XP App Error - Computer reboots from game playing...? Anyone help with this one?

[babutiger]

Under WindowsXP Pro, my computer mysteriously reboots, without fail, when running a high frame rate game (such as RTCW, Serous Sam, etc..) around 15 to 20 mins into the program. Conversely, if i play Civ 3, or the like, neither the pc reboots nor any application error arises.

From my event viewer, the application error log reads as follows (one example)::

Faulting application serioussam.exe, version 0.0.0.0, faulting module engine.dll, version 0.0.0.0, fault address 0x00016493.

The application name may differ but the error message remains the same.

I was previoulsy running Win2k pro without any hitches or homologus problems, these app errors only emerged after installing WinXP Pro. Any idea what causes my computer to reboot like this?

Much obliged.
-babutiger

pc specs:

Abit BE6
633 mhz celeron @ 950mhz
Kingston 384 mb (pc133) RAM
Elsa GTS 32MB
WD 60GB (5400 rpm) HD
Maxtor 12GB (5400pm) HD
Aureal Vortex 2 (8830) chipset
Webcam 3
TDK 12/10/32 ide CD/RW
Acer 50x CD-ROM

 

[managerdan]

Interesting that your previous installation of XP was good where your games worked and now they don't on a second installation. My first suggestion is to reinstall your current video card along with the latest drivers.
My second suggestion is to buy a better video card. I had a similar problem with my games running WinXP, where my computer would freeze up and that generated a video card error report. (Three finger salute as a result). The problem turned out to be the video card I was using which was Nvidia GeForce2 GTS with 32 megs of ram.
After upgrading to ATI Radeon with 64 megs of ram, all my games worked great. Much better than what the GTS card did. The old card was great for WinME, but XP is far more demanding of a graphics card.
Good luck.

 

[babutiger]

managerdan::

Interesting that your previous installation of XP was good where your games worked and now they don't on a second installation

Just to clarify -- I was previously running Win2k <no gaming probs> before I made the move to WinXP <gaming probs>. This is my first and only install of WinXP.

As far as upgrading my gts, that is not a bad idea( just need to scrape together the dough) but i am somewhat troubled by the fact that the same graphics card works swimmingly while running Win2k but suffocates with WinXP -- both OS based on the WinNT kernel.

Can anyone recommend a software tweak -or- mod i can make?

cheers!

 

[SHealy]

I had that problem with a bad stick of memory. The machine would only reboot when my RAM was almost full (hitting the bad memory location). I didn't hit the problem with few/smaller programs. Of course, I suppose it could happen if your video RAM as bad/loose or you had a program conflict. Check that you had the latest game program, Direct X drivers (if used) and your motherboad vendor web site for a Bios fix that sounds like your program/machine is suffering from.

 

[babutiger]

Update...

I borrowed a friend's Geforce 3 TI200 and got the same problems as before ( used the latest detonantor drivers as well).

had that problem with a bad stick of memory. The machine would only reboot when my RAM was almost full (hitting the bad memory location). I didn't hit the problem with few/smaller programs. Of course, I suppose it could happen if your video RAM as bad/loose or you had a program conflict. Check that you had the latest game program, Direct X drivers (if used) and your motherboad vendor web site for a Bios fix that sounds like your program/machine is suffering from.

I went ahead and installed new RAM into my pc but that did not help either...

By the by, I have the most recent bios for my mobo(Abit BE6) as well as Direct X 8.x

Hmm..still stumped and frustrated, any other suggestions? Appreciate the ones thus far.

 

[erikiksaz]

Try lowering your overclock.