Tropicano Report post Posted December 9, 2005 (edited) Heya, ever since i got a new gfx car in february ive not been able to play EL on this computer.. This wasnt a problem, cause every time i wanted to play EL i used my other computer. However: i no longer have another computer - so i really have to get EL working on this one Computer Specs: CPU: AMD Athlon 2800+ (2,1ghz) Mem: 2x512mb DDR 3200 (400hmz) HDD: 2xMatrox 120gb 7200rpm GFX: PowerColor X800XT 256mb GDDR3 (500/1000mhz/16pipes) Problem: Since the moment i got the "new" card, el has been behaving strange. If i run EL, ill have to count on a automatic reboot of the system in less than 5 minutes.. That, or a plain black-screen. As long as i am in EL everyting "seem" to work.. I get about 90-400pfs and everyone are happy.. someone suggested that the problem could lie in the extreme framerate, and that my PSU might not handle it - so i limited it to 30... wich only resulted in half-bad particle effects... Everything seem to flicker be4 my system dies.. roads, walls, everything.. if i rotate the camera it looks like the map was built by me (in a not-so-very-good-way).. I really cant get this crashing and flickering to end - what to do, what to do? I know for a fact that the same system worked flawlessly with a PowerColor Radeon 9600 Pro 256mb gfx card, wich i used up untill i got this one. There is no problem with the card outside of EL, i can run HL2, Q4, F.E.A.R, AOE3, you name it.. and they all work flawlessly (well, as flawlessly as the rest of my system can support ) edit: oh, now that i think about it: im having some trouble in One other game - Warcraft 3 TFT (and org) - When im playing, the game can sometime just crash, for no apparent reason, and give me a message: "unable to read memory modules XXXXXX" or something like that.. That, to me, sounds like a RAM mem problem.. I know i has some problem with the system rebooting cause one of my mem-slots didnt work very well, but i changed position on the memory chips and since then ive not had any problem except EL and War3... Ive tried alot to get this to work, and it feels stupid that the only reason i cant come back and see you guys more of then is because i paid a sick amount of cash for a GFX card a year back :| Any ideas? Anyone? Thanks in advance.. Edited December 9, 2005 by Tropicano Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vegar Report post Posted December 9, 2005 Try running memtest86 to see if it finds any errors. (let it run for a whole night) http://www.memtest86.com/ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cycloonx Report post Posted December 10, 2005 (edited) Hey tropicano, I had this too, I had it on ip, ws and votd most of the time, I did a driver update and everything works fine now. Edited December 10, 2005 by Cycloonx Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tropicano Report post Posted December 10, 2005 ive done several driver updates during the last months (almost a year) and the problem remains.. i really think its hardware-related rather than an issue with my software.. just trying to figure out where the problem lies.. in memory, psu or gfx card (or elsewhere?).. :| Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cycloonx Report post Posted December 11, 2005 I bet it is some connection between cpu and grafix card, because I have a little screen on my computer and when my screen blacked out my computer was still running with 100% CPU and full ram memory ... So I think the grafix card let crashe the cpu Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tropicano Report post Posted December 11, 2005 Well, the screen doesnt "just" black out.. The whole system stops responding.. As in, i cant do Anything... CTRL-ALT-DEL wont do nothing.. This happens Every time i use EL, often within one minute of starting up EL... meh meh :( Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Learner Report post Posted December 11, 2005 Well, the screen doesnt "just" black out.. The whole system stops responding.. As in, i cant do Anything... CTRL-ALT-DEL wont do nothing.. This happens Every time i use EL, often within one minute of starting up EL... meh meh :( Have you tried FPS limiting? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tropicano Report post Posted December 11, 2005 Well, the screen doesnt "just" black out.. The whole system stops responding.. As in, i cant do Anything... CTRL-ALT-DEL wont do nothing.. This happens Every time i use EL, often within one minute of starting up EL... meh meh :( Have you tried FPS limiting? Yes, same problem with 10,20,30 or no limit (fps) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Vegar Report post Posted December 11, 2005 Did you try running memtest86 as I suggested above? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tropicano Report post Posted December 11, 2005 Did you try running memtest86 as I suggested above? couldnt find any writable cd or floppy to run it from.. so im trying a win based mem checker as we speak Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Cycloonx Report post Posted December 12, 2005 Well, the screen doesnt "just" black out.. The whole system stops responding.. As in, i cant do Anything... CTRL-ALT-DEL wont do nothing.. This happens Every time i use EL, often within one minute of starting up EL... meh meh Well the same happened here, when my music was playing I heard my music crashing and then I knew my pc would crash Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Derin Report post Posted December 15, 2005 Very odd, I have almost the same specs for my computer, cept that I have an Intel 3.4 GHz processor. And it runs smoothly for me (well not ALL features like shadowmapping), but it doesn't crash on me. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tropicano Report post Posted December 15, 2005 Very odd, I have almost the same specs for my computer, cept that I have an Intel 3.4 GHz processor. And it runs smoothly for me (well not ALL features like shadowmapping), but it doesn't crash on me. Haven you got an X800XT and cant use Shadowmapping? same probloem here... it lowers my FPS from 90-400 to aprox 1-2... Wich makes no sense at all.. This, and ofc: my system crashes after a couple of mins.. