Processor: AMD Athlon 64 Precessor 3000+ MMX, 3DNow, ~ 1.8 GHZ
Memory: 2048 MB Ram
DirectX version : Direct X 9.0c

160 gig hardrive.

My computer crashes completely randomly when I'm running 3d games. It's been doin this ever since I installed world of warcraft, and before then it ran graphics intense games like FFXI, Painkiller, Guildwars, and Doom 3 quickly and with the best settings. I've reformmatted my computer and now for some reason my cpu still crashes constantly when running games! I defrag and run anti spyware stuff pretty often, and the same for disk clean up. What's wrong with my comp?

oh ya, NVIDIA GeForce 6800 Ultra 512.0 MB

Forgot that minor detail >.<

your computer is overheating. you might want to fix that

Frankly, I doubt that it has anything to do with overheating. I can play Diablo for hours, but Half-life crashes in a few seconds. It's some kind of video bug, but not overheating.

not a video bug manicheiste.

Alright, but what then. I have the very same problem (see my post in another thread), and I'm sure that nothing is overheating...

How do you know it is not an overheating problem? Have you checked the temps? BTW there is a big difference between Diablo and HL2. HL2 will give your machine a workout. Diablo wont even make it brake a sweat. ;)

The symptoms you are both having are typical of overheating. Try Everest to check temps. There are other monitoring programs but I can't think of them right now. :rolleyes: You can also check in the BIOS.
http://www.lavalys.com/products/download.php?pid=1&lang=en

Also try taking off the side cover and blowing a small fan in to see if that resolves the problem. If it makes a difference then overheating is most likely the issue. Also look inside while you have the cover off and make sure all fans are working and make sure there isn't a bunch of dust on the fans, mobo, and CPU heatsink. This also would be a good time to get can of compressed air and clean out all the dust bunnies.

I understand, but how could it overheat in 10 seconds ? that's what it takes for Half-life 2 to crash ! It actually takes no time at all for Media pplayer to crash playing a video, and using 99 % of the CPU. It crashes instantly...

I have had an overheating problem in the past, I was playing and suddendly the game would crash. If I tried to reboot too quickly, the computer would crash again even before it reached windows. That's why I don't think it's overheating here.

Another thing is that most recent (and graphically demanding) games, like Splinter Cell: Chaos theory, work just fine, wven If I play for hours...

I understand, but how could it overheat in 10 seconds ? that's what it takes for Half-life 2 to crash ! It actually takes no time at all for Media pplayer to crash playing a video, and using 99 % of the CPU. It crashes instantly...

I have had an overheating problem in the past, I was playing and suddendly the game would crash. If I tried to reboot too quickly, the computer would crash again even before it reached windows. That's why I don't think it's overheating here.

Another thing is that most recent (and graphically demanding) games, like Splinter Cell: Chaos theory, work just fine, wven If I play for hours...
These thing are very typical of overheating. Say for instance the CPU fan is not spinning. Or it is filled with dust and only spinning some of the time. One question for now, is the buzzing coming from the inside of the computer, or the speakers??

Here is a like to manicheiste's thread so people looking at this don't get confused. http://www.pcguide.com/vb/showthread.php?t=41495

I am not saying it is definitely an overheating problem, only that the symptoms are very typical of overheating. Lets eliminate heat as an issue first, then move on to software. ;)

The first rule of troubleshooting is to look at the obvious first (like the steps in my last post).

My cpu and HDD are around 34 degrees celcius when my compy crashes. I booted it and it was at 25 degrees, and it got to 34 within like 5 mins of me playing quake 4. I'll try that link and I'll try cleaning out stuff and see if that makes a diff.

Typically, random reboots are usually related to heat or weak power supply, crashing whle playing video/CPU intensive games can be either the same or video problems, quite often also related to heat. The video card has a chipset that gets plenty hot too. If it does npt have a small fan mounted, it might need one.

