games closing ...

[WinEmAll]

I'm getting frusterated with my computer because multiple games have been closing lately at random times for no supposed reason. No error message occurs, and there are no side effects to them closing. An example of the games closing is starcraft, jedi knight II, and tony hawk 3.
My system specs are as follows:
amd athalon 1.4 ghz mmx, 512mb ram, win98SE,
geforce2 mx 32mb, direct x 8.1
I'm currently using the newest available drivers for my video card, mainly because the same problem was occuring with old drivers as well. Any help appreciated, thanks.

home is where you hang yourself

 

[r2k]

This has happened to me before. I was able to find out the source as either 1. defective RAM (some work at lower speeds no problem but then give up at like 133 MHz - check with memtest86) or 2. hot CPU (check a mainboard probing application like Motherboard Monitor or the ones that come with your mobo) or 3. A bad/underpowered power supply (this one was tough, check and see if any of your voltage levels bump up and down a lot over time and use at least a 300w PS).

 

[slickstaa]

a poor power supply or inconsistant power can cause some of the most random, frustrating errors.

 

[GeoVincent24]

My friend had the same kind of problem after he installed his new CD-ROM. It was eating power like crazy, stuff was crashing left and right. I finally convinced him to buy a new power supply, and voila! problem solved. They're pretty cheap, shoot for a 400W.

-Vincent

 

[r2k]

This power supply issue struck me again yesterday. The fan of the old one (no-name 300w) stopped and the thing just burned out (and I wasn't home - The PC had just powered down like there was an electricity cut). I bought me a new 300w PS (and persumably a better one - I checked the Ampers per voltages of my old one and the new one).
Windows was working fine so I began playing Commanche 4...
But every time I reached the menu screen the PC froze dead. I tested with another DirectX game and the EXACT same thing happened or the picture flickered so much I was going blind and then it abruptly froze again...
Guess what? Although the voltage levels were generally fine, the 3.3v would NEVER go over 3.18v! I set the mobo to feed 3.6v and it didn't go up even 0.01v!
So today I got myself a new 350watt PS (P4 capable) and my problems were solved altogether. The so-called tech-guy in the store thought I was crazy because I said the problem was PS related. But then he understood

 

[juicebykurt]

lol... rarely do I ever run into a "tech guy" that knows what the hell hes talking about...

 

[Conehead]

Its true though!! Seems like everytime you walk into a computer shop of somekind...you realize that you're way ahead of the tech guy working there!! Makes you wonder what the hell they're doing there!

"There are no stupid questions, only stupid people..."

 

[r2k]

Frankly I think that about 90 percent of the guys/gals selling PCs or solving problems in computer stores must have been selling or mixing milk before. Only thing that's changed is their field of business

 

[WinEmAll]

Well I stopped most of my games from crashing, apparently it was an overheating problem =\ Replaced the fan on my processor and ta da!
Still have a problem of Quake2 (game from about 6 years ago) lagging on a 1.4 ghz computer..and crashing occasionally, but i've grown used to it by now

home is where you hang yourself

 

[Zoron]

I am one of those 'tech guys' :tongue:
And so is Toey :tongue:

I like to think we know what we're talking about...
Most of the time anyway in my case.

<font color=red> If you design software that is fool-proof, only a fool will want to use it. </font color=red>

 

[dhlucke]

A 1 degree celcius difference could be all it takes. Work on getting better airflow and cooling.

<font color=red>God</font color=red> <font color=blue>Bless</font color=blue> <font color=red>America!</font color=red>