System lockup/reboot problem..

[j1nx]

I've been having a problem lately whenever I play games, it just locks-up randomly and sits there for like 30 seconds, then reboots automatically, I havn't gotten any kind of error messages at all, just.. lockup out of nowhere, sometimes it takes hours before it happens, other times just a few minutes. It's very odd and I'm just not sure what could be causing this.. my system is as follows:

Windows XP Home Edition SP1
AMD Athlon64 3500+
ASUS A8V Deluxe
2x 512MB Corsair XMS PC3200C2PT
WD740 74GB Raptor Hard Drive
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS
ASUS 52X CD-Rom
ASUS 52X/32X/52X CD-RW
Sony floppy drive
Antec SX1040BII Case
400W Antec SmartPower powersupply (came with case)


Nothing is overclocked, I just put it together.. less than a month ago, I've got the latest drivers and all. It happens on ANY game I try to play (and only on games, everything else is fine). If anyone has some idea as to why this may be happening, id really appreciate the help. :\

 

[mechBgon]

Anything revealing in the system's Event Viewer logs? Also, for a random smattering of other questions:

• What memory voltage are you using on the Corsair? If it's at Auto, use 2.6 volts at least.
• What PCI slot is that Audigy 2 ZS installed into? If you need a recommendation, use it in PCI slot #4. Also disable onboard Gameport, MIDI, audio and Firewire since the Audigy2 has those features itself.
• Is your system protected by a firewall, either hardware and/or software? Any particular reason you're not updated with Service Pack 2 yet?

Hang in there

 

[j1nx]

Nothing in the Event Viewer, Memory was on Auto, I set it to 2.6 now, the Audigy2 ZS is already in slot 4, I didn't get SP2 yet because all the people I know that got it had ALOT of problems with it and ended up having to uninstall it and it messed their systems up pretty bad.

 

[mechBgon]

I see, but you have some kind of firewall going, right? Either a router, or ZoneAlarm, or WinXP's firewall or something? Not that I'm saying that's the issue here, but it sure is a good idea. SP2 has been working for me and for my sister's new rig, so put a couple chalkmarks in the + column

Asus had a particular tech-support FAQ about Audigy 2's and my advice about disabling the mobo's onboard duplicate functions is coming partly from that. Easy to try, anyway. That's a nice system you have there and it's great not to have to wonder if the parts are quality or not. Hopefully just a little tweaking will get it to stabilize

 

[j1nx]

I hadn't installed a firewall yet, I'll have to get one...

I disabled all that stuff, now. I'll try it out and see if that was the issue. I hope tweaking is all it needs :\

thanks for the help. *crosses fingers*

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: j1nx
I've been having a problem lately whenever I play games, it just locks-up randomly and sits there for like 30 seconds, then reboots automatically, I havn't gotten any kind of error messages at all, just.. lockup out of nowhere, sometimes it takes hours before it happens, other times just a few minutes. It's very odd and I'm just not sure what could be causing this.. my system is as follows:

Windows XP Home Edition SP1
AMD Athlon64 3500+
ASUS A8V Deluxe
2x 512MB Corsair XMS PC3200C2PT
WD740 74GB Raptor Hard Drive
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB
SoundBlaster Audigy2 ZS
ASUS 52X CD-Rom
ASUS 52X/32X/52X CD-RW
Sony floppy drive
Antec SX1040BII Case
400W Antec SmartPower powersupply (came with case)


Nothing is overclocked, I just put it together.. less than a month ago, I've got the latest drivers and all. It happens on ANY game I try to play (and only on games, everything else is fine). If anyone has some idea as to why this may be happening, id really appreciate the help. :\

So your System event log just has an entry about an unexpected restart, and that's it, when this happens?

 

[mechBgon]

If you do want a hardware firewall, and live in the US, here's one I got for my sister that I liked, and the price is pretty good: Netgear RP614 at Newegg, $34 shipped after $10 MIR And here's a link to the free ZoneAlarm basic, either as a supplement or as an interim solution: link to download page

Without a firewall of one kind or another, if you have broadband, your system is probably "visible" to a zillion worm-infected computers plus script kiddies looking for targets. You could call down a quick port scan at Symantec's online security scanner here to see if that's the case.

Sorry I'm drifting off-topic a bit Good luck on your main issue there.

 

[j1nx]

No the event logs dont have ANYTHING about it at all.

also, still having the problem now after the changes.. really annoying.. if it would give me some kind of error I'd at least have an idea of whats causing this, damnit. Not sure what else to try

 

[mechBgon]

Nothing wrong with trying 2.7 volts on the VDIMM if you want. If it could be a cooling issue (overheating video card, for example), try opening the case and running it with a house fan blowing into the side.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: j1nx
No the event logs dont have ANYTHING about it at all.

also, still having the problem now after the changes.. really annoying.. if it would give me some kind of error I'd at least have an idea of whats causing this, damnit. Not sure what else to try

I find that difficult to believe - just before it says

"Event Type: Information
Event Source: EventLog
Event Category: None
Event ID: 6009
Date: 9/4/2004
Time: 3:55:34 PM
User: N/A
Computer: pcname
Description:
Microsoft (R) Windows (R) 5.01. 2600 Service Pack 2 Multiprocessor Free.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

"

there is no entry like 'The last shutdown was unexpected' or anything like that? Look for that 6009 event and then tell me what you have in there that's one and two events 'older'.