I understand, but how could it overheat in 10 seconds ?

in 10 seconds a newer CPU can get hot enough to cause serious damage if no heatsink and fan are installed. In 30 seconds you can fry eggs on it, literally. anything like the games you mentioned can use a lot of CPU, normally that's the most work your CPU will do all day. THat means heat builds up in a hurry, and especially while loading the game, since it has so much to load with games now requiring 256MB RAM just to run at all. Same for the video card, graphics intensive newer games give even newer top of the line video cards a workout, so they produce a lot of heat.

This crashing issue could be related to video drivers or DirectX, I wouldn't rule that out, but I agree with the above comments that it sounds a lot like heat or power supply, and those need to be checked before digging into potential software problems.

Clean the dust out, if that hasn't been done already, run it with a small fan blowing inside, and it might be a good idea to replace the thermal compound on the heatsink/CPU also. VERY CAREFULLY check the chipset on the video card, if it seems hot to the touch while running, like just after it crashes, it might be causing problems which should clear up if a fan is installed. Many newer cards come with one already installed, since new video cards produce as much heat as the CPU in some cases. If your card has one, check it to be sure it is not clogged with dust. I use a camera brush and compressed air to clean them.

Ok, it looks like n00bin is still checking on the overheating thing. But manicheiste can play Chaos Theory just fine while HL2 crashes. No mystery there, it's probably a software problem. CT and HL2 are on par for maxing out a computer's cooling & power subsystems, so those are working fine.

However, just because it's probably a software problem doesn't mean this is going to be easy! It actually would have been far easier if it had been overheating! :rolleyes: For software problems, you'll need to check all your drivers for starters. I think you said in your other thread that you have DX 9.0c, right? Ok, how about your drivers? Do you have the latest chipset, audio, and LAN drivers? How about Windows Updates? How about HL2 updates? Steam makes it easy to check that. After that, what sort of hardware are you running (be as specific as possible)? Sometimes you'll find that a certain mobo & vid card combo just don't work well together (just as an example). How long has it been since you've reinstalled Windows? Your internet connection is fine, right? Have you tried reinstalling HL2? Next, how's your security? No spyware or virus infections or anything? Is your computer otherwise stable?

Like I said, I wish your problem had been overheating...

Agreed that manicheiste's problems probably are software related, but just wanted to rule out a heat issue first. I have seen fans so clogged with dust that they spin sometimes and not others. Causing intermittent problems. ;) Probably not manicheiste's problems, but worth taking off the side panel to make sure before getting into drivers and such.

How about HL2 updates? Steam makes it easy to check that.
Speaking of that I just played HL2 recently after not playing any Steam games for a few months and Steam said my video drivers are out of date and I should get the newest one before playing. Just a thought.

Yeah, I agree with that. The first thing I do when any computer acts up is to crack it open and see what's going on inside. I recently fixed several so-called "broken" computers just by opening them up, blowing out some dust, and reseating some cables. That's it! That's all I did, and BAM! they're working again. :rolleyes: And to think everyone else thought the HDD's needed to be wiped and re-imaged... geez...

I have again updated some stuff using the Windows update, and when the computer loaded the next time, I received an error message. The Microsoft site ended up giving me this information as I did the error report:

Error message: STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER
View products that this article applies to.
Article ID : 293078
Last Review : July 13, 2005
Revision : 3.6
This article was previously published under Q293078
SYMPTOMS
You may receive one of the following Stop error messages:
STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER
STOP: 0x100000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER_M
CAUSE
This issue may occur if the display driver is caught in an infinite loop while it waits for the video hardware to become idle. This issue typically indicates a problem with the video hardware or that the display driver cannot program the hardware correctly.
RESOLUTION
To resolve this issue, obtain and install the most current driver for your video adapter, or replace your video card.
WORKAROUND
To work around this issue, follow these steps:
1. Click Start, click Control Panel, and then double-click Display.
2. On the Settings tab, click Advanced, and then click the Troubleshoot tab.
3. Move the Hardware Acceleration slider to None, and then click to clear the Enable Write Combining check box.
4. Click OK, and then click OK.

