Random computer resets and crashes to desktop.

[Kalid]

I then installed 3DMark to see if that would cause any crashes, and its crashed on nearly every run of the 3DMark demo, in random places. I also encountered one of the crashes to desktop while running DAoC - same crash to desktop as I had previously. This is the error: 07/06/2004 20:54 Application Error Faulting application game.dll, version 0.1.5.2, faulting module game.dll, version 0.1.5.2, fault address x00001115.
. I know its not exactly the same, but seems similar at least.

As for memory, I've tried swapping over memory modules in different slots, running on one stick of memory etc, so either all 3 of my memory slots are faulty, or both of my memory sticks are faulty (both good quality branded memory sticks). Also no errors came up in memtest 86.

Problem is you don't _really_ know your memory module(s) are OK (even good and well known brands can be damaged). Check with modules that are known to be good. If you still get the reboot/crashes next step is the motherboard.

You've already removed the soundcard, switched the graphicscard. Your NIC shouldn't crash your computer due to the fact you get the same effect when you run 3D mark, to be 100% sure it's not the NIC you could uninstall it and run 3D mark again.

Imo your best hope is simply to return it to the store you get it from and ask for a replacement.

 

[seera]

i have also been having this problem and have been scouring the forums to find an answer. the crash to desktops i got would happen randomly with no error messages, my computer never once restarted tho.

this same problem happened when i played SWG, and i got around it by installing older drivers reccomended by the SOE tech support dudes. i have reinstalled the older drivers today and havent crashed once, this morning i crashed 3 times in an hour, now i have been playing since about 1:30 and nothing has gone wrong (cept i got killed while afk)

on another thread someone said they used older drivers but never said which ones so here is the direct link for the catalyst drivers and the controll panel for the drivers i am now using.

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/wxp-w2k-7-97-031212a-013118c.exe

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/control-panel-7-962-031202m1-012924c.exe

i do hope this helps, coz its was doing my bloody head in, and i hope my solution holds out

good luck

 

[Takhasis]

You'll probably laugh but trust me, CHECK THIS.

Whats your PSU like for your system? anything less than 300W and if u got a top end vid card, you'll have problems - i did.

Upgraded to a 420 W PSU and everything went super smooth, not a single crash ever since...

 

[seera]

ok dont download the driver and the controll panel seperatly. my brightness ingame couldnt be changed for some reason...

http://www2.ati.com/drivers/wxp-w2k-catalyst-7-97-031212a-013118c.exe

thats the full whack, driver and controll panel

 

[Naetha]

I use a nVidia gfx card, not the radeon

Also getting the same errors in City of Heroes - mainly crash to desktop, and the occasional computer reboot. It had a Dxdiag file with it, that said a lot of directX files weren't found - is this common, or have I got a messed up version of DirectX? I uninstalled and reinstalled DirextX but it made no difference. I was using version 9.0B. Gonna have the whole of FH trying to fix my computer soon

 

[Ziva]

I recently had crashes to desktop (never had them before) but with me it's caused by an overheating CPU because of the warm temperatures lately.

So i have my case open atm and i put a tablefan (the one you use to put on your face lol) in front of it to make sure the air circulation is okay.

I know your cpu probably is ok, but i thought i would share anyway

 

[Fana]

Ive started getting random insta reboots lately, happens when i run 2 accs on the comp at the same time mostly. Dunno why =/ Guess it might be a heat issue but havent changed anything since well before it started, so in that case something has broken (or processor cooling paste dried up or something). So far it doesnt happen often enough that it really is a problem, but if it starts to happen more often im gonna have to deal with it.

 

[decker]

Same problem here. My daoc crashes to desktop in big raids or when lot of happens. First HD starts to load a lot and then crash to desktop.

Thought first that it could be my very old graphcard, bought new, installed windows again and still get it.

It started a bit ago (max 1 month) and never got it before. Now im looked up my ram with memtest 86, no problems, had defragment my HD etc, and still can't find out why it makes it

My power is good enough and not broken, all coolers works and comp is cool etc.

