Experiencing same problem for 3 years now... this is just ridiculo

[whtstwthwindws]

before i start telling my story, i would like tot hank everyone in advance
for taking their time to read my post and comment/help me with this...

ok so i bought my computer a little more than 3 years ago, and ever since, i
have been experiencing random crashes when playing games.

this computer was bought for the sole purpose of gaming. when i bought it,
it was a mid-level gaming computer.

Specs:

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Overclocked to 2.42 Ghz)
eVGA nVidia 6600 GT PCI-e
DFI LanParty UT nF4 SLI-DR
Thermaltake Tsunami Dream case (w/PSU)

so after much troubleshooting, (overclocking, factory clock, underclocking,
buying better cooling options, messing with voltages, testing my PSU
countless times, etc...) i decide to build a new computer, ill save that for
a different time, but basically, all that computer had that was different was
a Intel P4 LGA775 instead of AMD. I NEVER EVER had ANY problem with it
WHATSOEVER! but i had to sell it because of financial instabilities. so, im
back to my old POS. i installed the new Vista Ultimate and Voila! no more
crashing when playing games! Now, the computer crashed every once in a while,
getting better but VERY annoying when trying to develop software and in
gaming.

So, back to XP to see if i can fix this PITA once again. now, while i
program, image edit, listen to music, etc.. i get flawless performance. no
crashes

but as soon as i open up UT3 and start a game,

"UT3.exe has experienced a problem and needs to close." - this is one of the
better forms of my game coming to a halt. sometimes, it will just decide to
reboot, or sometimes i get the blue screen of death and then reboot.

what is my problem, guys? my PSU is good, (tested at idle, is there any way
to test at load?), my drivers are up-to-date, my processors fast...enough,
right??

please if anyone can help me i will be ever so grateful!!!!

 

[whtstwthwindws]

regardless of what it is, is there anyone that can help me out with this?

....UT3 is unreal tournament 3...

 

[whtstwthwindws]

regardless of what it is, is there anyone that can help me out with this???

....UT3 is unreal tournament 3...

 

[db ´¯`·.. >]

the best way to approach
this would be to start with
a clean installation of
windows.

if the game requires sp2, then
only install and integrate windows
sp2 into your o.s.

if your game is limited to sp1, then
only have windows and sp1 installed
on your pc.

if you game requires a framework,
then ensure you have the one
version of framework installed.

then install your game.

having only windows and your
game installed, will be easier for you
to figure out the problem.

g.l.
--

<)))º>·´¯`·.¸. , . .·´¯`·.. ><)))º>`·.¸¸.·´¯`·.¸.·´¯`·...¸><)))º>

..

 

[Xandros]

Have you tried any of the gaming forums for advice? Maybe you need a patch
or just get rid of UT3. See this
http://forums.slizone.com/index.php?showtopic=14656

 

[Xandros]

It is a game UT3 = Ultimate Tournament 3

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

If after reseating the video and memory cards you still have the issue you
need to next make sure that it is not a heating problem inside the machine.
After that you start looking at the software.

 

[whtstwthwindws]

cooling is adequate... even under load, my gpu stays under 72* C

and its not just a software problem... well not with the game anyway.. ive
had this same problem countless times, after **NUMEROUS** OS reinstalls. UT3
does it, COD4 does it, Mafia does it, Resident Evil 4 does it, FEAR does it,
Morrowind does it, etc...

im gonna rip this computer apart and put it back together... clean the duest
out of it.

hopefully it will change SOMETHING?

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Well, a good house cleaning and reseating cards and connectors while you are
in there should narrow the issues at least. When you say 72C that seems
very warm. What is the temp in the cpu and in the box generally? I think
you may want to look at adding some cooling fans.

 

[VanguardLH]

in message

as soon as i open up UT3 and start a game,

"UT3.exe has experienced a problem and needs to close." - this is
one of the
better forms of my game coming to a halt. sometimes, it will just
decide to
reboot, or sometimes i get the blue screen of death and then reboot.

You probably have to experiment with which version of the video driver
works best with all your software, including games. That latest
version is not necessarily the best. In fact, often the latest
version will cause problems with older games. Look at the video
maker's web site and see how far back you can get versions of their
drivers. Then start walking back my major version numbers until the
problem goes away, and then increment forward through the minor
version numbers until the problem reappears, and then back off an
incremental minor version to the one that last worked okay.

Usually it is a video driver problem that causes the game to crash
(and might take the OS with it). Sometimes it might be the audio
driver, especially if you expect onboard audio (on an old mobo) to
correctly emulate EAX (so you might try disabling EAX in the game
whether it is a menu option or you have to edit a .cfg file).

 

[Elmo]

Before I start telling my story, I would like to thank everyone in advance
for taking their time to read my post and comment/help me with this...

ok so I bought my computer a little more than 3 years ago, and ever since, I
have been experiencing random crashes when playing games.

