Random crashing 1

[blasted]

I have a problem in that my pc likes to srash at radom times. I have run norton system works, no problems, i have done a virus check, nothing. If i play a game i have on the system it will crash, most of the time it has been graphic related. I have a gforce fx 5200 graphics card. It has crashed during other times though. The cpu temp seems to be stable at around 40 degrees.

The system i have is an asus a7v600 motherboard with a 512 ddr ram, and a athalon 2800, i am running windows xp professional.

any help would be greatly appreciated. I cant think of anything to do to diagnose the problem.

 

[blasted]

i am also running a 550 watt poer supply

 

[SYAR2003]

Get the forceware 2000/xp drivers nvidia 53.03
from

http://www.guru3d.com

Se if that helps.

 

[TheGoatMan]

Does your computer shut down or does the game just crash?

 

[BenyG]

Does the system completely freeze? For example does the music in your game freeze on the note it is playing? If this is the case then the symptoms point to your CPU overheating. I would suggest you take a look at this thread: thread602-665831 this helps,

Ben

 

[SYAR2003]

BenyG .
The cpu shouldn overheat if its 40C idle
it shouln't increase more than around 6-10C when
running 100%.That's still in the safe zone.

 

[blasted]

When it does crash i get a blue screen saying that there has been a serious problem, or it just completely goes and restarts.
CPU temp has never really gone aboove 44 even when i give it a thrashing.

I will try the download first, and let you know.

 

[Freestone]

40C CPU temperature is just fine, so I'm extremely doubtful that this is your problem.

Look in Event Viewer, System log and look for recent Error entries about the same time of a crash and post some of the Event IDs.

Is your XP at the Service Pack 1 level?

Are you overclocking?

Try running some memory diagnostics:

http://oca.microsoft.com/en/windiag.asp

http://www.memtest86.com/

 

[blasted]

i have just had a look at the windows memory tester and i cant get the thing to work, its all spanish to me. I have downloaded files, saved them to disk and tried to reboot but to no avail, where am i going wrong?

 

[Freestone]

The Microsoft link will download a file called mtinst.exe.
Double-click on this, accept the End-User License Agreement, place a diskette into your diskette drive, select Create Startup Disk, then select Create. Shutdown and restart, leaving the newly created diskette in the drive.

 

[blasted]

Just been having a think about things.

The system will crash if i leave it on overnight and i am assuming it is when the fish screensaver comes up.

If i play a game(medal of honour) directly from the hard drive it crashes near enough straight away. The same applies with grand theft auto.

Occasionaly it will crash when doing many applications but not that often. When it crashes during a game it normally goes back to windows, but on occasion has crashed the system.

It did once crash whilst playing music with the effects screen on full. But it didnt hang on one note, justcrashed the system.

I seem to think it may be graphics card related, but i dont see why, is the ram linked to graphics card in any way?

I really am getting angry with it now, i should have stuck with the playstation 2

 

[Philbong]

Right i had exactally the same problem with basically the same system. I went through everything from more RAM to a new PSU and i still could'nt get anything to work ! Then someone said to me to have a look at the heatsink, stupid boy like iam i mounted it the wrong way round ! Easy to do with lasting effect ! Take a look just incase and let me know if it was because maybe i wont feel so silly on my own !

 

[BenyG]

blasted,

The question with hanging on the note that I made was if the CPU was overheating but SYAR2003 established that it was not the case so dont worry about that.

The fact that it suddenly quits to Windows and that it usually / always happens in games indicates that it is a gfx card problem.

What is the Stop error that you actually receive? This is the blue message you spoke of.

Disable any screensavers and leave it on onvernight to establish that it is a gfx problem and ensure you have no grahpics intensive programmes on timers.


Before the problem occured did you recently update your drivers? I ask this as a few years ago I updated my drivers on my nVidia TNT2 M64 and Half-Life (some while back considering I was playing HL) kept on crashing. I tried uninstalling the nVidia drivers, and reinstllaing the previous nVidia version. Everything worked after that! All I did was to not install new drivers for ~6 months.