I need to test that could it be becouse of my custom skin, problems started almost at same time.

And my old 3dcard was gforce 4 mx 440 and i bought, radeon 9600 xt. Running windows XP, amd ahtlon 1400mzh, 512 ddr ram, sb live! 5.1.

 

[the_hermit]

Well, since we swapped out the missues PSU, we've had NO problems at all... Went from a 400 to a 300, but getting a new 400 next week - but we did everything possible - from drivers to memory to reformat/reinstall, new motherboard, new processor, new RAM - the only things we HADN'T checked were the Hard Drive, and the PSU.

I suspect it is PROBABLY a rare occurance, but you never know! If you have access to a spare power supply, give it a shot!

 

[decker]

Well, my old power crashed few years ago, and tooked whole comp down -> new one. Now i have 400 anyway, not 300. After one lowcost power i learned that get a bit better one and safe money

 

[living]

Yea mine sometimes reboot without warning too, happens rarely tho but as far as i can tell it is not heating problems, started happening after i got a new comp.. Also i tend to lag places where my old system would run smooth (very weird lag.. speeds up and down all the time, very annoying running when u suddenly run at skald speed and then walk speed :>)

 

[Bionic]

My brother's computer started on random ctds/reboots when 1.68 released and its been doing it ever since. Never had a single problem before. All drivers etc are upgraded, all other games work fine.

Lets c if they fix this on 1.69 or 1.70 i guess.

Must be RAM related i would say.

 

[[Overlord]-Armara]

I have same problems...ever since i bought toa...

reboots out of nothing and random crashes to desktop very fakkin annoying

 

[Urme the Legend]

My brother's computer started on random ctds/reboots when 1.68 released and its been doing it ever since. Never had a single problem before. All drivers etc are upgraded, all other games work fine.

Lets c if they fix this on 1.69 or 1.70 i guess.

Must be RAM related i would say.

I have the exact same problem since 1.68.

I checked the errorlog.txt that is in the TOA folder.. since TOA was released I had 1 crash in 1.67.
Since 1.68 went live.. actually the same day I had my first crash.. and atm I had around 60-65 crashes since 1.68 went live and I'm still counting
Tried almost everything.. except to change my PSU... but come on.. this PSU worked fine since I got it a year ago (300w) and worked great in 1.67.. what changed in 1.68?

 

[behatch]

Well,ive had random crash's to desktop,graphics card crash's and random system restarts on the first day i bought my pc.

Took it too the shop and they said it was my DDR333 memory and have replaced it with DDR400 and ill be testing it tomorrow,will let you know if it fix's it

 

[Regicide]

I have these problems as well. Used to have them on US servers as well, but it was completely fixed in 1.69. I await this patch patiently on EU servers

 

[blejs]

i have similar problems like this to, i got a 1ghz 640ram.
300w
geforce 2
2hds 40gb/120gb

My daoc also quits now and then specially when porting and stuff.
And also its just reboots computer also now and then

Thing is this also, i havent bought toa. And when i do complete file check i can always dl new things. So that problem i dont understand, maybe that have to do with instability also. But its possible to play tho.

I played in fullscreen but gonna try window mode now since i read someone solved his problem doing like that

 

[old.Whoodoo]

i have similar problems like this to, i got a 1ghz 640ram.
300w
geforce 2
2hds 40gb/120gb

My daoc also quits now and then specially when porting and stuff.
And also its just reboots computer also now and then

Thing is this also, i havent bought toa. And when i do complete file check i can always dl new things. So that problem i dont understand, maybe that have to do with instability also. But its possible to play tho.

I played in fullscreen but gonna try window mode now since i read someone solved his problem doing like that

Over heating processor? Non-manufacturer network card drivers? Badly fragged drive?

When u crash out of the game, some files can be corrupted and will be replaced by the patcher.

 

[blejs]

Over heating processor? Non-manufacturer network card drivers? Badly fragged drive?

