bros pc locks up

[Xiahou]

Hey,

My brother's pc locks up when playing games. It basicly just locks up completely, 5 mins or so into the game, it starts up fine..

Specs.. 2.66ghz
6600LE
512mb ram

Others i dont know, its just some bought comp years ago..

Direct X 9.0c, and nv 6.14 drivers are installed..

Whats the problem? :S

 

[Xiahou]

Just told me that it never used to happen since he installed his new graphics card a few months ago.. upgraded from a fx 5500 to a 6600. Hes on AGP btw..

I would guess its a ****ed up card, or something is wrong in the bios??

He never changed ANYTHING in the bios when he installed the card.. what could be in there to change?

But then again, would it load up normally and crash after 5 mins from a bios setting???

Its not like its failing to load up.. its just crashing 5 mins into the game or so..

 

[jeremy]

its probably the psu , get sandra installed on his pc http://www.download.com/3000-2086-10018691.html
then get into "mainboard information" scroll down to the middle til youll see "voltage sensors" and take a screenshot or type em down, and ill tell you if their good or not

 

[Xiahou]

ok, will do.

Btw, my mistake.

It locks up in 5 seconds exactly, each time..

 

[Xiahou]

this was when the computer was just booted up.

 

[Xiahou]

btw, other games run fine.. its just like.. battle for middle earth II.. Rome:total war.. prob a lot more, but just saying that games DO work..

 

[FghtinIrshNvrDi]

Are they graphically demanding games only? I noticed you put some relatively heavy 3d games on there. Did you try any older stuff that's less demanding? It sounds to me like the PSU still, or some kind of DX corruption.

Ryan

 

[reggie_da_man]

What kind of power supply does your bro have? Was it a prebuilt computer like a DELL or Gateway?

 

[jeremy]

the +12v is bit low but stable, however while 11.86 is considered stable when running games the graphic card takes more power from the psu but how much extra power it takes from the psu also depends on how much pressure the game puts on it and if that 11.86 happen to drop down by much... , so im about 90% sure the psu at fault but if you wanna know 100% then get a digital multimeter and check that +12v in real time while gaming. see these guides
http://www.ochardware.com/articles/psuvolt/psuvolt.html
http://www.driverheaven.net/guides/testingPSU/ , also keep in mind while alot of motherboard sensors are close to accurate alot of em are also way off so it currently may even be lower then 11.86 you wont know for sure unless youll use a digital multimeter

i recommend this psu and believe me its worth every penny
http://www.mwave.com/mwave/viewspec.hmx?scriteria=BA21321

 

[Baez]

i had the same thing happen with my last card. any game would freeze after exactly 20 secs. i just changed my card and it was fine.