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Games are crashing need help ASAP

B

Buyaboat

Member
Hey guys I've just bought a new computer with all the parts separate so i got my brother to build the computer for me (he's done it before) but i think i have a very similar problem to KoolAidman. I run Team Fortress 2 and i encounter problems every time. Sometimes it will just freeze at the first page after the weird valve thing (the page with the same picture as the main menu) only it just freezes there and i have to turn off the computer with the switch cos task manager wont come up. But then some times it will go all the way until i join a server then when i pick a class it will crash straight to desktop. And then just to annoy me it will play fine for about an hour and then crash to desktop. Also when i play Company of heroes it will play for about 10 minutes then will crash to desktop. I can run Counterstrike source fine the other day but i know that's not the most demanding game in the world. This computer should be able to run all those games no problem. This is my specs:

processor : Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600

motherboard: Gigabyte GA-P35-S3G

RAM : RAM: 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400

graphics card : gigabyte ATI 4850 HD 512mb

Power supply : Power Supply: 580W HiperPower

Hard Drive : Hard drive : Western digital 320GB 16mb cache

DVD drive : dvd writer drive: Samsung

I have tried the latest drivers from the Radeon website and the couple before that one so i don't think it is the drivers. Plz reply ASAP guys because i have had problems the whole time i have had this computer. Also guys i am running windows xp with service pack 3 installed. The Intel processor quad core is 2.4 ghz for each core and i have 2GB of RAM. I think this computer will be able to run a lot of games on full settings but maybe not the most newest game (supreme commander, Crysis of course!) Thanks guys
 
Shut down all programs that are not needed and are running in the system tray. Are you running distributed computing, EX: seti@home, Folding@home, etc...? Those will interfer with gaming, so close those out.
 
I have never had a problem like that for example my old pc could run these games without crashing although the programmes i have running with my games are easy tunes, Spy bot search and destroy, AVG anti virus free, ATI catalyst centre and skype. Do you think these could be interfering?
 
Well on my old pc i used skype all the time while playing and there was no problem so i'll try not running easy tunes. Thanks a lot m8. But how does running easy tunes make games not work i mean the pc could surely handle running easy tunes and a game?
 
Lol actually i dont really know, it came with my motherboard disc with all a lot of the drivers on it so i thought i may as well just install everything to be safe. It's in my toolbar at the bottom right of the screen and i cant close it because i left click it or right click it or double click it and nothing comes up which is frustrating. I haven't tried Team fortress 2 yet but i will let u know what happens when i do.
 
ahhhh i cant close easy tunes. It is in the bottom right of the screen and i click on it, double click it or right click it but still it just wont open up so i can close it down. It's running otherwise why would the icon be there. help me!!!!!
 
will someone please help me. This is just making me miserable. I paid all my money for this computer and all its done is not work. It just wont run any game for a good amount of time without crashing. IF I'M LUCKY!!!! I just tried to play Counterstrike source and Team fortress 2. They both crashed after just 5 minutes! So can someone just please tell me what i need to do to stop this from happening every time please!
 
Check out your logs in the event viewer. Just in case you don't know right click My Computer>Magage>System Tools> Event Viewer. You need to look through the Application and System sections. You can sort it by date and time. So do that and see if there is anything related to the programs/games you are having problems with.

The other thing I would say is to monitor your temperatures.
 
Ok thanks m8 i'll try that. I really dont think it would be temperatures because i have an intel as you can see which keep very cool and also i have a fan on the graphics card and 2 180mm fans in the tower both on full which should keep it cool.
 
Originally posted by: Buyaboat
Ok thanks m8 i'll try that. I really dont think it would be temperatures because i have an intel as you can see which keep very cool and also i have a fan on the graphics card and 2 180mm fans in the tower both on full which should keep it cool.
Click to expand...

Monitor your temps. Always. Besides the Q6600 is no Wolfdale - I have one and it's quite hot.

Get a stability test program like Prime95/Orthos or SuperPI. Can you complete 32m PI? Or several hours of Prime? If not your hardware is unstable.

RAM : RAM: 2GB (2x1GB) Corsair TwinX XMS2, DDR2 PC2-6400

^ This is performance memory and is rated at 1.9v/5-5-5-12/2T. What are your settings in the BIOS? Some boards have to be set to a higher voltage manually.

so i thought i may as well just install everything to be safe
Click to expand...