When u crash out of the game, some files can be corrupted and will be replaced by the patcher.

this happends all the time, i dont even need to logg on.
I just do complete then i can restart it and then its same shit.

 

[behatch]

Well,ive had random crash's to desktop,graphics card crash's and random system restarts on the first day i bought my pc.

Took it too the shop and they said it was my DDR333 memory and have replaced it with DDR400 and ill be testing it tomorrow,will let you know if it fix's it

Has crashed to desktop twice but no where near as much as before..

 

[Naetha]

If its crashing to desktop or rebooting your computer when you port, make sure your network drivers are up to date, especially if you have a Netgear NIC.

I'm still getting my crashes - I've changed my GFX card again, and still getting random reboots, BSODs (quoting the ATI drivers as being the problem this time, as opposed to the nVidia ones) and crashes to desktop. All I have to do now is find a printer to print out the damn returns form

 

[behatch]

im thinking random restarts would be overheating? and god knows about random restarts.. :touch:

 

[starr]

300w is a bit minimal for most athlon systems tbh especially if you have hungry optical drives and a shunt to the gfx card.

300w PSU's are also only RATED at 300 (there's a tolerance on what they can pass, as a product made of hundreds of windings of wire is always gonna have some variance) and they do degrade over time - shouldn't be an issue with yours.

If you are returning bear in mind even tho they supply quick release cases etc, some suppliers will write your warranty off if you've opened the case.
They'll run their own tests anyway so just telling them the what the problem is should be enough info for them tbh.

Think your probably best to return, because even trying a different or higher rated PSU definitely WILL invalidate your warranty with pretty much any supplier.

If you bought by mail order and it really is brand new get it sent back asap as you're entitled to a full refund within 14 days on distance sales.

 

[behatch]

300w is a bit minimal for most athlon systems tbh especially if you have hungry optical drives and a shunt to the gfx card.

300w PSU's are also only RATED at 300 (there's a tolerance on what they can pass, as a product made of hundreds of windings of wire is always gonna have some variance) and they do degrade over time - shouldn't be an issue with yours.

If you are returning bear in mind even tho they supply quick release cases etc, some suppliers will write your warranty off if you've opened the case.
They'll run their own tests anyway so just telling them the what the problem is should be enough info for them tbh.

Think your probably best to return, because even trying a different or higher rated PSU definitely WILL invalidate your warranty with pretty much any supplier.

If you bought by mail order and it really is brand new get it sent back asap as you're entitled to a full refund within 14 days on distance sales.

I bought mine from a shop about 5 days ago.

Ive just rung him up now i told him i want it sorting or i want a pc that does work,i dont pay 700 pounds for a system that restarts ever 20 mins.

my system is...

300watt case

AMD athlon 3000+
1024 DDR400 ram
60gb hdd 7200rpm
ATI radeon 9800pro
ASROCK K7S8Xe+
LITEON DVD-R/+R/+RW/-RW 8 speed that supports both r formats.
AMD volcano 9 coolmod Socket A heat sink & fan.

 

[Joor]

I've seen many posts asking "Is xxxwt PSU enough ?" - after you read
this guide you will be able to answer this question yourself...read on.

First thing you wanna do is to calculate approximately how many WTs your system will need. to do that , look at this chart where you will find how many WTs each component will require inorder to work and which line does it use from the PSU.

Component..................Requirement.............Line(s) Used
AGP Video Card..............30 – 50W.................+3.3V
Average PCI Card............5 – 10W....................+5V
10/100 NIC.......................4W......................+3.3V
SCSI Controller PCI Card....20W...................+3.3V and +5V
Floppy Drive.....................5W........................+5V
CD-ROM.......................10 – 25W...............+5V and +12V
DVD-ROM.....................10 – 25W...............+5V and +12V
CD-RW.........................10 – 25W...............+5V and +12V
7200rpm IDE Hard Drive....5 – 20W...............+5V and +12V
10,000rpm SCSI Drive.....10 – 40W...............+5V and +12V
Case/CPU Fans..............3W (each).................+12V
Motherboard (w/o CPU or RAM).25 – 40W......+3.3V and +5V
RAM............................8W per 128MB............+3.3V OR +5v*
Pentium III Processor.........38W......................+5V
Pentium 4 Processor..........70W......................+12V
AMD Athlon Processor........70W......................+12V

