View Full Version : Comp crashes when I play any game
test_tube_tony
15 Dec 2003, 4:53pm
:banghead: I sat down this morning to play a nice game of Quake III, when all of a sudden 5 secconds into the game, poof! The computer reboots. I've tried all my other games and I get the same problem. I've reinstalled all my drivers, uninstalled RivaTuner, cleand the video card, and even yelled at it. Anyone have any ideas?
Oh, by the way, I have made no changes to the system in the last 2 weeks. The computer also wants to scan drive D (which is a partition on my only HD), every time the computer starts up, even if I properly restart it.
(I know this isn't much of an emergency, but im stuck at home and I'm bored out of my mind)
Enverex
15 Dec 2003, 5:09pm
I had this problem when Smartgart had enabled AGP8x. I would check to see if Fastwrites and/or AGP 8x mode are on and turn them off first, as they can cause crashing like that. Doesn't require installing or deleting anything, so it's a useful item to check first.
is it overclocked? if so by how much?
Enverex
15 Dec 2003, 6:01pm
Oh, I didn't notice the bit about the Hard-Drive.
Does it ever actually say that it found errors? Or Mention "Bad Blocks"?
When you get into Windows, try running "chkdsk D: /f /x /r". Which will do a full scan of that drive/partition.
But as Bud said, are you overclocking?
TheSmJ
15 Dec 2003, 7:08pm
Lower the FSB to 133, while keeping everything else (including volgates) the same. If that fixes it, your RAM is disliking your OCed FSB. If it's still barfing, your crappy PSU is rounding the bucket.
Enverex
15 Dec 2003, 7:10pm
TheSmJ had this to say
Lower the FSB to 133, while keeping everything else (including volgates) the same. If that fixes it, your RAM is disliking your OCed FSB. If it's still barfing, your crappy PSU is rounding the bucket.
Slightly OT but - SimJ: Is the OC info in his Signature?
test_tube_tony
15 Dec 2003, 7:33pm
I was ocing, but not any more. I had it up to 317 runin smooth. As for the HD, it never finds a problem on startup. I'll try the chkdisk command after im done with the movie im watchin. Then I'll post my results.
TheSmJ
15 Dec 2003, 7:33pm
Enverex had this to say
TheSmJ had this to say
Lower the FSB to 133, while keeping everything else (including voltages) the same. If that fixes it, your RAM is disliking your OCed FSB. If it's still barfing, your crappy PSU is rounding the bucket.
Slightly OT but - SimJ: Is the OC info in his Signature?
Yes...
And that's TheSMJ.... get it right next time. ;)
Enverex
15 Dec 2003, 7:36pm
TheSmJ had this to say
Enverex had this to say
TheSmJ had this to say
Lower the FSB to 133, while keeping everything else (including voltages) the same. If that fixes it, your RAM is disliking your OCed FSB. If it's still barfing, your crappy PSU is rounding the bucket.
Slightly OT but - SimJ: Is the OC info in his Signature?
Yes...
And that's TheSMJ.... get it right next time. ;)
SJ: I was simply abbreviating :rolleyes:
See, this is annoying, as I have sigs turned off due to errors and load times :ninja: . So do a few other people...
TheSmJ
15 Dec 2003, 7:54pm
SJ: I was simply abbreviating
See, this is annoying, as I have sigs turned off due to errors and load times . So do a few other people...
Actually I never had to look at his sig, as I know firsthand he's OCing a little.
test_tube_tony
15 Dec 2003, 9:10pm
Set the defaults like was suggested. I cought a glimpse of a blue screen this time.
edcentric
15 Dec 2003, 11:45pm
What are you running for Anti Virus and anti-spyware???
There is something fishy with that drive.
Or it could just be memory or PSU buying the farm.
got a spare PSU around you can swap in to test?
test_tube_tony
16 Dec 2003, 12:54am
No, un fortunately I don't have a spair. I'll ask some of my friends in the area. I want a new PSU anyways. The one I have isnt very good. It cost me about $50 two or three years ago.
test_tube_tony
16 Dec 2003, 3:39pm
My memory better not be the problem. I spent the extra money to get the good Crucial memory. Dang, that would suck. I seem to remember once before, I had a similar problem that was caused by the OCing software that installed with the supplied drivers. I think what happened was they started doing an insane OC with out displaying it, but this was after i had been messing with it. I havn't touched it since. It was a rather fresh install, so I ended up just reinstaling windows. But, I really don't want to do that. I looked in Add/Remove programs for it, but I didnt see it in there. Any ideas on how to uninstall this stuff?
