Off Topic Productions

Hey everyone, recently I upgraded my system. It is an evil demonic power that runs on souls because it's so unbelievably kick awesome. But! Of course there's something wrong. First off, the specs:

Graphics Card: GeForce 8800GT
Processor: AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual Core 3.2Ghz
Power Supply: 550W
Motherboard: Foxconn Nvidia Chipset, definitely supports my processor.
RAM: DDR2 2gig (two sticks)

Now, I won't describe the hell I went through getting this thing to even install Windows. But it finally happened and now there's this issue popping up:

When starting my computer, it for some reason always asks me if I want to boot with Windows XP. I always have to hit enter for it to start Windows normally. I've managed to install games, such as STALKER, and C&C3: Tiberium Wars and can play them on the maximum detail settings. But, after a while of playing, the computer shuts off with no warning. When I try to start the computer with a CD in the drive it just hangs before starting Windows, but when I take the CD out it starts fine. What the hell? I'm thinking either I have a bad processor or there's something wrong with the memory. I can play older not so graphic intensive games such as Anarchy Online perfectly fine without that mysterious shut down. What do you think the problem is?

What you need is to send me your processor. And then buy a new one. Because I want it.

No seriously, first thing to do is make sure your video card has the latest drivers. Then find out if you got some heat monitoring tools with your CPU and/or your video card, and then install and run them - see how hot your equipment gets while you're playing.

If none of those work, run memtest and see if your memory is alright. If it is, my last suggest is to reinstall Windows. Yes I know, but it just might help. And make sure the first thing you do when you've reinstalled is to install whatever software came with your chipset. FIRST THING you do. And make sure you update Windows to SP2.

my case monitor's my CPU's heat level, and it sits at Windows with around 27 degrees celcius and when playing a game it hops up to about 34 degrees celcius. I'll try to figure out memtest right now I guess... hopefully this won't kill my computer somehow.

Also, turn off the 'reboot automatically upon bluescreen feature'.

Kernel dump -> small kernel dump, if you don't have disk space to waste.

Those temperatures are low.

That's a high-wattage PSU, but what is the PSU itself? It could be incapable of stable voltages or it's own power rating.

Run Memtest86+ overnight. If you get _any_ errors, return the RAM. ultimatebootcd makes this easy. It's an easy thing to forget, but I run it on all new RAM since I've seen 3 ram sticks of my own fail, and many more of other people's...just causes general instability and odd behaviour.

Update chipset drivers if you haven't done so.

It sounds like general software issues, so if the RAM passes, then reformat and reinstall.

justanotherfan wrote:It sounds like general software issues, so if the RAM passes, then reformat and reinstall.

It does? It's restarting with a high amount of usage, and not giving an error. That sounds far more like a hardware fault because if it was a driver problem or something like that you'd get a bluescreen with a DRIVER_IRQL error.

I had a problem similar to this, and it turned out to be a faulty motherboard. Check cooling as well, it could be overheating.

DaveW wrote:

justanotherfan wrote:It sounds like general software issues, so if the RAM passes, then reformat and reinstall.

It does? It's restarting with a high amount of usage, and not giving an error. That sounds far more like a hardware fault because if it was a driver problem or something like that you'd get a bluescreen with a DRIVER_IRQL error.

But blue screens are not shown if the setting I posted earlier is activated, just a reboot out of nowhere. Very annoying.

Still I think RAM is the likeliest cause.

also... either autorun takes forever to detect a CD/DVD, or outright doesn't work at all. My floppy drive isn't connected right now, but I'll connect it ASAP and try memtest. I hope it's either the motherboard or memory, because those are the parts I spent the least amount on. Both were 60 after rebates... (which you know you can't return after )

Normally, restarting with a high load is a hardware issue (RAM, PSU, overheating, etc), but the Windows default is now to restart instead of BSOD, as EER posted, and he's right to disable that setting. Also the issue on boot points to something buggy in software.

I turn off autorun. It's available in the Group Policy Manager, and IIRC it's either Shell Hardware Service or Terminal Services that enable autoplay.

Those temperatures are cool, unless the sensors are very poorly placed. Doubtful the CPU one would misreport, though it happens. As long as the HSF is attached properly, it shouldn't be a problem.

Memtest86+ can run from any boot drive, like a 30$ CD burner, but it sounds like you're building a machine on the cheap ;-). Maybe we don't want to know the PSU brand.

WOW! I must turn that stupid setting off I had no idea that it could be turned off. (granted I never had to until I upgraded to Vista ) I'll do that tonight since I get the occasional BSOD when playing Deus Ex and Medieval 2

well I think I finally have the system relatively stable. That autorun thing has stopped, still screws up a lot during a boot... we'll see. I'll install MSN and everything again, so talk to some of you guys soon.

EER wrote:

DaveW wrote:

justanotherfan wrote:It sounds like general software issues, so if the RAM passes, then reformat and reinstall.

It does? It's restarting with a high amount of usage, and not giving an error. That sounds far more like a hardware fault because if it was a driver problem or something like that you'd get a bluescreen with a DRIVER_IRQL error.

But blue screens are not shown if the setting I posted earlier is activated, just a reboot out of nowhere. Very annoying.

Still I think RAM is the likeliest cause.

Yeah, but by default that isn't on. It's never been for me, anyway.

just for giggles of you know... enjoying a product I purchased. I installed Bioshock. I began playing and got up to the second loading screen. During this loading screen my computer turned itself off. What the fuck.

ZeroPresence wrote:just for giggles of you know... enjoying a product I purchased. I installed Bioshock. I began playing and got up to the second loading screen. During this loading screen my computer turned itself off. What the fuck.

That sounds like it could be a problem with the PSU or your video card: either your PSU can't handle the load/it's a faulty unit, or your video card is overheating. I'm inclined to lean towards a bad PSU, simply because I've never had a computer turn off on me because of an overheating video card. I've run into stranger problems, though, so I wouldn't discount the idea.

Check your Event Log to see if any errors appear that might clue you off to a cause.

I had a computer shutting off because of a faulty PSU a few years back, it's worth looking into.