Hey all, I need some ideas for what to look for before I use my PC for target practice. The system: PIII 700mhz Windows 98SE GeForce FX 5200 Ultra The problem: When playing a game (and only when playing), I'll be in for 5-10 min and the system crashes to desktop. No warning at all. Just all of a sudden, the mouse cursor just appears on the game screen. Then it'll crash to desktop, but sometimes I have to reboot. I have updated everything that I can think of updating. Video card,DirectX,etc. I've also deleted and reinstalled each game as well. I know my machine is a dinosaur, but, some of the games are old and their requirements are well below what I have. I was planning on building up a new game machine, but was hoping to hold off until our house is finished. Any ideas? Am I overlooking something? Thanks! Dave
Could be 98SE Windows OS problem... Do you get a dump of the error? Also - as the previous Chatter mentioned - we will need to know which game/app - and what version of windows it is compatable with - If it is a newer game - probably you have an incompatability problem with SE... May want to go XP - better OS as well.
Likely your NVidia GEForce card sending a distress call, because it can't stand the heat and is getting out of the kitchen. NVidia cards have a habit of dying after a few years - usually due to cooling issues. But this doesn't mean you must replace the card straightaway - more than likely, what it means is, you need to clean all your filthy fans, pronto, and by all means, clean them once a month thereafter. After many years of trusty service, I replaced my 16mb nVidia TNT2 with a 64mb ATI Raydeon 9000 (AGA). Not the latest (which I don't need), but it's better than the old one, lasts longer than NVidia under any conditions and is a cheap upgrade at $50.
Thanks guys. The games it happens on: Call of Duty (new) Soldier of Fortune (old game) Raven Shield (oldish new) Battlefield:Vietnam (very new) AFIK all of these games are stable in W98 on up (unlike Max Payne which won't run on XP) Basically every game I try to play. It doesn't do it when surfing the web or playing an online game. (solitare,little flash games, etc) My card is basically brand new. Just installed it maybe 4-5 months ago. One other clue I have is a little white error box in the middle of the screen when playing Call of Duty,only, showing a .dll error. The wierd thing is this just started happening. I had already played through CoD a few months ago and just started playing again when this glitch began. I would guess that the old PIII is crapping out except that it only acts up during games which leads me to the vid card. I wish there was a way to be sure, cuz the card is still in warranty. I plan on building a new AMD 64bit system, but, like I said, I'd rather wait before dumping the cash. Thanks y'all, Dave
I think wax is right about the heating problem, since the problems appear when you play games, which require the vid card to work the hardest. Try the following and see if it helps: - Remove the housing cover and expose the innards of your system to open air and play games as usual. If your system runs fine, then it was probably a heating problem. If it still crashes, then you probably have a hardware/software issue on your hand. - Defrag the whole HD. - How old is your HD? Could be some bad sectors, which will give you plenty of problems. Good luck!
Good suggestion. Heat does seem likely. It acts lust like the heat fouled ignition modules in cars that I run into from time to time at work. That's next on the list. I've been contemplating just nuking the HD and starting over from scratch, but that is a pretty daunting task. (At least for me anyway heh,heh.)But I do need a bigger HD anyway. I really do appreciate all the suggestions. I've been going around in circles so much that it's good to step back and get a fresh outside perspective. Kinda like miss seeing the forest 'cuz of all the trees in the way! Dave
Well, unplug that sucker and get crackin'! For starters, you'll probably find a carpet of lint blocking the rear intake vent... smaller exhaust vent near power supply will have a little exposed. Pick that crud off there. Unscrew side panel, rub some shiny computer case metal a few times to ground/eliminate discharge; pop off big-ass plastic "L" shaped fan cover (note exactly how it's put on & reverse it when reassembling - can be tricky reattaching). The Power Supply Fan will be exposed, as well as the Intake & CPU fans. As far away from the Video Card as the Power Supply Fan may be, it's the one that most affects the Video Card temp.. I clean 'em all with q-tips & make damn sure computer is unplugged before using any cleaning duster spray.
> -make damn sure the computer is unplugged.. So thats what I've been doing wrong! Seriously, does that video chip have a heat sink and/or fan on it? On one of my CPUs, I mounted the heat sink and fan from an old CP chip -I keep a bunch of old parts laying around- wired it into a fan power connector and it works fine. Mounting the thing was the hard part, but you can just install a case fan to help it out.
You're playing all those games on a P3 with W98? Wow, that's what I call determination. Methinks you need to upgrade! You could go mobile...http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=3478477074 Seriously, if you've had crash problems with Win98 they are only going to get worse. Win98 does not have the crash protection the later OS's do and the problems just build on each other. I never fix a 98 machine, only reload. Mark
Most likely the new card is the culprit. Either it is running to hot for you old fans etc... It's not compatible with win98 It's not compatible with some of you old hardware. Try an XP uprgade first. XP really is as refined as the old NT based systems are going to get before they start screwing things up all over again with longhorn.
Whatever you do, don't buy far cry... it will make your system commit suicide. It is slow on my p4 2.8 with radeon 9700... I think you should just upgrade now... there is never much point in waiting for computers.. there is always something better coming out in the next 6 months..
Dave, After windows boots up, but before you start playing your game, try pressing Ctrl-Alt-Del once to bring up the taskmanager, then Go through that entire list of programs, and "End" all of them except for Systray. Then fire up your game, and see how it runs. -DC
Thanks for all the suggestions. For the recoed though, I do clean the case once a month, so I'm pretty confident I won't find it too dirty. BTW, it's a fairly new Vid card and it has a huge honking cooling fan/heat sink. I have simply resigned myself to build a new machine. I always knew it had to be done, I was just hoping to postpone for a bit by finding something obvious that I had overlooked. I give all of you a collective "You Da Man!!" Thanks, Dave
Dave, Glad to see you finally saw the light, so to speak If you need any advice or help of any sort in building your new computer, I can certainly help you. I have a lot of experience at it. email: [email protected] -DC
