ahhh

[t009xv]

So, I just got a new computer, and it just turns off sometimes. It does it every time i play the Battlefield 2 Demo, and just did it when I tryed playing America's Army, and it did it like once when I was on the internet. Anyone have any answers please?

[Crimson Sky]

sounds like thermal protection on the CPU is shutting you down for overheating. Get a better heatsink.

is it a hard shutdown with no warning? where did you get the PC from? give us some specs so we can help ya out.

[t009xv]

Yea, no warning at all. Got the computer from ibuypower, and the specs are...
AMD Athlon Duel Core 4200+
Dual 7600 GS 512s
2GB Hard drive
320 GB memory
PSU is 550 watts.
The temperature isnt really that high when it shuts down, its usually around like 38 degrees celcius, and im pretty sure its been at higher and hasnt shut down. Is 38 degrees high for when im playing games?

[Cevinzol]

38 degrees shold be ok.
Check in your controll panel. Look in your power options. maybe it has a hibernate setting turned on. There's also a setting in most BIOS chips to do the same thing.

check your startup folder and your run key in the registry. maybe there is a TSR messing it up.

[simon275]

Open the case up and check for loose power connectors.

Like on the mobo and the hdd It has happened to me before.

[AKA_RA]

i dont know if it would be the cause of a complete system shut down, but you might want to check your video card temps as well. which 7600GS did you get? i noticed that a lot of the ones availible on newegg do not have active cooling. if you have insufficient air circulation, they might heat up pretty good, especially on something like BF2

[Crimson Sky]

Hmmm..video cards I think would throttle down way before causing a shut down. Perhaps a keyboard key is bound to the hibernate/shutdown function?

[slytherock]

the 550W PSU, Branded name, or generic?

[b4i7]

check thermal paste on the heatsink....i had a similar problem once...

[t009xv]

b4i7, what exactly do you mean? I dont know a whole lot about computer stuff.


Now its shutting down when I play the Call of Duty 2 demo, and the temperature is barely 30 degrees when this happens... I dont think it had anything to do with the system requirements or graphics for the games that im playing, because I play Counter-Strike Source, Half-Life 2 Episode 1, WarRock, Dark Messiah, and the Condemned demo with everything at high and no problems at all.

[ESX]

He means that you should take off your CPU cooler and check if theres thermal paste on the bottom of it, and if its dry or not. If its missing or dry, buy AS5 and apply just a little bit on it.

[Aero]

or, if you bought a warrenty, just call up tech support (when you have time, this might take awhile) and see if they can help. Usually its nice to do things yourself, but if you bought from a company, it might be cheaper to go through them the "right" way. Thats what I did when I fried my mobo, it cost me $0, but about 4 hours of my time total. So that might be a good choice if your tight on money or are worried about your technical knowledge.

[monoflap]

Sounds a lot like a virus to me.

[AKA_RA]

Aero said it best. If you got a warranty, use it while you can. All to often do I find myself with a dead piece of hardware in my hands as I wish I hadn't fussed with it so much trying to get it to work.

EDIT: Also, where are you getting temp readings from? You may be accidentally reading the case temp and not the CPU temp. 30celcius sounds pretty good for any CPU running a game.

[Omega]

Psh, 30c is nothing. I can safely run my CPU at up to 56c (but it's normally at 42c or so), which is 138f. Pretty hot, but nothing is going wrong here.

It might be something wrong with windows -- I used to play UT2k3 on my other rig (P4 3.06GHz, 1gb Corsair XMS RAM, ATi Radeon 9800Pro) and it would crash occasionally.

[t009xv]

Alright I guess I'll call the place I bought it, ibuypower. And AKA_RA, where do I find the CPU temperature? Im pretty sure im reading the case temperature, the one in front of the case.

[simon275]

Use speed fan it is great.

http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php

[AKA_RA]

the one in front of the case? i assume that means you have a case with a sensor reading on the front, which is most likely not the CPU temp. unless someone took a thermal probe and stuck it on the CPU. You should check your bios before playing any games, or trying to. If your CPU is the source of the problem, and its heat related, you might do some irreversible damage to the poor thing. I would call up ibuypower and demand retribution!!!... *cough* ...i mean, ask nicely for a customer service rep. ^_^

[t009xv]

How do I check my bios?

[Crimson Sky]

How do I check my bios?


this statement tells me your first step is to call the folks who built it for you. :eek:

[Indybird]

First, I'd say go for tech support because you should use your warranty, but watch out for IBuyPower tech support-its one of the worst I've ever dealt with.

Second, what graphics card do you have? If its ATI and you have earlier than Catalyst 6.00 then that might be the problem; they fixed a bunch of compatibility errors. The newest one, I believe is Catalyst 6.11. You can get it off of ATI's website: www.ati.amd.com

Hope that helps,
Indybird

[Maz]

That sounds familiar actually, but mine was weirder. It only shut down after i minimized Call of Duty 2 opened Winamp, then went back to call of duty 2. but only on special circumstances, I had to be in Multiplayer, playing a game, on pause. If i was in the main menu it was fine....

I just hope something works for you, i never did figure out the problem.

[t009xv]

Yea i'm going to call them later today. My graphics card is nvidia, by the way.