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Aug 11th, 2004
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Random crashes during game playing

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Here are my specs:
Motherboard: MSI 648 Max series
Power supply: 350W (I think)
CPU: P4 2.4GHz w/ 533MHz FSB
RAM: 512MB PC2700 DDR SDRAM
Video Card: ATI Radeon 9500 Pro w/ "Doom 3" Beta Catalyst 4.9 drivers
Hard Drive: Maxtor 40GB 7200RPM ATA133
Sound Card: Integrated with Motherboard
LG 16x DVD-ROM Drive
Hewlett-Packard 8x/4x/12x DVD-RW Drive

I have updated all the drivers I can to their current versions.

Now, recently my computer has been acting up, so a few days ago I formatted my hard drive and reinstalled everything. It solved most of my problems, except for my games restarting randomly. I should also note a couple of things:
1) My most recent addition to my system was back in late May with my DVD-RW drive. I don't know why but I just "feel" my game problems have gotten worse after installing this drive, although it should be noted this problem has occured before the drive was installed.
2) I upgraded from Catalyst 4.7 drivers, to 4.9 beta drivers, because many forum posts said it gave a huge boost to stability when playing Doom 3. I personally noticed no difference...it still crashed a lot.
3) I play a lot of graphic intensive games (i.e. Doom 3, UT2004, etc.), could that have something to do with it?
4) My comp crashes no matter what game I play.
5) I have already uninstalled/re-installed my video drivers following the advice of this article: http://www.tweaktown.com/document.ph...Id=569&dPage=1 . And I have also switched my AGP settings from 8x to 4x...games still crash.

I'm thinking this crashing problem is actually a hardware (not software) problem, although I could be wrong. Any help you guys can provide is much appreciated. Having my games crash on me while kicking ass online is starting to get really annoying:mad: .

Thanks in advance .
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Aug 11th, 2004
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Re: Random restarts during game playing

Sorry. I forgot to mention my OS: It's Windows XP Proffessional edition, with Service Pack 1. I'm going to wait a bit to install service pack 2.
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Re: Random restarts during game playing

I tried uninstalling and unplugging my DVD-RW cables from the system. At first it seemed to work. I was able to play Doom 3 for a little over half an hour before my computer restarted/crashed. At that point, I concluded that I might have an inadequate power supply. But, immediately after I tried playing Unreal Tournament 2004, my computer restarted in just under 10 min. That got me thinking that my system is too hot. So I checked my system temperature and it hovered around 50 degrees celcius (125 farenheight). Is this an acceptable temperature? Could overheating be causing my computer to restart?
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Re: Random restarts during game playing

No one has any ideas?
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Aug 12th, 2004
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Re: Random restarts during game playing

Quote originally posted by UltramarineX ...
No one has any ideas?
Just one thing ,mine crashed the other day while playing a game ,froze solid .
It was heat releated .I openee the case and placed a tabletop fan next the case to cool the computer down ,Went back to playing .
You see it was 27C outside and about 35C in the house .and about 75C in the computer !!
Yester it did the same thing ,sor i took computer apart and removed Power Supply and Cpu And use Compressed air to clean computer and all fans and even removed cover from power supply and cleaned it .
Running good to day ,just need to go buy some CPU Cooling grease to-day .
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Re: Random restarts during game playing

Sounds like heat to me too. The advice given by caperjack is sound advice indeed!

If creating a hurricane in there with a house fan doesn't help, though, try formatting and starting over. Sometimes games systems get all cruddy and simply need a fresh start.
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Re: Random restarts during game playing

Thanks for your help guys. I've pinpointed the problem as being a faulty power supply. I replaced my old 350W supply with a new 400W one. I was able to play Doom 3 for a little over 1 hour and 20 mins without a single crash or restart. It was a pretty tense game, not only because the game was pretty scary, but also because I was afraid that my system would crash/restart, and I would be back to square one. I also took caperjack's idea and cleaned out my computer with some compressed air (man was it dusty).

Again, thanks for your help .
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Aug 13th, 2004
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Re: Random restarts during game playing

Dust ,can clog power supply fan also and help in its death !!Heat is a the killer !
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This thread is more than three months old

No one has posted to this discussion for at least three months. Please let old threads die and do not reply to them unless you feel you have something new and valuable to contribute that absolutely must be added to make the discussion complete. Otherwise, please start a new thread in this forum instead.
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