About a month ago I started have my 3D games (Wolfenstein Enemy Territory)
start freezing up on me. Since then I've changed a bunch of hardware and it
still happens! I've pretty much ruled out software problems since I've
changed drivers, reinstalled games, everything! What's going on?

I have an AMD XP 1800+ (stock 1.533GHz) in a Asus A7V266-E mobo with 512MB
of RAM. Here's the 3 system configurations I continued to have the problem
with.

1) Radeon 7000, Vantec Aeroflow heatsink/fan, 1 case fan. Cpu temp
~49Celcius. This was the initial setup that worked no problem. Then the
freezing started. The game would freeze, then crash, and I'd be booted out
to WinXP. The screen would now be brighter than before until I rebooted.

2) Radeon 7000, Arctic-Cooling heatsink/fan, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50
Celcius. Still freezing then crashing.

3) Radeon 9600 Pro, Arctic-Cooling, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50 Celcius.
Freezes and stays frozen. Have to reset the system. I tried disconnecting
the case fans and it ran the game ok for 1 hour. After reloading it, the
crashing started again.

As you can see, things are just getting worse and worse. My cpu isn't
overclocked or anything. Could the problem be my power supply? I have a
350W generic. According the Asus probe it's putting out 12.767 V and my
Vcore is 1.84: both values are off spec. I know have 1 seagate 120GB HD, 1
DVDROM, 1 CDRW, 2 mini fans, 2 80mm fans, and the giant 80mm fan on the
heatsink. Is all that drawing too much power?

Thanks,
Mitchua

You never mentioned the most important things...

What is running in the Background? Cntrl Alt Del or Enditall.exe or just to see Wintop.exe

VIA chipset? 4in1's are done?

Some strange Bios video setting that doesn't agree with your hardware?

What about the 'infamous' virii or spyware(multiplayer) question?

Safe mode to check if there are duplicate hardware entries

What drivers are you using? Have you tried the originals?

What settings for GL and DX in display settings..in the game settings?

"Mitchua" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:O2b8b.439996$(E-Mail Removed)...
> About a month ago I started have my 3D games (Wolfenstein Enemy Territory)
> start freezing up on me. Since then I've changed a bunch of hardware and it
> still happens! I've pretty much ruled out software problems since I've
> changed drivers, reinstalled games, everything! What's going on?
>
> I have an AMD XP 1800+ (stock 1.533GHz) in a Asus A7V266-E mobo with 512MB
> of RAM. Here's the 3 system configurations I continued to have the problem
> with.
>
> 1) Radeon 7000, Vantec Aeroflow heatsink/fan, 1 case fan. Cpu temp
> ~49Celcius. This was the initial setup that worked no problem. Then the
> freezing started. The game would freeze, then crash, and I'd be booted out
> to WinXP. The screen would now be brighter than before until I rebooted.
>
> 2) Radeon 7000, Arctic-Cooling heatsink/fan, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50
> Celcius. Still freezing then crashing.
>
> 3) Radeon 9600 Pro, Arctic-Cooling, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50 Celcius.
> Freezes and stays frozen. Have to reset the system. I tried disconnecting
> the case fans and it ran the game ok for 1 hour. After reloading it, the
> crashing started again.
>
> As you can see, things are just getting worse and worse. My cpu isn't
> overclocked or anything. Could the problem be my power supply? I have a
> 350W generic. According the Asus probe it's putting out 12.767 V and my
> Vcore is 1.84: both values are off spec. I know have 1 seagate 120GB HD, 1
> DVDROM, 1 CDRW, 2 mini fans, 2 80mm fans, and the giant 80mm fan on the
> heatsink. Is all that drawing too much power?
>
> Thanks,
> Mitchua
>
>

