Crashing, PC Problem?

[shaun123]

Hehe, thanks As you can see, despite being young, my knowledge of computers can be woeful!

[andyw823]

arrrrggggghhhhh, this pc is driving me mad! Ok, i fitted the 120mm fan at the front of the tower to assist cooling, and this worked. On idle/browsing, temps were around 26-31c,while running RW2 temps never got over 40c on both the MB and CPU, i left the GPU fan on auto. I had no crashes while testing. The 120mm fan however was mega loud so tonight i switched it with an 80mm to draw the air in at the front, again i watched the temps, it wasn`t as cool as the 120mm fan but it was cooler than with out any. Started RW2 and after 2 minutes a pause then a black screen, tried again on a different act and the same 2 minutes even with the GPU fan cranked up to 75%! I uninstalled the ATi drivers and ran again, this time i got just over 2 minutes but again pause then black screen.

Here are my PC specs again, AMD 965 x4 3.4, ATI radeon(HIS) HD5750 1GB, 8GB RAM, 550w P/S, 64GB SSD, 500 GB HD, Asus MB.

Is there any possibilty it could be the power supply? It seems i`ve only had problems since adding the SSD which in turn is drawing extra power but the SSD works perfect, or is my graphics card shot? The card is only 1 year old.

[MisterWho]

Have you tried running a memory (torture) test ? Two alternatives are Memtest86+ and Prime95 - the first is a bootable program you can burn to CD, while the second runs under Windows -

http://www.memtest86.com/

http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft/

[theokus]

Is there any possibilty it could be the power supply? It seems i`ve only had problems since adding the SSD which in turn is drawing extra power but the SSD works perfect, or is my graphics card shot? The card is only 1 year old.

Not sure. (I am eh)
Idle > 117 W
In game > more or less 200 W with Far Cry 2
http://nl.hardware.info/reviews/1726/23 ... le--actief

A SSD uses less power then a HD.

Have a close look of the power supply > any dust on it or in it?

You could try to start Win 7 in save mode.

Have a look:
https://support.steampowered.com/kb_art ... -TIAV-5361

It only happens when running RW2?

[gptech]

.......Is there any possibilty it could be the power supply? ...........

At this point we can't discount that theory; have you a spare one you could swap it with to test? If you can lay your hands on one but it's a low wattage beastie it'll still do as a tester, just connect up the devices you only actually need power to.
If you're getting the problem only with RW it does suggest that the extra 'oomph' playing the game needs is part of the problem--whether that 'oomph' is more power from the PSU, more work from the GPU, or from the RAM is what we need to ascertain. Do you play any other games which you could run as a test too?

[andyw823]

I might have one but if I do it's only a 200w supply. I'm yet to install other games but I will get round to this. I ran RW again this time with GPU fan set at 80%. After I got the black screen I could hear the fan shut down, it can't have overheated as the game was only running for approx 2 minutes.

I will also try the tests as suggested.

[Kromaatikse]

On the contrary, 2 minutes is quite long enough for overheating to occur.

However, I'm going to join in with suspecting the PSU.

[andyw823]

Well the whole situation just got a little worst. My pc failed to boot up, it would get as far as the windows logo then it went to a black screen sometimes it wouldn't get this far. So I stuck the bootable cd in to reinstall and again it would fail to a black screen. So I've removed the SSD and booted from the CD this time it works. So the SSD has ti be faulty!?

[gptech]

....So the SSD has ti be faulty!?....

That would be the obvious thing to suspect, but computers are devious little buggers and often throw us red herrings!!

If the PSU is on the way out, the small amount of extra power needed to drive the SSD could be beyond it and it has to reduce power to other components to compensate.

As you have no big stockpile of spare bits to test with you'll have to be very methodical in testing.
My suggestion:
Run one of those memory tests overnight---if it comes up clean you've ascertained that the RAM is not at fault.
Remve ssd---this is the most obvious cause--and re-install Windows to the IDE drive, install all drivers etc
Install RW and test
Test a bit more
One final test.
If it works with just the IDE drive in, you know the IDE drive is not at fault, and that your graphics card is coping with that configuration.
Add the SSD and format it
Don't add anything to the SSD yet, leave it blank
Do the testing again
1) If that works you know that adding the SSD isn't causing a power drain that the PSU cant deal with.
2) If it fails then you know something related to the addition of the SSD is causing the problem.
In the case of 1, copy RW over, or even install a new instance of the game and test using that.
In the case of 2, you need to get the SSD and PSU tested, or beg/borrow/steal an alternative of either to test with, to try and narrow it down a bit more.

[gptech]

.... it can't have overheated as the game was only running for approx 2 minutes.

On the contrary, 2 minutes is quite long enough for overheating to occur.

Going back to my experience with the 6800XT---that was tripping out and showing the signs of over heating at a (reported) temperature well within its design limits, within moments of putting it under stress. As Kromaatikse has pointed out 2 minutes is a very long time when dealing with over heating components.
Also, if your GPU is faulty it could be tripping out at low temps, or reporting an elevated temp wrongly.

[andyw823]

Im back on the standard HD. While installing the OS i came accross "Windows Memory Diagnostic" i ran this program which returned no errors. Is this the same type of test as the ones linked in this thread?

[gptech]

Yes its the same sort of test but not as comprehensive or stressful

[andyw823]

Ok thanks, rather than just doing a mem stress test is there any recommended programs out there that can do a full stress test of all components?

Installed RW and ran while I nipped out to the shop, came back to a black screen

[gptech]

What is the exact configuration of the machine now?

[andyw823]

Installed Win7 on standard HD with the SSD unplugged (its the only way it would install).
SSD still unplugged and has been since.
Graphics card on driver 10.6 (googled for the most stable drivers).
4x2GB RAM.
550w PSU.
AMD 3.4 Ph2 965.