freezes in several games

[Radiance]

the problem: some games hang as soon as I load them (as fastas 1 - 2 seconds after 3d environment loads - usually the menu), why some games work just fine & others do not is not clear to me
games that, amongst others, work fine:
* Need for Speed: Underground
* PoP: Sands of time
* (3D Mark)
hangs on these & other games:
* Max Payne 2
* HALO

system:
* AMD Athlon XP 2200+
* Epox 8K5A(2) (KT333 chipset)
* AOpen Gef 4 Ti 4200
* onboard AC '97 sound

to make sure it's not due to a messed up system I formated the pc & installed a fresh copy of these, in the following order:
* Windows 2000
* win2k SP 4
* windowsupate
* DX 9b
* VIA Hyperion (viaarena.com)
* Nvidia forceware (nvidia.com)
* AC '97 drivers

other things I tried:
* installed both RAM sticks separatly & together, in different banks
* older Detonator drivers
* don't think heat is the problem, temp is just fine
* replaced gefore with radeon 8500le

my best guess is a motherboard/chipset issue, since I basically replaced or checked everything else

thanks in advance for any solutions or hints in the right direction

 

[John]

What make/model is your power supply? Do you have a spare one to swap with?

 

[Zepper]

Lockups can happen for lots of reasons. test your memory with memtest86.com and the memory tester from M$. Make sure there is plenty of free space on the C: partition and the partition(s) where your TEMP, TMP folders and swap files are located. PSU usually isn't implicated in lockups but in random self-reboots.
. Make sure you have both TMP and TEMP folder and keep them cleared out as lots of progs leave messes after themselves - any files/folders dated prior to the current date can be purged from the TEMP/TMP folders. And do frequent basic Scandisks on all your partitions/ logical drives to make sure your file structures are in good shape - the basic SDs are quick and you only need to do the long thorough SD every few months.
.bh.

 

[Radiance]

Originally posted by: Zepper
Lockups can happen for lots of reasons. test your memory with memtest86.com and the memory tester from M$. Make sure there is plenty of free space on the C: partition and the partition(s) where your TEMP, TMP folders and swap files are located. PSU usually isn't implicated in lockups but in random self-reboots.
. Make sure you have both TMP and TEMP folder and keep them cleared out as lots of progs leave messes after themselves - any files/folders dated prior to the current date can be purged from the TEMP/TMP folders. And do frequent basic Scandisks on all your partitions/ logical drives to make sure your file structures are in good shape - the basic SDs are quick and you only need to do the long thorough SD every few months.
.bh.

thanks for your advice, I'll go run memtest in a bit
temp files / defragmentation / other mess shouldn't be the problem as the locks keep coming on a fresh installed system

 

[jlr69t]

I had the same problem until I reinstalled windows just not the windows updates. Also check to see if you have up-to-date drivers...It worked for me.