The meaning of life..

N

neverbeenanITexpert

New Member
This problem has been bothering me for over a year now, no matter what I've tried it still haunts me

You are playing a game (eg cm4 or vice city) and after being in the game for around 5 - 10mins the monitor powers off & the computer crashes (usually with the cd rom & RW 'read' lights on and the HD 'read' LED on). The computer will not restart by pressing the reset button or using Atrl Alt Del. It requires cutting the power.

If the monitor power button is pressed during the crash I get the 'no input signal' message, but the connection from my card to the monitor is sound.

I've tried installing the latest detonator drivers, run NAV2004 to check for any viruses, installed up to date amd motherboard driver but still it happens. I believe the problem is less frequent when the room temp is cooler, so could it be a case of my graphics card over heating and shutting down? :confused:

Please please help me..


(additionally - Forgot to mention it only happens when running a game, programs such as word, cubase ect will run continuously. )

My system spec:

AMD ath 1200
256mb ram
GF4 MX440 (pci slot1)
DVD R/ CD RW
20GB HD

running win2k pro
 
sounds like ur graphics card, but then again it could be all sorts of things. How long have u had the ur pc?? and graphics card?
 
I'll get more info tonight & post early tomorrow. What is the HDD controller and how could it affect the system? Could I have 'upset' it when I put the card in?

thanks!
 
anyhow it's a strange problem you have there but i'd think that it's got somthing to do with overheating but the question is what. You did mention that with the room temperature lower then there's less chance of it happening right?

Try removing the side from the PC and put a rather large room fan blowing into the case (assuming you have one) If it does not happen then your next step is to figure out what is overheating.
 
Thanks.

I've currently got the side off, will give the fan a try. I noticed last night when looking at the graphics card section in controlpanel>system that the computer had the card down as being located in PCI 1 (or 0?) but I'm sure I put it in the AGP slot (at the top & is different colour). Could this be anything?

Feel like throwing PC down the stairs!!
 
you mean in device manager? i'm not familier with win2000 and i'm not sure how similier it is to winXP. but that sounds odd that it says PCI 1 but like I said win2000 I dont know :-).

You do have your chipset drivers installed right?
 
I noticed last night when looking at the graphics card section in controlpanel>system that the computer had the card down as being located in PCI 1 (or 0?) but I'm sure I put it in the AGP slot (at the top & is different colour). Could this be anything?
Click to expand...

I see what you mean and no that does not make a diff. I really dont know Y it says that and would like it if someone could explain LOL. When you look at the actual physical slots on the motherboard though the PCI slot 1 is the first one under the AGP slot If you look in any motherboard manual it'll have it listed as such.
 
yeah, the classic case of i'll sort it tomorrow.. never comes though.

I've been playing champ manager for months 2 games at a time, then having to switch off, scandisk n restart.

Cant get my head round why its happening.


I've never installed any chipset drivers, must have already been on. Wouuld it b a good idea to get some up to date ones?
 
I've never installed any chipset drivers, must have already been on. Wouuld it b a good idea to get some up to date ones?
Click to expand...

never hurts, Is your computer OEM? is like an hp? dell? ect. and if so do you use a rescue disk? or a windows installation CD?
 
Hi,

Its not a branded pc, was built for me by a friend I was at uni with. I've got a more accurate system spec now:

Athlon 1200mhz
on a MSI K7T pro m/board
256MB RAM
Sparkle GF4 MX 440 (running detonator driver V66.something)
Seagate Barracuda ATAIII 20GB HD
Liteon CD RW
Benq DVD R

OS:
Win 2k pro 5.00.2195 service pack 3


I've just downloaded up to date chipset drivers from via and noticed there was a mini (something) HDD controller driver or something along those lines so will try installing both tonight.

Also after reading an article on over-clocking it suggests getting bigger/better fan to stop overheating. The fan in my system was cooling a gf2 32mb card so now maybe is not adequate for teh gf4. Could be why when I'm running games (processsor intensive) the system crashes, maybe as a result of the card overheating and shutting down, hence the message on the monitor that its not connected to anything. I take it the computer will fail if the card does?

Thanks for everyones help!
 
sounds like a heating problem. try a -small-(6 inches or less) fan blowing into the case with the side open.
-and-
take the video card out and blow out your AGP slot and all that crap and stick it back in. those buggers can lead to power problems if they have a bad seat.
 
Mornin all,

Last night I installed new chipset drivers, ran pc bug doctor and reinstalled display adapter driver but still it happens.

Timing was up to about 20 mins b4 crash which I assume was due to the cold (missus not in- window wide open). Tried to get a fan from argos but wouldnt u know none in stock. Would it be safe to say it appears to be a temperature problem or are there any other factors that havent been considered?

happy hunting..
 
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