Note This procedure prevents the display driver from programming the hardware incorrectly, but you may lose some display functionality and performance. Although you can increase the hardware acceleration settings higher than None to regain functionality and performance, these settings increase the chance that the issue will occur again. For maximum stability, leave hardware acceleration off.
MORE INFORMATION
This Stop error message may also occur in video adapter drivers that do not represent a physical device. For example, this Stop error message may occur in the virtual video adapter driver that is used by Symantec PCAnywhere. If PCAnywhere is installed on a computer where this error message occurs, visit the Symantec Web site to determine if there are any available fixes for your version of PCAnywhere.

The third-party products that this article discusses are manufactured by companies that are independent of Microsoft. Microsoft makes no warranty, implied or otherwise, regarding the performance or reliability of these products.

What do you think ??

We're gonna need more info. All your hardware specs and all your driver versions. Also, how long has it been since you reinstalled Windows?

I can't provide any advice until these questions are answered. It matters a great deal whether you're running an old NVidia card with the latest drivers, or perhaps a PIII with a GF2, or a modern ATI card with beta drivers. We can't help without more info.

Alright, here's my dxDiag (I left only the important stuff)

-----------------
System Information
------------------
Time of this report: 10/27/2005, 20:44:32
Machine name: ALEX
Operating System: Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2
Language: English (Regional Setting: French)
System Manufacturer: To be filled by O.E.M.
System Model: To be filled by O.E.M.
BIOS: BIOS Date: 12/31/03 17:55:47 Ver: 08.00.08
Processor: AMD Opteron(tm) Processor 144, MMX, 3DNow, ~1.8GHz
Memory: 1024MB RAM
Page File: 212MB used, 2248MB available
Windows Dir: C:\WINDOWS
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)
DX Setup Parameters: Not found
DxDiag Version: 5.03.2600.2180 32bit Unicode



---------------
Display Devices
---------------
Card name: NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT
Manufacturer: NVIDIA
Chip type: GeForce 6600 GT
DAC type: Integrated RAMDAC
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_10DE&DEV_00F1&SUBSYS_A3503842&REV_A2
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: Optiquest V95
Monitor Max Res: 1600,1200
Driver Name: nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0010.8185 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 10/10/2005 21:49:00, 3921024 bytes

Driver version is: ForceWare 81.85

-------------
Sound Devices
-------------
Description: SB Live! Audio [A800]
Default Sound Playback: Yes
Default Voice Playback: Yes
Hardware ID: PCI\VEN_1102&DEV_0002&SUBSYS_80271102&REV_08
Type: WDM
Driver Name: ctaud2k.sys
Driver Version: 5.12.0001.0252 (English)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
WHQL Logo'd: n/a
Date and Size: 7/19/2002 10:47:52, 837548 bytes
Other Files:
Driver Provider: Creative
HW Accel Level: Full
Cap Flags: 0x0
Min/Max Sample Rate: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW Mix Bufs: 0, 0
Static/Strm HW 3D Bufs: 0, 0
HW Memory: 0
Voice Management: Yes
EAX(tm) 2.0 Listen/Src: Yes, Yes
I3DL2(tm) Listen/Src: No, No
Sensaura(tm) ZoomFX(tm): No
Registry: OK
Sound Test Result: Not run

I'm not sure why it says: driver version final retail since I actually updated these a day ago (and a monthe before too)

As for my motherboard, it should be an ASUS, never updated anything there.

As for my motherboard, it should be an ASUS, never updated anything there.Hmmm... that could be the problem. What mobo do you have? What chipset?

And what about your LAN driver? Do you know if perhaps your internet connection is having problems? How about security? Malware & viruses? Is your AV up to date?

I'm not sure how to find out. It does not show when I load the computer. I'll try to see it on the board, it must be there somewhere...

Everest (http://www.lavalys.com/products/overview.php?pid=1&lang=en) knows all...

Download and run the Home Edition, and tell us what it says. Well, not everything! :p Just the pertinent stuff.

ok, I have Everest, please tell me what information you'd like to have !

