Computer freezes or autorestarts when playing games

[iori57]

after playing a game for a while (example warcraft3 frozen throne) my pc will freeze or autorestart (no blue screen, just restart directly)

i installed the newest drivers for my 3d card and mobo, and directx

trying to fix the problem, i formatted my harddisk and install winXP, the drivers and only warcraft3 and played it, pc auto restarts as usual...that means not software problem?

system specs:
amd 1600+ (no overclock)
512 ddr ram
16gb 5400 harddisk
128mb ati radeon 8500 le
winXP

 

[Czar]

few possibilities

1. CPU overheats
2. Graphics card overheats
3. Memory gone fubar

if thats two 256mb chips then I recomend removing one of them and try, if not works, try switching them.

 

[iori57]

i'm inside an aircond room so i believe its not overheating problem?

maybe its the ram then...

 

[johnjkr1]

How hot is the CPU running in the bios after it reboots itself? Just because your in a room with A/C does not necessarily mean your heatsink is on correctly or the fan on it hasnt died. Also, it could easily be the power supply.

 

[Ronstang]

Sounds like a power supply to me.....if all your temps are in order.

 

[BoKingWen]

Last time when I had this problem it is my memory gone bad. Did you recently add or upgarde your memory?

 

[sandorski]

It could be a software error, WinXP has a setting to auto restart on error rather than blue screen. Do you have SP1 installed for WinXP? The latest Catalyst drivers require it.

 

[Zoinks]

Turn off fast writes.