I've occasionally had this issue for a few months but it's gotten worst in the last 5 weeks maybe. 2-3 minutes after I run a game, my cpu crashes while playing (most of the time, it's a full system reset). It's a hard problem to troubleshoot, I've tried many things. But it seems to crash at times when it's graphically intensive. I recently re-formatted my c drive, and the problem still occurs. Here are my specs: P4 1.8, 512 mb RAM, MSI Nvidia GF4 MX 440 (64mb ram, with latest drivers installed), Win XP pro (SP2). I think it's a comptability issue, as in an application causes a conflict while running games, it's hard to tell. I don't know much about BIOS, but i might have to tinker my settings. Any suggestions? Please be specific.
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Crashes while running games 3
- Thread starter kenseiden
- Start date
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- #2
Yes, in the BIOS setup, look for the option 'AGP Aperture Size', set it to 128mb (this setting is the best to use if you game alot)... if I'm right yours is either set to 32mb or below...
Ben
If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...
Ben
If it works don't fix it! If it doesn't use a sledgehammer...
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- #3
O.k you problem sounds very similar to my old problem, i am guessing you have a low quality psu you got free with the case when you bought it, or its an off the shelf generic company model.
Ya see when you play games it can stress the psu outside normal variances causing the rails to become extremely wild in voltage fluctuations and often leaving the cpu gasping for power, the answer i found was to increase the cpu voltage by 0.5 volts and that seemed to stabilise things and I didnt have a problem after that.
As a consequence for that when building my new system i went for a high quality branded psu the Antec Neopower at £80
Ya see when you play games it can stress the psu outside normal variances causing the rails to become extremely wild in voltage fluctuations and often leaving the cpu gasping for power, the answer i found was to increase the cpu voltage by 0.5 volts and that seemed to stabilise things and I didnt have a problem after that.
As a consequence for that when building my new system i went for a high quality branded psu the Antec Neopower at £80
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- #4
In addition to drive and PSU, it can also be your graphics board that slowly gets hotter as the 3D engine is used then crashed when it reaches a certain temp level. I had this with an ATI board, and placing a little fan inside the PC case, to have it shooting air at the graphics card solved the issue.
When you play games, the processor and graphics will be working much harder than using normal office applications. So the problem is most likely to be heat related, though the PSU may be a problem too.
First I suggest that you remove you case cover and check that all fans are running correctly - including the PSU fan. If they are very dusty, clean them with a soft brush and blow the loose dust away. Check particularly that the CPU and GPU fans are seated correctly (making good contact with the processor). If you didn't install the fans, it may be worth lifting the fans and making sure that a thin thirmal paste bond fas been applied.
When you are happy that all the fans are OK, run up the PC and test again. If the system falls over again, I'd recommend doing a full disk error check (ScanDisk) to make sure that the hard drive is OK. If that tests OK, then try running again with the case cover removed and test again. If it is OK with the cover off, then suspect a cooling problem.
If it still fails, then get a third party hardware test utility such as SiSoft Sandra and run a thorough system check. The PSU is one of the most likely suspects at this stage.
Regards: tf1
First I suggest that you remove you case cover and check that all fans are running correctly - including the PSU fan. If they are very dusty, clean them with a soft brush and blow the loose dust away. Check particularly that the CPU and GPU fans are seated correctly (making good contact with the processor). If you didn't install the fans, it may be worth lifting the fans and making sure that a thin thirmal paste bond fas been applied.
When you are happy that all the fans are OK, run up the PC and test again. If the system falls over again, I'd recommend doing a full disk error check (ScanDisk) to make sure that the hard drive is OK. If that tests OK, then try running again with the case cover removed and test again. If it is OK with the cover off, then suspect a cooling problem.
If it still fails, then get a third party hardware test utility such as SiSoft Sandra and run a thorough system check. The PSU is one of the most likely suspects at this stage.
Regards: tf1
- Thread starter
- #6
The description matches that of an overheating system, which happens to be the primary symptom of faulty fans.
To blame the PSU was rash, it could just as easilly have been almost any other fan in the system. Glad it's fixed though.
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Memoria mihi benigna erit qui eam perscribam
To blame the PSU was rash, it could just as easilly have been almost any other fan in the system. Glad it's fixed though.
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Memoria mihi benigna erit qui eam perscribam
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