(I thought it could give the temperature of the CPU and VIDEO, but I can't see where)

Alex

Oh, some of the stuff under Motherboard, like chipset info and manufacturer and model number. Umm... as for the chipset driver, maybe you should update that regardless. You don't want to be too far behind on that one.

And of course you can include anything extra that you think is cool. :p There's some fun stuff in Everest...

Ok, here it is !

--------[ Motherboard ]-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID 63-0100-000001-00101111-123103-Hammer$0AAAA000_BIOS DATE: 12/31/03 17:55:47 VER: 08.00.08 TYAN TIGER K8W(S) BIOS V1.03
Motherboard Name Unknown

Front Side Bus Properties:
Bus Type AMD Hammer
Real Clock 200 MHz
Effective Clock 200 MHz
HyperTransport Clock 600 MHz

Memory Bus Properties:
Bus Type Dual DDR SDRAM
Bus Width 128-bit
Real Clock 199 MHz (DDR)
Effective Clock 399 MHz
Bandwidth 6384 MB/s

Chipset Bus Properties:
Bus Type HyperTransport
Bus Width 16-bit


--------[ CPU ]---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CPU Properties:
CPU Type AMD Opteron 144, 1800 MHz (9 x 200)
CPU Alias SledgeHammer
CPU Stepping SH-C0
Instruction Set x86, x86-64, MMX, 3DNow!, SSE, SSE2
Original Clock 1800 MHz
L1 Code Cache 64 KB (Parity)
L1 Data Cache 64 KB (ECC)
L2 Cache 1 MB (On-Die, ECC, Full-Speed)

CPU Physical Info:
Package Type 940 Pin uCPGA
Package Size 4.00 cm x 4.00 cm
Transistors 105.9 million
Process Technology 9Mi, 0.13 um, CMOS, Cu, SOI
Die Size 193 mm2
I/O Voltage 1.2 V + 2.5 V
Maximum Power 82.1 - 89.0 W (depending on clock speed)

CPU Manufacturer:
Company Name Advanced Micro Devices, Inc.
Product Information http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/ProductInformation/0,,30_118,00.html

CPU Utilization:
CPU #1 0 %

--------[ Memory ]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Physical Memory:
Total 1023 MB
Used 324 MB
Free 699 MB
Utilization 32 %

Swap Space:
Total 2461 MB
Used 234 MB
Free 2227 MB
Utilization 10 %

Virtual Memory:
Total 3485 MB
Used 558 MB
Free 2926 MB
Utilization 16 %

Physical Address Extension (PAE):
Supported by Operating System Yes
Supported by CPU Yes
Active Yes

Ok, so you have the AGP version, not the PCIe version, correct? I'm just making sure here. Also, why do you only have one Opteron 100 series? Why not get two Opteron 200 series? Just curious...

Anyway, the two Tyan Tiger mobo's with the K8W designation use the AMD-8000 Southbridge chipset. That means these (http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_9034,00.html) are the chipset drivers you want to get. The whole driver pack should be all you need.

Once you have the updated chipset driver, you might have to reinstall the latest NVidia vid driver, as well. It depends on if the chipset driver installs an AGP update. Keep that in mind and report back.

Alright, I'll install them and see... As for your question: I must admit my ignorance. I bought the Opteron just a bit before people started saying the AMD 64 was the best idea. I have the possibility of adding a processor, I guess, which I should do. I'm still annoyed that there still is no real way to use the "64"...

By thge way, is there any way to see if the video card overheats ? I tried Call of Duty 2 today, anf it crashed the same way as the others, but after about 10 minutes of play...


Alex
P.S. Thank you so much for your help...

Well, I have updated the Chipset... it did not solve it...

:(

Did your motherboard come with any kind of Windows temp monitoring software? Motherboard Monitor is no longer updating to include newer boards...you might want to see if it includes yours. It is an excellent on screen temp monitoring program...

MBM5 http://mbm.livewiredev.com/

You might want to pull the case and put a fan gently blowing on the innards and see if that alleviates the problem...

