Inexplicable Crashes

Nippletweaker

Nippletweaker

Nippletweaker

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Joined
17 Jun 2009
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37
Help! I seem to have developed a rather annoying issue with my PC. Basically it crashes whenever I try and run any game. Everything has been running smoothly for months until the other day when I eventually got around to buying COD MW2. Basically it started running perfectly but before I could even get past the very first bit I was called away to read some bedtime stories. I paused the game and when I came back the PC had rebooted. Now within seconds of the game loading the PC freezes (with the last millisecond of sound looping) or reboots itself. I have tried Farcry 2 and it loads but dies immediately and even COunter Strike Source dies within 30 seconds or so.

PC Spec:
-Phenom quadcore 955 initially at 3500mhz now back to stock.
-8gb Corsair XMS3 (4x2GB) DDR3 PC3-12800C9 1600MHz memory
-Motherboard is a Gigabyte GA-MA790XT-UD4P
-2x300gb velociraptors in RAID 0
-I have tried both an ATI 5870 and 4890.

I had an old Ageia PhysX card which I have removed to make sure it wasn't the cause.

I have monitored the CPU temperature which never gets above 42C The heatsinks on the motherboard feel bloody hot but I am not sure if this is normal or not.

I ran Furmark to see if it was the ATI4890 and the PC crashed so I assumed this was the cause so upgraded (and pursuaded myself to buy 3 new monitors). However the new card is in and the issue is still there. I am at a loss to see what is going on and am not sure how to log what is happening.

Any help gratefully appreciated.
 
What PSU do you have? Your PC will consume more power when gaming. It may be that while gaming not enough power is being supplied to teh computer and it crashes.
2nd factor that comes to mind is may be old graphics drivers.
 
How old is your PSU? (Most of the reviews I can see are 2006/7, if the PSU is over 3 years old, then it might be the issue.
 
Last edited:
PSU about a year old - was bought in a rush from PC world as my old one went pop. Details here: http://www.jeantech.com/storm.htm

temperatures below at idle.

HWMon.jpg
 
Idle temps seem a bit high. It may be due to 3 monitors you are running which will stress your gpu and hence the heat produced. Can you run msi afterburner to manually change the gpu fan speed?
 
Upped fans to 100% in Catalyst and the temp dropped to 42 so I ran up COD still on one monitor (haven't got eyefinity working yet which is getting annoying as I have 3 new 28 inch monitors sitting infront of me...) I had Catalyst in one of the other screens and it reached 51c when the PC crashed out.

What can I do to test my PSU?

Thanks to everyone who has offered such rapid responses so far!!!!! I really appreciate thie help.
 
i know you say its not the PSU but i recently had to change mine because it buggered up...

My computer was crashing randomly for weeks until it finally gave out completely and when i changed the PSU it worked fine again and i overclocked it further :O)
 
Quality rigs require quality PSU's

PC World + Jeantech is not the answer. It's not being elitist or snobby or anything else along those lines. This problem comes up all the time.

Get yourself a quality PSU from this section, something in the 600 - 750W range will do the job.

Pound to a pinch of s*** the problem will cease.

Agreed that your idle temps on the GPU are a little high but it can be down to factors including general airflow through your case as well.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/productlist.php?groupid=701&catid=123
 
OK - I have ran memtest and all is good. I ran the stability test in AMD Overdrive for nesrly an hour and no issues. I ran furmark and it crashed almost immediately. No temperatures appeared to spike.

I know I bought a crap PSU but it was out of desperation - my old one went pop with a deadline looming so I needed the PC up and running ASAP. PC World suck but they are a 10 min drive from where I lived at the time.

Anyway I will source a new PSU and update this thread then.

Thanks for all the help
 
Good thread. Interesting about the PSU. I wonder if mine is holding back my overclock stability. I've always found people to over spec PSUs, but I completely understand why people do. It's the one thing you just want to ensure is solid at the heart of the system.
 
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