Quake 4 Crashing : A8N SLI Deluxe (AMD 64), ATI X800 Pro

[bigbman]

OK, I've got the following system, recently built and all drivers and software are up to date:

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe Motherboard
AMD Athlon 64 3500+ Processor
Corsair 2GB PC3200 DDR DIMM Memory
Cooler Master CAV-T01 Cavalier 1 Silver ATX Mid Tower (350 Watt PS)
Western Digital Caviar WD1200JD 120GB Hard Drive
250 GB WD IDE Hard Drive
Memorex DVD Burner
ATI X800 Platinum Graphics Card
Windows XP Pro

Quake 4 is crashing - restarting the system - during what appears to be high load scenes. It's definitely specific areas in the game map too, as it restarts at the exact same place every time. I've turned the graphics way down (800x600 res settings), and it still restarts. It might be worth noting that this tends to happen after 10-15 minutes of game play, but definitely at the same point every time.

I've played all sorts of games on this system, most notably Doom 3, which ran like a champ. So, what gives???

I've seen all sorts of posts online about this, but can't seem to find a solution. Could it be the sound driver issue? Could I be overloading the PSU? My board isn't overheating - I checked that.

I'm loving this game, and I'd really like to finish it. I really hope there's a software solution to this. I whimper at the though that my new baby might be broken!!! )

Please help!!!! Thanks!

B

 

[funnyvlad]

Your rig seems to be enough on every point except the power supply which is borderline but still that can´t be the problem cause me myself runs on 350w supply and quake 4 runs relatively smoothly for over an hour on high settings at 1024x768 on a weak gf 6800 128mb.

 

[Snale]

I had similar problems before I installed the Zalman VGA heatsink on my x700Pro. Of course the problem was that the card sopped working at 110ºC... :roll:

Looks like an overheating problem, although you've already tested that...

 

[Rabidpeanut]

It could be your memory, ie you might have bad sectors on your hard drive where the paging file is, or it could be your ram so when it fills to a certain capacity it hits the problem area and returns incorrect data, it could also be the ram on your GPU. Does it crash in the same place every time? If so it could be bad drivers not drawing an effect properly.

 

[Vascular]

It sound like a power supply problem.Calculator
Problem with ram it would blue screen or dump to windows.
Problem with hard drive would blue screen.
Problem with powersupply restart.

 

[krazyIvan]

To check on a sound card issue try disabling sound in the game.
Otherwise you might have a PS issue, but remember, it’s not the Watts as much as the +12V Rail Amps that matter. Anything less then 18A may not be enough, especially if you OC. BTW you didn’t mention it, do you OC anything?

 

[Rabidpeanut]

:Slaps forehead:, take out all your optical disks, and anything non-essential, see how it works.

Vascular is right. Friend had same prob, we took his writer out today, and it stopped. His powersuplly once went red (according to him, which i dont find easy to beleive) after the fan stopped. and since then his graphics card has been giving crap and the computer has locked up a few million times. I am, such a 'tard, sorry for the dumb ideas i posted i seem to have trouble linking reality and theory. I am so bambaressed for me.

 

[bigbman]

awwwwww! Don't be so hard on yourself!!! I'll try all these suggestions and get back to you guys this week. Any idea of how to disable one of my hard-drives through windows (don't want to physically take it out)?

It really does seem like a PSU issue. How does that power calculator work?

Thanks for all your replies guys. I'll get back to you Thursday.

B

** UPDATE **
I tried the calculator, and it reported a peak at 355W, which is obviously over what I have. So, does anyone have any good suggestions for a reasonably priced PSU (SATA and SLIPCI-E compatable)?