Need help - Random restarts

[Farmer]

I am running a somewhat upgraded HP:

ASUS P4 Dual Channel DDR Mobo
512 MB DDR Ram, Corsair
Geforce FX 5200
60 GB Samsung HDD (HP OEM)
10/100 NIC linked to a Netgear FWG114P Firewall 802.11g router to a DSL connection. THe other system on the network is an AMD64, but it does not have any issues.

What's wrong?

Well, five or ten minutes into any network game (I have tried BF:Vietnam, Homeworld 2 and C&C Generals/Zero Hour), this system either reboots or crashes out into Windows. The system on the other end runs fine.

What's interesting about this is that it can run all these games on single player without a hitch. What gives?

Do I need a new NIC (or should I try). I am using a card because I did, something, that caused the onboard NIC to be undetectable. Exactly what I did I do not know, but that's another issue in itself.

Any suggestions?

 

[ybkusybkus]

I would run Ad-aware, spybot and norton 2004 to begin to rule out software. Your connected to the internet through a lan? have a router, hub or swithch? anything else on the network?

 

[HermDogg]

Does it ONLY crash on network play? How's single-player?

Check your BIOS to make sure the onboard isn't disabled, and install all the drivers for your MOBO. Onboard is usually better than expansion card...

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Farmer
I am running a somewhat upgraded HP:

ASUS P4 Dual Channel DDR Mobo
512 MB DDR Ram, Corsair
Geforce FX 5200
60 GB Samsung HDD (HP OEM)
10/100 NIC linked to a Netgear FWG114P Firewall 802.11g router to a DSL connection. THe other system on the network is an AMD64, but it does not have any issues.

What's wrong?

Well, five or ten minutes into any network game (I have tried BF:Vietnam, Homeworld 2 and C&C Generals/Zero Hour), this system either reboots or crashes out into Windows. The system on the other end runs fine.

What's interesting about this is that it can run all these games on single player without a hitch. What gives?

Do I need a new NIC (or should I try). I am using a card because I did, something, that caused the onboard NIC to be undetectable. Exactly what I did I do not know, but that's another issue in itself.

Any suggestions?

Do you have a c:\windows\minidump directory with some files in there from the past few days when you've experienced the problem?

 

[Farmer]

ybkusybkus:

Yes, It's quite embarassing that I have been running w/o respectable virus scan. I will pick up a copy of Norton.

I will run spybot as well.

Yes, I connect to the Internet via a router, and then a DSL modem. The network consists of the router, with two devices attached (the system in question via CAT5 and another system via wireless), the router connected to the DSL modem, which connects to the internet.

HermDogg:

Strangely, this only occurs with network games, and, apparently, all games played through the network, no matter what game.

I would have installed onboard, but it cant seem to detect it's existence, even though I know its there. Windows doesn't pick it up even though it's activated in BIOS.

dclive:

I'm not sure. I'll check.

-------------

Well, it has a P4 2.4GHz proc, and I'm running a 200w HP OEM PSU. Considering the FX 5200 is by no means a power hog, I thought this would be sufficient. Is it (probably not) my PSU?

 

[Brule]

Almost sounds like an old-school IRQ conflict. Have you tried resetting the bios yet, or changed the PNP OS setting? I assume it's running Win XP?

 

[Farmer]

Brule:

Thanks for pointing that out. Yes, I am running WinXP. I'll try resetting the BIOS and changing the PNP OS, as well as turning off the onboard NIC (I'm not sure if I did or not).

Thanks again.

 

[Farmer]

Tried resetting, no-go.

I will do a reformat and reinstall. Start anew.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: Farmer
Tried resetting, no-go.

I will do a reformat and reinstall. Start anew.

Let's try to actually troubleshoot the problem first. Do you have any minidump files in c:\windows\minidump? If so, follow the directions found in my .sig and send me the minidump and the .cab file.