Help?

[Jangle]

my pc has that lockup error with hl2 and some other games, and apparently it might be due to 'hardware incompatibility'. I built my pc myself so i cant take it back, and im not sure how to go about checking which harware is causing the problem. Any ideas?

 

[giant384]

specs?

 

[Jangle]

AMD athlon 64 3000+
radeon 9800 pro 128mb
512mb ram
160gb harddrive
creative sb audigy ls

 

[giant384]

could be driver problems update them

 

[Maxi]

Did you install your motherboard chipset drivers?

 

[Jangle]

i think so.. i used all the disks that came with the motherboard

 

[Jangle]

anybody?

 

[Ti133700N]

Ok lockup can be caused by alot of things, yes it can be the drivers but I doubt that's the problem. To be sure you can use driver cleaner http://www.drivercleaner.net/ to remove everything then reinstall a fresh new version of the drivers. Since you have a Radeon, I suggest you to use the Omega drivers http://www.omegadrivers.net/.

Next, it could be your RAM, you can run a memtest (http://www.memtest86.com), if you see any errors, it's no good, you can let it run like 3 hours. If there are no error, then it's probably not the RAM. If you get errors, ... hum do you have 2x 256MB? If yes, then remove one and test again with memtest. If it does errors again, try with the other. If you still get errors, it might be both your RAM sticks or your mobo.

It can also be a faulty power supply. You didn't tell us what it is so I will take the guess that it's not a high quality brand like Antec or Thermaltake or Corsair... You might want to try with another PSU to see if it works better.

It can also be your vid card. Download MBM5 Motherboard monitor to check the temps of your CPU and Vid Card. Your CPU shouldn't go over 55C and your GPU 75C (that is still very hot but if it's over that it's too hot... ). You can try downclocking your vid card (with Riva Tuner http://download.guru3d.com/rivatuner/) and also your CPU if you can or relax the timings of the RAM.

After you've done all that i'm pretty sure we'll get a better ideo of what's causing this.

 

[Jangle]

thanks mate i'll try this stuff and then let you know

 

[Jangle]

right, ive done everything there and i havent found any problems

i have a feeling it might be to do with my graphics card, as just before games freeze the graphics mess up

 

[Jangle]

so... erm, does anybody have any ideas what i should do?

 

[duffers20]

try totally uninstalling your graphics drivers and then installing the latest ones from the Ati site. I had this problem before and I sorted it by doing that. Use something like Driver Cleaner to take off your existing graphics drivers and then install the display drivers, restart the comp, then install the catalyst control center, then restart. That should fix the problem, but it may be something else, hope this helps.

 

[Jangle]

that didnt work, thanks for trying though

does anyone have any more ideas?

 

[Ti133700N]

With what PSU did you try? What are your temps? What's your mobo? Do you have one or two RAM sticks?

 

[Jangle]

i have 2 memory sticks

my temps were 49 and 45

i didnt try with another power source, im not sure if i have one

 

[Ti133700N]

The temps are fine. Ok so you did the trick with the memtest so that's not the RAM. You downclocked the vid card. You can try cleaning the inside of your case with duster to remove the dust. Double check that all the fans spin correctly. You can also remove your side pannel and try to play a game and see if you can play longer than before.

And finally there is the PSU...

 

[Jangle]

sorry for not replying sooner, im really grateful for the help.

so, ive tried everything but the psu. I dont understand, is that the thing you plug the pc in with? and do i just need to try with a different one?

edit: I just looked and the psu has a sticker on it saying for pentium IV.

 

[Ti133700N]

Yes and yes.
If the PSU can't give enough power you'll get freezes and reboots. So if you have a noname PSU with not enough wattage, you're gonna have problems.

Reccomanded PSU brands : Antec, ThermalTake, OCZ

For your comp I'd suggest a safe 400Watts, 350W being the minimum.

 

[Jangle]

yeah, im pretty sure thats the problem. Its sort of a double-socket thing, which my speakers use aswell. When i unplugged the speakers the game ran for much longer than it did before.