Error message 5 minutes after playing a game

[bwilkinson]

Hello, i've been having a bit of trouble after a recent parts upgrade.

When i now play any 3D game, after five to ten minutes it will close with a windows error message.

After looking through several forums on the internet i've realised that this problem is different with each person, and have therefore tried to come up with as much information as possible.

My system specs is as follows:

windows xp pro sp2
Athlon 64 X2 3800 (Dual core Manchester i think) which was upgraded from the Athlon 64 3500 (single core)
Zalman CNPS7000B-CU Copper CPU cooler
Gigabyte GA-K8n-Ultra-9 (Nforce4-Ultra chipset)
HD 3870 pci-e - upgraded from an x800 xt pci-e
2x SATA HDD
2GB DDR 400 RAM - 4x512mb - upgraded from just two sticks
HIPER 425 Watt PSU (HPU-425)


i also have two PCI slots being used for a wireless adapter and an Creative Audigy SE soundcard which isn't being used

The prepared error report always refers to the second module being the ntdll.dll file and the third module being kernel.dll

Speedfan shows everything running below 40'c apart from the PSU running at 69 - 70'c, - this looks like the most likely cause because of the added stress created from the new components. However i believe it has always run hot and have had no problems before the upgrade and the OCZ wattage calculator suggests that the 425 watts is acceptable. My case has poorly directed airflow, but as the components are all cool i haven't worried about it.

I have removed all previous drivers through the hidden files in the device manager and have the AMD dual core optimiser installed, however i have also installed the SP2-dual core hot fix.

My RAM is fine - this problem happens with both pairs of sticks.

any suggestions? - it's looking like i'll now have to do a clean load of windows but i'd like to avoid that if possible (might upgrade to vista in the process - make the most of Directx 10).

Thanks,

Ben

 

[shadowduck]

Sounds like driver issues.

Update to the newest ATI drives. Test your RAM too. Just because it happens with both sets does not completely rule out the RAM.

That is WAY TOO HOT for the PSU. Exhaust temps over 50 are not good for a PSU. You should replace it or your case.

 

[bwilkinson]

i have already tried the newest drivers, then rolling back to a previous version - 8.3 instead of the most recent 8.5 to see if that worked - and have repeathed that just now without any success. will use memtest/ramprobe when i get a new DVD drive. Should i definitely get a new psu as well?

Ben

 

[shadowduck]

I would yes. Those exhaust temps are quite high.

 

[d_kuhn]

Probably thermal... not definitely but that's the first place to check.

 

[techgeek]

When you did the upgrade of you CPU (not sure if you did both CPU and GPU at the same time), did you re-install windows? This will assure that the correct version of hal.dll, kernel, etc are installed to accommodate a multi-core CPU. There is a way to accomplish this post windows install, but I can't vouch for it's reliability.

Next when you upgraded the GPU, did you make sure that the old drivers were completely removed (ie using Driver Cleaner)?

Also I would have to say that PSU is very close to what I would call the absolute minimum for your system. Having a look here:

http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/showthread.php?t=108088

It appears the HIPER falls under Tier 4, which are pretty low on the reliability/durability scale. So it's not out of the question that you are having a PSU problem. In a perfect world you would have a friend that could loan you a more powerful/reputable PSU to do some quick testing with.

 

[bwilkinson]

Thanks techgeek, shadowduck and D_kuhn, i'll scout out for a new psu and if that doesn't fix it then i'll clean install and upgrade to vista.