Dying PC during gaming!! please help! - Page 2

[Xpenetrator]

Yes download that. Do you know somebody who has already flashed a BIOS and knows what to do if something goes wrong? Would be a good help, since otherwise you'll have to read a bunch about that first. Basically, you download a self-extracting *.exe file and put its contents on a bootable floppy or CD in order to run the flash program from a clean DOS. The Gigabyte file contains an Autoexec.bat that starts the flash program automatically with the BIOS image after booting from the floppy or CD.

In the manual for the GA-8I848P/775 I found this interesting passage: "Some advanced options are hidden in the new BIOS version. Press Ctrl and F1 together after entering the BIOS menu and you will able to see these options". Maybe your BIOS has a similar feature?

[flyboysu27]

yeah I'll check out those advanced features..otherwise I'll have to do the flash.

[Xpenetrator]

i ran it and just pressed enter (twice I think) is that all that is needed?

No. You just unpacked it twice I assume...:)

[flyboysu27]

haha yeah, ok I checked my BIOS, no advanced features, however i did find the flash utility which gives the option to install from floppy, I'll give that a go (right after I put my floppy drive back in and find a disk in this endless mess) Do you think this may fix the annoying freezing??

[Xpenetrator]

There should be a section about flashing the BIOS in your printed manual, the *.pdf version for your board I downloaded is incomplete...

[Xpenetrator]

50/50... since there is a big gap between the current and the latest BIOS, this should be done anyway and if it harms, you can revert it. If your board has the dual BIOS feature, it is even harmless if something goes bad. Solving issues with certain new hardware is what BIOS updates do, so it will be a good thing to try.

[flyboysu27]

cool, I'll do it when I get a free moment (poor busy student). Anyway, I'll let you know how it goes, thanks for all of your help!

[Xpenetrator]

Ok. Just read carefully how to do that and ask if something is unclear. Good luck and again, you're welcome. Good night! :mrgreen:

[flyboysu27]

hey, Ive been thinking about the MB/GC compatibility problem. To me it just doesn't add up. (although you know way more htan me, and i'm probably wrong). If it was caused by not being compatible or whatever wouldn't it do it in all games? ok, it only freezes in these games, COD2, BF2 , FSX. FS9 and oblivion. From my observations I have seen that in oblivion it only happens when I use magic, and in FSX it normally only happens when closer to the ground.

It doesn't freeze in all games, such as AO3, AO2, IL2 and heaps of others. The times when it does crash, for instance when using magic in Oblivion it is normally during graphically intyense periods. Tjis makes me wonder if it may be the graphics card itself or some other hadware or even dust related issue. Anyway, sorry for the long post and your probably correct, but I just want to make sure..it just seems weird! Oh, I also forgot to say earlier that when I first got my computer it WAS NOT having this problem, it has recently been appearing and is now at its worst with freeze appearing every 15-30 mins or so.

[Xpenetrator]

Ok if these freezes occur (and can be reproduced) at certain situations, I think "Fastwrites" is somewhat less suspect. It was "freeze - Geforce6 - AGP" that made me think about the Fastwrite issue and try that shot into the blue. There are so many reasons for freezes. But I still suspect the AGP/chipset to be the cause of the problem. Since the BIOS appears to be so simple, the only way to influence this is still via a new BIOS file. The developers may or may not have improved the AGP implementation to support new graphics cards or improve stability. Issues with GF6 on AGP with older boards are pretty common and I had stable running games (i.e. IL-2 PF!) on my personal fastwrites issue, too. (I guess you run IL-2 in OpenGL, too - this maybe explains the difference...)

But you're plain right, it can also be a faulty graphics card. You should test it in another machine. If the other machine is already nVidia equipped, this should be no big deal. Maybe you can test it at the store where you got it from.