On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 03:27:42 GMT, "Mitchua" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>About a month ago I started have my 3D games (Wolfenstein Enemy Territory)
>start freezing up on me. Since then I've changed a bunch of hardware and it
>still happens! I've pretty much ruled out software problems since I've
>changed drivers, reinstalled games, everything! What's going on?
>
>I have an AMD XP 1800+ (stock 1.533GHz) in a Asus A7V266-E mobo with 512MB
>of RAM. Here's the 3 system configurations I continued to have the problem
>with.
>
>1) Radeon 7000, Vantec Aeroflow heatsink/fan, 1 case fan. Cpu temp
>~49Celcius. This was the initial setup that worked no problem. Then the
>freezing started. The game would freeze, then crash, and I'd be booted out
>to WinXP. The screen would now be brighter than before until I rebooted.
>
>2) Radeon 7000, Arctic-Cooling heatsink/fan, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50
>Celcius. Still freezing then crashing.
>
>3) Radeon 9600 Pro, Arctic-Cooling, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50 Celcius.
>Freezes and stays frozen. Have to reset the system. I tried disconnecting
>the case fans and it ran the game ok for 1 hour. After reloading it, the
>crashing started again.
>
>As you can see, things are just getting worse and worse. My cpu isn't
>overclocked or anything. Could the problem be my power supply? I have a
>350W generic. According the Asus probe it's putting out 12.767 V and my
>Vcore is 1.84: both values are off spec. I know have 1 seagate 120GB HD, 1
>DVDROM, 1 CDRW, 2 mini fans, 2 80mm fans, and the giant 80mm fan on the
>heatsink. Is all that drawing too much power?
>
>Thanks,
> Mitchua
>
I have an A7V133 and sometimes removing a stick of RAM solves that
type of trouble. The board is RAM picky. Even though Crucial has been
fine for me some have had trouble like you describe. I don't know why
but on two different ASUS boards dropping the FSB 2 or 3 points can
solve similar problems. If everything runs fine with the side of the
case off then heat would seem to be an issue. Of 10 PS I have only one
gave a problem. It was a $30 400W new one. The PC shut down every 6-8
hours. Swapped in a 200W used PS and the 3200+ PC runs perfect now.
------------
When your PC gives a little they give a lot.
http://www.dslreports.com/forum/disco

<The screen would now be brighter than before until I rebooted.>

Adobe Gamma Loader in start up?


"Mitchua" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:O2b8b.439996$(E-Mail Removed)...
> About a month ago I started have my 3D games (Wolfenstein Enemy Territory)
> start freezing up on me. Since then I've changed a bunch of hardware and it
> still happens! I've pretty much ruled out software problems since I've
> changed drivers, reinstalled games, everything! What's going on?
>
> I have an AMD XP 1800+ (stock 1.533GHz) in a Asus A7V266-E mobo with 512MB
> of RAM. Here's the 3 system configurations I continued to have the problem
> with.
>
> 1) Radeon 7000, Vantec Aeroflow heatsink/fan, 1 case fan. Cpu temp
> ~49Celcius. This was the initial setup that worked no problem. Then the
> freezing started. The game would freeze, then crash, and I'd be booted out
> to WinXP. The screen would now be brighter than before until I rebooted.
>
> 2) Radeon 7000, Arctic-Cooling heatsink/fan, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50
> Celcius. Still freezing then crashing.
>
> 3) Radeon 9600 Pro, Arctic-Cooling, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50 Celcius.
> Freezes and stays frozen. Have to reset the system. I tried disconnecting
> the case fans and it ran the game ok for 1 hour. After reloading it, the
> crashing started again.
>
> As you can see, things are just getting worse and worse. My cpu isn't
> overclocked or anything. Could the problem be my power supply? I have a
> 350W generic. According the Asus probe it's putting out 12.767 V and my
> Vcore is 1.84: both values are off spec. I know have 1 seagate 120GB HD, 1
> DVDROM, 1 CDRW, 2 mini fans, 2 80mm fans, and the giant 80mm fan on the
> heatsink. Is all that drawing too much power?
>
> Thanks,
> Mitchua
>
>

"JAD" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:hob8b.9186$(E-Mail Removed)...
> You never mentioned the most important things...
>
> What is running in the Background? Cntrl Alt Del or Enditall.exe or just
to see Wintop.exe
I run the games right after a reboot so nothing "extravagant" is running :-)
>
> VIA chipset? 4in1's are done?
Via chipset.

>
> Some strange Bios video setting that doesn't agree with your hardware?
Haven't done anything to the BIOS except changing the CPU speed and Graphic
Aperature Size to 128. Same settings as when it was working fine.

>
> What about the 'infamous' virii or spyware(multiplayer) question?
No spyware running on my PC. I run adaware and Spybot S&D

>
> Safe mode to check if there are duplicate hardware entries
No duplicates.
>
> What drivers are you using? Have you tried the originals?
Tried the boxed drivers and the newest off ATI's website.
>
> What settings for GL and DX in display settings..in the game settings?
Same GL and DX settings as when it was running fine. I've tried all
different levels of in game detail. Doesn't seem to make a difference.

