Author Topic: Crashes continue... losing hope... (Read 443 times)

DmdBT · « **on:** December 29, 2001, 09:47:00 PM »

I am literally at the end of my rope with this problem and am hoping there is an answer out there. About 2 months ago I upgraded my system by purchasing a new cpu/MB/ram/videocard/power supply. I went with the following:
Asus a7m266 mobo w/bios 1005
Athlon Tbird 1.4Mhz CPU 266fsb w/new heatsink/fan
512MB 2100ddr sdram (2 sticks generic)
PNY GF3 ti500 video card
Antec 400watt power supply

The other components on my system stayed the same.

Ever since the upgrade though I have been having problems. Only during 3D games, my system will intermittently crash back to the desktop. No warning, no set time, could be 2 minutes, could be 5 hours. I have fought this problem tooth and nail since upgrading and finally today am about to give up. I formatted my HD, reinstalled win98se, reinstalled DX8.0, reinstalled everything and the problem still occurs. Read about the Soundblaster live issue and removed that card and started using the Mobo sound capabilities, same crashing. I even went as far as to get another GF3 card, a Visiontek, and the problem still happens. I use only approved drivers.
I tried to build this system to mirror one built by Fester/Citabria and I don't know where it all went wrong.
As I said, this is the last chance to salvage this system. It is just too frustrating now to keep attempting to play like this. Can anyone help?

Lonz

PS The only thing I haven't messed with yet is the memory, should I try a name brand as opposed to generic? If so why would this only affect the 3D games?

indian · « **Reply #1 on:** December 29, 2001, 10:05:00 PM »

I had same problem with Aces High crashing after 10 to 20 mins. Sence I loaded Win XP I have no problems. I uase the standard geforce drivers in Win XP not nvidias.

Tyro48 · « **Reply #2 on:** December 29, 2001, 11:56:00 PM »

You may want to look at your heatsink/fan set up, when I upgraded the heatsink/fan setup that came with the new cpu/MB was designed for a K6, the new cpu was a 1 Ghz Athlon and the HS/Fan setup just didnt cut it when playing 3D games such as Aces High, replaced it with a SK-6 and a good deal of the CTD/blue screens were cured, if possible ( and with a good ground strap on ) see if you can feel you heat sink and how warm it is or isn't getting, if you have any monitoring utilities for your cpu's on-board heat fire those up and check out the differences from desktop to game play temperatures, if your exceeding 48 deg/c your starting to get into risky temps for stable op's, Intel & AMD will give max operating temps but those temps dont mean you will be getting the best service out of your cpu in AH.

sprint · « **Reply #3 on:** December 30, 2001, 01:11:00 AM »

$.02 ......

I agree with Tyro about heating problems and I think that would be my number one choice of action.

I prefer the Memtest software to test the RAM vs Doc Memory (Simmtester). IMHO

One more thing,... have you been in your BIOS recently .. made any changes? .... L2 Cache Latency set to default (5) ?

Also .. DX 8.0 has a bug ... they forgot to include the Debug Output Levels Controls ... DX8.1 has them. DX8.0 has cause a lot of problems unless you upgraded the patch. Maybe time to upgrade to DX8.1.

Good luck ... report back and let the board know.

sprint
*MOL*

For a list of all the ways technology has failed to improve the quality of life, please press 3.

mrsid2 · « **Reply #4 on:** December 30, 2001, 05:12:00 AM »

Just FYI.. I bought originally an AMD 760+686B board (Abit KG7) and I had similar problems that you experience. Crashes during games, crashes during normal desktop, crashes while doing big file trasnfers..

All typical problems related to the 686B chipset. I tried installing every possible fix I could find, but nothing helped in the end.

I returned the mobo and got this MSI board with KT266A.. All of the sudden I can use tightest memory settings and overclock FSB 40Mhz higher than with KG7.. All of the sudden the machine became rock stable..

I won't buy another board with via 686B on it. I think AsusxxMxxx boards come with 686..

