Constant Crashing in Games.

[SKR]Abe

[SKR]Abe

[SKR]Abe

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Joined
16 Jan 2003
Posts
244
Location
Solihull, W.Mids.
After a recent shuttle disaster, I now have a full size PC again.

A64 3000+
Asus K8N4-E Deluxe.
Sapphire X1800 XT 256MB.
2x 512MB Crucial PC3200 RAM.
2x 80GB SATA Maxtor HDs.
Pioneer DVDRW

All housed in an Antec Sonata II

The machine is working perfect - encoding and decoding DVDs etc super fast.

However, fire up a game - any game and within 5 to 10 mins later - it hangs.

No graphics corruption, just freezes the screen and sound stutters until you pull the plug.

Any Ideas ?
 
check that you have latest direct x and sound card drivers.

If this is happening playing COD2 , you are not alone. Lots of people having problems with this game , even super high end systems. Seems that some of the maps in the latest patch have weird graphics settings . I.e every map runs fine until you go to one of the new ones , then the game freezes the pc with accompained weird sound . reducing settings to minimium and then working up from there until it crashes again is the way to go .

takes a long time and is a pain !
 
I have tried the latest catalyst and omega drivers - both still crash.

As for the PSU - its the one that came with the Sonata Case
Antec Sonata II Piano Black Quiet Case - 450W Smart Power PSU.

The system is not overclocked at all, everything is standard.

Im running a 19" TFT - so my prefered game res is 1280x1024.

The games I tried so far are...

Doom 3 - played perfect for 30 mins - then froze.
Flight Sim 2004 - freezes within 20 secs.
Tiger Woods 2004 - freezes at random.
 
You have seated the RAM correctly yes? Depending on the type of RAM you have, putting them in the wrong slots and your games will crash. I had the same problem.

I had my 2 sticks of 1gb RAM in each of the green slots, but after leaving one in the first green slot and putting the other in the nearest purple slots games stopped crashing and now run fine.
 
Perhaps your gfx card cannot handle that res......usually it should be able to however as you only have 1gig of RAM perhaps its struggling....

Lower the res in the mentioned games and see what happens??
 
No good Im afraid - even does it at 640x480 with all the details down.

How do I see the temp of the Graphics card ?

Is there a program that will log the temps - as when it crashes, its a power off at the wall job.

The only time I hear an increase in the speed of the graphics card fan is at boot up - it never speeds up in games.

Anyone got any more ideas or is it RMA time ?

Ive tried a fresh install of windows, drivers etc.
Ive tried 3 seperate sticks of RAM.
Ive removed the DVDRW.
Ive removed the spare HD.
 
still the same problem - vcore was 1.4, took it to 1.5

the problem seems to kick in as soon as you pan left or right.
 
I remember someone else on this forum having this problem with an X1800. Gibbo arranged to get it sorted out back at Overclockers. Think his was an X1800XL though. Same symptons though. Try emailing Gibbo for more details.
 
Perhaps the gfx card requires around 500w at a minimum....

Although the psu is 450w doesnt mean it gives out that much.....can you test it with another psu??

I.E. 500 - 550w
 
ok, i installed ati tray tools.

set up the fan speeds to auto and applied - now the fan actually changes speed.

doom 3 runs 1280x1024 at ultra settings and gives me 45fps average and no crash.

flight sim 2004 shats itself as soon as you bank left or right.

damn card - i thought its supposed to change speeds itself ?

will see how it goes this week.
 
I think I solved this one - returned the X1800XT and ordered a BFG 7900 GT OC 256MB.

Now, my next problem - how do I remove the rolling pin from my person when the missus finds out it was another £65 !
 
After some testing today, i found that if i increase the fan speed to 100% using ati tools, it works fine.

Damn card seems to flake out at 60'c
 
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