Frequent lock-ups

I am having serious problems with my computer. It ran perfectly fine until recently when it has started to lock up quite frequently. It only locks up while I am playing certain games (Arcanum, Icewind Dale 2, 3 separate nes emulators) and never during half-life/counterstrike. To throw yet another layer of wierdness onto this, my friend has a nearly identical system and yet he has none of these problems. My specs:

same as friend:
asus mb (sis chipset)
athlon xp 2200+ 1.8ghz
512 mb Samsung ddr 2700 ram
80gb western digital 7200 rpm hdd
soundblaster live 5.1
400 watt psu
havent screwed with any bios settings or anything, all of them are at default.

different:
windows 2000 (he uses xp pro)
chaintech geforce 4 ti 4200 64mb


I am really starting to suspect my video card of being faulty. It could potentially have gotten screwed up during the whole defective processor burning up issue when I first built the computer (which happened to my friend as well). On top of that, I have very odd yet consistent graphical errors in Black and White and Neocron demo, thus further leading me to suspect the video card.

My question then is does this problem sound consistent with a faulty video card. I know I could find out real quick if I swapped it out for a different vid card but I don't have a spare, nor do I have access to another box to drop my vid card into. I really hope it isn't my vid card cause this would be the second thing I had to get replaced on this computer...and I only built it in August. At least I can thank god for warrantees.

I assume you are using the latest drivers for your card....this sounds exactly like a video card issue for sure since it happens only during graphics intensive tasks. It could also be heat...with the vid card working so hard it could be heating tha pc up so far to cause it to lock up. Be nice if you had another card as a spare to see for sure. If it is a pci card..change slots. Also there are some BIOS setting for agp video cards to check but I am not as up to par on that. Maybe someone else can help us with that.

I'm pretty sure it's not heat, because I have asusprobe on, and it has never indicated the heat was too high, and on top of that, I have a box fan running on it for good measure. (My case fan is kinda pathetic, so I figured I should suppliment it a bit).

It's an agp card btw and i am using the latest drivers.

If only certain games are locking then it may not be a hardware issue, you may possibly look into game settings or possible updates/patches for the games. Even though half-life/counterstrike is kind of an older game, it still is video intensive. I'm figuring there may be a configuration issue maybe with the amd xp, check for updates or possible game configs, let me know! if still an issue include what specs are required to run the games you are running for each game, and you might want to upgrade direct x!

Icewind Dale 2 is fully upgraded and I have fiddled with the configurations at the advice of techies on the official ID2 boards, so I don't think it's a configuration problem. Arcanum was working before and only recently has it begun to lock up (notably, only after I installed ID2 and began having problems with that but I don't see what that could have done). That tends to make me lean away from a configuration issue because nothing should have changed yet Arcanum has gone from fine to locking up. However it would potentially be explainable if my video card is continuing to degrade.

As for the requirements for the games, I don't have those on hand, but I know my computer exceeds even the recommended settings. (If that is what you were wondering).

I should mention that my power supply is also a potential suspect. I have had trouble booting on occasion, almost as if I didn't have enough power (especially when the computer hasn't been on for a while). While I am talking about power, I don't know how big of a range in voltage is normal, but my voltage never seems to be near what it is supposed to be. (It might be perfectly normal, but it seems like a large variance to me.) My 12V varies from 12.2 to 12.5, my 5V tends to be around 4.8, and my 3.3V tends to be about 3.15. VCore I haven't seen at any value other than 1.648.

That 5 volts sounds kinda low to me. That voltage is very important and the supply should be able to maintain it even under heavy current loads. When the temp goes high, the currents typically run high too...drawing the 5 volts down even more.

The standard rule is +/- 1%. So, the 5 volts should be between 4.95 and 5.05. Or, something similar. 4.8 definitely sounds low to me.

Just my $0.02.

great...my computer has gotten worse. It now locks up anytime I try to run pretty much anything, including installing a new os. It locked up three times trying to upgrade to xp. I'm going to try something else again to see if I can install it, but this is just really starting to get irritating.

edit: nope...no matter what I do, my computer keeps locking up even during windows setup. I am getting royally pissed off now as the only thing I can think of that could be causing this is either a bad mobo, a bad processor, or a bad psu. And if it's either of the first two I will be very angry cause this would be the second time that company has sent me bad parts.

Time for a new psu I think.

I think of all the possibilities that would be what I would hope for most right now. I don't know if I can pull out just my psu though, cause I do not relish the idea of having to send back my entire case to the company. Psu's alone cost what, like 20-30$. Cause it might end up that it would just be easier to buy a new psu instead of rma'ing it, especially cause I am not sure what the warranty covers for it.

I'm thinking this is the last time I get parts online cause this is really getting irritating.

I think Noo is correct, that maybe another fan if possible or a better CPU fan.

El C-

well, i found more evidence my psu is likely at fault. My voltage values are off 2.9% for 12v, 2.7% for 5v and 4% for 3.3v, but if I start something like winamp or counterstrike, those values jump to 3.5% for 12v, 3.3% for 5v and a whopping 4.9% for 3.3v. Compare this to my friend's computer. His levels for 3.3v and 5v are off by less than 1% AND don't change at all if counterstrike is run.

Now all I have to do is convince my friend to let me...'borrow' his computer for an hour or so.

minor update: I am now 98% sure the fault is with my p/s. Why? My power supply costs $9. That is right...a $9 Duro 400W power supply. Oh man I am kicking myself right now. They sell them in 10 packs. 10 packs! This is what I get for not doing my homework.

Well, I just got my nice Antec Truepower 330W psu, dropped it into by box, and fired up a program I know locks up my computer. And, indeed, it locked up. Tried it with another program after I rebooted, and it too locked up. Worse now, my computer seemingly randomly decided to reboot. So basically the only thing I can think of now would be the mobo/psu. Unfortunately I can't disassemble my comp right now cause i have nowhere to put it in my dorm room. Over spring break I'll try to swap out the ram, and failing that, it's rma time...again. No replacements this time, im gettin a refund and taking my business elsewhere. Before that I'm going to try to reinstall Windows, something I've been trying to do for quite a while now but xp setup locks up. I am considering formatting and reinstalling, but if it locks up during install after that then I lose what little function I still have on my computer, internet, aim, mirc, and so forth. I have no clue what the hell I'm going to do.

You haven't mentioned testing your ram in any of your troubleshooting so far....

Yeah, hopefully i can concvince my buddy to let me borrow his ram and/or vid card for an hour or so. I probably should have checked it earlier but it just didn't cross my mind for the ram since I was looking at stuff different from my freind's, and the vid card i still highly doubt.