I have a little problem with my pc. Whenever i play a game after a little while the PC will just go out. Black screen and have to actually press the on button again. Does anyone know what the problem could be?

Thanks

What kind of video card? what video driver are you running?

Personally it sound like its over heating, though it could most likely be software related, try playing with your computer case open, also look in there for dust.

Originally posted by WellCookedFetus
What kind of video card? what video driver are you running?

Personally it sound like its over heating, though it could most likely be software related, try playing with your computer case open, also look in there for dust.

It's a radeon 8500 and i was using the latest drivers (or the one before the latest ;) ) It's not overheating cause i can see the temp of my comp, and my case is open and it still happens :(

is it possible that the heatsink on the main processor is not seated correctly, so while the case is not overheating, the processor is? that's where the "shutdown if too hot" circuit is located.
Are your temp reading coming directly from the proc? What range do they fall into? What type of processor do you have?


I agree w/ wellcooked, sounds like the machine is overheating. otherwise, it's an odd little problem. :confused:

Does this happen on any particular games or just all in general? What version of Directx do you have running if your running the new 9.0 standard you could have a problem the first 9.0 has many bugs in it, 9.0A (or is it B) is now out.

I advice you post your problem here:
http://www.community.tomshardware.com/forum/

but please answer river-wind's questions first!

Originally posted by river-wind
is it possible that the heatsink on the main processor is not seated correctly, so while the case is not overheating, the processor is? that's where the "shutdown if too hot" circuit is located.
Are your temp reading coming directly from the proc? What range do they fall into? What type of processor do you have?


I agree w/ wellcooked, sounds like the machine is overheating. otherwise, it's an odd little problem. :confused:

I have a P4 2,53Ghz and as for not seated correctly i thought you could only place it in 1 way. The motherboard is a chaintech and comes with software to see the temp of your proccie. My proccie is around the 43Degrees C so that is not that hot.

that is not hot at all after some game play or hard processing activity how far does it go up? try having it run seti@home or Folding@home or PCmark for a while then check the temp... by the way how are you chcking the temp? the P4 have auto clocking and will reduce their clock speed and voltage if the CPU heats up to much (usually above 65C) so it should not crash like this, just slow down.

Have to check on how far it goes up. It's starting to really piss me off though this odd little problem. I'm having a machine that can run ANY game but i can't play them cause it just shuts off :(

Is the period between booting and hanging variable to some factor? Does it differ much if you run just plain Windows or something very extensive as GTA3?

It could be something extremely silly as e.g. a virus scanner crashing during a periodic check.

Are your drivers digitally signed?.Its happened to me since i've had the internet,it sucks.

Originally posted by mouse
Is the period between booting and hanging variable to some factor? Does it differ much if you run just plain Windows or something very extensive as GTA3?

It could be something extremely silly as e.g. a virus scanner crashing during a periodic check. No time it is booted does not seem to matter. And it always goes when i play a game being Ball attack or diablo 2 does not make a diff. (though i can play ball attack longer)

Originally posted by MrMynomics
Are your drivers digitally signed?.Its happened to me since i've had the internet,it sucks.

Hmm not sure it were official ATI drivers so i assume they are.

anyone think it's possible for the graphics card to force the whole system to shut down if it overheats?


ooooo-idea- if the machine cuts out, can you start it up again immediatly? or do you have to wait a minute? if it starts up again a mere second after it shut down, then it most likely isn't overheating that's the issue (as the part would still be overheated, and should prevent the machine from booting again so soon).

anyone think it's possible for the graphics card to force the whole system to shut down if it overheats?

No it would be frozen screen then perhaps blue screen of death say something about the video driver and a lot of hex code.

it could also be a power supply problem, I seen that but the computer would just shut down at random intervals...

Originally posted by river-wind
ooooo-idea- if the machine cuts out, can you start it up again immediatly? or do you have to wait a minute? if it starts up again a mere second after it shut down, then it most likely isn't overheating that's the issue (as the part would still be overheated, and should prevent the machine from booting again so soon).

Sometimes i can sometimes i can't, but as far as i've seen my box does not get hot. I was thinking if the video card made a short fuse would it stop the puter?

Originally posted by WellCookedFetus
No it would be frozen screen then perhaps blue screen of death say something about the video driver and a lot of hex code.

it could also be a power supply problem, I seen that but the computer would just shut down at random intervals...

hmmm, another idea.... what's the wattage rating on the power supply? could it be that during gaming, the graphics card is pulling just enough power tomax out the power supply, causing the machine to shut down? (a friend of mine suggested this)

could it be that during gaming, the graphics card is pulling just enough power tomax out the power supply, causing the machine to shut down? (a friend of mine suggested this)
Hey, interesting one! It just hit me that something similar could be happening to a server box at my work. It randomnly reboots every now and then... of course, it has no interesting graphics card to speak off, but it does have a dual pIII board drawing a lot of power.

Originally posted by mouse
Hey, interesting one! It just hit me that something similar could be happening to a server box at my work. It randomnly reboots every now and then... of course, it has no interesting graphics card to speak off, but it does have a dual pIII board drawing a lot of power.

I've heard of this happening when one of the RAM sticks is bad. (don't know why)

Originally posted by river-wind
hmmm, another idea.... what's the wattage rating on the power supply? could it be that during gaming, the graphics card is pulling just enough power tomax out the power supply, causing the machine to shut down? (a friend of mine suggested this)

I believe i had a 300-350 watt power supply, one would think it's enough :(

How many hard drives do you have? Any peripherals? I have seen this problem before (only it was totally random) the problem is not the power supply being under power but that the power supply is really noise (basically is crap)

Your Pc may Need Hibernation.

When buying power supplies, the overall Wattage isn't as important as the ability to provide consistant current on the lines. Get Motherboard Monitor and keep an eye on those voltages. Make sure the voltages don't drop.

It could also be the board is not supplying enough power to the AGP slot. Reseat the card.

Best thing to do (though time consuming) is to remove/disconnect all but the vid card and one stick of ram and one harddrive. Try running a game, then.

I hang out at 2cpu.com a lot (have a dual machine) and one person's reboots were being caused by an overheating vid card. here (http://forums.2cpu.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=34504&highlight=video+card+too+hot)

I had a similar problem but it wasn't down to "heat sinks" or cards that weren't compatible it was simply down to a BIOS setting, where it would time "Inactivity" and then put the graphics card to shutdown or standby.

The "inactivity" it could be monitoring could be anything from LAN connection to the mouse. you might want to try pressing some keys and/or moving the mouse every so often if you don't have access to your BIOS.

Originally posted by Stryderunknown
The "inactivity" it could be monitoring could be anything from LAN connection to the mouse. you might want to try pressing some keys and/or moving the mouse every so often if you don't have access to your BIOS.

It happens when i play games, and i only play multiplayer so nothing should be inactive

wait this happens only when you play over a network? what games are you playing?

Originally posted by WellCookedFetus
wait this happens only when you play over a network? what games are you playing?

Happens with single player too (had to test that) I mostly play Diablo 2

does it happen with any other games?

yes also with C&C generals haven't tried other games yet

Heh now my bsd server also died (old age):(