P4P800 SE crashs in games

[Rick]

I am having a big problem with running games, Far Cry, Painkiller.
After about 2 to 20 minutes I crash to full reboot, never desktop
always a reboot. I have had a few programs report memory problems and
end, ie:ACDSee, but only games cause reboot crash. Processor never
over 125 deg F. I am not over clocking anything and have even tried
slowing down memory from 400 to 320. All bios and drivers are the
latest. I really am stumped, don't know if I have a ram problem or
motherboard. I have read in several forums the same problem from a
few people, games crashing after a few minutes. Anyway I know I'll be
trashed for using value ram but come on I'm not overclocking and have
timing at 3,3,3, yes I've tried auto and manual configs on the memory,
manual
settings from the kingston web site. Anyway just looking for
brilliant ideas. Thanks.

P4 Prescott 2.8G
2x512 ram KVR400X64C3AK2/1G Kingston
Asus P4P800 SE
ATI 9500 Pro 128meg
Philips PSC706 Audio
Antec 400 watt.

Rick B.

 

[Rick]

My apologies for posting twice on this topic. Thanks to all who
answered my original post, I thought it hadn't gone through.

 

[Phil]

Hm, perhaps your vid card is overheating. If I only had issues while gaming,
especially after several minutes play, that would be my first suspect. If
you haven't already tried, remove the side panel from your case while
playing, and see if gaming still causes any problems. Also, make sure the
vid card's fan is still functional and clear of dust.

-phil

 

[Art Simpson]

Rick wrote in message ...

I am having a big problem with running games, Far Cry, Painkiller.
After about 2 to 20 minutes I crash to full reboot, never desktop
always a reboot.

(snip)

So far Rick you've done the right things.
* Checking system temperature (even added a fan to open casing)
* Doing RAM tests, and even slowing down the FSB.

Since you report the temperature is *stable* at the time of crash;
The only thing remaining is that you run video oriented apps.

You need to gather more clues; Yet it is starting to make your video/audio
setup suspicious. In order to rule the video bug out; You should run a 'stability test'
probram overnight; That does not involve video.
I suggest SANDRA 2004 SP1.. Burnin test. You pick a few intensive areas, like
CPU/FPU and even file-IO..Run it for a few hours and leave the Asus probe monitoring
temperature. Observe if the temperature remains under a certain point.. Or it'll crash.

Better stability tests programs exist; but Sandra might help you later on a number
of things to 'tweak' and tune.

If you crash here without Visual intensive; Verify that the file-system is stable..
Run SANDRA again with only file and cache stuff. Vice/versa.

IF the stability (non-video) test passes.. Then it 's time to check Video / audio.
You could presume the CPU is running stable I guess; But it's better to find
a program that aims mostly Video routines.. (AGP stuff).
[P.S. The display properties, Advanced mode GART section should allow you to
ajust AGP speed, and whatever burst mode is available. You could lower settings
if you find Video stuff is crashing. That helps determine how much of a video problem
it is; Same with ASUS BIOS settings.. AGP apperture and such.. You could change
some of these items to find if it 'prevents' a crash.]

I recommend NOT using a game to test; Unless you can DISABLE the audio and
run it like a "Quake3 timedemo". Then 3DMark could be usefull if it was not so big.
My suggestion would be ANY version of Unreal Tournament, turning sounds OFF,
running spectator mode and wait t'ill it crashes.. Check temperature each 30 mins.

Then sounds..... If you find Video is the guilty part; Reinstall the drivers, or even upgrade
them...

Rule of the thumb; Try isolate the problem; Focusing on specific hardware/settings.
Cheers,
Art
(Apologies for all the typos and poor English.)

 

[anc]

I am having a big problem with running games, Far Cry, Painkiller.
After about 2 to 20 minutes I crash to full reboot, never desktop
always a reboot. I have had a few programs report memory problems and
end, ie:ACDSee, but only games cause reboot crash.

Have you patched FarCry to v1.2 ? This patch has been withdrawn due to
problems ?

http://www.farcry.ubi.com/index.php

What I would do is first benchmark your system using 3DMark 2001 SE, then
see if there are any new drivers from ATI for your graphics card and
benchmark again to check performance.

Going back to far cry there is also a patch to upgrade to v1.1. What is the
temperature of your graphics card? My nvidia geforce card now has a builtin
sensor, Im not sure if ATI cards also have this feature.

If it is possibly temperature related you could try removing the case.
HTH

 

[Rick]

Well it looks like I finally resolved the crashes. I removed the
Philips PSC706 sound card and set up the on board SoundMax and all
problems went away. No more lockups. It makes sense since games are
using the sound most intensly. I emailed Philips and told them they
may have a problem with their 1.89 drivers, they haven't been updated
in about a year, I'm sure they'll look into it, Yeah right. Guess I
could try reinstalling the Philips but I'm just do glad to be stable
after so many weeks of trying everything under the sun.
So now I either stay with on board sound or start looking at Audigy
2's for compatability sake.

Thanks so much for everyones help.

Rick