My computer is hanging during games. Please help.

[adamthomaes]

So I've built this PC:
--> MSI K7T Turbo 26330 v5.0 MOBO (flashed latest bios)
--> AMD xp 2100+ w/default settings for now
--> 1500megs (3x512mg NCP pc-133)
--> Zalman copper heatsink and fan CNPS6000-Cu
--> 420w Thermaltake PS
--> G3Ti200 Pro-VT128 (MS-8850)

If anyone has any suggestions or comments about what bios settings to use, I'm all ears.

My computer persistently hangs in the middle of games and applications (especially games). It just stops responding and keeps the same screen from where it hung up.


SOME NEW HARDWARE, still GETTING BIG PROBLEMS
Thanks for all your suggestions, unfortunately none of them solved my problem.

I previously had three hard drives in my system, but I now have only two.(both seagate, 1 20GB and 1 120GB)

I have also tried different ram in my system, and I have reinstalled my OS (Windows XP Pro).

I've updated drivers for damn near every piece of my system (video, sound, chipset, bios, cdrom drive bios), and ensured that my fsb jumper was set correctly.

I also bought a nice new THERMALTAKE xaser 2 case that has a ton of fans and a digital temp. probe, which I pushed up next to the base of my CPU's heatsink. It says that my system is running at 44C and the bios reports 47C. No heat problems, I guess.

I have optimized my bios settings for stability not performance. (no overclocking of anything).

On a whim, I decided to pull my old VOODOO 3 3000 videocard out of retirement and give it a shot at the prize. With an obvious downgrade in graphics quality and speed, it produced the exact same hang as my GeForce3. So, I guess that rules out video card problems.

Is it possible that by setting my FSB to 133 is pushing my AGP bus too far? I don't see a way in the bios to adjust the ratio of FSB freq. to AGP freq.

Thanks, again, in advance for any suggestions that you may have. Also, if you have any further questions about my situation, please feel free to email me adamthomaes@hotmail.com


MOtherBOard: MSI 6330v5.0 K7T Turbo2
CPU: AMD ATHLON XP 2100+
RAM: 3 x 512 MB PC-133 NCP ram
VIDEO: MSI 8850 nVidia Ge3Ti200 Pro-VT128
cpu COOLER: ZALMAN CNPS6000-Cu
PSU: THERMALTAKE 420W
CASE: THERMALTAKE XASER II BLACK
CDROM: MS-4352 52x MSI
HDD 0: SEAGATE BARRACUDA 7200rpm 20GB 2mb
HDD 1: SEAGATE 7200.7 7200 rpm 120GB 8mb

 

[Teq]

It's probably not hardware.

You've probably run into a known problem between AMD and DirectX which causes the system to hang when rendering 3d graphics. The fix for it is here:
<A HREF="http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/798/" target="_new">http://www.winguides.com/registry/display.php/798/</A>

FWIW... the most common cause of system hangs, in a system that boots up normally is bugs in the software.


--->It ain't better if it don't work<---

 

[Stoochie]

If all else fails try playing with your memory latency timings. Your sizeable amount of ram is more succeptible to memory errors at default timings. Leaving the default bios settings will set the latency automatically for you, but these automatic settings may not take in to account the amounnt of ram you have or for whatever reason, your system just cant do it. Its a fact that the larger amount of ram you have, the more succeptible you are to errors ( thats why ECC ram was created ). Cooling the chipset helps system stability in some cases. Research your brand of ram and see recommended latency settings. Play around with them yourself and see if you can come up with something more stable.

If your system is relatively well cooled you can try bumping the cpu voltage up one notch, same for ram if you have the option. Overclockers bump up the voltage to gain stability at high speeds, you however may benefit from the extra juice to stay stable. Any time you mess with voltage, keep your eye on the temperature and make sure it doesnt spike too high during heavy load. Perform a memory test benchmark, you can find memory tests freely available as small downloads that you put on a bootable disk. If you can complete that test with your setup, you can more or less dismiss the ram as a source of your problems. the tip posted by the previous user is useful, however on the website its a fix for lockup observed on geforce256 and g400 graphic chipsets.

good luck

Asus A7N8X Non Deluxe
Corsair PC 3500 512 @ 4-2-2-2T & 2.8V
Athlong XP 2700
Creative Audigy 2
WD 80 GIG Special Edition 8meg cache
and Some CocknBalls.

 

[adamthomaes]

Well I made some changes today, and I guess that I've made some progess.
First, I had another tip from tech support that I may have a device conflict. I actually only have two nic cards in my PCI slots, so that was a quick test(that didn't solve anything). After that, however, I decided to strip out all things in the bios that could be asking for IRQ's, such as parallel port, serial ports, game port, on chip modem, mpu-401 port, etc...
That seemed to make a small difference, where it actually let a couple of minutes worth of graphics occur before hanging.
I then pumped 1.8V down the vcore channel and got one step closer.
Now instead of hanging, I get a direct crash to the windows desktop. I'm also doing this with only one of my dimm's installed. NCP says this RAM model can handle CL2 but I set it to CL3 in the bios. I have no control over how many volts the ram gets, but my 32-bit voltage and fanspeed monitoring program reports 3.45 volts. I guess that should be enough.

So, at least we're not hanging anymore!
If you have anymore suggestions, please let me know.
By the way, that regedit trick had no effect. Also, I have 7 60mm case fans and a 90mm fan blowing on the copper zalman flower and chipset. Should be staying plenty cool, don't you think?

 

[dhlucke]

What drivers are you using? Make sure you're using WHQL certified drivers, and in your case you can probably go back to the 3x.xx driver set.

<font color=red>
<A HREF="http://kevan.org/brain.cgi?dhlucke" target="_new">The French are being described as cheese-eating surrender monkeys.</A></font color=red>

 

[adamthomaes]

I'm using the 41.07 drivers that are supplied by msi. I think that they aren't whql cert., so I'll see if I can find the latest one that is certified and give that a try.