Computer shuts down while playing games
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Thread: Computer shuts down while playing games

  1. #1
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    Computer shuts down while playing games

    I have just upgraded my system to a Pentium Celeron D 2.66Ghz LGA 775 Processor with an MSI PM8M2-V LGA motherboard with 786MB of RAM and an MSI ATI Radeon 9250 128 MB DDR AGP card. Whenever I play any graphic intense game, within a few moments of loading the game, the computer simply shuts off. I am using Windows XP SP2. The problems doesnt occur in low graphics game or while using computer for office work or browsing even when being used for hours.
    I have tried another card, the MSI Geforce 5200 FX 128 MB Card, but it was more worse as clicking open any game would simply shut the computer off while with Radeon it takes 1-2 minutes before the computer shuts down. I have checked the temperatures but they are normal. Power supply is ATX 300 Watts
    System Temp 26C/98F
    CPU Temp 37C
    Northbridge Fan Speed 0 RPM
    CPU Fan Speed 2596 RPM
    CPU VCore 1.42V
    12V 11.73V
    3.3V 2.99V
    5V 5.13V
    5V SB 4.96V

    Is it the motherboard or the processor.

    p.s I have been using these games perfectly when I was using a Celeron 1.7GHZ on my ASUS P4533MX motherboard with ATI Radeon 7000 64 MB card and such problems never occured.

  2. #2
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    ski is offline Virtual PC Specialist!!!
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    Actually, your power supply may be the cause.
    Its 3.3V leg is reading only 2.99V, which is below the -5% allowed(Read-> 3.14V is the lowest allowable voltage on that leg).
    If you replace the PS, go with a good quality unit, like Antec or Enermax, and stay away from the inexpensive no-name brands. The one component that you do not want to cut corners on is the PS.
    Last edited by ski; December 8th, 2005 at 04:35 PM.

  3. #3
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    Well my brother has a 280 watts power suply and he is running an INtel Celeron 2 Ghz on an ASUS P4 motherboard and running MSI Geforce 5200 FX AGP card and playing much more graphics dense games for hours, but mine one crashes within a minute.

    I would like to mention that the voltages and temperatures I posted were taken immediately when my system shut down within 1 minute of starting a game named X-Plane version 7. Another strange thing which happened was when the technician was assembling the system I had ordered for a PC3200 1GB of RAM ( 2 sticks each of 512 MB). When he stuck both modules the system would start show the RAM to be 1GB and after loading Windows would immediately restart and the process would go on and on. When he tried one memory module, one by one in each of the slots, the system would be fine. The moment he put another one and restart the system, it would again do the same. Finally when he put one 512MB stic and another 256MB stick, then the problem was solved. Now during some of the games immediately after loading these games, it simply shuts down.

    I want to be sure that its not the motherboard or the processor as both are brand new along with RAM and the 3Dcard.

  4. #4
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    Well, I just took the system to my computer technician. He opened the power supply and said that this one most probably of 230 watts power. He replaced it with a 400 Watts PSU and then we checked all thise games which were shutting down the computer. I played around for 20-25 minutes and none of the games crashed the system....
    So it was a Power Supply Problem.
    Anyway thanks for giving me so valuable suggestions and guiding me in a diagnostic manner.

  5. #5
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    You're welcome.
    Glad to hear that the problem is fixed, and thanks for posting back with the solution.

    And for future reference, power supplies of equal or almost equal wattage ratings from different manuf's are not created equal.
    So even if your system had problems playing games with a 300 watt PS, and your friend's system had no problems playing the same games with a 280 watt PS from a different manuf., then that does not necessarily mean your PS is not the cause of the problem simply because it has a higher watt rating. It's possible that your PS has less punch on all 3 voltage legs than his when the system is in overdrive, i.e., playing intense games.
    Last edited by ski; December 9th, 2005 at 11:57 AM.

  6. #6
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    Thanks once again Ski. I have noted your valuable suggestions.

  7. #7
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    Well everything is working fine, but after having this new PSU worth 400 watts, I am noticing that while playing games, the fan noise rises quite a lot. Yesterday after playing a game for some 15-20 minutes, I just went into BIOS settings to see what was going on. I noticed that the CPU Fan RPM which is usually around 2800-2900 RPM was 3900 RPM, the system temperature was 33C while CPU temperature was 41 C.
    Are these temperatures too much for a LGA 775 Celeron processor ???

  8. #8
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    Temps look fine and as the PS heats up from the load, the fan spins faster thus the noise increase.
    To get arround that, I got a ps [power supply] with a 120 fan. That moves more air at a lower rpm thus keeping theoise level down.

    Might also concider taking a good look at case fans too.
    Get the hehated air out before it goes through the power supply type of thinking ther.

  9. #9
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    My ATX casing has one only one fan which is fitted just on top of the processor, and this is the one which spins faster during load making noise. There are no other fans, inside the casinf except the one which is inside the power supply unit.
    The only thing which I can do at the moment is to just keep the side of the casing open for more ventilation. Do you mean to say that I have to change the fan sitting on top of the processor.

  10. #10
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    No.
    Your case should have a place(s) for case fans. Some do not.
    One in the front, low, to blow air into the case
    and one in the rear, high, near the ps, to blow the heated air out.

    So to give you a idea of airflow



    And this one is missing the ps, but shows where the rear case fan goes.



    And the front place should look about like this from the inside.

  11. #11
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    I have checked the rearside of my Casing. Exactly just below the PSU,(like in the picture shown above), there is a place for a fan, but inside the casing there is no fan. It means that I have to buy one for this one.
    Today is sunday, so tomorrow I will go to computer market to get one and see what happens after that. Thanks by the way for explaning all this to me.

  12. #12
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    Your welcome and I sure hope that helps the noise problem for you.

    And yes, the case fans are normally a add on we have to purchase separately.

  13. #13
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    Guys,
    After changing the power supply as I mentioned earlier two months ago solved my problem but today strangely enough while playing another game named as Apache Longbow Assault, the same thing happened, all of sudden shutdown and restarted automatically. I layed another game named Apache Air Assault made by same company but I could play it for half an hour, but this almost similar game shut down and restarted my computer.
    Does that mean, that I need a power supply more powerful than my current 400 watts PSU????

  14. #14
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    What make is the PSU you got as a replacement? (Sorry if you've mentioned this above...i'm a latecomer to the thread)

    If it is a cheap PSU, then chances are it isn't performing as it should and not supplying enough power in the right way.


    Liam
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  15. #15
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    Yes, it is a comparatively cheap Chinese made Power Supply 400 watts, but being used widely these days for Pentium 4 computers. My initial PSU was a 250 watts, which simply shut down the computer each time I played moderately graphics dense games, and it happened with games like XPlane, Apache Air Assault, and after changing the PSU to a 400 watts PSU, the problem was solved and I could play most of the games without shutdowns, but this time it happened with this game, which I installed today.

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