Hi Andrew,
It's hard to pinpoint the cause of those types of crashes, but we can
certainly run through the most common troubleshooting steps starting
with the software...
Here's TEN steps you can use to eliminate most software conflicts.
Start with the first one, and post back if you have any questions!
1. To see if it's a software conflict: Temporarily disable Startup
programs one at a time, starting with Firewall, Antivirus, and ad
blockers using:
http://new.jtsoft2001.com/windows/startup.php
You can lookup what a program does before you disable it here:
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm
2. Run a virus scan at:
http://housecall.antivirus.com Afterwards
Download & Run Spybot from:
http://security.kolla.de to find any
Trojans, Adware, or Spyware which could clog up your system.
3. Click My Computer / Rightclick the Drive & Choose Properties
/ Run the "Disk Cleanup..." / Next Click the "Tools" Tab and run
the "Error-Checking" and "Defragmentation" utilities.
4. Go to the Windows Update site for everything under Critical and
Recommended:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
5. Update DirectX and your Chipset, Sound, &Video Drivers:
For all Video / DirectX / Game and Hardware Issues, I have a
Checklist of Solutions at:
http://NibblesNbitsVideo.tk
6. If your system restarts by itself as a result of a STOP error, use the
steps in this article to stop that behaviour and identify the cause:
http://www.mvps.org/marksxp/windowsxp/bsod.htm
7. Click Start / Control Panel /Administrative Tools / Event Viewer /
Click the Applications listing on the left / in the right pane look for
yellow or red symbols and doubleclick them to identify any problems,
and they often have a link to a KB article you can read for the solution.
8 Allow Windows to control your pagefile at a "system managed size".
Be sure there's enough space for the pagefile size to = 1.5 * your RAM
Bonus Tip: Set the pagefile to it's own partition or hard drive if possible.
References:
http://aumha.org/win5/a/xpvm.php is a good site about this as is:
http://www.microsoft.com/WindowsXP/expertzone/columns/mcfedries/03june16.asp
9. Click Start / Run / then type: sfc /scannow and press ENTER
to replace any damaged system files -or- Run Setup.exe on your
Windows 98/Me/XP/2000 CD to reinstall Windows over itself without
erasing your programs and data. Once everything works fine reinstall
updates one at a time from:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com while
testing the game after each update, in case an update caused the problem.
10. If you have room on one of your partitions, use it to install another
clean installation of Windows which you can gradually update with the
appropriate chipset, video, and sound drivers, as well as Direct X, but
with no extras including themes, firewalls, antivirus, etc. You may have
to reinstall the game(s) for use with that partition, but it's well worth it.
11. If you don't have enough space for step 10 I suggest you at least
create a new administrators account with no themes, firewall, antivirus,
or any other software or startup programs installed for that account. If
this solves the problem, then you should switch over to the new account.
Hopefully that solved the problem. If not, we'll examine the hardware next.
--
Cheers, Windows XP MVP Shell / User
Jimmy S.
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com
Game FAQs:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;[LN];gms
Visit my Zone.com / Gaming Helpsite:
http://nibblesnbits.tk or Call / Contact
MS Support at:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=sz;en-us;top
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
_________________________________________________________
| I do have the updated video and sound already. I found
| out that the video card and ethernet card were using the
| same IRQ port and were conflicting. the way to fix that
| is to move the ethernet or video to another pci slot.
| >-----Original Message-----
| >
| >>-----Original Message-----
| >>Computer info:
| >>CPU: Athlon XP 1900+
| >>RAM: 512MB DDR
| >>Motherboard: Asus A7V266-E
| >>Video card: nVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 500
| >>Sound card: Creative SB Live!
| >>OS: XP Home
| >>
| >>Recently when i play any game i can play for about 5-
| >>10min and then all the games crash. I put the graphics
| >>and sound quality all the way down on each game
| thinking
| >>that was the problem. Also updated all drivers and
| there
| >>was no change. Since then i have reformatted my
| computer
| >>and all the games still crash. My computer is higher
| >>then all minimum and recommended hardware for the
| games.
| >>Any ideas please? I don't want to have to buy a new
| >>computer.
| >>.
| >>
| >update video and sound crad. go to the official web site
| >of both video and sound crad
| >.
| >
