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computer crash

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:32 pm
by [SD]happynoobing
for some reason my computer started crashing a lot lately (during games of course). usually it doesn't give any error, just goes straight to reboot. i dont think it's due to the game because it crashes on a number of games: BF2, cabal, mabinogi, etc. I've ran virus scans and nothing came up. what could be the problem? memory leak? vid card over heating? any ideas on how to fix it?

Re: computer crash

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:45 pm
by William-CL
Is it a Laptop or Desktop?

Re: computer crash

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 7:58 pm
by agent420
mine and my wife's laptops shit the bed last week. she had a mack daddy hp and the lcd went on it. i had my shitty dell for work and the power supply fried. i tried to change it out but the peice of shit is built right onto the board! hopefully my cheap ass boss will buy me a new one this week. till then, i don't have a computer at home!

Re: computer crash

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:34 pm
by [SD]happynoobing
Blackdragon6 wrote:Is it a Laptop or Desktop?

desktop.

Re: computer crash

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 8:42 pm
by Morgoth
go to Start - Control Panel - Performance and Maintenance - System - Advanced tab and click Settings under Startup and Recovery

under System Failure there's 3 options, if "Automatically Restart" is checked the un-check it and check "Send Administrative Alert" instead (that's what i did and it seemed to stop the restarts for me)

tell me if your comp stops restarting with this

Re: computer crash

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:23 pm
by Sharp324
Morgoth wrote:go to Start - Control Panel - Performance and Maintenance - System - Advanced tab and click Settings under Startup and Recovery

under System Failure there's 3 options, if "Automatically Restart" is checked the un-check it and check "Send Administrative Alert" instead (that's what i did and it seemed to stop the restarts for me)

tell me if your comp stops restarting with this


Usually just toggles the BSoD on and off, errors would still happen but instead of it auto restarting it pops a BSoD. But that would work to see the error it shows

Re: computer crash

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:32 pm
by spyboy1o1
does it go to a blue screen at all?

Re: computer crash

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 9:34 pm
by Reise
Overheats or power failure. Check your temps next time it restarts.

Re: computer crash

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:24 pm
by [SD]happynoobing
Sharp324 wrote:
Morgoth wrote:go to Start - Control Panel - Performance and Maintenance - System - Advanced tab and click Settings under Startup and Recovery

under System Failure there's 3 options, if "Automatically Restart" is checked the un-check it and check "Send Administrative Alert" instead (that's what i did and it seemed to stop the restarts for me)

tell me if your comp stops restarting with this


Usually just toggles the BSoD on and off, errors would still happen but instead of it auto restarting it pops a BSoD. But that would work to see the error it shows

what's BSoD?

@spyboy: just before it restarts it goes thru a quick bluescreen, but it's not the "normal" blue screen of death...

@reise: how do i check temperature? (other than stick a thermometer in my case? o_O)

Re: computer crash

Posted: Mon Mar 24, 2008 11:28 pm
by Reise
When your PC is still in the boot and memory check, usually around the time you hear it beep, hit delete and it will bring you to CMOS. From there you should have a menu with a bunch of settings and such, find the one that has your core temperatures and stuff. It's called PC Health Status on my CMOS menu, so look for something like that. To exit just hit escape and it will reboot again.

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:27 am
by redneck
[SD]happynoobing wrote:
Sharp324 wrote:
Morgoth wrote:go to Start - Control Panel - Performance and Maintenance - System - Advanced tab and click Settings under Startup and Recovery

under System Failure there's 3 options, if "Automatically Restart" is checked the un-check it and check "Send Administrative Alert" instead (that's what i did and it seemed to stop the restarts for me)

tell me if your comp stops restarting with this


Usually just toggles the BSoD on and off, errors would still happen but instead of it auto restarting it pops a BSoD. But that would work to see the error it shows

what's BSoD?

@spyboy: just before it restarts it goes thru a quick bluescreen, but it's not the "normal" blue screen of death...

@reise: how do i check temperature? (other than stick a thermometer in my case? o_O)


I had that problem on my old comp...
It froze a quick blue screen with some crap written all over it and it restarted...I managed to get it to work in safe mode but it kept restarting more often over and over...

In the end ..I put a CO2 bomb in that shit and blew it up at the lake...

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:40 am
by StealMySoda
[SD]happynoobing wrote:
Sharp324 wrote:
Morgoth wrote:go to Start - Control Panel - Performance and Maintenance - System - Advanced tab and click Settings under Startup and Recovery

under System Failure there's 3 options, if "Automatically Restart" is checked the un-check it and check "Send Administrative Alert" instead (that's what i did and it seemed to stop the restarts for me)

tell me if your comp stops restarting with this


Usually just toggles the BSoD on and off, errors would still happen but instead of it auto restarting it pops a BSoD. But that would work to see the error it shows

what's BSoD?

@spyboy: just before it restarts it goes thru a quick bluescreen, but it's not the "normal" blue screen of death...

@reise: how do i check temperature? (other than stick a thermometer in my case? o_O)


Theres your answer :)

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 12:45 am
by mosiac
sounds like you need more RAM.

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 1:01 am
by San
mosiac wrote:sounds like you need more RAM.

or better cooling

over heating is probably one, Power Supply may also be a problem(my problem last time)

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 2:16 am
by Morgoth
could it be something to do with your graphics card?