This computer was bought for the sole purpose of gaming. When I bought it,
it was a mid-level gaming computer.

Specs:

AMD Athlon 64 3000+ (Overclocked to 2.42 Ghz)
eVGA nVidia 6600 GT PCI-e
DFI LanParty UT nF4 SLI-DR
Thermaltake Tsunami Dream case (w/PSU)

So after much troubleshooting, (overclocking, factory clock, underclocking,
buying better cooling options, messing with voltages, testing my PSU
countless times, etc...) I decide to build a new computer, ill save that for
a different time, but basically, all that computer had that was different was
a Intel P4 LGA775 instead of AMD. I NEVER EVER had ANY problem with it
WHATSOEVER! but I had to sell it because of financial instabilities. so, I'm
back to my old POS. I installed the new Vista Ultimate and Voila! no more
crashing when playing games! Now, the computer crashed every once in a while,
getting better but VERY annoying when trying to develop software and in
gaming.

So, back to XP to see if I can fix this PITA once again. now, while I
program, image edit, listen to music, etc.. I get flawless performance. no
crashes

but as soon as I open up UT3 and start a game,

"UT3.exe has experienced a problem and needs to close." - this is one of the
better forms of my game coming to a halt. sometimes, it will just decide to
reboot, or sometimes I get the blue screen of death and then reboot.

what is my problem, guys? My PSU is good, (tested at idle, is there any way
to test at load?), my drivers are up-to-date, my processor's fast.. enough,
right??

Please if anyone can help me I will be ever so grateful!!!!

As a test, lower graphics hardware and sound hardware acceleration. If
one helps, a different driver might help. Look for a BIOS upgrade too.

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

im gonna rip this computer apart and put it back together... clean the duest
out of it.

Why not stop the overclocking and see if that helps.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

I'm with Uncle Grumpy on this one. Running at 72C in the gpu suggests
overclocking to the point of instability.

 

[VanguardLH]

in message

I'm with Uncle Grumpy on this one. Running at 72C in the gpu
suggests overclocking to the point of instability.

Yes, a high temperature but not for these video card types (and why
users often replace the standard cooling with something a lot better).

http://www.xbitlabs.com/articles/video/display/geforce6600gt-oc_8.html

But I would suggest replacing the stock heatsink and fan with a better
setup.

 

[Colin Barnhorst]

Yeah, the way I figure it if the gpu was running at 72C at the time he was
replying to a post, then it must have been getting very hot when he was
running one of the games he listed. Gamers often overclock and that may be
the real source of the problem. He needs more cooling.

 

[Leythos]

what is my problem, guys? my PSU is good, (tested at idle, is there any way
to test at load?), my drivers are up-to-date, my processors fast...enough,
right??

If it only crashes when you are playing games, ones that tax the video
card system, then it's heat that is causing the problem, caused by the
chipset and video card.

If it crashes at any other time, not playing games, then it's a
combination of problems.

--

Leythos
- Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum.
- Calling an illegal alien an "undocumented worker" is like calling a
drug dealer an "unlicensed pharmacist"
(e-mail address removed) (remove 999 for proper email address)

 

[remove_ntcanuck]

crashing when playing games! Now, the computer crashed every once in a while,
getting better but VERY annoying when trying to develop software and in
gaming.

So, back to XP to see if i can fix this PITA once again. now, while i
program, image edit, listen to music, etc.. i get flawless performance. no
crashes

but as soon as i open up UT3 and start a game,

"UT3.exe has experienced a problem and needs to close." - this is one of the
better forms of my game coming to a halt. sometimes, it will just decide to
reboot, or sometimes i get the blue screen of death and then reboot.

ok, you have some developing experienced...
hunt and download the windows debug manager (free ms tool)
install that and set it (in wdm options) as default debug
manager, then it will kick in (almost always) instead of
locking up. and give some useful info or cure, often then
the game etc. might even continue running properly.

a lot of applications and games will freeze the screen
(desktop) or applications as they are waiting for a
debug call...but alas there is no debugger installed
by default so they just lock up. dr watson won't do it.

otherwise you have hardware issue usually related to
sound or video but that should still come up with a
clue from using the debugger (actually very simple).

other thing todo is find dependency walker and open
the offending exe (com/dll/etc) and see if any files
are missing that it needs to run properly in sys32.
dependency walker does that..checks missing support
files per application and can do a trace for where
program is locking (execution or file lock).

hth for now

 

[Doug W.]

Why not stop the overclocking and see if that helps.

-
Because that would be the SMART thing to do. Overclocking is NOT
recommended by most manufacturers because of heat and other
problems, but people won't bloody well leave it alone and keep
on tinkering.
-

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

-
Because that would be the SMART thing to do. Overclocking is NOT
recommended by most manufacturers because of heat and other
problems, but people won't bloody well leave it alone and keep
on tinkering.

Gamers aren't always the brightest bulbs in the string.