Comp crashes when I play any game

test_tube_tonytest_tube_tony Dallas TX Member
edited December 2003 in Hardware
: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)

Comments

  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    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.
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited December 2003
    is it overclocked? if so by how much?
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    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?
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited December 2003
    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.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    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_tonytest_tube_tony Dallas TX Member
    edited December 2003
    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.
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited December 2003
    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. ;)
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    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...
  • TheSmJTheSmJ
    edited December 2003
    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_tonytest_tube_tony Dallas TX Member
    edited December 2003
    Set the defaults like was suggested. I cought a glimpse of a blue screen this time.
  • edcentricedcentric near Milwaukee, Wisconsin Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    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.
  • ketoketo Occupied. Or is it preoccupied? Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    got a spare PSU around you can swap in to test?
  • test_tube_tonytest_tube_tony Dallas TX Member
    edited December 2003
    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.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Memory.
  • test_tube_tonytest_tube_tony Dallas TX Member
    edited December 2003
    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?
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Just check the memory anyway.... www.memtest86.com
  • BudBud Chesterfield, Va
    edited December 2003
    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
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    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_ManStraight_Man Geeky, in my own way Naples, FL Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    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.
  • ThraxThrax 🐌 Austin, TX Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    Crucial memory isn't that good. And the brand usually has little to do with failure rate, no name nonwithstanding.
  • test_tube_tonytest_tube_tony Dallas TX Member
    edited December 2003
    I ran the scans on the HD and no problems found.
  • GHoosdumGHoosdum Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    You still have the Ti4800 in there, correct?
  • test_tube_tonytest_tube_tony Dallas TX Member
    edited December 2003
    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).
  • panzerkwpanzerkw New York City
    edited December 2003
    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_tonytest_tube_tony Dallas TX Member
    edited December 2003
    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?
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    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"....
  • kanezfankanezfan sunny south florida Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    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.
  • EnverexEnverex Worcester, UK Icrontian
    edited December 2003
    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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