Enverex
16 Dec 2003, 4:29pm
Just check the memory anyway.... www.memtest86.com
if you run mem test will it tell you how fast you can run ram? cause i think its my ram or mobo thats holding form running 400fsb
Enverex
16 Dec 2003, 6:12pm
Bud had this to say
if you run mem test will it tell you how fast you can run ram? cause i think its my ram or mobo thats holding form running 400fsb
No, but it will tell you if you memory is creating errors or just falling over itself.
Straight_Man
16 Dec 2003, 9:03pm
WELL, there is nohting to say you cannot run memtest with RAM oc'd a tib, then rerun until you know how fast it is stable. If not stable even on standard settings, then call Crucial. get to tech support, you will be talking to a Micron tech. Explain RAM is failing, tell him the MBs that are failing, and he probably will authorize an RMA and get another one shipped out-- THEY will test it also, at standard memory setting rates. Crucial is liofetime, and if there is not obvious damage (which would be crashing more than just games-- note that SOME games do not like DX9, also-- especially its 3D-- please) they tend to replace and keep customer happy.
Do check the hard drive, please, with chkdsk. Generally 200 adn XP do like to check HD every once in a while, and if told no they run HD in a slower safe mode until allowed to do so. Worst case, nothing wrong, XP happy for a while becasue you let it check what it wants to. Run CHKDSK as was desribed above if HD cannot be fixed by telling the GUI HD checker to run and then rebooting and letting it (it runs CHKDSK, but with a scripted set of calls based on what XP ran into with HD issues and might be faster than a full scan if that is not needed, but if that "Check for HD errors" run" hangs or fails, then you DO need a full scan).
John.
Crucial memory isn't that good. And the brand usually has little to do with failure rate, no name nonwithstanding.
test_tube_tony
16 Dec 2003, 10:44pm
I ran the scans on the HD and no problems found.
GHoosdum
16 Dec 2003, 11:46pm
You still have the Ti4800 in there, correct?
test_tube_tony
17 Dec 2003, 4:47am
Yep I do, but guess what! I fixed it! I have a good feeling it was the software OCing utility I was talking about earlier. I went into safe mode and uninstalled all the video drivers, rebooted, and reinstalled everything for the card. I even reinstalled RivaTuner to hardware OC it back up to 317.
But as for the hard drive...
It is still giving me trouble. I noticed after one of the crashes, it found some lost clusters, but that is understandable. I still can't figure out why it is still running scan disk at every start up. It is kinda making me nervous, like some day after a nice refreshing reboot, I'll loose that partition or something. And that’s about 90 gigs of software, music, and video I don't want to loose (again).
panzerkw
17 Dec 2003, 4:54am
test_tube_tony had this to say
I still can't figure out why it is still running scan disk at every start up. It is kinda making me nervous, like some day after a nice refreshing reboot, I'll loose that partition or something. And that’s about 90 gigs of software, music, and video I don't want to loose (again).
The drive's days are numbered. Back up now while there's still time. My last drive behaved similarly until it would finally fail to be detected by the BIOS. It's useless now.
test_tube_tony
17 Dec 2003, 5:37am
I've been planning on getting a seccond drive for a while anyhow. But wouldn't scandisk want to check both partitions on that drive if that is the problem? It seems strange that a problem like that would only effect one partition on the drive. My seccond question is if I do get another drive, what software should I use to make an exact copy of my current one since it is my main and only drive?
Isn't it great how the one piece of hardware you really rely on only lasts a year?
Enverex
17 Dec 2003, 1:24pm
It's not unheard of for Scandisk to just get stuck in the "I need to do a check on next boot..." loop, and consequently end up running on every boot like yours is. I have heard of other people with the same issue and it's basically just a bug, but it may be worth looking around to see if there is any way of fixing it.
What is the message when it runs? Something like "A disk check has been scheduled for this drive" or something else like "The drive was not properly unmounted last boot"....
kanezfan
17 Dec 2003, 1:35pm
get norton ghost to make an exact copy of the drive to another drive.
off-topic: enverex, is there a new thundercats or is that just a jazzed-up thundercats logo? that was like my favorite cartoon when i was a kid. i used to wonder if a lightsaber would beat the sword of omens in a fight...... what a dork i was.
Enverex
17 Dec 2003, 1:41pm
Jazzed up. Ages ago I got a 50x50px Thundercats logo, so I made it into a 1600x1200 desktop wallpaper as it looked quite decent, and I decided to electrify it a bit and use it as an AV (cropped a bit, of course).
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