PC keeps crashing

KT8KT8 Surrey, UK.
edited July 2003 in Science & Tech
My PC works great, except when I decide to play a game, when at some point it will lock up. Screen displays the last bit of the game you were on, and you are left with a loop of sound, or something that sounds like a scratched record.

I've tried the CD in 2 different drives, updated drivers for Graphics & Sound, adjusted the page file/virtual memory settings, my HD runs off a Promise IDE controller and I tried connecting it back onto IDE1 and disabling the controller......not sure what else to try.

PC Spec: CPU=XP1900, MB=Abit KG7, RAM=512 Crucial, Graphics=Radeon 7500, Sound=Audigy.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Comments

  • Ed-ChigliakEd-Chigliak West Yorks (UK)
    edited July 2003
    KG7 - W2K - 256MB Crucial - IBM Deathstar 40GB - GF3 Ti200 - 300W PSU - SBLive

    I had exact same problem with games locking up sometimes 30mins into the game and other times 2hours mostly Neverwinter & Mafia but many other games too. Game locks & sound continues.

    First I changed drivers for graphics & sound. Old drivers new drivers beta drivers you name it still problems. Also tried updating chipset drivers & flashing the bios. Updated reinstalled directX. Games still locked up.

    I tested the ram win memtest boot disk and found errors, I changed the ram and got same errors, I changed some stuff in the bios and solved the ram issue. Still the games locked up.

    I swapped out the graphics card for another GF3 Ti200 exact same card and still got problems.

    I checked CPU & case temperatures heatsinks & fans.

    I decide to upgrade the power supply and got a Hyper 420W model and still the games locked up.

    I finally re-formatted my C: drive and upgraded to windows XP and I havn't had any problems since. I didn't have any problems with w2k and games initially and the lockups developed over time so I could have probably just reinstalled w2k but it was an excuse for an upgrade so I went for XP.

    Very frustrating problem and I held off re-installing windows as long as possible for obvious reasons.

    If you do decide to start again with a clean install you need to be sure of the chipset drivers since you have one VIA & one AMD bridge on the KG7.

    Everything you ever wanted to know about the KG7 and a mass of troubleshooting information http://www.sudhian.com/showfaqs.cfm?fid=4

    Ed^
  • KT8KT8 Surrey, UK.
    edited July 2003
    Ed - Thanks & Sorry, I forgot to mention. O/S is XP Pro, and I've tried several fresh installs trying with & without AMD & VIA chipsets loaded...I'll have a read though the FAQ's, but any more thoughts from anyone would be welcomed.

    Cheers!
  • AgeekAgeek
    edited July 2003
    Via lets you choose just part of the set-- if you know the Via chip handles the graphics port, try just the AGP Accel driver out of the set (uncheck rest).

    The other thing is, that DX9 is not fantasticly backwards compatible, if that applies here. You might do best to have the DX that come with the nVidia card drivers in the latest set, which is NOT pure MS directx and is instead modded as needed by nVidia.

    If that fails, leave it alone long enough to use the memtest program on the RAM for 24 hours. Unstable RAM causes so many random-seeming glitches that it is not funny.
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited July 2003
    yup, try some other ram. same type of thing happened on a dell at work, it would just reboot, or bsod, or hang. tunrs out one stick is bad.
Sign In or Register to comment.