Help! new built locking up

[emonje]

I just assembled this PC with Core 2 Duo E7300, Gigabyte EP43 D3SL MB, 1 GB PC2-6400 DDR2, Geforce 9600 GSO with 768 MB DDR2. It works just fine until I try to play a game, any game. Game starts ok, plays ok, but after few minutes the PC lock up & I have to press reset. This happens everytime & for all games I've tried so far including Crysis, Gothic 3, Fallout 3, Bioshock, HOMM5 and many others. Even if I remain on the menu screen for few minutes, it locks up. I've tried using XP and Vista, old & the latest drivers but no luck.

PSU is bit flimsy, a 400W from Thermaltake but as far I know it should work as nothing is overclocked. Can there be any hardware related problems with Graphics card or anything? Can anyone please show me some light?

Thanks.

[cmichael258]

I might be wrong but a 400W PSU looks weak for that setup.

[Cricket]

Sounds like a heat related issue. How's your case cooling? To verify if it is a heat issue, remove the side cover and have a small table fan blow into the computer while it's running and then play a game. If the system doesn't lock up, you have a case cooling/heat related problem and need to address it.

And yes, 400 watts is pretty minimal for your computer. It's probably running at full capacity when you're gaming and this will cause it to run very hot and could be causing the lock up problems too. I don't like Thermaltake power supplies as they're not the best quality units made. For a computer like yours you want to get a good quality power supply with at least 550 watts. I'd look at Corsair, PC Power & Cooling or Seasonic.

Cricket

[emonje]

Heat was the first thing I suspected. But the case is pretty well cooled, two fans sucking in air from lower front and side. I've also tried keeping the case cover open & a table fan creating tornados inside the PC. But didn't notice any change in lock up pattern. Also all the components are only slightly warm to touch after the lockup.
I'll try to get the system running with more powerful PSU nevertheless & see what happens. Just wondering, can there be any other issues to look out for? This is my first "Own Buillt" PC so I'm just a bit uneasy.
Thanks a lot for your replies.

[Cricket]

If it's not a heat related problem it could be a power related problem. Swapping in a better more powerful PSU would help to determine if that's the problem or not.

If it's not hardware related then start looking at the device drivers, any background application (anti-virus, anti-malware, etc...) and you might also want to see if updating the BIOS is an option...go to the motherboard manufacturer's web site and see if there is a newer BIOS available.

Have you tried running the computer in Safe Mode to see if the computer locks up in there?

Cricket

[emonje]

Problem solved. Turns out it was the BIOS. Flashed the BIOS with an updated one and no more lock ups.
Thanks a lot for your responses.