is being reported wrong. I would have expected it to be closer to 262,000000kb than 267,000000kb. Have you tried any memory testing software? If not try memtest86 from You could try reducing your video resolution to high colour 16 bit or lower & setting the screen size lower for testing.
Also the best setting for your virtual memory is 2.5 times your actual memory so 256mb would be 640mb & you need to put this in both the min & max boxes.
 
You have not mentioned whether or not you tried updating the chipset drivers for your video card, as per earlier post.

Please let us know what you think of posts, feedback is always appreciated as this will help to further our knowledge as well.
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All that's required for evil to suceed is for good men to do nothing.
 
I have not tried to update the chipset on my video card. I do not know how or where. I can watch movies on my computer, i can see videos fullscreen etc. Only when playing the game does it mess up.

it does seem weird that it is showing 267 mb instead of 262 or which ever. I opened my computer up last night and felt a few things for warmth and to see if anything was noticable. I did it just after the game halted out, and the computers acts like it is still on, the cpu fan was spining sync wasn't really hot, and the fan on my video card is still running but the video output is null. Very uncertian to what maybe be going on....

The time I was able to play the game for a bit longer it was in safemode. (game safemode) when starting all of this I have a 76% resources free.....
 
Sometimes dust just builds up on the CPU Cooler over time. You may not be able to see it that well. A can of Air can help to clean it out.

If you do not like my post feel free to point out your opinion or my errors.
 
Ceh4702

I have already clean my entire heat sync out of all dust etc, there was quite a bit, but not overly to bad. and to boot with all of this... What I did was took another Fan and placed it over the CPU therefore it would be pumping 2 times the air flow, and still no change.

I am going to try testing my memory with the program and then I'm going to try uninstalling and running directx and run diags....
 
Does this happen when you play games, and you are not connected to the internet?
 
Good Question geo87. But No It will still do the freezing , / glitching monitor die out like always.

This Time I even tried to install an older multiplayer game playable on much much earlier enrty desktop. And this game even still failed to suceed. It it very fusterating.

I ran the Nenory Diagostic program, and the results failed to show any errors. It went on for 35 or more Minutes 4 cycles and not one error. 255MB ram was showing up in there as a total.

I removed my ati control panel and unistalled my exsiting display driver. then downloaded and new version.
Do you think If by going back to Win 2000 or Win Xp would help anything???? (I didn't think it would.)


Looks like I may have to take this in to a shop for repair.
 
Have you tried different video resolutions?
 
What Model is your mainboard?

Please let us know what you think of posts, feedback is always appreciated as this will help to further our knowledge as well.
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All that's required for evil to suceed is for good men to do nothing.
 
Asus A7PRO PC133 200MHz FSB AGP pro 4x Socket A


the posts are great guys I appriecate all of your expertise.
 
How old is your monitor? Check your monitor settings and make sure it's not set too high .Try lower settings.If it's running 70hertz try 60 .Run msconfig turn off all background programs not needed anything that could cause a problem.Disconnect external devices like scanners printers and any usb devices.Remove other cards and have just the videocard.Try to eliminate as many possible causes as you can.Go back to just a basic computer and try to play games if it still craps out it's time to try a different video card,ram .
 
Go to ASUS.com , find your mainboard and download the chipset drivers. then try and play games. for example ASUS A7V - VIA

Please let us know what you think of posts, feedback is always appreciated as this will help to further our knowledge as well.
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All that's required for evil to suceed is for good men to do nothing.
 
I had the exact same MoBo with the exact same symptoms...I replaced it and never had the problems again...
 
Just thought The people that helped me with my post would like to know. That IO was sucessfull in getting my system functioning properly... I had to format reinstall XP and then update the chipset and move my audio card to another PCI slot for IRQ issues.
 
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