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PC shutting down all of sudden... o_O

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 10:09 pm
by winky28
Hi guys, these are my system specs:
amd 3000+ xp 64
768 ram (512 of same brand and another 256 from another brand) ddr 400
radeon 9800 pro

well this has been occuring alot lately... my pc all of sudden seems to "shut down" - it doesn't really shut down the comp is still up but the screen closes and short after the sound is gone too... and am unable to do anything to get out of this... so i have to restart everytime... i'm playing WoW, UT2k4 and Ryzom... in wow it happens after about 4-5 hours, ryzom like 3 and ut2k4 also like 3... i was wondering where the problem comes from since i can't locate it... my pc is protected with an anti-virus program and lots of anti spyware programs... recently defragged and did a disk check... one of the latest ati drivers... and that's about it... the 2 possibilties i think of are the r9800pro heating up and therefore shuts down the screen, but then again the sound is short after gone as well... and all i have to do is a simple restart to play another 3-5 hours... so i doubt it's the card... cuz if it was really the card... i would have been unable to open my pc for a few more minutes... my 2nd theory is the ram... i think this started occuring since i got my additional 256 ram... i'm not sure if it is really the problem, therefore i need your help guys... thanks :O

Re: PC shutting down all of sudden... o_O

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 11:02 pm
by hans1976
It is several things at once. First off, if it happens in all games, it obviously is a hardware failure.
If it started with the extra RAM, why not take it out and test again?

Even though the game will slow down, let us know if it lives.

Re: PC shutting down all of sudden... o_O

Posted: Sun Jul 24, 2005 11:57 pm
by benjouu
Try playing with your tower case open to see if it's heat related.

Re: PC shutting down all of sudden... o_O

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 12:59 am
by spacecow
sounds like a bios problem - try reseting it

Re: PC shutting down all of sudden... o_O

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 2:17 am
by ajsuk
hans1976 wrote:It is several things at once. First off, if it happens in all games, it obviously is a hardware failure.
If it started with the extra RAM, why not take it out and test again?

Even though the game will slow down, let us know if it lives.

Would be my suggestion also.. Sounds like a RAM problem.
Try and think what you've done to your PC recently and role back/test out things one by one.

- On a side note:
Something I've experienced which gave me graphics problems such as yours is not having the MS .Net framework installed for the new ATI CATALYST Control Center. This can be found on the ATI driver download page here under 'Notes'. This prolly doesn't solve your audio problem tho.

Re: PC shutting down all of sudden... o_O

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 9:58 am
by winky28
spacecow wrote:sounds like a bios problem - try reseting it
how do u reset a bios?

on a side of note:
i've been flashing my bios now and then, i have an abit kv8 pro and there's a program from abit called FlashMenu which allows u to flash ur bios in 1 click from windows, tho in the settings u can choose if u want to clear the CMOS, and i've never picked that... u think i should? what does that mean if i clear the CMOS i'm a total bios flashing noob that's why i use this 1 step program :O

Re: PC shutting down all of sudden... o_O

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 10:04 am
by winky28
ajsuk wrote:Would be my suggestion also.. Sounds like a RAM problem.
Try and think what you've done to your PC recently and role back/test out things one by one.

- On a side note:
Something I've experienced which gave me graphics problems such as yours is not having the MS .Net framework installed for the new ATI CATALYST Control Center. This can be found on the ATI driver download page here under 'Notes'. This prolly doesn't solve your audio problem tho.
There used to be a program that test your ram, memtest or something, i'll try downloading it and run a test... also i'll try to plug out the newer mem... erm... now to the next thing, i do have MS .net framework installed, but i don't have ATI Catalyst control center as i like to keep it simple, so i just use a normal control center... that also uses less resources ;o anyhow i've just deleted the ms .net framework... will see if it will do any changes... and accroding to the audio problem... i have no audio problem.. the problem is the pc "shuts down" it's just that the screen shuts first and then the sound few seconds later, which i find odd... so i'm not sure where the problem comes from.

Re: PC shutting down all of sudden... o_O

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 10:10 am
by rabcaz
Hi

Im not sure if it has any addition, though there is a known bug with VIAKT800 chipset and ATI RADEON 9700pro ( I know since I had that problem myself, changed to a motherboard with NForce chipset )
It resulted in the computer hanging, first the screen, then a total systemhang. But as some suggest, make a RAM test, unplug it and try playing again. Might even be hardware issues between the two RAM brands.

Clearing CMOS means resetting all BIOS settings to factory default, it wont harm your computer unless you have some kind of special settings to get it working. (It would be more troublesome if BIOS was cleared ;) )

I hope that you will get your problem sorted out my friend.

Re: PC shutting down all of sudden... o_O

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 10:23 am
by dazman76
Memory Testing

One of your best bets for memory testing is Memtest86, or Memtest86+ - URL is http://www.memtest.org/ for memtest86+, which is more modern. Giving you instructions for these programs is beyond the scope of a forum post - you'll need to have a good read of the instructions on the site.

BIOS Reset

As a rule, you should always reset your BIOS to default settings after flashing a new version. The new version may have different settings, or your old settings could be invalid with the new BIOS version.

This is not straightforward though - as Drakfot mentioned, there could be special settings in your BIOS which you need to keep in order to run correctly, and these might be changed when you clear the BIOS settings. Again, instructing you with that is beyond a forum post here - if you don't know what you're doing with the BIOS, find someone who does and is willing to do the update for you. At the least, you'll be able to blame them when nothing works :)

BIOS changes should not be undertaken lightly if you're not comfortable with low-level workings of a PC.

Re: PC shutting down all of sudden... o_O

Posted: Mon Jul 25, 2005 10:33 am
by hans1976
I am sorry to be silly, but flashing your bios? Is that sitting in front of your screen naked? For me, I stay as far from the bios as possible as my first comp was a machine that ran in turbomode at 8Mhz (normal 4Mhz) and that was killed when fiddling in the bios (or what is was called back then)...