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:00 am
by [SD]happynoobing
ok, i've checked the temperature after a restart. there are two temps, the CPU one is 18 degrees C, and the other one is 37 degrees C, so i doubt it's over heating...

also i have 4 gb of ram (yea i got more than enough ram) with GeForce 8800 GTS vid card, they work fine when i was playing Crysis on max setting a while back. dont know what happened between back then and now... i've installed the latest directx, i'll see if it worked its magic tmr.

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:04 am
by Blindfire
If your pc is in a cubby hole under your desk pull it out a bit so the PSU fan has more space. Also, check if the fan on your gfx card is working, that could be causing it to overheat and shutdown.

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 3:10 am
by Morgoth
[SD]happynoobing wrote: 37 degrees C, so i doubt it's over heating...


umm.. thats 98.6 degress Fahrenheit; seems pretty hot to me

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:51 am
by [SD]happynoobing
Morgoth wrote:
[SD]happynoobing wrote: 37 degrees C, so i doubt it's over heating...


umm.. thats 98.6 degress Fahrenheit; seems pretty hot to me

but what is that temperature tho? it started with a 'M'... and i forgot the second letter :/

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:53 am
by -Evan
Clean your CPU.. it might be overheating from dust. If it's not dirty.. move your PC to a cooler room.

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 10:13 pm
by [SD]happynoobing
i opened it, both CPU and graphic card fans are working fine, and there isn't that much dust in there either.

oh that 38 degrees was MB temperature... is that normal?

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:53 pm
by Shynygamie
internet?

Re: computer crash

Posted: Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:54 pm
by mosiac
try deleting your current graphic drivers, then re-download them and reinstall.

Re: computer crash

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:20 am
by Morgoth
try getting a hijack log to see if there's something else that is wrong for someone to inspect

Re: computer crash

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 1:07 am
by Reise
[SD]happynoobing wrote:ok, i've checked the temperature after a restart. there are two temps, the CPU one is 18 degrees C, and the other one is 37 degrees C, so i doubt it's over heating...

also i have 4 gb of ram (yea i got more than enough ram) with GeForce 8800 GTS vid card, they work fine when i was playing Crysis on max setting a while back. dont know what happened between back then and now... i've installed the latest directx, i'll see if it worked its magic tmr.


What's your PSU and how old is it? If you're not overheating you could be getting shorts from wear/use on your PSU. That kind of stuff can damage other components also, I had a PC way back that died from a PSU short and I had to replace most of my gear.

Also, 30-40C is normal for a newer CPU. 50-60+ is getting hot, 80-90 is dangerous.

Re: computer crash

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:38 am
by [SD]happynoobing
Reise wrote:
[SD]happynoobing wrote:ok, i've checked the temperature after a restart. there are two temps, the CPU one is 18 degrees C, and the other one is 37 degrees C, so i doubt it's over heating...

also i have 4 gb of ram (yea i got more than enough ram) with GeForce 8800 GTS vid card, they work fine when i was playing Crysis on max setting a while back. dont know what happened between back then and now... i've installed the latest directx, i'll see if it worked its magic tmr.


What's your PSU and how old is it? If you're not overheating you could be getting shorts from wear/use on your PSU. That kind of stuff can damage other components also, I had a PC way back that died from a PSU short and I had to replace most of my gear.

Also, 30-40C is normal for a newer CPU. 50-60+ is getting hot, 80-90 is dangerous.

my psu is not even 1 year old. i built this computer myself late august last year.
btw i opened the case up, put a fan right next to it to drop its CPU temp down to 11 degrees while motherboard temp to 32 degrees, and it seemed to be fine at running games now...

now that's odd, im sure CPU and MB can handle temp higher than those numbers :/

Re: computer crash

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:24 am
by Silkroad
ur temps are just fine

most likely u getting shorts just like Reise said ... thats what was happening to my comp up until a few months ago until i disasebled and then reasembled everything ( not saying this is gona fix it as i know my comp still has a problem, but its working as a temp fix for me)

Re: computer crash

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:30 am
by Reise
Well you could have great temperatures and just an absolute shit PSU. When mine died the PC didn't overheat at all, but the PSU was cooking from the crappy fan on it, and eventually a component fried and everything went to hell.

Re: computer crash

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 11:39 am
by [SD]happynoobing
so i should be changing my psu then?

Re: computer crash

Posted: Wed Mar 26, 2008 8:25 pm
by pr0klobster
find out what the BSOD screen says, usually there's a .sys driver listed, that'll point you in the direction you need to go.

Vid card could be overheating too, look for Rivatuner or something else that displays temp on the card. You said you pulled the case off and put a fan on it...that tells me vidcard temps. Mobo should be able to do up to 40C, depending on the manufacturer. My CPU runs @48 load, mobo around 35-38C (older dual-core, cheap mobo).

PSU - meh, it could be. you could try disconnecting power to a CD or DVD or something to see if that helps, depending on whether or not the PSU runs 12v and 5v on the same rail.

Or, try lowering your settings big-time in the games, see if that does it. Less to display = less power consumed, less heat and maybe less crashing, although it's not much of a difference.