stability problems...

[icewizard2k4]

hi, i'm having problems with the stability of my pc...

seems to be ok using windows but when i run a game the system locks up shortly into play.

i've tried registy cleaners and the format-reinstall drill...

my config.

AMD Athlon XP 3200+
MSI KT6 Delta / latest bios & via package
2x 512MB Kingston Hyper X DDR400 CAS.2
Windows XP Professional / service pack 2 & all updates

how can i trace the source of the problem?

are there programs i can run on my machine to increase stability?

perhaps bios tweaking? what options would be considered most stable?

most things are on auto due to this problem and it hasnt worked.

 

[SteveGTA]

try prime95 it will run tests and then tell you what problems it is having then when u figure out what the problems are post what they are here. i have been having similiar problems but i can play games but when i run prime95 it says i have a rounding error(only when i OC)

 

[diabloII]

what video card do you have and what game are you playing

 

[icewizard2k4]

prime95 seems to be not helping a hell of alot and a pretty annoying thing to use. i'll get it to run over night anyhow becuase i have no other options atm.

videocard at the moment is a Geforce4 mx440.
the system freezes no matter what i'm playing. sometimes it will be fine however.

Stronghold is the game the causes the most problems. it will definately freeze without fail everytime. it is the deluxe 1.2 version so no further software updates...
i'm certain the problem is my system and not the game.

 

[diabloII]

1.) download the newest 71.89 drivers from www.nvidia.com
2.) right click on desktop --> properties --> settings --> advanced --> geforce mx440 --> temperature settings; tell us what your current temperate is showing

 

[icewizard2k4]

the card doesnt have a heat sensor

 

[Nubius]

lol diablo, temp monitors didn't come out until the later FX series I beleive.

prime95 seems to be not helping a hell of alot and a pretty annoying thing to use.

Prime95 is a very basic program dude.

Options>Torture test> Large In place FFT's

that puts your CPU at full load and if it errors within a couple hours it's not a stable system. 12+ hours can be considered stable...

use memtest86+ to test your memory to see if that's faulty, but generally faulty memory causes restarts more than lockups

 

[icewizard2k4]

alrite i setup the torture test and went to work.
came back after 4 hours and the computer was frozen. i couldnt see what was on prime95 because the screensaver was on.

the monitor was on standby but moving the mouse still brought it back on although the system was locked up.

i will disable the screensaver and try again so i can see prime95s data

 

[icewizard2k4]

the torture test ran for 29hours 35minutes with no errors and it was still going. i decided to stop it.

so why has my pc frozen the first time and been fine the second...