Unfortunately, this new info about having a dual-Socket Opteron platform might be the cause. Your mobo was made to be a server system, not a gaming system. It's quite possible that those games with which you are having problems just don't like the AMD 8151 Southbridge. Looking back over all the errors and data in this thread, that would seem to be the most likely. Your DXDiag reports that your AGP vid card is relegated to a PCI slot, which doesn't make any sense, so the 8151 Southbridge is probably emulating an AGP slot through a PCI bus. And that's not good since the 6600 GT itself is a native PCIe GPU with a PCIe-to-AGP bridge. Waaaay too many translations going on there! :eek: Also, your "infinite loop" driver errors are disconcerting to say the least, and would also suggest a larger problem here.

I don't know if there are some nuances related to gaming with that mobo, but at this point I would email Tyan and see if they have any fixes up their sleeve. I'm sure you are not the only person wanting to game on that mobo!

okay...I'm kinda confused now...

I cleaned out stuff and quake 4 ran like a dream, thanks for all of the help...

But now F.E.A.R. isn't going past the movie screen..wtf? how hot is too hot? my cpu was at like 30-31 degress celcius on quake 4 and no problems, and my cpu is at 28 with fear and it won't load past the opening movie! I set all the graphics as low as possible! Same problems, crashes and loud buzzing noise comes out of speakers.

Oh wow! Looks like you solved your overheating problem! Cool! :cool:

As for F.E.A.R., try uninstalling and reinstalling the game. Have you checked for patches? I know it just came out, but sometimes there's an immediate patch. Otherwise, we'll have to go through all your drivers and DX version. :rolleyes:

ya It's patched, I suppose I can try uninstalling and reinstalling tho..that fixed Unreal 2k4 when I got it >.> thx for teh feedback again.

argh still a no go! Just get system recovered from a critical error if I don't turn it off when it crashes.

bump!!!!!!!!

Hmmm... so it crashes with a loud buzzing noise? What's your hardware? Could be an audio driver problem. Or a chipset problem.

Hi,

I wanted to say that my problem is finally solved. The reason WAS:

THE OPTERON

It has now been changed to an AMD 64, and everything works just fine...

The reason WAS:

THE OPTERONHuh... go fig...

Well, now we know! Thanks for the update, and we're glad that the problem was finally solved! I hate it when my games won't work.

Just out of curiosity, how did you find out that was the problem?

Everything was changed: windows, all drivers including the chipset. Then we simply switched to an AMD ATHLON, and it worked perfectly. No video crashes, and everything runs smooth.

Except for one thing actually. For some reason, I now have a sound problem... go figure. It seems that after the change (and even though I have updated the drivers), my soundblaster live! is now only "emulated" if I look in the dxDiag. So games don't recognize the hardware acceleration and worse, the sound lags (about a second) on the action. GEE. One problem solved, now another.

The error I'm getting is stuck in infite loop if that helps at all

for the original poster of this thread..... ever heard of a bottleneck theory??? it means too much data through too little space... its grand u have a 64 bit processor adn 160 gb hd and tons of ram and a huge video card...... if you have a slow motherboard, slow ram, a 5400 rpm hd, a 4x agp video card or something crappy.. those slow everything down.... and just so everyone knows... HL@ crashes almost everyone's computer at least once.. go to a HL2 LAn party sometime you'll be amazed at the systems that'll crash... my best bet is either you vd card has an UNupdated driver, is screwed up because you tried to mess with refresh rates, tried to overclock it, or simply is overheating... i know blah blah blah its not over heating..... my friend runs a quadcore athlon 64 xp and it still crashes.... he actualy installed it inside a moisture free refrigeration environment.... and IT STILL CRASHES.. because he'll play HL2 or Doom 3 on it for 6 or 7 hours straight... the thing is faster than all my computers put together.. times 10... and it still crashes.. mostly accept it.... games crash computers.. overheating is a prob 90 percent of the time.. otherwise from what i read it sounds like a driver prob from that last message you got.... plus some games have bugs with certain video cards.. try checking into that.. its a whole lot more common than you think....