Tom's Hardware > Forum > Motherboards & Memory > General Motherboard > I could use your help
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Yoshua   01-08-2004 at 11:04:09 PM

Hello,

I apologze if this is the wrong forum, given the issue I am having I am actually not quite sure what the proper forum would be.

Here's what's happening. I have Windows 2000 installed. It's running fairly happily. However if I try playing any games, the computer will give me a BSoD and reboot. Diablo 2 will run for a bit but then eventually crash. Warcraft 3 will crash immediatly after the credits when it would be displaying the main menu.

I've run memtest86 3.0, I let it run for 14 passes and got no errors (though for some reason it cannot see my L2 cache).

The OS has been running stable since I installed it (as long as I don't run games). I can play DVD movies fine, just seems to be games having an issue at the moment.

CPU temp is around 55-56C, motherboard is around 33C.

System Specs:
CPU: AMD XP 3200+ (barton core, 400 Mhz FSB)

Cooling: Vantec C7040

Motherboard: Gigabyte 7N400 Pro2

Memory: Kingston 400 Mhz (PC 3200) 256 MB DIMM's (2 sticks, so 512 MB total system memory)

Using the onboard SATA and IDE controllers. IDE1 controls a Samsung DVD-ROM, SATA controller has 1 Seagate Barracuda 120 GB hard drive attached.

Video: GeForce Ti4600 (using the 53.03 drivers for windows 2000)

Sound: Using the motherboards on-board AC 97 sound chip.

OS: Windows 2000 SP4 (all critical updates applied)
DX: DX 9.0b
MB drivers: nVidia 2.14 nForce drivers
Sound driver: 3.49 WHQL Realtek driver

I'm really not sure how I can pin this one down. Difficult to see if this is a driver or hardware issue.

Are there any good diagnostic programs for testing nVidia cards ? Near as I can tell this is some sort of memory access issue. Either the problem lies with the mainboard, the main memory, or the video card. I just can't find a way to nail this down though.

Any help appreciated, thank you.

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Crashman   01-09-2004 at 12:40:27 AM
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CPU temp is a bit high, video card might be too warm. I usually feel around to find hot spots.

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<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

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Yoshua   01-09-2004 at 12:46:11 AM
- 0 +

Thank you. What exactly can I do to get the temperature down ?

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Crashman   01-09-2004 at 01:13:26 AM
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You could try increasing case cooling using an intake fan or 2 on the front and an exhaust fan or 2 on the rear.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

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Yoshua   01-09-2004 at 01:52:26 AM
- 0 +

There are 2 intake fans at the front of the case. The power supply has an extra fan for pulling air off the cpu and blowing it out the back.

There is a space for an extra fan, I could try installing one there, but it will take some modification to the case. I attempted to install a fan there before and found the holes were too small for the provided mushroom screws. I'll have to drill those out before I can install a fan there.

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Crashman   01-09-2004 at 02:52:19 AM
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Or use tapered screws to stretch the holes.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>

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endyen   01-09-2004 at 12:04:12 PM
- 0 +

You could make sure that is the problem by taking the side off and having a house fan blow into the box while you tried to play.

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