Computer freezes when running 3DMark03

[PC Freak]

I have recently discovered I cannot play any game on my computer. Q3, UT, N4S Underground, StarCraft.....ETC.

Everthing works fine in windows until I try to run a game.

I have downloaded 3DMark03 and run the benchmark.
Game 1 went through without a hitch. But once Game 2 loaded my computer froze and I had to reboot. Once back up I ran 3DMark again and this time I ran the demo and the computer froze again.

Any idea what the difference is in Game 1 and 2 in 3DMark03?
Does this sound like my video card is bad?
Software or Hardware?

WinXP Home
Gforce4 Ti 4200
Audigy MP3
2 40GB Drives
Expox 8KTA3 mobo
Antec P/S

PS: I have recently formatted and reloaded Win. I had this problem before and after the reload.
All my drivers are up to date. Even the VIA chipset drivers.

I also ran "dxdiag" (DirectX Diagnostic Tool) without any problems.

Other thread with the same question

 

[fuzzynavel]

I know it sounds strange but up to date drivers could be your problem!!!

try going back a few iterations and trying older drivers......it is unlikely that the drivers have brought any new optimisations to the Ti4200 driver anyway!

I presume that your graphics card worked at some point in time.....try to think what you did that made it start acting up!

 

[imported_thomash]

Have you ever overclocked your gfx, if so it could be damaged.

If not tho.. it's probably your drivers, like fuzzynavel mentioned.

 

[PC Freak]

I have gone to the archives of nvidia's site and pulled down older drivers and had the same results.

Nothing is OC'd in the system. Everything is running at stock speeds.

 

[imported_thomash]

It might not be your gfx card that is causing the crash then... (could be heat tho).

Maybe when your CPU is running the games, THAT is overheating..

 

[Navid]

Run memtest overnight.
If you get errors, your memory is unstable. Increase RAM voltage a notch.
If no errors from memtest, run prime95 overnight. If it fails, your CPU is unstable. Improve cooling or increase VCore a notch.

If your RAM and CPU are both stable (memtest overnight with no errors and prime95 overnight still running the next day), you need to improve cooling for the graphicsc ard.
Underclock the GPU to confirm.

 

[PC Freak]

Today i put in a GForce2 32mb video card and the computer did the same thing. Weird