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zep Report post Posted December 15, 2005 (edited) ok silly idea here, but maybe the cause. Run EL allow it to crash, hard reboot, then check the CPU temp, and case temp in the BIOS. If limiting the frame rate is extending the time of the crash, its possible the system is overheating. Seen similar issues with a P4 a week ago, someone forgot to place the termal strip down before putting on the heat sink. And he didnt notice the issue untill he added a few extra components in the system, pushing it just over its limit. Other obsqure things, could be the power supply output, Seen a guy who was running a new amd on an old 120w PSU, quite funny, untill he upgraded and it was doing all sorts of funky things =) Edited December 15, 2005 by Zep Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tropicano Report post Posted December 16, 2005 I will check the CPU temp. The GPU temp rarely goes above 50'c (normal load = 45-50, max load = 50-ish) so that cant be the issue.. Limiting the FPS "sometimes" keeps the game going for a few more mins... but it always crashes in the end no matter what.. The PSU "IS" abit too weak for my system on paper, i know that... But i havent had Any problems with Any other games.. Its a ABIT 300W PSU. While the graphic card recommends at least 300 w, and preferably more. I just find it hard to belive that the temp would rise above critical in EL, while it doesnt seem to be any problem in other - much newer - games.. Ill look in to that next time i play EL though.. Thanks. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tropicano Report post Posted December 16, 2005 okay... i THINK i might have found the problem... at last crash i checked the temps as you suggested, these were the results: GPU: 65c MoBo: 36c CPU: 78c Could the problem Perhaps lie in those few lines? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zep Report post Posted December 16, 2005 (edited) holey crap thats hot, considering it would have droped a couple c on reboot, time to shutdown and remove that heat sink, get some thermal paste and apply lol. Edited December 16, 2005 by Zep Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tropicano Report post Posted December 16, 2005 (edited) ive never had any system crashing in other games... so as far as i know, its only EL that forces the CPU into a bottleneck situation... where my GPU works the shit out of my poor old CPU and hence overheats it. (thats what i got told at least:P).. newer games, such as Doom 3 etc puts the main load on the gpu, wich handles the pressure just fine.. while EL kills the CPU ^^ I tried to play el with the door to my balcony opend just now (its winter here.. like 10 below 0c ) ...worked flawlessly... but my butt froze stuck to the bloody chair, so thats not something im planning on doing in the future .. I opend the door while i was still in the BIOS temp menu.. the temp sank from 78 to 62 in a matter of seconds ... kinda cool actually.. rofl.. "cool"... hehe.. anyhow.. im: a ) getting a new heatsink and some thermal paste b ) getting a new mobo and a stronger CPU that will work better with my GPU... figure either one of the options will help me out.. Edited December 16, 2005 by Tropicano Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Learner Report post Posted December 16, 2005 ive never had any system crashing in other games... so as far as i know, its only EL that forces the CPU into a bottleneck situation... where my GPU works the shit out of my poor old CPU and hence overheats it. (thats what i got told at least:P).. newer games, such as Doom 3 etc puts the main load on the gpu, wich handles the pressure just fine.. while EL kills the CPU ^^ I tried to play el with the door to my balcony opend just now (its winter here.. like 10 below 0c ) ...worked flawlessly... but my butt froze stuck to the bloody chair, so thats not something im planning on doing in the future .. I opend the door while i was still in the BIOS temp menu.. the temp sank from 78 to 62 in a matter of seconds ... kinda cool actually.. rofl.. "cool"... hehe.. anyhow.. im: a ) getting a new heatsink and some thermal paste b ) getting a new mobo and a stronger CPU that will work better with my GPU... figure either one of the options will help me out.. Watch the PSU then ... faster CPU will put more of a load on it Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Zep Report post Posted December 16, 2005 I tried to play el with the door to my balcony opend just now (its winter here.. like 10 below 0c ) ...worked flawlessly... but my butt froze stuck to the bloody chair, so thats not something im planning on doing in the future .. lol, Went a lan once, And we were outside in winter on a pateo, It rained like all hell that night, I had a power board sitting on my knee so that it didnt get wet lol. Im glad ya found the issue tho, Another thing to check out, Make sure that power supply is sufficant for the system, And make sure the rails are putting out the correct voltage, that info should also be in the BIOS. to much or to little voltage, can cause overheating. The reasoning behind this, is that it started when you added a new video card, So by rights, no issues prior to that, Could be that your power supply is insufficant. Also that ram error with warcraft, could also be a symtom of being under powered. Enjoy =) Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tropicano Report post Posted December 16, 2005 Yeah.. as i said: The PSU is underpowerd on paper, just dont know if it actually affects the system... thing is: i recently removed one HDD and i havent experiences any difference in the system whatsoever.. havent become more stable or less stable... Ill try to disconnect the optical drives / floppy and see if it runs smoother. Watch the PSU then ... faster CPU will put more of a load on it Yeah, IF i get a new CPU / mobo i WILL get a new psu.. the current one has sounded like a jet-engine ever since i got the new gfx card.. kinda hard to sleep with the computer turned on right next to my bed Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