Thanks for your input,
Mitchua
>
> "Mitchua" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:O2b8b.439996$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > About a month ago I started have my 3D games (Wolfenstein Enemy
Territory)
> > start freezing up on me. Since then I've changed a bunch of hardware
and it
> > still happens! I've pretty much ruled out software problems since I've
> > changed drivers, reinstalled games, everything! What's going on?
> >
> > I have an AMD XP 1800+ (stock 1.533GHz) in a Asus A7V266-E mobo with
512MB
> > of RAM. Here's the 3 system configurations I continued to have the
problem
> > with.
> >
> > 1) Radeon 7000, Vantec Aeroflow heatsink/fan, 1 case fan. Cpu temp
> > ~49Celcius. This was the initial setup that worked no problem. Then
the
> > freezing started. The game would freeze, then crash, and I'd be booted
out
> > to WinXP. The screen would now be brighter than before until I
rebooted.
> >
> > 2) Radeon 7000, Arctic-Cooling heatsink/fan, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50
> > Celcius. Still freezing then crashing.
> >
> > 3) Radeon 9600 Pro, Arctic-Cooling, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50 Celcius.
> > Freezes and stays frozen. Have to reset the system. I tried
disconnecting
> > the case fans and it ran the game ok for 1 hour. After reloading it,
the
> > crashing started again.
> >
> > As you can see, things are just getting worse and worse. My cpu isn't
> > overclocked or anything. Could the problem be my power supply? I have
a
> > 350W generic. According the Asus probe it's putting out 12.767 V and my
> > Vcore is 1.84: both values are off spec. I know have 1 seagate 120GB
HD, 1
> > DVDROM, 1 CDRW, 2 mini fans, 2 80mm fans, and the giant 80mm fan on the
> > heatsink. Is all that drawing too much power?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Mitchua
> >
> >
>
>

"AJ" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 03:27:42 GMT, "Mitchua" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
>
> >About a month ago I started have my 3D games (Wolfenstein Enemy
Territory)
> >start freezing up on me. Since then I've changed a bunch of hardware and
it
> >still happens! I've pretty much ruled out software problems since I've
> >changed drivers, reinstalled games, everything! What's going on?
> >
> >I have an AMD XP 1800+ (stock 1.533GHz) in a Asus A7V266-E mobo with
512MB
> >of RAM. Here's the 3 system configurations I continued to have the
problem
> >with.
> >
> >1) Radeon 7000, Vantec Aeroflow heatsink/fan, 1 case fan. Cpu temp
> >~49Celcius. This was the initial setup that worked no problem. Then the
> >freezing started. The game would freeze, then crash, and I'd be booted
out
> >to WinXP. The screen would now be brighter than before until I rebooted.
> >
> >2) Radeon 7000, Arctic-Cooling heatsink/fan, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50
> >Celcius. Still freezing then crashing.
> >
> >3) Radeon 9600 Pro, Arctic-Cooling, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50 Celcius.
> >Freezes and stays frozen. Have to reset the system. I tried
disconnecting
> >the case fans and it ran the game ok for 1 hour. After reloading it, the
> >crashing started again.
> >
> >As you can see, things are just getting worse and worse. My cpu isn't
> >overclocked or anything. Could the problem be my power supply? I have a
> >350W generic. According the Asus probe it's putting out 12.767 V and my
> >Vcore is 1.84: both values are off spec. I know have 1 seagate 120GB HD,
1
> >DVDROM, 1 CDRW, 2 mini fans, 2 80mm fans, and the giant 80mm fan on the
> >heatsink. Is all that drawing too much power?
> >
> >Thanks,
> > Mitchua
> >
> I have an A7V133 and sometimes removing a stick of RAM solves that
> type of trouble. The board is RAM picky.
I'm using the same RAM as when everything was working fine.

> Even though Crucial has been
> fine for me some have had trouble like you describe. I don't know why
> but on two different ASUS boards dropping the FSB 2 or 3 points can
> solve similar problems.
I did experiment with upping the FSB to overclock my CPU a bit and it
immediately crashed in the game so you might be onto something with the FSB.
I just checked my CPUINFO program and my cpu is running at 1546Mhz, a little
higher than 1533. Might be because the core voltage is running at 1.84V
despite being set at 1.75V in the BIOS. Maybe my slightly overclocked CPU
is causing the problem. I'll experiment with bringing it down to 1533Mhz
tomorrow and repost.

> If everything runs fine with the side of the
> case off then heat would seem to be an issue.
Doesn't seem to make any difference.

> Of 10 PS I have only one
> gave a problem. It was a $30 400W new one. The PC shut down every 6-8
> hours. Swapped in a 200W used PS and the 3200+ PC runs perfect now.
I fine these generic power supplies only last about a year but this one is
only 3 months old.

