Computer crashing confused.. help appreciated..

Hey guys.

First of all my PC specs..

AMD x2 3800
PowerColor ATI Radeon X1800 XT 512MB
MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum nForce4 Ultra
2gb GeIL RAM
Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 NCQ 160GB
NEC ND4570 16x16 DVD±RW
Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450w Smart Power PSU

I've got both my motherboard and graphics cards' latest drivers.

I've installed Sims 2 for my sister but it keeps crashing. First time it crashed when she was creating a family (just randomly, she had been playing it about 15 mins) and second time was when she went in to the neighbourhood screen. We managed to get the game in to one of the houses and I pulled all the settings down to the lowest possible and it was running fine. Just as a text I started knocking things up one at a time and eventually, of course, it crashed again.

Aside from Sims 2, 3DMark 05 also crashed too about 30-40 seconds in to the test.

Anyone know what the problem could be? From looking at my spec it's obviously not the Sims 2 or 3DMark are too powerful for my PC to run so I am really confused. CS 1.6, and Yuri's Revenge work absolutely fine..

Could it be my 450w PSU? I'm hoping not because I can imagine what a bugger they are to take out and replace.

There is also a blue and black wired thing coming from my case's PSU and I can't help but feeling it needs to be plugged in but I don't know what it is. From looking at the end of it (two holes) it looks as though it'd fit a fan header..

Also might be worth mentioning that since I installed the motherboard drivers there is a screen that comes up, inbetween the Windows XP loading screen and the Windows XP logon screen, that looks all crashy.. hard to describe heh..

EDIT

Tried to play CS 1.6 tonight and it crashed, in the same way the Sims 2 and 3DMark 05 do, so I am guessing the other times I managed to play CS 1.6 without crashes were complete flukes.

HELP

Have you tried different drivers.

For the motherboard or graphics card?

Edited the first post.

Have you installed the Nvidia firewall or IDE drivers, they crash most pc's LOADS.

The IDE drivers yes, not the firewall ones I don't think.

Reckon I should try reinstalling my motherboard's latest drivers without the IDE ones then?

Uninstalled the IDE driver, problem remains.

Pretty peed off now.. , just spent £800 on a machine specifically for gaming and it won't without crashing.

Sounds PSU or memory related...

M

Anyway to find out for sure?

PSU is 450w... is that enough?

uninstall and re-install your graphics card drivers . probablly with a different verion

Hlebio said:

Anyway to find out for sure?

PSU is 450w... is that enough?

Click to expand...

PSU wattage is fine, as its an Antec. I tend to find them very stable too, so am less likley to start fault finding here.

To check your memory, you could use memtest86 (google it), or you could replace your memory with a single stick of other RAM and see if the problem persists.

M

I reckon it is probably down to PSU, a lot of people are saying it's a poor PSU in the reviews of the Antec Piano case..

Did the crashing start before or after the drivers you've installed?

Dunno because I didn't try any games before installing them.

Just reinstalled Windows XP now for the hell of it and only installed the motherboard drivers from the disc that came with the mobo. See how I get on...

First time I loaded Sims 2 up I got an actual message saying there was an error and the Sims had to close. Progress I thought, but then I loaded it back up and this time it just completely froze.

This is the screen that briefly pops up inbetween the Windows XP loading screen and the Windows XP logon screen,



Obviously I don't think it's supposed to be there...

Also, I was playing CS 1.6 earlier and it froze, just like the Sims 2 and 3DMark 05.

So as it is I've paid £800 for a gaming computer that won't play any ..

Got the latest BIOS version? I've had stuff crash on me before thecause I've been using a CPU that wasn't 100% supported on the BIOS without an update. I flashed the latest BIOS on and it fixed it, but may not be this problem.

I'll try the bios thing.

Don't suppose my problem could have anything to do with putting a 20 pin connector in to a 24 pin slot? My motherboard manual said it'd be okay but I thought I'd check with you guys..

Also there was a 4 pin connector cable tied to the 20 pin connector but it wouldn't reach the 4 pin power socket so I found another 4 pin connector coming from the PSU and plugged that in instead. That is okay too? It didn't NEED to be the 4 pin cable tied with the 20 pin?

You do need that 4 pin connector in I believe, as it could be causing the problems.

Hlebio said:

I'll try the bios thing.

Don't suppose my problem could have anything to do with putting a 20 pin connector in to a 24 pin slot? My motherboard manual said it'd be okay but I thought I'd check with you guys..

Also there was a 4 pin connector cable tied to the 20 pin connector but it wouldn't reach the 4 pin power socket so I found another 4 pin connector coming from the PSU and plugged that in instead. That is okay too? It didn't NEED to be the 4 pin cable tied with the 20 pin?

Click to expand...

Remove the other 4 pin connector. I'd guess this is the one that wants to be plugged in next to the CPU, and it will be doing nothing any good plugged into the 24-pin, and could be helping your problems.
(If it is the CPU power connector & there is nothing in this power socket, I'm surprised it booted)
Is the 20-pin at the top or bottom of the socket- It should be at the top of the socket, and maybe then the 4 pin attached to it will fit?

-Leezer-

Just had a quick re-read of my case manual and unless the socket is a 20 pin you have to connect the 4 to it and then plug it in, which I have now done.

I've got something plugged in to to the JPW1, I always had, probably my post wasn't clear enough.

Anyway, attaching the 4 pin to the 20 pin and plugging it in seems to have removed the crash screen from boot up (although I am not 100% sure yet) but games still crash..

Just thought I'd let you all know that I've fixed the problem.

I think I had my RAM in the wrong slots, before it was in the two green slots but now there is one in green and one in purple.

Thanks for all your help anyway.