Locking up

[rfsunbird]

I built a computer for myself:

amd 2600+ barton (not-oced) 333fsb
512mb pc3200 geil golden dragon value (tried multiple timings nothing changes the problem)
9700pro
nf7-s version 2 (newest bios)
120gb sata maxtor
420watt pwer supply
7 case fans
xp pro
adelphia cable internet (3+megabits/second[i sh|t you not])


here is the issue whenever i try to play a game such as americas army the computer becomes choppy. it will move for a second then it will pause for 3. same with none online games that are heavy on the graphics. ati drivers are the newest and always uninstall old ones before installing the new ones. initially i thought that it was the hard drive because it was making a nose as if the swing arm was clanging back into the reset position before the pause occured but i got a replacement for the drive (which maxtor actually sent me a free upgrade) and the problem has only seem to gotten worse. all drivers on my computer are completely up to date so i just can't seem to figure out what is causing the problem. for awhile this computer ran like a champ but this problem just started happening a month ago. i tried running 3dmark yesterday and the computer just reset itself when the program was loading before i even got to tell it to run the tests. anyone have a clue?

thanks for the possible help

 

[jackschmittusa]

Since it used to work, I would look at hardware first. Cheap psu that could be deteriorating?

 

[Fern]

this computer ran like a champ but this problem just started happening a month ago.

What, if anything, did you do one month ago? Like update vid driver or flash BIOS?

Have you run DXDiag?

If you suspect teh PSU, get Motherboard Monitor 5 and select the sys log. Within sys log chose to have it record readings (voltage and temps) to a text.doc Have record in intervals of one second, then try to play. If you have a problem, go back and open the text.doc and see voltages and temps.

What's your AGP Aperature set to in BIOS. Generally won't work if set less than 64MB (128MB) is usually a good choice.

When upgrading vid card drivers, watch out for the "You are about to overwrite a newer file with an older version. Do you want to keep the newer version? (Recommend Yes)." You don't wanna keep the newer one, you'll up with a "mixed" driver file. That doen't work well either.

Good Luck with it

Fern

 

[rfsunbird]

just ran diagdx no problems. then ran motherboard monitor and here is one line from it
9/20/2004 | 2:06:50 PM | 1914 MHz | 86° F | 107° F | 32° F | 1.60 V | 2.61 V | 3.20 V | 4.95 V | 11.80 V | -12.35 V | -5.24 V | 3375 RPM | 0 RPM | 0 RPM |

those voltage settings dtayed rather constant for the 45 seconds tried to run americas army. in that 45 seconds the computer locked up about 5 times. the only voltages that changed really was the +12 and the -12 but both only changed from their high to their low by .06v.
as for changing anything, no. i had flashed the bios with the new verios after the problem started to popup thinking that it was a bios issue. the ati driver has been updated on two occassions even a fresh install of xp pro with whole new drivers was tried. like i said i uninstall the previous driver completely before installing the new one so it doesn't ask to rewrite over old existing files. this is driving me nuts. hopefully someone will have another idea

 

[Fern]

Looks like your vcore (voltage to cpu) is at 1.60v. I think it s/b 1.65, that could explain your instability