Random Crashes during games.

[Hayabusa554]

I recently built a totally new computer and just reformatted my hard drive. Im playing games such as Doom3, Final Fantasy XI, and the new Counter Strike: Source beta, amongst some others. Before i formatted the HD, the games ran clean, smooth and crisp. Just in case anyone is wondering what im running the games with, i have a asus 9800 xt video card with 1 gig of ram. Two 512s dual channelling on a gigabyte 7nnxp mobo. Everything worked fine before i formatted.

Now, after ive formatted, the games will all randomly crash. The games will play for a while, nice and smooth, but when something heavy processes (not necessarily a graphic) it will crash. It gives the generic "send error report" error and shuts down. They all do the same thing. At first, i thought it was the ram, but ive tried different combinations of ram, and it all seems to do the same thing. I also thought it might be that the video card isnt getting enough power, so i put it on its own power cable. That didnt work either.

Does anyone know what kinds of things crash visually heavy games like this? Or is there anything i could do to test to see if all my hardware is running correctly? Ive tried everything i know, and im still confused.

[antgross@pacbell.net]

Originally Posted by Hayabusa554 I recently built a totally new computer and just reformatted my hard drive. Im playing games such as Doom3, Final Fantasy XI, and the new Counter Strike: Source beta, amongst some others. Before i formatted the HD, the games ran clean, smooth and crisp. Just in case anyone is wondering what im running the games with, i have a asus 9800 xt video card with 1 gig of ram. Two 512s dual channelling on a gigabyte 7nnxp mobo. Everything worked fine before i formatted. Now, after ive formatted, the games will all randomly crash. The games will play for a while, nice and smooth, but when something heavy processes (not necessarily a graphic) it will crash. It gives the generic "send error report" error and shuts down. They all do the same thing. At first, i thought it was the ram, but ive tried different combinations of ram, and it all seems to do the same thing. I also thought it might be that the video card isnt getting enough power, so i put it on its own power cable. That didnt work either. Does anyone know what kinds of things crash visually heavy games like this? Or is there anything i could do to test to see if all my hardware is running correctly? Ive tried everything i know, and im still confused.

It could also be an issue with your sound card. Or are you using onboard sound?

In device manager, do you have any (!) next to any devices?

[roomwithamoose]

What prompted you to reformat your hdd? Did you do any settings differently after the reformat, like different partitions? Does it occur durring a heavy load, or just during games?

[Hayabusa554]

Nope, not using onboard sound. Im using an older sound blaster audigy mp3. its worked fine so far. Though anything is possible.

And as for my device manager, the only thing i have the ! next to is my usb printer, which isnt plugged in at the moment. Though i do have two unknown devices listed under other devices. I never was able to figure out what they were. I dont know if the problem deals with those unknown devices or not, since theyre unknown.

[Hayabusa554]

to roomwithamoose, i reformated because windows installed incorrectly because of a bad second HD and a broken Zip drive. It caused my main HD to be listed as F: instead of C:. This resulted in alot of installation problems, so i reformatted it.

When i reinstalled windows, i made sure to do everything exactly by the book. I didnt want to make any mistakes. Could it possibly be a driver problem? Or a direct X problem?

Oh, and it only really occurs durring games. Though im not sure about other heavier programs, such as photoshop or premiere. I havent really done much so far other than games, since i reformatted. It might affect more than games, but so far, gaming is the only time ive seen it cause a problem.

[Freefall]

Have you downloaded all the latest drivers for everything?

[Hayabusa554]

Yeah. Definately have the latest drivers for everything. I double and triple checked that. Im running on the omega radeon video drivers, since they work alot better than the asus or ati drivers.

[roomwithamoose]

Only things I can think of is running memtest. What about temps?

[Hayabusa554]

Temps are all nice and low. Even lower than it was before my format. The vid card stays at 55C and never goes higher than 60C. The ram is down at 48-50C, and my cpu bounces between 51C and 54C. So i dont think its a heating issue.

[kilgoretrout]

Apart from reformatting and reinstalling, I assume you also removed your dodgey hard drive and zip drive before reformatting. Check your cables and jumpers on your remaining hard drive. Reseat your ram; reseat your graphics card, etc. Think in terms of something getting knocked about during the removal of your bad hardware.

[Hayabusa554]

Oh, the removal was a while ago. Ive made sure nothing was knocked around. Its all in right. The computer runs fine other than the games.

[moony1]

Originally Posted by Hayabusa554 Temps are all nice and low. Even lower than it was before my format. The vid card stays at 55C and never goes higher than 60C. The ram is down at 48-50C, and my cpu bounces between 51C and 54C. So i dont think its a heating issue.

cant answer your questions but i have a question how can you tell how hot your parts are?

[Hayabusa554]

They have programs that check your hardware temperatures. To check my CPU temp, i use a program called "EasyTune4" that came on the motherboard driver CD. And to check my video card and ram temperatures, i use a program called asus smart doctor that came with on the video card driver CD.