could video drivers cause my machine to reboot in the middle of a game?

[spanky]

basically, my story goes like this...

originally... my machine resembles this:

amd xp2000+
epox 8k7a
crucial 256mb pc2100
ati 64mb radeon 8500
enermax 550w psu
80gb seagate
win xp pro

thats pretty much the important stuff right? so anyway, last week... my computer started to randomly freeze. like i would just be browsing the web and chatting... then the screen would go black... then moments later, i would just see multiple colored vertical lines all over the screen. i have to manually reboot my pc. my machine never crashed before... so after this began happening... and it did so about 2-3 times a day... i could not stand it anymore and did some troubleshooting. i pulled the 8500, psu, ram, and hd... and replaced them with a 128mb ti4200, 300w antec, 512mb pc2100, and 120gb wd se. i reinstalled windows, windows updates, applications, and games. the crashing ceased. now... about two days ago, i installed GTA3... when i exit GTA3... my computer reboots itself. this happened not once, but twice... i feel confident it will reboot itself everytime i exit the game. i have GTA3 installed in my backup rig, and i do not have this reboot on exit issue. so i was like whatever... i am not in love with this game... and if i want to play, i will play on my backup rig. today, i played CS... and right smack in the middle of the game... my pc reboots itself. WTF?! i am really hoping this is not a hardware issue (ANOTHER bad psu? bad ram? bad mobo?)... so thus i ask... could it be the video drivers that cause my pc to reboot itself?

 

[bikinistud]

Dude that is messed up! but doubt it's your drivers being you have a different hd and new vid card. But I might suggest patching all those games before playing them because some of those games don't like newer hardware (cs) and some newer games(gta3) don't like some of those card, mobo combos. Don't ask why cause i don't know! But try patching your games and see if that works, if not ummmm..... it probably is the other two things that you didn't replace, mobo and cpu. and hey if you're gonna sell your radeon, let me know, if it is still working.

hope that helps

 

[nRollo]

1. If you're overclocking anything, stop.
2. The Radeon 8500 is a flakey card on VIA motherboards.
3. If the issue is isolated to GTA 3, search online and find out how others solved it. Check Rockstargames.com
4. If you need to put the 4200 back in another box, you'd be better off getting a GF4 Ti4X00 or an ATI 9X00 for this one.

Actually, I'd bet your quickest fix is just "avoid POS 8500".