 

[j1nx]

Event Type: Information
Event Source: EventLog
Event Category: None
Event ID: 6009
Date: 9/4/2004
Time: 1:55:50 PM
User: N/A
Computer:
Description:
Microsoft (R) Windows (R) 5.01. 2600 Service Pack 1 Uniprocessor Free.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

thats what that says, and no theres no event like the one you say should be there. nothing at all about unexpected shutdown..

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: j1nx
Event Type: Information
Event Source: EventLog
Event Category: None
Event ID: 6009
Date: 9/4/2004
Time: 1:55:50 PM
User: N/A
Computer:
Description:
Microsoft (R) Windows (R) 5.01. 2600 Service Pack 1 Uniprocessor Free.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.

thats what that says, and no theres no event like the one you say should be there. nothing at all about unexpected shutdown..

Right, but I need to know what the messages are that are one to two events older than that one.

 

[j1nx]

Is there someway to monitor how hot the video card is running? - also, is there a chance it could be a power supply problem? like does the video card try to draw to much power while playing games or something? Dont really know how that stuff works.. I thought 400W would be enough too..

dclive - Um theres a bunch of Service Control Manager things before that event, its just IMAPI CD and Network stuff, about them entering a Running state and such.

mechBgon - thanks for the firewall info

 

[mechBgon]

The specs you listed shouldn't be too much for a good-quality 400W power supply. Antec's SmartPower models have earned a respectable reputation, sort of a Toyota Camry reputation if you know what I mean. It ain't a Honda Prelude or a Lexus, but it's reliable.

I don't know of a great method of determining what temperature your GPU is running at, or what it should run at. I remember the old ELSA Gladiacs had a temp-monitoring utility and it began getting worried at (get this) 100° Celcius. That's right, the boiling point of water at sea level :Q So maybe you don't want to know... :evil: But if you feel that the problem is reproducible enough, aiming a house fan into your case might help confirm/deny video-card overheat.

I still think you should attend to your lack of a firewall right away, if you haven't already It's not like it'll cost you anything, just plop ZoneAlarm basic on there to start with.

 

[dclive]

Originally posted by: j1nx
Is there someway to monitor how hot the video card is running? - also, is there a chance it could be a power supply problem? like does the video card try to draw to much power while playing games or something? Dont really know how that stuff works.. I thought 400W would be enough too..

dclive - Um theres a bunch of Service Control Manager things before that event, its just IMAPI CD and Network stuff, about them entering a Running state and such.

mechBgon - thanks for the firewall info

If you'd like, I'd be happy to look at what's happening. Look at the URL in my .sig, run MPS Reports, and then mail me the resulting .CAB file after you've run it.

 

[daveybrat]

Well, i built an Athlon 64 system for a customer with almost the same specs as you, same video card and everything. I started out with a good quality 350watt power supply and had major power issues and lockups. So i replaced it with an AGI heavy duty 400 watt and the problems all seemed to go away. Customer came back saying games would crash like yours. So i was stumped and ordered a Thermaltake Purepower 480 watt for him and installed it. Since that he said it's been perfect, games play fine and no lockups. This was months ago, so you might wanna look into an Antec Trupower or Enermax or Thermaltake power supply

 

[j1nx]

Damn. That sounds about right, Guess I'll try a new powersupply, I'd been thinking of it before, but I was hoping it was something that wouldnt end up costing me more money! but I'll give it a shot, thanks.

 

[Kohl]

Having similar issues. Have tried various RAM timings in BIOS. I initially had problems getting the system stable until I maxxed the BIOS settings for vdimm to 2.8 which then allowed me to install Windows, leading me to believe it was still some sort of RAM issues (Mushkin pc3200 222 special).

Power supply is the 380W PSU that came with Antec Sonata case. Everything I have read indicates it is a high quality PSU. Already spent a load of money putting together the system and would rather not waste $100+ on a beefier PSU unless I was pretty sure that was the problem.

jinx, did you ever resolve this issue?

Thanks in advance,

 

[Thomasag]

Likewise-

I cannot run gaming programs (Tribes2 or T:V beta), the computer either freezes or restarts unexpectantly.

Could this be a SP2 problem? Cannot be a PSU problem cause I'm running an Antec TruePower550.

 

[Burtie21]

Hey, I've been talking to a friend of mine who keeps having the same problem that you guys are explaining, he'll be playing a game, and his system will freeze, it starts with video stopping, followed by loss of sound, and finally, the num lock key won't go on and off anymore which is the indicator that the system is completely frozen.

He has to reboot the system, and then there's no telling how long it will last until it freezes up again. The key indicator that it's probably GPU overheating is that it only happens when playing games like Doom 3 and America's Army, which tend to be pretty graphics intensive. It has not ever happened without being in-game.

Here are his system specs:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
Abit KV8 Pro VIA K8T800 Mobo
1 GB Geil Value Ram
120 GB Western Digital SE hard drive (ATA)
XFX nVidia GeForce 6800 GT 256 DDR3
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS
Combo 52x DVD CD-RW Drive
Aspire X-SuperAlien Case with 420W PSU

You guys have any ideas on this problem yet? We're thinking this particular case is GPU overheating, but there really isn't much way to prove it.

Here's a link to a side picture of his computer, he's since moved the sound card down two slots to give some room to the video card, and switched the side fan to outtake rather than intake. The wires are a bit more cleaned up now too to improve airflow.

Click Here

 

[Thomasag]

Warcraft III runs fine - Tribes 2 and T:V Beta still do not.

My 3D mark score is 21,000.