Sox62 · « **Reply #5 on:** December 30, 2001, 06:04:00 AM »

[ 12-30-2001: Message edited by: Sox62 ]

vatiAH · « **Reply #6 on:** December 30, 2001, 06:34:00 AM »

Lonz,

use this link and post your problem here.
web page

The guys over there know these Boards very well, I'm sure they can help you.

Vati

214thCavalier · « **Reply #7 on:** December 30, 2001, 02:23:00 PM »

It could very well be a generic memory problem, golden rule always use branded preferably Crucial, Micron or Corsair memory.
I suffered crashes similar a long time ago with generic stuff, changed to the good stuff and never another problem.

[ 12-30-2001: Message edited by: 214thCavalier ]

bloom25 · « **Reply #8 on:** December 30, 2001, 05:37:00 PM »

You've already tried much of what I'd suggest, but there are a few things left:

1. Do you have a CPU temperature monitoring utility? If you do, try playing AH for a short while and alt-tab out and record the CPU temperature. It should not exceed 60 C.

2. What video drivers are you using? Try the 12.41s and see if that makes a difference.

3. Run a test on your memory. Look back in this forum a few weeks and find my thread where I asked for a memory testing utility. Get a blank floppy and install the memtest86 utility on there. This will allow you to test your RAM. (Note: If all you see is a whole bunch of repeating numbers after booting the system with the floppy in there, you have a bad floppy disk. Get a new one and try again.)

4. Go to this website: http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/TechnicalResources/0,,30_182_871_2336,00.html and download and install the 4th thing down on this list. (AGP driver for windows 98 for AMD chipsets.)

_____________________________ ________________

My personal thought is that you've got bad ram, or heat issues. The AGP driver could also make all the difference if you didn't ever install it after Windows was loaded off the CD that came with the board. (Regardless, this is probably a newer driver.)

DmdBT · « **Reply #9 on:** January 01, 2002, 07:04:00 PM »

First, I want to thank all those who took the time and cared enought to post the useful information which helped me out. My system has been crash-free all day, that means 8+ hours (marathon session of DAoC) and about an hour of AH.
The fix seems to have been with the RAM. I pulled one of the RAM sticks and voila, no more crashes. I am, or was, using 2 256MB sticks of generic memory. The manufacturer lists tested and approved brands that I will be ordering to replace these.
So far so good, if anything new develops I will post it immediately but for now this mystery case is closed.

Thanks again,

Lonz

bloom25 · « **Reply #10 on:** January 01, 2002, 10:47:00 PM »

Did you also install or update those AGP drivers I pointed you to? If you find the crashes continue, do so.

Diagnosing problems associated with bad ram can be very time consuming and irritating. Whenever I build a system I always either test the ram in an existing system or just bite the bullet and pay a few dollars more for the peace of mind that high quality ram brings you. (I still test it if it's going into a computer that is not mine.) That memtest program is also worth the weight of the floppy it fits onto in gold.

It may be worthwhile to dump all of that generic ram you've got in there and go to crucial.com and buy yourself some quality ram.

DmdBT · « **Reply #11 on:** January 02, 2002, 06:25:00 PM »

Bloom25, I installed the AGP drivers and the crashes did continue. I even installed the old video drivers and crashes continued. I placed a large box fan right next to my open case and it crashed still so it wasn't a heat issue. Last thing I could possibly think of was the RAM. Thats when I removed one of the sticks and it seemed to work fine. I'm going to be doing some further testing on these 3D games to make certain, much to the wife's chagrin.

If crucial is recommended as a quality supplier of RAM then they are who I will buy from.

Thanks again,

Lonz

Raubvogel · « **Reply #12 on:** January 02, 2002, 06:29:00 PM »

Crucial rocks.

bloom25 · « **Reply #13 on:** January 02, 2002, 07:25:00 PM »

Yes, Crucial is very good AND well priced. There are two other RAM retailers that are excellent as well - Corsair and Kingston (if you go Kingston, don't get the "Value RAM", it's ok, but not top of the line).

Ram from either of these 3 is almost always top-notch.