Thanks a lot for your input. I'll check out that FSB problem...
Mitchua

the DX GL settings are set for performance?
Via chipset -did you do the 4in1 updates? This has been the fix for many folks.

By the way, if your troubleshooting, as you are, then I agree with you that it is a good thing to START at the way things were. But
after a fashion you need to work back a few steps, so for the sake of finding out the answer try and forget about the way things
were.

"Mitchua" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:uGb8b.440052$(E-Mail Removed)...
> "JAD" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:hob8b.9186$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > You never mentioned the most important things...
> >
> > What is running in the Background? Cntrl Alt Del or Enditall.exe or just
> to see Wintop.exe
> I run the games right after a reboot so nothing "extravagant" is running :-)
> >
> > VIA chipset? 4in1's are done?
> Via chipset.
>
> >
> > Some strange Bios video setting that doesn't agree with your hardware?
> Haven't done anything to the BIOS except changing the CPU speed and Graphic
> Aperature Size to 128. Same settings as when it was working fine.
>
> >
> > What about the 'infamous' virii or spyware(multiplayer) question?
> No spyware running on my PC. I run adaware and Spybot S&D
>
> >
> > Safe mode to check if there are duplicate hardware entries
> No duplicates.
> >
> > What drivers are you using? Have you tried the originals?
> Tried the boxed drivers and the newest off ATI's website.
> >
> > What settings for GL and DX in display settings..in the game settings?
> Same GL and DX settings as when it was running fine. I've tried all
> different levels of in game detail. Doesn't seem to make a difference.
>
> Thanks for your input,
> Mitchua
> >
> > "Mitchua" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:O2b8b.439996$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > About a month ago I started have my 3D games (Wolfenstein Enemy
> Territory)
> > > start freezing up on me. Since then I've changed a bunch of hardware
> and it
> > > still happens! I've pretty much ruled out software problems since I've
> > > changed drivers, reinstalled games, everything! What's going on?
> > >
> > > I have an AMD XP 1800+ (stock 1.533GHz) in a Asus A7V266-E mobo with
> 512MB
> > > of RAM. Here's the 3 system configurations I continued to have the
> problem
> > > with.
> > >
> > > 1) Radeon 7000, Vantec Aeroflow heatsink/fan, 1 case fan. Cpu temp
> > > ~49Celcius. This was the initial setup that worked no problem. Then
> the
> > > freezing started. The game would freeze, then crash, and I'd be booted
> out
> > > to WinXP. The screen would now be brighter than before until I
> rebooted.
> > >
> > > 2) Radeon 7000, Arctic-Cooling heatsink/fan, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50
> > > Celcius. Still freezing then crashing.
> > >
> > > 3) Radeon 9600 Pro, Arctic-Cooling, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50 Celcius.
> > > Freezes and stays frozen. Have to reset the system. I tried
> disconnecting
> > > the case fans and it ran the game ok for 1 hour. After reloading it,
> the
> > > crashing started again.
> > >
> > > As you can see, things are just getting worse and worse. My cpu isn't
> > > overclocked or anything. Could the problem be my power supply? I have
> a
> > > 350W generic. According the Asus probe it's putting out 12.767 V and my
> > > Vcore is 1.84: both values are off spec. I know have 1 seagate 120GB
> HD, 1
> > > DVDROM, 1 CDRW, 2 mini fans, 2 80mm fans, and the giant 80mm fan on the
> > > heatsink. Is all that drawing too much power?
> > >
> > > Thanks,
> > > Mitchua
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

"JAD" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
newsub8b.9194$(E-Mail Removed)...
> <The screen would now be brighter than before until I rebooted.>
>
> Adobe Gamma Loader in start up?
Maybe that was the problem. Anyhow, I don't have that prob with the Radeon
9600 pro since it freezes and doesn't crash out.

