Here's a strange one

[djs0302]

I posted this on a hardware news groups but I thought I'd post it on a
software group that gets a lot of traffic as well.
I built this computer 3 years ago. Here are the specs.
Intel motherboard D875PBZ
2.6C GHz. Intel processor
30 GB Maxtor ultra ATA hard drive (connected using the IDE cable)
ATI Radeon 9000 graphics card
Creative Soundblaster 16 PCI soundcard
512 MB RAM
Windows XP service pack 1

Now here's the problem. When I first turn on the computer every once
in a while when I try to play a game that uses DirectX the computer
will freeze up when I click on the shortcut and I have to hit the
reset button to restart the computer. Once I'm able to start a game,
any game, the computer will load other games just fine. This doesn't
happen all the time, only once in a while. I've checked all the
logs
and nothing shows up. The problem has occured both before and after
I
updated all the video drivers and DirectX drivers. The computer in
question does not have an internet connection.

 

[Guest]

3 yrs is about all one could ever hope to get out of a maxtor hd,youre lucky
at 3,2 is more like it.Download maxtors MS-DOS utility to a formatted MS-DOS
floppy,boot pc to floppy,run the tests...Also,off-line gaming usually makes
a pc
work harder since all players run off the same os...

 

[Uncle Grumpy]

3 yrs is about all one could ever hope to get out of a maxtor hd,youre lucky
at 3,2 is more like it.

Disregard this bozo. He's fulla shit.

 

[witan]

Disregard this bozo. He's fulla shit.

Hear Hear!

 

[George Valkov]

Prince of Persia - The sands of time will cause windows to freeze and stop
responding if I try to change the gamma in video options.
How silly from ATI to put this game in the AIW9600XT package. By the way the
game has no problems running on my friends PC with nvidia graphic card ;-)

Nothing new on earth, we all know that ATI's drivers and software are
very-very buggy!
Plus they have no online support, I mean they claim to have, but they only
waste your time. I've been trying to explain them and point them to an exact
problem... And after one year and many posts to the support, they finally
decided to discontinue the ATI MMC.



|I posted this on a hardware news groups but I thought I'd post it on a
| software group that gets a lot of traffic as well.
| I built this computer 3 years ago. Here are the specs.
| Intel motherboard D875PBZ
| 2.6C GHz. Intel processor
| 30 GB Maxtor ultra ATA hard drive (connected using the IDE cable)
| ATI Radeon 9000 graphics card
| Creative Soundblaster 16 PCI soundcard
| 512 MB RAM
| Windows XP service pack 1
|
| Now here's the problem. When I first turn on the computer every once
| in a while when I try to play a game that uses DirectX the computer
| will freeze up when I click on the shortcut and I have to hit the
| reset button to restart the computer. Once I'm able to start a game,
| any game, the computer will load other games just fine. This doesn't
| happen all the time, only once in a while. I've checked all the
| logs
| and nothing shows up. The problem has occured both before and after
| I
| updated all the video drivers and DirectX drivers. The computer in
| question does not have an internet connection.
|

 

[Elmo]

I posted this on a hardware news groups but I thought I'd post it on a
software group that gets a lot of traffic as well.
I built this computer 3 years ago. Here are the specs.
Intel motherboard D875PBZ
2.6C GHz. Intel processor
30 GB Maxtor ultra ATA hard drive (connected using the IDE cable)
ATI Radeon 9000 graphics card
Creative Soundblaster 16 PCI soundcard
512 MB RAM
Windows XP service pack 1

Now here's the problem. When I first turn on the computer every once
in a while when I try to play a game that uses DirectX the computer
will freeze up when I click on the shortcut and I have to hit the
reset button to restart the computer. Once I'm able to start a game,
any game, the computer will load other games just fine. This doesn't
happen all the time, only once in a while. I've checked all the
logs
and nothing shows up. The problem has occurred both before and after
I updated all the video drivers and DirectX drivers. The computer in
question does not have an internet connection.

Run DXDiag and see if it complains of uncertified drivers; try lowering
_graphics_ and _sound_ hardware acceleration. Also look at the computer
manufacturer site and the graphics card manufacturer site for different
drivers. Try upgrades, reference drivers, and drivers for other model
cards till you find one that works. Do a search at
http://groups.google.com entering the game and graphics card model for
more suggestions.

Look for drivers and utilities at these sites:

http://www.guru3d.com/
http://www.reactorcritical.com/download.shtml
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=3&faq=7&Search=
http://www.voodoofiles.com/
http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

See if there's a BIOS upgrade for your system. Look at the
manufacturer's site, Compaq, PB, etc., and also at the motherboard
manufacturer's site.

 

[Plato]

Now here's the problem. When I first turn on the computer every once
in a while when I try to play a game that uses DirectX the computer
will freeze up when I click on the shortcut and I have to hit the

Try reseating the ram and get rid of any dust on the cpu fan and other
fans in the case.

 

[Frank\(FL\)]

I posted this on a hardware news groups but I thought I'd post it on a
software group that gets a lot of traffic as well.
I built this computer 3 years ago. Here are the specs.
Intel motherboard D875PBZ
2.6C GHz. Intel processor
30 GB Maxtor ultra ATA hard drive (connected using the IDE cable)
ATI Radeon 9000 graphics card
Creative Soundblaster 16 PCI soundcard
512 MB RAM
Windows XP service pack 1

Now here's the problem. When I first turn on the computer every once
in a while when I try to play a game that uses DirectX the computer
will freeze up when I click on the shortcut and I have to hit the
reset button to restart the computer. Once I'm able to start a game,
any game, the computer will load other games just fine. This doesn't
happen all the time, only once in a while. I've checked all the
logs
and nothing shows up. The problem has occured both before and after
I
updated all the video drivers and DirectX drivers. The computer in
question does not have an internet connection.

For the i875 chipset you have 3 items of hardware that are really
long in the tooth. The hard drive, sound card, and the Radeon 9000.
It has been a while, if memory serves, I think the Radeon 9200 is the
oldest ATI card that will work properly on the i875PZB. There should
be a drawing in the MB manual that shows the notches.