Homebuilt PC Crashes

[g33ked]

Hello all,

I recently built a new machine from scratch buying most of my parts from TigerDirect and Newegg, and salvaging only a couple.

My pc has:

Motherboard: ECS Elitegroup A780GM-A

Processor: AMD Phenom Quad-Core 2.2Ghz AM2+

Power Supply: Thermaltake W0121RU 600W

RAM: Corsair 2048 PC6400 DDR2 800MHz (2x1024MB)

Graphics Card: EVGA 384-P3-N853-AR GeForce 8800GS Superclocked 384MB 192-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready SLI Supported Video Card - Retail

Hard Drive: SAMSUNG Spinpoint F1 HD753LJ 750GB 7200 RPM 32MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM

Sound Card: Salvaged Sound Blaster Audigy SB0090

Network: Salvaged Realtek RTL8139/810x Family Fast Ethernet NIC

DVD Drive: Sony DVD RW DRU-190A

Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition Version 2002 SP3


I got the machine all up and running, and installed all of the programs that I wanted on the machine. Among those was Steam, with Half Life 2 Episode 1 and other games. While running that game at 1280 by 1024 pixels, I seem to have a problem where my computer crashes after running the game for a few minutes. It runs the same audio loop over and over (kind of like a broken record), and then after a few minutes my computer beeps.

Also, Windows crashes when I try to run the game from the start menu without going into Steam first. The computer is slightly responsive, but when I open the start menu, the icons don't highlight, and nothing opens or closes. Eventually I have to push the power button to shut it off.

What is going on?

~g33ked

 

[Shadow703793]

1. Make sure your RAM is at the correct voltage (should be 2.1-2.2v for that RAM)

2. Uninstall SP3 since it seems to have compatibility issues with drivers,etc.

3. Update graphics drivers,etc.

 

[g33ked]

1. How do I change the Ram Voltage in American Megatrends BIOS?

2. I'll uninstall SP3 right away

3. My drivers should be up to date

 

[shadowduck]

In my experience, ECS is one of the worst motherboard makers on the planet along with PCChips.

Look under Performance or something similar- consult your motherboard manual on how to change RAM voltage.

 

[Shadow703793]

^Agreed on quality.

 

[g33ked]

I have heard good things about ECS... but it's all personal opinion and preference.