Resets During Games

[wazzahelpme]

Hi, im new to this forum and am in desperate need of help. I have recently put together a computer for my brother, and all went well. After installing windows xp i continued to install drivers and programs. Everything works well (windows, internet, word etc) except games. For some odd reason no matter what game we try old or new (halo, aoe 3, simpsons: hit and run, simcity 3000, command and conquer: red alert) the computer will restart, with no warning or error message. It just freezes for about 5 seconds and then reboots. Sometimes it occurs after playing the game for a few minutes and other times it will happen after an hour or so. I've tried checking what i can and the memory is fine as i've run numerous memtest programs and even replaced the ram with a different brand and it still rebooted. The cpu is brand new and was installed well and even after the computer reboots ill check the temps and they are fine, around 30'C. Which leads me to think it may be the inbuilt graphics that are causing a problem. Is there any way to check this or does anyone have any other ideas of what may be causing the problem?

CPU: Athlon 64 3500+ Skt 939 (with stock heatsink and fan)
Motherboard: Foxconn Winfast 6100K8MA-RS
Ram: Kingston 512mb PC3200 DDR400
HDD: Seagate 40gb IDE
PSU: Hyena 350W
CD Rom and 3.5" Floppy.

 

[Blind_Arrow]

Kingston is pretty stable RAM, and possibility to assume that RAM is problem is very little.

check BIOS setting for VGA Buffer settings, try tweaking thema little bit, see if problems presists. I am not sure weather built-in graphics processors boost up the Power Requiremts or not, try using a slightly higher PSU as well, may work

 

[dipique]

Look on the PSU and find out what the amperages are at different voltages.

Dan

 

[IfYouHaveToAsk]

go to start > run and type "dxdiag"

then go to the display tab and run some of the tests below.

if those cause the PC to crash then it is a graphics problem - make sure you have the latest motherboard and video drivers.

You might want to consider upgrading to a stand alone video card. There are some good value for money cards at the moment.

 

[dipique]

"You might want to consider upgrading to a stand alone video card. There are some good value for money cards at the moment."

This is a good idea, unless it's your PSU in which case it will just make the problem worse.

Dan

 

[wazzahelpme]

Hey, thanks for the quick replies.

I'll have a check on those things today when i see my brother and ill get back and let you know how i get on.

If worse comes to worse, because the motherboard was bought recently i may have to send it back to the shop.

cheers.