Crashes during games?

[tehgr8supa]

Within the past 6 months, my computer has been crashing more and more frequently, but only while playing games.

The problem never happens in Starcraft, rarely happens in Counter-Strike 1.6, almost always happens in Warcraft III (after half an hour or so), and pretty quickly happens in WoW.

I've noticed that turning down my sound settings in Audio Properties helps, and turning down graphics settings help, but doesn't fix the problem.

I've got:
Windows XP Pro, SP1
Athlon XP 2200+
Radeon 9550 / X1050 graphics card
512 MB RAM
On board sound

Again, this only happens during games. I've disabled automatic restart in the Startup and Recovery settings to get a blue-screen diagnostic, but all I get is a blue screen with no text.

Also, I've run memtest and passed with no errors.

I think that's all. Thanks in advance.

 

[Fat.Clown]

how are your temps?

sounds like maybe your video card is over heating

 

[Zaraphrax]

how are your temps?

sounds like maybe your video card is over heating

That's my guess also. Or, the video card may be faulty.

 

[tehgr8supa]

I'm not sure, but that actually makes sense. My side intake fan is a little screwy and I have to smack it to get it spinning. >_<

How do I check temps?

 

[Zaraphrax]

I'm not sure, but that actually makes sense. My side intake fan is a little screwy and I have to smack it to get it spinning. >_<

How do I check temps?

Give ATITool a try (ATITool - Overclocking utility for ATI and NVIDIA cards).

 

[ricanflow]

You can also use rivatuner, and gpu-z has a built in temp sensor as well.

 

[tehgr8supa]

I download ATITool, but I remember reading somewhere that my GPU doesn't have a built in thermometer, so the tool doesn't tell me the temp.

I did an experiment. I took off the side of my case and pointed an upright fan at the mobo/GPU on high, but it still crashed. I don't know if over-heating isn't the problem or if my idea just didn't work.

Should I buy replacement parts? Starting with a new side fan, then a new vid card if that doesn't work? Or is there other options?

 

[Zaraphrax]

I download ATITool, but I remember reading somewhere that my GPU doesn't have a built in thermometer, so the tool doesn't tell me the temp.

I did an experiment. I took off the side of my case and pointed an upright fan at the mobo/GPU on high, but it still crashed. I don't know if over-heating isn't the problem or if my idea just didn't work.

Should I buy replacement parts? Starting with a new side fan, then a new vid card if that doesn't work? Or is there other options?

Could you borrow another video card and see if that fixes it? Reinstalled your drivers? To be honest, I think you have a problem with your video card.