New System Keeps Rebooting

[DrDel]

within seconds of playing any 3d game (UT2k3, Quake 3, Deadly Dozen 2 demo, etc, etc) my system crashes for a second then automatically reboots.. and I have no idea why.

My specs:

amd xp 2200+
asus a7v8x
512 meg DDR SDRAM
ati radeon 9700 Pro 128megs with latest drivers
Thermaltake Volcano 7+ Heat Sink
120 GB Western Digital Caviar Ultra-100 7200RPM 8Mb 8.9ms
winXP with SP1
19" VX900 LCD Flat Panel


there is no way the system is overheating either.. I can keep the system on for hours/overnight using just windows XP or drawing with Photoshop or modelling with Maya... but when I load up a game the initial intro screens and title splash screens are all good but then it crashes and the system reboots within seconds of acutal gameplay


ideas?

 

[teddymines]

Mine did that because the memory timings in the BIOS were too fast for the memory. In other words, I tried running my CAS 2.5 ram at CAS 2. Try relaxing your memory timings a bit.

 

[bacillus]

suggest you uncheck 'automatically restart' under system properties>advanced>startup & recovery>settings
this should at least allow you to see the error message.

 

[bacillus]

btw, DrDel welcome to the forums!

 

[Dug]

Might be a problem with the revision of ATI card you have and your motherboard.

 

[Vic]

Most likely culprits/fixes for this problem, in order:
- Overclocking? If so, clock down to a more stable speed.
- Check for BIOS update from manufacturer and flash. Do not flash while overclocked.
- Are you running at 8x AGP? If so, lower to 4x. Just like early on with the switches to 2x and 4x, 8x AGP is not entirely stable yet.
- Update video, device, and 4-in-1 drivers to latest versions.
- Reduce memory timings/speed and/or up vDIMM voltage.
- Swap out different sticks of RAM to see if that is the cause.

Generally, crashing during 3d apps on a new system is caused by (1)heat, which you have ruled out as an issue, (2) excessive overclocking, which you didn't mention so I threw that in just in case, (3) installing out-of-date drivers that came with the system/components instead of getting the latest versions of the manufacturers' respective websites or forgetting to install certain crucial drivers (like the 4-in-1's), (4) and the most likely cause, overly aggressive memory timings, bad RAM, and/or early release buggy BIOS revisions on a newer board.

Good luck.

 

[DrDel]

I am still having the same reboot problem during 3d games.. this is what I have tried:

- Overclocking? If so, clock down to a more stable speed.
I am not o/cing

- Are you running at 8x AGP? If so, lower to 4x. Just like early on with the switches to 2x and 4x, 8x AGP is not entirely stable yet.
I changed the BIOS to 4xAGP, still same problem

- Update video, device, and 4-in-1 drivers to latest versions.
done, done and done

- Reduce memory timings/speed and/or up vDIMM voltage.
I reduced the SDRAM latency from 2.5T to 2.0T

- Swap out different sticks of RAM to see if that is the cause.
there is only 1 stick of 512 RAM

any other ideas as to why it keep rebooting during 3d games? (2d games work perfectly fine)

 

[Dug]

I still think its your video card and motherboard combo. Ati is up to revision 3 on their video cards now because of earlier problems with 8x capable mb's.

The only other thing you can try is putting the memory in a different slot. Or seeing if somebody has a stick of memory to swap out with to try.

 

[Vic]

Originally posted by: DrDel
I am still having the same reboot problem during 3d games.. this is what I have tried:

- Overclocking? If so, clock down to a more stable speed.
I am not o/cing

- Are you running at 8x AGP? If so, lower to 4x. Just like early on with the switches to 2x and 4x, 8x AGP is not entirely stable yet.
I changed the BIOS to 4xAGP, still same problem

- Update video, device, and 4-in-1 drivers to latest versions.
done, done and done

- Reduce memory timings/speed and/or up vDIMM voltage.
I reduced the SDRAM latency from 2.5T to 2.0T

- Swap out different sticks of RAM to see if that is the cause.
there is only 1 stick of 512 RAM

any other ideas as to why it keep rebooting during 3d games? (2d games work perfectly fine)

Oops... changing latency from 2.5 to 2.0 is actually speeding up the timings. 2.5 means that your system takes 2.5 memory clocks to access a new column, 2.0 means only 2 clocks. Lower back down to 2.5. More importantly, what is your memory speed? Are you currently running it at 166MHz? If so, lower to 133 and see what happens.

 

[DrDel]

I changed my latency back to the original 2.5T in the BIOS from 2.0T



as for the RAM, I have

512MB DDR RAM PC2700 333MHZ


how do I find out what the RAM speed is currently set at?

 

[Vic]

I just found a review on this board that included pics of the BIOS.
Settings that you need to change are under the "Advanced" menu.
If the problem is your memory settings, here is what you should do.
If you are looking for the most stable system possible, with performance secondary, change "Memory Frequency (MHz)" to "266." This should (hopefully) solve the problem.
If you want to tweak out the most performance possible, set "Memory Frequency (MHz)" to "333" and up the "DRAM Voltage" in steps to 2.65 and then 2.75 until the system is stable.
If neither solution works,
- have you checked for a BIOS update yet?
- go into the "Chip Configuration" menu inside the "Advanced" menu and set "SDRAM Configuration" to the slowest setting, something like "Normal." Anything but "Fast," "Quick," or "Turbo," etc.
Or, if none of that works, then you may have a more serious problem, possibly a bad mobo, RAM, or vid card that may need to be RMA/returned