Random crashes.

**s.rwitt** · March 24, 2010, 05:19 PM

About 15-20 mins into any game I play my computer crashes and restarts with no explanation once it reboots.

Is there any way I can figure out what's causing the problem?

EDIT: It doesn't crash when playing Call of Duty, which I installed with a disk, but only while playing Tropico 3 or ETW, which were both gotten through steam.

**Jaketh** · March 24, 2010, 06:35 PM

moniter your processor and graphic card temps, ETW and Tropico are very demanding games

**s.rwitt** · March 24, 2010, 07:38 PM

How do I do that? And how would I fix it were that the case?

**Freddie** · March 24, 2010, 07:47 PM

Originally Posted by s.rwitt

How do I do that? And how would I fix it were that the case?

Use speedfan to measure temps and if it is heat then it's most likely due to a dust build up around the fans and heatsinks which can be cleared by using compressed air.

**s.rwitt** · March 24, 2010, 08:40 PM

hmmm, I just had all of that sprayed out. Would it help if I took off the sides?

Also, what's an average temp?

**Top-Tier-Tech** · March 24, 2010, 09:27 PM

Average depends on the system, if a component goes over 85c you've got problems, under that... not so much.

**s.rwitt** · March 25, 2010, 05:36 PM

Well, I've used speedfan and just before the last crash the highest temp was 38C. I just don't get it.

**Freddie** · March 25, 2010, 07:14 PM

Originally Posted by s.rwitt

Well, I've used speedfan and just before the last crash the highest temp was 38C. I just don't get it.

Well IF it is a temp issue then it's either your CPU or video card or it could be a faulty PSU with a unstable 12v rail.

To test the CPU run Prime95 and see if your PC crashes after 20mins of running this non stop.

To test the video card run the Artifact scan tool in ATitools again do this for 20mins and note the restults.

If both these test pass run both at the same time which will help stress the PSU and if that crashes then it points to a faulty 12v rail on the PSU.

If that works as well then your not looking at a hardware fault which is good news in as much you don't need to get anything replaced, you might just want to look at formatting your hard drive and resinstalling Windows and see if that fixes the problem. I know it sounds drastic but you could spend hours and hours trying to locate the cause when it's faster just to back everything up and reinstall everything.

**mrmouth** · March 25, 2010, 08:48 PM

None of this

is easy, or fun. It is more like a drill to the brain...

If you took your PC to a pro, they would read your dump file that would be generated every time it crashed, and then nail it down. Makes it sound a lot easier than it is...

Honestly, you need to get in contact with the clown who put in the motherboard and get him to fix it, once and for all.

**s.rwitt** · March 25, 2010, 09:20 PM

Thanks Freddie, I'll give it a try.

None of this

is easy, or fun. It is more like a drill to the brain...

You're right about that. Talk about stressful...

Honestly, you need to get in contact with the clown who put in the motherboard and get him to fix it, once and for all.

Yeah, you're right here too. He finally called me today, said something about having family trouble which I believe. He's got alot going on and this was just a side deal to help me out so I don't want to be too pushy.

As of now it's been running for four hours or so while running a game and has run flawlessly. It seems it likes to crash once, crash again within 15 minutes and then cooperate for the rest of the day. It's driving me nuts.