Updated and added
Cold Cathod Light......+/- 3.7w
LED Fan (4 LEDs).......+/- 1.6w


You should know that when it comes to PSU - it is not all about numbers !!!
quality is much important. a good quality 300wt PSU gives you better performance than a cheap 400wt PSU !

known good power suply units :
Fortron - Sparkle (Fortron's Retail) - Enermax - TTGI (Super Flower) - Truepower (Antec) and Thermaltake.

 

[Daedalus]

It can also be broken (video)ram.

To check your system ram, run a test with memtest86 (google it, might be memtestx86).

As for your videocard ram.. well.. that gets a bit harder to do. One way is to use your motherboard video chipset (if you have one, that is) and unplug your videocard and run a benchmark in a loop (or play some DAoC) and see if it still restarts.

 

[behatch]

It can also be broken (video)ram.

To check your system ram, run a test with memtest86 (google it, might be memtestx86).

As for your videocard ram.. well.. that gets a bit harder to do. One way is to use your motherboard video chipset (if you have one, that is) and unplug your videocard and run a benchmark in a loop (or play some DAoC) and see if it still restarts.

Ive had it changed,allready :/

He was telling me reinstalling windows xp will fix it and some crap about a worm being on the windows xp disk WTF!?!? and he said i need to install an anti virus before windows xp! this isnt even possible is it?!?!

 

[Hendrich]

I would be 99% positive its the PSU. 9800 pro requires 350 PSU min. (As recommended by manufacturer). 300 PSU in todays computers is a bit less then needed.

80% of BSoD come from 3 things, PSU, Bad memory or over heating of PC.

First thing to do at BSoD screen, is reboot and check temp in the CMOS. If temp is ok, then try changing memory or running 1 mem chip.. Most of the time you will find that the problem. As far as PSU goes, calculate what you need by the above posters.

From previous expirences, I wouldnt recommend anything other then a good quality 350 PSU, higher if you plan on having 50,000 CD Roms and such.

GL and hope you find the problem

 

[behatch]

I would be 99% positive its the PSU. 9800 pro requires 350 PSU min. (As recommended by manufacturer). 300 PSU in todays computers is a bit less then needed.

80% of BSoD come from 3 things, PSU, Bad memory or over heating of PC.

First thing to do at BSoD screen, is reboot and check temp in the CMOS. If temp is ok, then try changing memory or running 1 mem chip.. Most of the time you will find that the problem. As far as PSU goes, calculate what you need by the above posters.

From previous expirences, I wouldnt recommend anything other then a good quality 350 PSU, higher if you plan on having 50,000 CD Roms and such.

GL and hope you find the problem

I dont get a BSoD..which is the blue screen right?

It just crash's too desktop or restarts..i rang them up now and they said there chaning all the main componants....and will be ready tomorrow dinner time..

 

[Maar]

My computer randomly crashes (BSOD) as well as ToA regularly randomly crashes to desktop. I have done absolutely everything I can think of bar formatting the hard drive:

My system is a:

Athlon 3200+ XP
MSI K7N2 Motherboard with Nforce2 chipset
etc

Am I missing anything or have I really done everything?

I have a similiar system and have exactly the same problems and tried all solutions suggested in this thread exept running in windowed mode (will try that later this evening).

I suspect that there may be a problem with the nforce2 GART driver and will downgrade the drivers and see if it's a driver related problem.

My system rarely bsod but often crashes to desktop without a warning or error message. When it does bsod it complains of either game.dll, nv4_disp.dll or another nvidia related dll file.

I would be interested to know if all or most of the people who have this or similiar problem have a nforce2 motherboard.

~Maar