computer randomly restarts in games...

[misterv]

Hi--

I recently built a computer and it randomly is restarting if I play a game or something with opengl or directx, here are the specs:

-AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (venice) in the retail box w/ retail fan
-ECS RS480-M with lastest bios revision (1.0g). It has an onboard ATI Radeon XPRESS 200.
-Vidcard (onboard graphics above) I'm using the latest catalyst drivers (5.9) for IGP cards. The package also includes the ATI southbridge driver.
-Hitachi deskstar SATA 160GB drive.
-LiteOn DVDRW
-Powersupply on the case is 300W.

So here's the issue. I haven't had much trouble with the computer using windows XP home edition. Firefox, IE, Word/Excel, Visual C++ 2003, or pretty much any desktop application runs quickly. However, if I play Legacy Doom using either opengl or the software renderer, my computer restarts randomly. I tried this with several other older games and they all cause the computer to reboot. I figured it was windows XP, so in Control Panel|System Properties|advanced|startup and recovery settings, I changed clicked off the check for Automatically restart (I assumed I was getting a BSOD). But no, it still randomly restarts in games without the kernel catching it. My event log is completely blank for all errors so I don't think it's XP (service pack 2). My motherboard unfortunately didn't come with any monitoring software so I can't check how the voltage/temp is doing.

Even more strange I've run 3dmark05 2x and it never restarted during that. But Doom2 and half-life both cause the restart within a couple minutes.

Any ideas what the problem is? Is a 300W power supply insufficient for this configuration, and it's failing? Do I have bad memory? Is the CPU screwed? It seems odd that it would be the memory/cpu just because I have no trouble with desktop applications or compiling programs.

Thanks for your help!

 

[stevty2889]

Well you can run memtest to check the memory, evererst should give you your temps. A generic 300w PSU is probably insuffecient, if it's a quality psu, might be barely enough. Since you aren't actualy getting a BSOD it sounds more hardware related than software.

 

[misterv]

Thanks for the reply!

So I ran memtest and memtest+ and everything was fine after 2-1/2 hours. However, since the radeon x200 uses at least 32MB of that memory (since it's on a shared system) I can't test that. However, at least 992MB are fine.

The power supply is an Allied al-c300ATX power supply (it's certified by amd and intel if that means anything...)??? perhaps it still sucks?

I downloaded everest home edition and it did give me the voltage and power readouts. Now things get interesting. If I run doom2 in software mode, I get the restart a ways into the game same as before. HOWEVER I run everest while I run doom2, doom2 fails load and I get a BSOD saying something about the ATI2DVAG driver getting caught in an infinite loop.

However, if I run other opengl applications in windowed mode while running everest, I don't get that error. They load fine and run okay until the computer randomly restarts. Interestingly, while looking at the everest voltage rails and running the opengl in windowed mode, I don't seem to lose voltage on anything before the restart occurs. If the PSU fails to deliver enough wattage should I notice the rails to be affected prior to the restart? Or should I rule out the power supply as the cause?

Anyways my motherboard temp is 46C, CPU is 47C, HD is 43C the CPU fan is ~3500rpm.
The voltages are as follows:
CPUcore ~1.2-1.5V
+2.5V ~2.56V
+3.3V ~3.28-3.3V
+5V ~5.16-5.20V
+12V ~12.16-12.19V
+5V standby ~5.03V
VBAT battery 1.95V
VBT ~1.15-1.17

 

[stevty2889]

Hmm, well for the heck of it, I would try using some older ATI drivers. There drivers aren't always the best, so it could very well be driver related. The PSU should be enough, but I'm still suspicous of it as well. Temps look fine, but is that load temps or idle? If load, thats about right, if thats your idle cpu temp, it's a bit high.

 

[misterv]

The load is about 52C. I'm using the retail fan. It's kinda loud and sucks. I guess I'm going to have to get a new fan...That's a good point about the ATI drivers. I'll definitely uninstall and try the older ones from my motherboard CD.

Here's a weird question. During the memtest86+ test, I never got an error even after several passes through the tests, however, the PC speaker on some of the tests would make noises. It was very weird. I thought it was normal (like test 5 and 8 if I recall), but I can't find anything about it anywhere. Now I'm begining to worry. Why would my pc speaker make a weird whining sound while the memory was being tested? Or does everyone who has a PC speaker have this?

 

[stevty2889]

Hmm, that is strange indeed that you were getting noises from the PC speaker during memtest. Memtest doesn't make sounds for errors, it just reports them on the screen, so not sure why you would be getting any sounds..

 

[misterv]

Update: So I uninstalled the most recent 5.9 catalyst drivers and southbridge drivers. Then I reinstalled the drivers from the Motherboard CD. So now I'm running with the catalyst 4.12 drivers and the southbridge driver one back from the current. But it still reboots same as always. Good suggestion though.

The memtest86+ test still produces a sound (a constant whining reverberating sound from the PC speaker during test #5 and an intermittent whining reverbating sound in test #8) but there are no errors per se. I'm beginning to think I should get an RMA for my ECS RS480-M motherboard before it's too late. This thing has caused me nothing but grief. They couldn't have made flashing the bios any more difficult. Unfortunately I wanted to go with the microATX format, and ECS had the board with the most stuff on it. I'm not sure saving 3" of space was worth killing my options...

 

[misterv]

Update2: I took out my ECS RS480-M motherboard and returned it and switched it with the Biostar TForce 6100-939. I also wiped all the AMD standard thermal goop off the processor and fan and switched it with Arctic Silver 5. Not only does my computer no longer reboot during games (so it wasn't the powersupply) but the 6100 seems to run them faster, and my processor is cooler (37C) either from the arctic silver? or just a better MB?

Anyways, if anyone else is having trouble with the ECS RS480-M, you aren't alone. I can't recommend the TForce enough. It has monitoring utilities unlike the ECS, the installation is easy (make sure you have a 24pin atx case connector), they give you 2 sata cables and I haven't had a single problem with the USB2.0 unlike the ECS which says it supports 2.0 but doesn't.