What had happened was a new bug had been created with a new feature / fix which was eventually fixed. This might work for you so give it a try.

Ben

"To our surprise we have not been able to locate even
one scientific study on the proved harmful effects of addiction"
Dr George H Stephenson, speaking about Heroin at the University of British Columbia, 1956

 

[SYAR2003]

blasted !
Can you tell us what version of nvidia drivers you are using....

 

[blasted]

Here is what i have done upto yet.

I have gone back a few days on windows xp.
I have uninstalled all the drivers for the graphics card and reverted to the original ones.
I have cleared a load of stuff of the computer.
I have also lowered the performance settings of the graphics card. Now this did result in the game playing longer,but it still crashes.
I have not been able to do a memory test until i get a floppy drive to make the boot disk, i tried doing it on a disc but it caused headaches.

All i can think is that its either the game, medal of honor allied assault and grandtheft auto vice city, which are insatlled on the hard drive, whih have not been regestered.
or is it the ram? which i cant check as yet, does the ram affect the graphics on heavy games?
If it were the graphics card would it not runat all?

 

[blasted]

Oh yes and the heat sink is on the right way round

 

[SYAR2003]

I will give you a tip.
Things that hangs together.
VIA 4in1 drivers 4.51
Graphic card drivers 53.03
DirectX ( install DX9.0b if you havent already)

I still don't know your driver version .
Who you have now and before.
( the 52.16 has unsolved issues , and it's
even stated in the release info )

Uninstall completly from add/remove programs
the nvidia drivers .
restart your pc , and ignore the found new hardware stuff
dont let it install anything.(click cancel)
Run your pc with standard VGA drivers.

Goto

http://www.viaarena.com

and get the latest 4in1 drivers (4.51)
install them .

Use Detonator R.I.P. Ver. 1.5
from guru3d.com
Let it get rid of all remains of nvidia drivers.

Get 53.03 from www.guru3d.com
Install them

If you only experience crashes in games it's driver related
The graphic card has two modes 2D and 3D .

Don't tweak the card/drivers before you get it stable
at stock settings.

 

[BenyG]

blasted,

The RAM is not particularly affected in Graphics intensive games. The problem with RAM is when the dodgy part of the chip gets accessed and this hangs the computer. This could happen whilst doing anything on the computer and the symptoms you gave do not point to this.


An error with the gfx card could result in it not running at all but can also result in an error in the game. In actual fact a game that /never/ runs on a gfx card no matter wat you do usually indicates that you need a better one.




Ben

"To our surprise we have not been able to locate even
one scientific study on the proved harmful effects of addiction"
Dr George H Stephenson, speaking about Heroin at the University of British Columbia, 1956

 

[SkipCox]

Listen to SYAR2003. Via chipsets and Nvidia/GeForce do not get along well. It's about your only chance short of using an ATI card.

Skip

http://home.comcast.net/~scox9/index.html

 

[blasted]

This is where i have got to.

I have completely started from scatch, i blanked everything and re installed. That includes getting windows to service level one pack standard. I have updated the drivers thorugh the microsoft site for the graphics card, i have ensured that the motherboard updates are correct. I have also run a ram test, the extended one for about 3 passes and no faults found. I did not reinstall any games, but earlier i was watching a film i downloaded on the latest divx player and after about 5 mins it crashed. It briefly displayed a "windows has suffered a serious fault and we are closing the programme, then it just blinked off and re started.
The reason i reinstalled was because i was initially sold the wrong chip. I got a thouroughbred as opposed to a barton, that meant it had a lower level two cashe, 256k instead of 512k. That meant i was running at a lower spec. The chip shouldnt have been on the market, it was for a job lot according to amd guy at tech help. Never trust computer fairs! I thought that might have had an effect so i reinstalled to rule it out of the equation.
I forgot to write down the fail code but will get it next time.
Does this mean we are looking to a graphics card issue?
I am going to download benchtest 3d for the graphics and have a look.
Any possible solutions, let me know, i dont know how much longer i can take this.