Answering another unanswered question, while sitting on the desktop or drawing boring windows your card is running close to idle power in almost all parts. Only when a game requires complex rendering operations and huge memory transfers, all the juice is drawn and things run close to their limits and get hot.
BTW: Your PSU should deliver at least 20A on the +12V rail (you find a sticker at the side of your PSU) for your 6600GT and your Pentium. But if it's too weak this would be more likely restarting your computer.

The next thing you can check is to provoke a freeze and to look into the Event Viewer of XP, if something useful has been recorded about the error. Note the system time at which the lockup occurs. After reboot, go Start-->Run, type eventvwr.msc and hit Enter. A window pops up and on the left tree view, select "System". In the main window you see the logged events - search for red X errors that match with the time of the freeze. If any, doubleclick them and click on the button with the two tiny sheets of paper - this will copy the message into the clipboard and you can paste it into your next post. Unfortunately, freezes occur mostly before the system can log something...:) But if your 6600 overheats sometimes, this would be logged there, too and this would be one more possible cause for your problem to check.

Reproducible freeze means to me "memory could be involved, too" and should be checked if all other measures and tests fail. Also, if this problem gets worse as you described, this could point to a memory (or other chip) going bad. Troubleshooting this kind of woes isn't easy, but there is much to try before giving up. A different kind of computergame. :mrgreen:

[flyboysu27]

ok, Ive read all of your suggestions, thanks. I checked my events viewer, nothing out of the ordinary. I doubt it would get time to log it, everything dies. One strange thing about this is that my USB ports all die! I'm not sure how this could be related to anytrhing else except a power issue. Anyway, as for the graphics card I'll borrow one of someone and see if I have the same problem, if not time to go shopping.

I just went for a flight on FSX. I flew a flight for about 30 mins no problems. When I started a new flight, which started on the ground, bang, she froze.

Oh yeah, as I said earlier my PC never did this before, I havn't done any hardware upgrades so i suspect you may be correct when you say something or another may be going. It also kinds of rules out the chipset doesn't it? why would it start doing it now?? cheers.

[Xpenetrator]

Oh yeah, as I said earlier my PC never did this before, I havn't done any hardware upgrades so i suspect you may be correct when you say something or another may be going. It also kinds of rules out the chipset doesn't it?

Yes, sure. I missed that. Sorry. If you played the same things on that exact hardware without trouble before, this rules out the mentioned chipset issue. Then video card and RAM get into the focus. (But it could be the mainboard itself, too. You'll find out.)

One strange thing about this is that my USB ports all die!

They power down? Or what do you mean by "die"? Don't know if this is normal behavior for USB...Pretty much everything stops working when the whole system is halted. Even the keyboard - If I can't switch the num lock LED on and off anymore, I know it's completely frozen.

[flyboysu27]

yeah, all of the lights on my joystick go off and nums lock etc cant be turned on or off. Yeah i was using the exact same hardware when i got it, so it must be something to do with that. Umm...is it possible that dust could be the problem?? it's like a crypt in there!

[Xpenetrator]

Almost everything or a combination of several things can be the cause of such issues, including dust (=overheat, dust can render coolers and fans useless) or dead animals. :mrgreen:

[flyboysu27]

right, I'll have to test with other hardware, Ive just puchased a USB vacuum cleaner so i'll give it a thorough cleaning and see if that helps..well Im off to bed (it's late here) cheers.

[Xpenetrator]

Don't use a vacuum to clean out(try compressed air or a shaving brush), disconnect the cable from the PSU and get yourself connected to ground (touch the case) before touching anything.

[flyboysu27]

Ok will do, cheers.

[jbennet]

thia happens to my new dell with farcry and BF2
its cold as ice and has newest software so dont know why

[flyboysu27]

yeah they are both graphically intense games...can I ask what your graphics card is??

[jbennet]

radeon x600 256meg - it runs farcry on medium and battlefield 2 on medium just fine (1024x768) (1280x1024 is ok so long as im not playing online as that combined with lag is slow)

[flyboysu27]

so are you having the same problem as me???

[jbennet]

yes same problem - usually it just hangs totally with a black screen and when i reboot it says it recovered from a serious error