Thanks,
Mitchua


>
>
> "Mitchua" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:O2b8b.439996$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > About a month ago I started have my 3D games (Wolfenstein Enemy
Territory)
> > start freezing up on me. Since then I've changed a bunch of hardware
and it
> > still happens! I've pretty much ruled out software problems since I've
> > changed drivers, reinstalled games, everything! What's going on?
> >
> > I have an AMD XP 1800+ (stock 1.533GHz) in a Asus A7V266-E mobo with
512MB
> > of RAM. Here's the 3 system configurations I continued to have the
problem
> > with.
> >
> > 1) Radeon 7000, Vantec Aeroflow heatsink/fan, 1 case fan. Cpu temp
> > ~49Celcius. This was the initial setup that worked no problem. Then
the
> > freezing started. The game would freeze, then crash, and I'd be booted
out
> > to WinXP. The screen would now be brighter than before until I
rebooted.
> >
> > 2) Radeon 7000, Arctic-Cooling heatsink/fan, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50
> > Celcius. Still freezing then crashing.
> >
> > 3) Radeon 9600 Pro, Arctic-Cooling, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50 Celcius.
> > Freezes and stays frozen. Have to reset the system. I tried
disconnecting
> > the case fans and it ran the game ok for 1 hour. After reloading it,
the
> > crashing started again.
> >
> > As you can see, things are just getting worse and worse. My cpu isn't
> > overclocked or anything. Could the problem be my power supply? I have
a
> > 350W generic. According the Asus probe it's putting out 12.767 V and my
> > Vcore is 1.84: both values are off spec. I know have 1 seagate 120GB
HD, 1
> > DVDROM, 1 CDRW, 2 mini fans, 2 80mm fans, and the giant 80mm fan on the
> > heatsink. Is all that drawing too much power?
> >
> > Thanks,
> > Mitchua
> >
> >
>
>

"JAD" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:TMb8b.9212$(E-Mail Removed)...
> the DX GL settings are set for performance?
> Via chipset -did you do the 4in1 updates? This has been the fix for many
folks.
Just what Windows Update does.

>
> By the way, if your troubleshooting, as you are, then I agree with you
that it is a good thing to START at the way things were. But
> after a fashion you need to work back a few steps, so for the sake of
finding out the answer try and forget about the way things
> were.
I agree. No way I'm going back to the Radeon 7000 :-) Just wanted to trace
the history of the problem.

Check out my reply to AJ's post. Maybe there's a problem with my FSB. My
CPU is overclocked slightly which it shouldn't be.

--Mitchua
>
> "Mitchua" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:uGb8b.440052$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > "JAD" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:hob8b.9186$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > You never mentioned the most important things...
> > >
> > > What is running in the Background? Cntrl Alt Del or Enditall.exe or
just
> > to see Wintop.exe
> > I run the games right after a reboot so nothing "extravagant" is running
:-)
> > >
> > > VIA chipset? 4in1's are done?
> > Via chipset.
> >
> > >
> > > Some strange Bios video setting that doesn't agree with your hardware?
> > Haven't done anything to the BIOS except changing the CPU speed and
Graphic
> > Aperature Size to 128. Same settings as when it was working fine.
> >
> > >
> > > What about the 'infamous' virii or spyware(multiplayer) question?
> > No spyware running on my PC. I run adaware and Spybot S&D
> >
> > >
> > > Safe mode to check if there are duplicate hardware entries
> > No duplicates.
> > >
> > > What drivers are you using? Have you tried the originals?
> > Tried the boxed drivers and the newest off ATI's website.
> > >
> > > What settings for GL and DX in display settings..in the game settings?
> > Same GL and DX settings as when it was running fine. I've tried all
> > different levels of in game detail. Doesn't seem to make a difference.
> >
> > Thanks for your input,
> > Mitchua
> > >
> > > "Mitchua" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> > news:O2b8b.439996$(E-Mail Removed)...
> > > > About a month ago I started have my 3D games (Wolfenstein Enemy
> > Territory)
> > > > start freezing up on me. Since then I've changed a bunch of
hardware
> > and it
> > > > still happens! I've pretty much ruled out software problems since
I've
> > > > changed drivers, reinstalled games, everything! What's going on?
> > > >
> > > > I have an AMD XP 1800+ (stock 1.533GHz) in a Asus A7V266-E mobo with
> > 512MB
> > > > of RAM. Here's the 3 system configurations I continued to have the
> > problem
> > > > with.
> > > >
> > > > 1) Radeon 7000, Vantec Aeroflow heatsink/fan, 1 case fan. Cpu temp
> > > > ~49Celcius. This was the initial setup that worked no problem.
Then
> > the
> > > > freezing started. The game would freeze, then crash, and I'd be
booted
> > out
> > > > to WinXP. The screen would now be brighter than before until I
> > rebooted.
> > > >
> > > > 2) Radeon 7000, Arctic-Cooling heatsink/fan, 2 case fans, Cpu temp
~50
> > > > Celcius. Still freezing then crashing.
> > > >
> > > > 3) Radeon 9600 Pro, Arctic-Cooling, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50
Celcius.
> > > > Freezes and stays frozen. Have to reset the system. I tried
> > disconnecting
> > > > the case fans and it ran the game ok for 1 hour. After reloading
it,
> > the
> > > > crashing started again.
> > > >
> > > > As you can see, things are just getting worse and worse. My cpu
isn't
> > > > overclocked or anything. Could the problem be my power supply? I
have
> > a
> > > > 350W generic. According the Asus probe it's putting out 12.767 V
and my
> > > > Vcore is 1.84: both values are off spec. I know have 1 seagate
120GB
> > HD, 1
> > > > DVDROM, 1 CDRW, 2 mini fans, 2 80mm fans, and the giant 80mm fan on
the
> > > > heatsink. Is all that drawing too much power?
> > > >
> > > > Thanks,
> > > > Mitchua
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> >
> >
>
>

