Troubleshooting Problem

[TrECeNTeRs]

I am having trouble with my PC I ordered it from newegg and built it myself with previous experience of working as a tech. So far everything has been great I have just been running the pc at OEM speeds .. No over clocking yet at all... the cpu temp is 15c idle. I did the burn-in test with the free Sissoft Sandra and got no errors at all. I have installed Win XP Pro Corp Ed. I do notice the Ram only shows as 3gig under xp and heard that is normal.

My problem is when I start games I can play them for about 15 minutes or so ... Sometimes 30min to an hour. Then they close on me as if I had just terminated the process of the game. Leaving no error and returning me to my desktop just the way it was before I started the game.

My parts are listed below... I have no idea what the problem could be and no idea where to start looking. Could it possibly be that I need to install XP 64bit? Instead of just regular XP Pro??? Maybe because of the ram not being supported in the 32bit XP? I don't have a copy of the 64bit but I would go get one if you all think this may be the problem.

Other then that all mt parts are brand new out of the package. Its going to be hard to figure out whats wrong by replacing parts because they cost so much and all I would be able to do is guess work and start sending stuff back to newegg without knowing whats truly wrong or faulty.

Ok, thanks for helping guys if any of you have any ideas for me.


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PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad - Copper EPS12V 750W Continuous @ 40°C (825W Peak) Power Supply - Retail

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Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler - Retail

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Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail
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Creative 70SB046A00003 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series Sound Card - Retail

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Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm Case Fan - Retail
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Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
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EVGA 768-P2-N881-AR GeForce 8800Ultra 768MB 384-bit GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported HDCP Video Card - Retail

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ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming Motherboard - Retail

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Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan - Retail

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LG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model GSA-H54NK - OEM

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Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA1065 - Retail

Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA1065 - Retail

^=4GB

 

[MarcVenice]

Can you start the game again right away, and continue playing for another 30-60 minutes? Or do you have to reboot before you can play again? What about doing other things then games, like watching a video? Browsing? Doesn't sound like heat at all btw, so could rule that out.

First thing to cross my mind was drivers. There might be some kind of instability between the audio drivers and the videocard drivers. It happens quite often afaik. Make sure all the latest drivers are installed, or try combinations of older/newer drivers. Also make sure the ram timings and voltage it is getting is correct.

Try running orthos blend too, who knows what happens.

 

[Blain]

After play successfully for 15 minutes to 1 hour, then closes... I'd suspect a heat problem.
I wouldn't think drivers would let you go that long before screwing things up.

"15C at idle" on your CPU? I'd be suspicious of that reading. Is your room colder than 60 degrees F? Are you playing in a meat locker?

You can find out if heat is your problem very easily...
1. Remove the side panel of the case.
2. Position a 20" box fan about 1 foot away from the open side of the case, turn on "High".
3. Start playing your game as hard as you can.

The fan would have an effect of heat problems, but do nothing if the problem turns out to be driver related.

 

[TrECeNTeRs]

it goes 15c - 25c depending on the AC its next to the A/C vent LOL

With this case and its fans and the HUGE cpu cooler i wouldn't think its heat.

Unless the video card is getting to hot.. but that gives vpu usually right??

Also yes I can restart the games also without rebooting.

Occasionally I have gotten a blue screen its happened 3 times and during the blue screen it does a phisical memory dump i believe its called.



Should I switch to XP 64??


Thanks for the ideas guys.

 

[MarcVenice]

Blue screens are usually memory. Can you get into the bios, and adjust memory timings and/or up the voltage on the memory? Can you run orthos blend test, and see what happens ?

 

[Blain]

Originally posted by: TrECeNTeRs
Should I switch to XP 64??

Don't you have access to a fan for 1 hour?
When troubleshooting, try the easy options first. :roll:

When someone takes their car into a shop for a rough idle, the mechanic doesn't tell them they should start by rebuilding the engine.

 

[Capt Caveman]

My guess is that it's a driver issue. Driver Cleaner Pro your video, chipset and audio drivers and reinstall them.

 

[KingGheedora]

15C still seems low unless you run your system with the case open and the AC blowing directly into the case.

 

[MarcVenice]

it's prolly 30c, because of some kind of bug it shows temps 15c lower then they actually are.

 

[TrECeNTeRs]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...0148069&Tpk=20-148-069


One set was defective making my games close out. I had 4gigs .. using win xp pro "non 64 edition".


Least I am thinking it was the memory cause I tried each set separate and don't have the prob with this first set. So I figured I would order another set online but their out of stock so all I can do is wait or send back all of it and get a different brand.

Any suggestions on this situation?



Should I call and just wait on another set or do you all think a different brand may give me a little better luck?

Heres the system specs ... its an all new system and I don't keep new spare parts this expencive.

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



1 PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 Quad - Copper EPS12V 750W Continuous @ 40°C (825W Peak) Power Supply - Retail


$199.99
1 Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme CPU Cooler - Retail
:
: $64.99
1 Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Kentsfield 2.4GHz LGA 775 Processor Model BX80562Q6600 - Retail

: $319.99
1 Creative 70SB046A00003 7.1 Channels PCI Interface Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum Fatal1ty Champion Series Sound Card - Retail
:

$174.99
2 Scythe S-FLEX SFF21E 120mm Case Fan - Retail
:
: $39.98
:
1 Western Digital Raptor X WD1500AHFD 150GB 10,000 RPM Serial ATA150 Hard Drive - OEM
:
: $204.99
1 EVGA 768-P2-N881-AR GeForce 8800Ultra 768MB GDDR3 PCI Express x16 HDCP Video Card - Retail
:
: $609.99
1 ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming Motherboard - Retail
:
: $299.99
1 Arctic Silver 5 Thermal Compound - OEM
:
: $15.99
1 Thermaltake Armor Series VA8003BWS Black Full Tower Case w/ 25CM Fan - Retail



$169.00
1 LG 18X DVD±R DVD Burner with 12X DVD-RAM Write Black E-IDE/ATAPI Model GSA-H54NK - OEM
:
: $27.99
2 Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 1066 (PC2 8500) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model BL2KIT12864AA1065 - Retail
:
: $319.98

 

[TrECeNTeRs]

Ok, took out the x-fi sound card and getting alot less problems. I noticed the front cd bay panel and remote were not working anyway so I ordered another.


Still receiving problems. I swapped the ram out i had 3 different sets until i got the least amount of errors.

I believe I have figured out the problem though.

the Asus site says that the ASUS Striker Extreme LGA 775 NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI ATX The Ultimate Gaming Motherboard only likes 800mhz FSB ram.

They had a compatable ram list and it doesn't support Crucial DDR2 1066...

Here I figured I got a board that supported it. crazy stuff...