Radeon 9800 problems, comp locks up

[dpi209]

You should consider using some monitoring tool for measuring your PC's temperature. Usually, on modern mainboards there are two sensors for that, one inside the CPU and one on the mainboard, usually referred as "CPU" and "System" sensor. Most mainboard manufacturers supply a tool which can monitor your pc health status (e.g. CPU and System temperature, voltages, fan speed) - if not, there are some "generic" monitoring tools, the most prominent being "Mother Board Monitor". Install and configure either the manufacturer-supplied or a generic monitoring tool to check your system for "health anomalies". Usually, your CPU temperature should be < 60° C and the System temperature a good 10° lower. Voltage should be within 5% of what it should be, if not your power supply might not be sufficient for your system and/or is overheated.

Sorry to tell you that buying a "really big and good fan" is not at all enough to be sure that every part of your system has appropriate cooling. As dazman mentioned air flow is more important than having a "big fan". You might even make it worse by preventing the warm air to get out of your case by "pushing" cooler air in where you should rather blow the warm air out...

[skruttis]

Yeah Ive installed one of those, my CPU temp is between 20-25ish celcius on an average. The computer is and has always been open on the side so theres always fresh air coming in (and out I assume). My balcony door which is located in my room is also pretty much always open if that helps any.

[akm72]

I have 512 RAM, PC3200 I think it was. Hmmm I think I have tried that but Ill give it a shot just to be sure, thanks!
Edit: Just checked, EAX has always been turned off, I also tried turning of the sound completly but that didnt seem to do anything

You could try increasing the amount of virtual memory available, as a short term fix.

[dazman76]

Yeah Ive installed one of those, my CPU temp is between 20-25ish celcius on an average. The computer is and has always been open on the side so theres always fresh air coming in (and out I assume). My balcony door which is located in my room is also pretty much always open if that helps any.

I'm clutching at straws here, but we can't do much more without being there An important one to watch is 'Northbridge temp', or 'front side bus temp'. The max for this will vary between MBs, but generally the monitoring software will give you a yellow or even red indicator if your temps are off the scale. Northbridge temp is the next crucial temp after CPU - when you check your temps, make sure you check Northbridge too. High HDD temperature isn't critical, but it will only add to the general ambient temperature in the case.

If all your temps are low (or safe, at least), we may have to think of something else

[skruttis]

Im pretty surten my temps are all low now. The new fan seems to help cooling the card down a lot but it still wont help I tried just now increase the virtual memory and after running for 2 mins and Im just on this hill and things are about to be loaded or something, the computer reboots itself. I think of the problems occours when Im entering areas which need to be loaded or something? If that makes any sense. Never had problems like this with any game Ive ever played on this computer, its getting a little frustrating . Reboots/crashes so far is 50-60ish and rising, yay!
Edit: I just saw another thread with similar problems (almost anyway) and they suggested that his PSU wasnt powerfull enough, could that be my issue aswell? I havent really played any graphic demanding games on this card yet. Maybe if I tried one out to see if I still have the problem?

[dazman76]

OK then, we now move away from temperatures, and onto more sinister things. The last time I had random unexplainable reboots, I'd been hit by an RPC exploit, filthy hackers.

This is a tricky one to test, and to fix if you're infected, but it seems like a good next step to me. So, some questions first:

1) Do you have a firewall installed? If so, which one?
2) Do you have anti-virus installed and enabled? If so, which one?
3) If you connect to the internet and just run desktop apps (no games, just apps and tools) do you still get the crashes?
4) Start the machine and ENSURE you don't have an internet connection. Play an offline game for 1/2 hour to 1 hour - do you still get the crashes?

We will find your problem

[skruttis]

I dont have a firewall but I do have an anti virus program (NOD 32) Im scanning right now to see if Ive got any infections but I dont think I do, usually very carefull. I play quake3 fine, I can play that forever without any crashes, online though. Do you mean any other game offline? By the way I updated all the security patches on windows update aswell

[dazman76]

Hmm, you really should run a firewall. Virus programs don't stop all threats, and RPC attacks will happen whether you're careful or not - they are well hidden, and require no interaction from the user to spread.

Are you running Windows XP? You may have a firewall active, but just don't know it. Even with the latest windows updates, you *should* be running a firewall, even if it's the built-in XP one (which is actually quite good for a software firewall).

[mmatto]

Trying out with more powerful PSU would be good idea. If nothing else, to rule out one possible problem. Especially if you have installed or upgraded new 3d card to older computer or to setup that did not have powerful 3d accelerator by default. Those kind of setups may very well have underpowered PSU for new 3d cards.

[skruttis]

I dont have a more powerfull PSU at my disposal so thats a small problem and my friend said that it shouldnt be a problem for me, the PSU I mean. The comp is pretty up to date.

I scanned my computer and found no viruses at all. Yeah Ive got windows xp but Ive always got the firewall turned off casue its been bugging me, haha. But I will take your advice and turn it on and see if I notice any difference. Thanks for all the help and support guys, I appreciate it!