I just pulled up an old snapshot I took of my CPU speed. It was running at
1546MHz a year ago too. Guess that's not a new development. Might still be
the problem though. I'll test tomorrow.

--Mitchua


"Mitchua" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:HMb8b.440059$(E-Mail Removed)...
>
> "AJ" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:(E-Mail Removed)...
> > On Fri, 12 Sep 2003 03:27:42 GMT, "Mitchua" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:
> >
> > >About a month ago I started have my 3D games (Wolfenstein Enemy
> Territory)
> > >start freezing up on me. Since then I've changed a bunch of hardware
and
> it
> > >still happens! I've pretty much ruled out software problems since I've
> > >changed drivers, reinstalled games, everything! What's going on?
> > >
> > >I have an AMD XP 1800+ (stock 1.533GHz) in a Asus A7V266-E mobo with
> 512MB
> > >of RAM. Here's the 3 system configurations I continued to have the
> problem
> > >with.
> > >
> > >1) Radeon 7000, Vantec Aeroflow heatsink/fan, 1 case fan. Cpu temp
> > >~49Celcius. This was the initial setup that worked no problem. Then
the
> > >freezing started. The game would freeze, then crash, and I'd be booted
> out
> > >to WinXP. The screen would now be brighter than before until I
rebooted.
> > >
> > >2) Radeon 7000, Arctic-Cooling heatsink/fan, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50
> > >Celcius. Still freezing then crashing.
> > >
> > >3) Radeon 9600 Pro, Arctic-Cooling, 2 case fans, Cpu temp ~50 Celcius.
> > >Freezes and stays frozen. Have to reset the system. I tried
> disconnecting
> > >the case fans and it ran the game ok for 1 hour. After reloading it,
the
> > >crashing started again.
> > >
> > >As you can see, things are just getting worse and worse. My cpu isn't
> > >overclocked or anything. Could the problem be my power supply? I have
a
> > >350W generic. According the Asus probe it's putting out 12.767 V and
my
> > >Vcore is 1.84: both values are off spec. I know have 1 seagate 120GB
HD,
> 1
> > >DVDROM, 1 CDRW, 2 mini fans, 2 80mm fans, and the giant 80mm fan on the
> > >heatsink. Is all that drawing too much power?
> > >
> > >Thanks,
> > > Mitchua
> > >
> > I have an A7V133 and sometimes removing a stick of RAM solves that
> > type of trouble. The board is RAM picky.
> I'm using the same RAM as when everything was working fine.
>
> > Even though Crucial has been
> > fine for me some have had trouble like you describe. I don't know why
> > but on two different ASUS boards dropping the FSB 2 or 3 points can
> > solve similar problems.
> I did experiment with upping the FSB to overclock my CPU a bit and it
> immediately crashed in the game so you might be onto something with the
FSB.
> I just checked my CPUINFO program and my cpu is running at 1546Mhz, a
little
> higher than 1533. Might be because the core voltage is running at 1.84V
> despite being set at 1.75V in the BIOS. Maybe my slightly overclocked CPU
> is causing the problem. I'll experiment with bringing it down to 1533Mhz
> tomorrow and repost.
>
> > If everything runs fine with the side of the
> > case off then heat would seem to be an issue.
> Doesn't seem to make any difference.
>
> > Of 10 PS I have only one
> > gave a problem. It was a $30 400W new one. The PC shut down every 6-8
> > hours. Swapped in a 200W used PS and the 3200+ PC runs perfect now.
> I fine these generic power supplies only last about a year but this one is
> only 3 months old.
>
> Thanks a lot for your input. I'll check out that FSB problem...
> Mitchua
>
>