As the title says, I have a peculiar problem I can't seem to figure out and I can't find a fix for similar problems on the forum. Whenever I play 3D games in full screen, after about 5-10 minutes my comp will either just stop and show a blank screen and all HDD activity will stop, or it will spontaneously reboot, but I get more of the blank screen. However, all other tasks yield perfect stability, I can even play 3D games in windows (like UT 2004) and it will be stable. However, if I full screen it, it will crash within 5-10 minutes.
I can't figure out if it's a video card cooling problem, power supply issue, or motherboard thing. My system specs are as follows:
eMachines T2615 (yeah i know, shut up, it was cheap)
Inside is an ECS L7VMM2 Rev 2.0 Motherboard (KM266 & VT8235 north and southbridge)
The PSU is a Bestec 250w ATX power supply, not mATX. Single 80mm fan in it.
512 MB of DDR266 off-brand memory.
120 GB HDD Western Digital WD1200AB.
The video card added was an OEM Leadtek Ti4200 64 MB DDR AGP 4X purchased from gameve.com, HSF unit on it is wimpy, can't find pictures of it on the net immediately.
Using Forceware 52.16 Drivers.
I at first thought it was a cooling problem, and to see if that was so i got a fan and started it running pumping air into the case on high with the side panel off, directly at the vid card if that was any help. That got me probably an additional 5 minutes of full-screen playing time before it blanked out on me. Thinking it may be a bad card from gameve, I pulled it out and put in another Ti 4200 with a nicer HSF on it I had by PowerColor that worked absolutely perfectly in my sister's machine (also an ECS mobo and 250w off-brand PSU). Same deal, 5-10 minutes and it dies. Any set of drivers I try from nVIDIA, it dies.
Then I thought it was a PSU problem, since MBM5 was reading the +12V line at an average of +13V, but the +3.3V is dead-on without fluctuation, +5V is rock solid at +4.83, no fluctuation, but the +12V line gets swings by as much as .32V. However, I don't fully trust MBM cause it reads the case temp as 43 degress C, whether it's case panel on in the room, or case panel off next to the open window with 50F temps outside, plus the CPU temp seems to be a rock-steady -55C on OEM CoolerMaster air cooling according to it. This could very well be because the exact MB isn't in the MBM database, but a board using identical north and southbridge chips is, so i figured that'd be the closest match.
My final possibility could be the mobo itself. eMachines put in a BIOS that hides everything from you, no temps, fan speeds, voltages, nothing. I don't really want to flash the BIOS to the ECS provided BIOS, cause I have no idea if this board is a special revision for eMachines, cause, well, eMachines isn't the first name coming to my mind in computing performance, plus I'd like to save my warranty with eMachines unless absolutely necessary (since the eMachines rep said opening up the machine doesn't violate any warranties, but I'm sure a BIOS flash would break warranty).
So, I am at a loss as to what exactly the problem is. I was thinking of going to directron and ordering a SuperFlower 400W 12cm fan PSU and an NMB fan to plug up the 80mm fan hole eMachines left unfilled, but this would be about $55 and for a broke person like me it's a hard pill to swallow without second opinions. One thing that may be of note is that this problem never occured with the built-in video, however I haven't bothered to switch back cause S3 ProSavage integrated video isn't gonna run UT2004 any faster. Plus it's a PITA for me to switch back and forth.
I know that was long-winded, but any help would be much appreciated. With UT2004, Battlefield Vietnam, and Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow all coming out soon, any advice at all would be helpful.
I can't figure out if it's a video card cooling problem, power supply issue, or motherboard thing. My system specs are as follows:
eMachines T2615 (yeah i know, shut up, it was cheap)
Inside is an ECS L7VMM2 Rev 2.0 Motherboard (KM266 & VT8235 north and southbridge)
The PSU is a Bestec 250w ATX power supply, not mATX. Single 80mm fan in it.
512 MB of DDR266 off-brand memory.
120 GB HDD Western Digital WD1200AB.
The video card added was an OEM Leadtek Ti4200 64 MB DDR AGP 4X purchased from gameve.com, HSF unit on it is wimpy, can't find pictures of it on the net immediately.
Using Forceware 52.16 Drivers.
I at first thought it was a cooling problem, and to see if that was so i got a fan and started it running pumping air into the case on high with the side panel off, directly at the vid card if that was any help. That got me probably an additional 5 minutes of full-screen playing time before it blanked out on me. Thinking it may be a bad card from gameve, I pulled it out and put in another Ti 4200 with a nicer HSF on it I had by PowerColor that worked absolutely perfectly in my sister's machine (also an ECS mobo and 250w off-brand PSU). Same deal, 5-10 minutes and it dies. Any set of drivers I try from nVIDIA, it dies.
Then I thought it was a PSU problem, since MBM5 was reading the +12V line at an average of +13V, but the +3.3V is dead-on without fluctuation, +5V is rock solid at +4.83, no fluctuation, but the +12V line gets swings by as much as .32V. However, I don't fully trust MBM cause it reads the case temp as 43 degress C, whether it's case panel on in the room, or case panel off next to the open window with 50F temps outside, plus the CPU temp seems to be a rock-steady -55C on OEM CoolerMaster air cooling according to it. This could very well be because the exact MB isn't in the MBM database, but a board using identical north and southbridge chips is, so i figured that'd be the closest match.
My final possibility could be the mobo itself. eMachines put in a BIOS that hides everything from you, no temps, fan speeds, voltages, nothing. I don't really want to flash the BIOS to the ECS provided BIOS, cause I have no idea if this board is a special revision for eMachines, cause, well, eMachines isn't the first name coming to my mind in computing performance, plus I'd like to save my warranty with eMachines unless absolutely necessary (since the eMachines rep said opening up the machine doesn't violate any warranties, but I'm sure a BIOS flash would break warranty).
So, I am at a loss as to what exactly the problem is. I was thinking of going to directron and ordering a SuperFlower 400W 12cm fan PSU and an NMB fan to plug up the 80mm fan hole eMachines left unfilled, but this would be about $55 and for a broke person like me it's a hard pill to swallow without second opinions. One thing that may be of note is that this problem never occured with the built-in video, however I haven't bothered to switch back cause S3 ProSavage integrated video isn't gonna run UT2004 any faster. Plus it's a PITA for me to switch back and forth.
I know that was long-winded, but any help would be much appreciated. With UT2004, Battlefield Vietnam, and Splinter Cell Pandora Tomorrow all coming out soon, any advice at all would be helpful.
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