Tech Support Please?

[Sustained]

Okay. So.

My pc's been crashing randomly in a lot of different games all the time I've had it. I sit and play the game and suddenly the screen goes black and the screen goes into hibernation mode. This happens in Morrowind, Gothic 2, Warcraft 3, UT 2k4, heck, sometimes even Half-life (N0 NS 4 j00!).

I've got a AMD Athlon XP 2400+ with 512 mb DDR ram.
80 gb HD
and a Geforce FX5200.

I've tried random things, from flashing my BIOS to upgrading drivers for everything, including my mainboard, but still no workie

Anyone ever heard of such a problem? Anyone ever fixed such a problem? If yes, pleeease tell me how!

Also, if anyone's got a Geforce FX5200 tweaked and good, I'd like to know what settings I ought to set it to.


 :help:  :help:  :help:

[Doobie Dan]

Before I go into detail, are there any causes you can eliminate, such as overheating or bad ram?  Also, is it a Windows crash or is the computer suddenly rebooting/turning off?  If it's Windows, is it making it back to the desktop ok or is the whole OS borked?

When you say the screen goes black it's hard to guess at what's going on underneath  :huh:

[Sustained]

Err, yeah. Sorry about that, but I'm not really sure what happens :s
I sit and play. Suddenly, screen goes black, sound stops. Computer is still running as far as I can tell, but I don't get any error messages and there's no way to reach Windows again. It's like the monitor suddenly looses connection to the PC.

I tried going into the BIOS menu after a crash and it said that the temperature was 50 degrees or so. As far as I understand, this isn't near overheating borders. I don't know if it's bad ram, any way to test this?

[Isamil]

Try Power Options.

[Sustained]

Tried it. Everything was set to "never".

[BobTheJanitor]

What version of windows? Any error message (even a flash of blue that might barely indicate a blue screen before it vanishes)? Does it ever reboot, or just sit at black screen until hard shutdown?

Could be memory, search for docmem or simmtester (same product). Could be vidcard going boom. Might feel it for heat next time it crashes. Doubtful that it's hard drive. Might also be a power supply dying. They're pretty cheap and easy to replace though, if it is that.

[Tombomb]

i used to get something same to this when i had my crappy nividia card still in with my intergrated graphix card... all it would do is after like 15 mins of play it would just crash... it sucked.... well w/e hope it helps.

[SwiftSpear]

check to see if the fan on the *coughcrappycough* 5200 is still running.  If its stopped (which is something the stupid cards are natorious for) your probably getting your vid card overheating...  Options include, new cooling system, or new, actually good, video card.

[Malevolent]

Err, yeah. Sorry about that, but I'm not really sure what happens :s
I sit and play. Suddenly, screen goes black, sound stops. Computer is still running as far as I can tell, but I don't get any error messages and there's no way to reach Windows again. It's like the monitor suddenly looses connection to the PC.

Hmm, that happened to me. It was because I overclocked my video card too much. No problems after that. Another thing that was weird was that it did it a lot in Warcraft III. I haven't ended up playing Warcraft III since I set my cards speed back and reinstalled the drivers, so I don't know if Warcraft III still does it. (My card is a Radeon 9700 Pro, btw.)

[Sustained]

Bobthejanitor, Win XP pro, no signs of blue at all. Just suddenly black.  


Malevolent, if I somehow by mistake overclocked it, how do I reset it?

I'll open the box later today when I get home from school and i'll check for overheating/ the fan not running.

[Uranium - 235]

I'm almost positive this is a video card problem. Get a friend who might have a cheap POS lying around (even a TNT2 - hell you can buy one for like $12) and try using it for a bit.

[rad4Christ]

Sounds like an overheating/video. I agree with U235, go get a cheap card ot test for a bit to see if it's the video, or get some more cooling in there. A quick, simple test ot signify between a hard lock, and a software issue is, when it happens, hit the NUMLock key. If it flashes on and off when you press it, the computer is not "locked up", but the video has quit out/other problem. If the NUMLock light stays frozen on or off, then the PC is locked up, and you have generally a hardware issue, or an overclock/driver issue that is locking up the PC.

[Lito]

I'm almost positive this is a video card problem. Get a friend who might have a cheap POS lying around (even a TNT2 - hell you can buy one for like $12) and try using it for a bit.

HEY HEY HEY.  That cheap POS is letting me play NS kthx.

[Sustained]

Rad4christ, numlock stays on no matter what I do, so it's a hardware problem then. Blast. I haven't checked the fan on the gcard yet, but if it does turn out to be a faulty gcard, anybody got any suggestions for a new one? Preferrably cheap AND capable ^_^ I've got about 160$ to spend on a new one, though I'd settle for spending less.

[Malevolent]

Malevolent, if I somehow by mistake overclocked it, how do I reset it?

[snapback]24834[/snapback]

Well, when I overclocked mine, I was using the Radeon Omega Driver's built-in overclocking feature. Otherwise, I'm not too sure on how to overclock/reset (the BIOS can play a part in overclocking among many other things). Two good sites are:

TweakTown nVidia Overclocking
[H]ard|Forum Overclocking Links

[Leaderz0rz]

when the computer does that, open your case and touch your video card, if it burns your finger, its a heating problem, i suggest getting a pci slot fan and sticking it under your video card, if thats the case.

[Sustained]

We have a winner!

My gcard was hawt hawt hawt. So it's overheating. Dammit. And here I've been trying to fix it with software. Welp, time to order a fan :/

[Doobie Dan]

I'm almost positive this is a video card problem. Get a friend who might have a cheap POS lying around (even a TNT2 - hell you can buy one for like $12) and try using it for a bit.

HEY HEY HEY.  That cheap POS is letting me play NS kthx.

[snapback]24860[/snapback]

What he said.  :angry: Last time I checked, this was a forum for people who love a HALF-LIFE MOD, don't expect the most top of the line machines here.     :p

[SwiftSpear]

I'm almost positive this is a video card problem. Get a friend who might have a cheap POS lying around (even a TNT2 - hell you can buy one for like $12) and try using it for a bit.

HEY HEY HEY.  That cheap POS is letting me play NS kthx.

[snapback]24860[/snapback]

What he said.  :angry: Last time I checked, this was a forum for people who love a HALF-LIFE MOD, don't expect the most top of the line machines here.     :p

[snapback]25030[/snapback]

I expect top of the line nerdiness here, and nerdiness requires hot and sexy vid cards  ^_^

[Niteowl]

NEIN! having parents who will pay for it does! or having a spouse that will let you buy one

there is a geek rites of passage thread somewhere in OT, THAT's what nerdiness/geekiness is all aboot, imho.