Random Shutdowns....fans dont shutdown though....

[Shackman]

I just put together a new system because I was having problems with my old system. My old system used to be fine, but in the past 6 months it would randomly lockup about 5-15 minutes into playing any game that uses a decent amount of graphics (ie. World of Warcraft, Warcraft 3, Command and Conquer Generals, just to name a few). I could never find the problem, i went as far as replacing most parts on my comp with new to isolate it. The only 2 things I didnt replace were the motherboard and HD. So now I build this new computer and the ONLY part that I used from my old system is my HD. I am playing Farcry now and my computer will lockup anywhere between 10 minutes all the way up to a few hours of playing. But the weird thing is that my computer really only reboots, my fans keep running, and even my comp power light stays on, and I can hear the sound from my game in the background (cannot interact though) for a few seconds, then the computer reboots.

Can my HD be causing this? I figure its a couple years old (almost 3) so I went ahead and ordered a New one (SATA is better than IDE anyways I heard). I am really just curious what you people think is the problem? I really hope this new HD cures the problem, or that means my new system is doing nearly the same thing my old one is doing (*cry*).

Old system:

Athlon XP 1700
80gb IBM Deskstar
350w PSU
512mb RAM
Nvidia Ti4200 64mb

New System
Athlon 64 3000 Winchester
ASUS A8V DELUXE
Antec 430w PSU
Thermaltake Venus CPU fan
1gb Corsair Memory
80gb IBM Deskstar IDE(old HD soon replaced by 80gb Seagate SATA)
Radeon 9800 Pro 128mb


Thanks ahead of time for the help, its very much appreciated.

 

[Fern]

Well, could be the old HDD I guess, or certainly other things.

Have you got updated drivers for the chipset and gfx card on this new build?

How are your temps?

Have you run memets to rule out ram?

Are you OCing?

Is the extra power conector for the 9800p daisy chained to other components?

Fern

 

[Creston]

How is the airflow in your case? Lockups like that I would normally attribute to overheating.
have you run a simple chkdsk on your harddisk to see if there are any bad clusters etc on it?

Creston

 

[Shackman]

 

[Shackman]

 

[Shackman]

Originally posted by: Fern
Well, could be the old HDD I guess, or certainly other things.

Have you got updated drivers for the chipset and gfx card on this new build?

How are your temps?

Have you run memets to rule out ram?

Are you OCing?

Is the extra power conector for the 9800p daisy chained to other components?

Fern

No, I dont have the updated drivers for the chipset or the gfx card, I was gonna wait for the new HD before I started gathering all the new drivers and such. My temps seem to be fine, my gfx card heatsink feels a little bit warm, not too hot to touch though, my processor is about 90F (around there). I havent run any mem tests yet, and I am not OCing at all just yet.

Now, the power connector, when I was hooking those up, one said it was for the graphics card, and then its daisy chained to another one that says its for the HD. At first I installed things this way, but thought it might be my problem, so I put them on separate hookups (which seems to have made the lockups fewer, but I need more testing).

Thanks for the help

 

[Shackman]

Originally posted by: Creston
How is the airflow in your case? Lockups like that I would normally attribute to overheating.
have you run a simple chkdsk on your harddisk to see if there are any bad clusters etc on it?

Creston

Right now, the airflow should be plenty, I have the side of the case off for easy access to check components right now. I also pointed an outside fan into the case for extra cooling. I havent run a checkdisk on my HD yet, I am just gonna swap it out, because I need a newer HD anyways, I think.

Every now and then my HD makes a clicking sound, its done it pretty much since I have owned it, but its very weird (and intermittent).

 

[Fern]

Originally posted by: Shackman

Originally posted by: Fern
Well, could be the old HDD I guess, or certainly other things.

Have you got updated drivers for the chipset and gfx card on this new build?

How are your temps?

Have you run memets to rule out ram?

Are you OCing?

Is the extra power conector for the 9800p daisy chained to other components?

Fern

No, I dont have the updated drivers for the chipset or the gfx card, I was gonna wait for the new HD before I started gathering all the new drivers and such.Thanks for the help

Often the drivers that come on the install disks are very old. I think it's worth a try, I would install them asap.

I've suffered problems like you describe with my 9800p. Newer gfx card driver solved it.