Safe is to install as little as possible!

This might just be a conflict or a screwed up windows install - try reformatting and starting from scratch, but don't install any drivers from the CDs, just get the bare minimum motherboard and graphics drivers from the manufacturers' websites then try a game.

 
Ya, the temps should always be monitored especially on a new build. There are issues like heat sinks not being properly installed/seated that could cause some serious problems and/or damage to your machine.
 
I built the computer and have spent countlesss hours trying to make it work flawlessly. Today i reformatted the hard drive, its worth nothing that the windows xp is the original version so it only recognizes 130GB of the hard drive. I had a few problems with the disc as its quite old with a few scratches, but all the files seemed to install. Service pack 3, the chipset driver, latest ati driver, as well as the one that shipped with the graphics card, did nothing to prevent the crashes in company of heros. The cpu was running at 70C idle which seemed high so i took off and re attached the heat sink, and the temperatures for the cores now sit at around 45-50C. But this had no effect. The Company of heroes game now crashes as soon as it gets to the first loading bar before the menu screen. Buyaboat is still trying to patch it without having to do it in game.

I did have a few unusual problems today when i first tried to download the Xp service packs, i'd download the full file from a website, or from a memory stick, and when i tried to open them i'd get an error message saying they were corrupted. That has never happened out of all the times i've formatted windows xp over the years. So i'm concerned there is a hard drive problem, but i don't really know how to test that.
 
Yes voodoo has tried everything he thinks would make it work. Actually the RAM were in the wrong slots (in 1 and 2 not 1 and 3 which are colour coded) but that still had no affect on company of heroes crashing. I was trying to be optimistic by thinking maybe it was a bad install but that was taken away from me when just 10 minutes ago i finished re-installing Counterstrike Source and after playing for either 5 minutes or just over it crashed saying it had encountered a problem and needed to close. If anyone has any ideas at all it would be highly appreciated by me. Thank you all for your contributions so far
 
Buyaboat, buyaPSU. Yours is nowhere near strong enough for your system, and it's overheating, because it can't supply that much power.
 
I have taken out one of the GBs of RAM so now there is only 1 and the good news is Counterstrike Source works now. The bad news is I dont know what to do now i have found that out and also Company of Heroes still crashes straight away. I was readong through some different forums and someone said to another person who is having a similar problem to me to do a performence test for Company of Heroes online and I did that and I get a pass, way above the minium so i'm confused.
 
I have tried 3 games now with only 1 GB of RAM and they all work fine. I have tried Counterstrike Source, Team Fortress 2 and Garry's Mod. I think i need to update the bios for the motherboard or something like that and then hopefully the games will work with 2 GBs of RAM. Thanks for your help guys and if you think of something else i should do then please by all means tell me either on this post or send me a private message.
 
By all means, update the BIOS. But, as myocardia said, your PSU is quite weak. With your system, I would shoot for a MINIMUM of 700w. If you can afford it, I would recommend the thermaltake toughpower 850w or higher, as they seem to work great. I'm running the 850 in my build, and it runs awesome. Any PSU will do, though, so long as it's 700+watts. That should help in other areas, too (such as heat and such.) Good luck getting it to run smooth! 😀
 
Actually sorry i made a typing error and i only just relised! Its actually 580W! Sorry for the wrong information. I was able to have a 2 hour 7 player battle today and it ran smoothly so would you reccommend a bigger power supply as a short term buy or a long term buy? And also how much is that thermaltake toughpower? I still have some money to spend. Thanks for your comment, i thought my post had dried up 😉
 
The Power supply is by no means a short-term buy. It will last an extremely long time (compared to other parts of a computer). The one I have is 850w, and can be found on Newegg for about $230. For $20 less, you can get the one without modular cabling. I would reccomend more power if you plan to transfer parts to your next build, or if you plan to do major upgrades later. Better power supplies will especially help with cooling (especially with your current build). Anyway, hope it keeps working for you! 🙂
 
Yeh thanks for the advice but looking on online calculators it doesnt seem that i need a PSU greater than 500W so 580W should be fine. I would only need a 850W or something similar if i had multiple HDD and 2 graphics cards which i dont. So thank you very much for your suggestion, your the only 1 to post on here for ages! 🙂But i think i'll keep this PSU.
 
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