Lock-Ups a Plenty! Please Help

[Gitbgff]

Hi, since I got my new computer back in the summer i've been constantly having lock-ups when playing intensive 3d games.(Latley I have been getting strange artifacts which cause a part of the screen to flash black for a second) These lock-ups occur after anywhere from 5-30 mins of gameplay. Example games are Half-life, Unreal Turnament and Tribes 2. Half-Life locks up the rarest of the bunch. I think the problem may be heat(CPU or Video Card) or lack of power from my power supply but have no idea where to go. Please help.

[Specs]
CPU AMD 1.33GHZ 266FSB
Giga-byte 7DXR mobo (bios F6)
Asus Geforce 2 64 meg Pure
40 Gig IBM HDD
Plextor 16/10/40 writer
Sony 50X cdrom
256 megs DDR ram
Volcano II 2 CPU Fan
2 X 40 CFM outtake fans
Antec SX830 Case
300W Power Supply
im using latest drivers and bios.

 

[minendo]

Use Motherboard Monitor 5 to check your temps and see what you are getting.

 

[ChrisGwinn]

What operating systems are you running?

 

[syztemshack]

i realy think its the heat. try to monitor you temp either thru bios or some app. if your idle CPU temp is above 45C then under load it will surely be at least 50C, that is when a lot of lock ups start to occur. I dont think its the vid card getting too hot. if it is the temp just get a case fan or two, if well placed it should bring the cpu temp down a lil.

 

[Gitbgff]

if it is the temp just get a case fan or two

"2 X 40 CFM outtake fans" = I have a case fan or two


What operating systems are you running?

Windows 2000

The latest development is why my picture locks up, I can still browse my computer and download files from it at this time (while locked up)

I am now in the process of running Motherboard Monitor 5

 

[Gitbgff]

After running Motherboard Monitor 5 i found that none of the sensors deteced a changed of more than a few degrees when going from idle -> game -> crash

It doesn't monitor my Video Card temp however.

Also I found that browsing the other computer is not possible in all lock ups, it seems to vary.

 

[r0tt3n1]

What you describe certainly seems like the vid card is wiggin out. UT and T2 are much more stressful to the system than H-L, hence less lock-ups playing that. I would suggest checking the hsf on vid card, making sure fan still works etc... maybe remove hsf, clean it and the gpu up with a few drops of isopropyl alcohol, and reattach it with some frag tape, or thermal epoxy like AS2 even(is permanent tho)............. oh, you're using directx 8.1 etc etc I'm sure.......... hth

 

[Gitbgff]

Yeah I have Direct x 8.1 and all the other latest goodies

The fan is running fine, at all times, and the hsf is properlly attached from my viewpoint.

I'm not at the point I want to remove the hsf fan and reattach but i may have to.

 

[r0tt3n1]

If you feel comfortable about the vid card not overheating, in BIOS, bump the I/O voltage if you can. Just .025-.05 is all and see what happens.................

 

[mm60]

I had problems with my system freezing randomly when I had 2 sticks of DDR RAM (2 * 256) installed. The problem was solved when I removed one stick. My system had been stable ever since. I dont know what kind of memory configuration you are running but this may help you out.

 

[Gitbgff]

I am only using one stick of ddr (1 x 256 meg)

I'll try the bump in I/O voltage

 

[Gitbgff]

Nevermind, I can only change Vcore in the bios.

 

[Gitbgff]

Bump.