[MR0624]

A few months ago, I reformatted my computer. I immediately installed nod32, and only installed trustworthy software so I'm rather sure my problems aren't from a software issue.

Anyways, when I play games, mainly Counter strike source, my computer will crash. After an hour or two of playing, the whole computer freezes and the graphics look really strange. Then, I'll turn off the computer using the button, and try turning it on again. Half the time, I just turn it on again and everything's fine, and I'm playing again until it crashes an hour later or so.

However, sometimes, I'll try starting the computer and I'll hear a few really loud beeps. Then, the computer will sound and act like it's starting up, but nothing shows up on the monitor.

I think my graphics card may be overheating. I installed speedfan and looked at the current temperatures as I'm running only firefox and steam (with no games open). I'll do another reading with games open in a bit, but it looks already as if the temperatures are very high. I'm going to purchase some of the dusting stuff too since I haven't done that in a long time.

Here's my readings while just using firefox and steam.



After 20 minutes of playing Counter Strike Source with firefox and xfire running.




Processor:
Intel® Core™2 Duo CPU E8400 @ 3.00GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory:
3070MB RAM
Hard Drive:
320 GB
Video Card:
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX

Running xp professional

Edited by MR0624, 21 August 2009 - 12:54 PM.

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Hello MR0624.... Welcome to GeeksToGo,

I'm sorry to hear about your issue. We will try to help you resolve this as soon as possible.
Please understand we are all volunteers and we are not here all the time. Sometimes it may be a extended amount of time to get back to you. If it has been more then 3 days please shoot me a PM and I will try to get to quickly then.


Download and install Free Everest Home Edition
Open it.
1: In left pane expand Computer folder.
2: Click once on Summary
3: In upper menu, go Report
4: And then to Quick Report-Summary
5: Save it in text file, and paste it in your next post.
6: Also in the left pane click on Sensors and in the right pane...copy an paste the readings in your next reply


DO NOT INCLUDE ANYTHING UNDER THE LINE THAT SAYS "DEBUG- PCI"

[rshaffer61]

Hello MR0624.... Welcome to GeeksToGo,

I'm sorry to hear about your issue. We will try to help you resolve this as soon as possible.
Please understand we are all volunteers and we are not here all the time. Sometimes it may be a extended amount of time to get back to you. If it has been more then 3 days please shoot me a PM and I will try to get to quickly then.


Download and install Free Everest Home Edition
Open it.
1: In left pane expand Computer folder.
2: Click once on Summary
3: In upper menu, go Report
4: And then to Quick Report-Summary
5: Save it in text file, and paste it in your next post.
6: Also in the left pane click on Sensors and in the right pane...copy an paste the readings in your next reply


DO NOT INCLUDE ANYTHING UNDER THE LINE THAT SAYS "DEBUG- PCI"

[MR0624]

Computer report:

--------[ EVEREST Home Edition © 2003-2005 Lavalys, Inc. ]------------------------------------------------------------

Version EVEREST v2.20.405
Homepage http://www.lavalys.com/
Report Type Quick Report
Computer JASON
Generator Admin
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.1.2600 (WinXP Retail)
Date 2009-08-21
Time 19:04


--------[ Summary ]-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional
OS Service Pack Service Pack 2
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)
Computer Name JASON
User Name Admin

Motherboard:
CPU Type Intel Pentium III Xeon, 3000 MHz (7 x 429)
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset Unknown
System Memory 3072 MB
BIOS Type Award (03/05/08)
Communication Port Communications Port (COM1)
Communication Port Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX (768 MB)
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (FK28569SG4NL)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter Creative SB X-Fi [NoDB]

Storage:
IDE Controller NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller
IDE Controller NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
SCSI/RAID Controller MagicISO SCSI Host Controller
Floppy Drive Floppy disk drive
Disk Drive ST332062 0AS SCSI Disk Device (298 GB)
Optical Drive MagicISO Virtual DVD-ROM0000
Optical Drive PIONEER DVD-RW DVR-111D
Optical Drive SONY DVD-ROM DDU1615 (16x/48x DVD-ROM)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 305234 MB (256643 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard HID Keyboard Device
Keyboard HID Keyboard Device
Keyboard HID Keyboard Device
Mouse HID-compliant mouse

Network:
Network Adapter NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller (10.0.1.200)

Peripherals:
Printer HP OfficeJet K60
Printer Send To OneNote 2007
USB1 Controller Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller [NoDB]
USB2 Controller Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller [NoDB]
USB Device Generic USB Hub
USB Device Razer Copperhead USB Mouse
USB Device USB Audio Device
USB Device USB Composite Device
USB Device USB Composite Device
USB Device USB Composite Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device
USB Device USB Human Interface Device


Sensors Report:

--------[ EVEREST Home Edition © 2003-2005 Lavalys, Inc. ]------------------------------------------------------------

Version EVEREST v2.20.405
Homepage http://www.lavalys.com/
Report Type Quick Report
Computer JASON
Generator Admin
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Professional 5.1.2600 (WinXP Retail)
Date 2009-08-21
Time 19:04


--------[ Sensor ]------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sensor Properties:
Sensor Type ITE IT8712F (ISA 290h)
GPU Sensor Type Driver (NV-DRV)

Temperatures:
Motherboard 48 °C (118 °F)
CPU 8 °C (46 °F)
Aux 50 °C (122 °F)
GPU 66 °C (151 °F)
Seagate ST3320620AS 32 °C (90 °F)

Cooling Fans:
CPU 9000 RPM

Voltage Values:
CPU Core 1.14 V
+2.5 V 3.12 V
+5 V 5.00 V
+12 V 12.03 V
+5 V Standby 4.95 V
VBAT Battery 3.10 V
Debug Info F 4B 3D FF
Debug Info T 50 48 08
Debug Info V 47 C3 00 BA BC 00 3C (F7)

[rshaffer61]

CPU temp is strange
MOBO temp is not good.

Download WhoCrashed from the link in my signature below
This program checks for any drivers which may have been causing your computer to crash....

Click on the file you just downloaded and run it.
Put a tick in Accept then click on Next
Put a tick in the Don't create a start menu folder then click Next
Put a tick in Create a Desktop Icon then click on Install and make sure there is a tick in Launch Whocrashed before clicking Finish
Click Analyze
It will want to download the Debugger and install it Say Yes

WhoCrashed will create report but you have to scroll down to see it
Copy and paste it into your next reply

[MR0624]

Crash dump directory: C:\WINDOWS\Minidump

Crash dumps are enabled on your computer.


No crash dumps have been found on your computer

[rshaffer61]

So it seems we are not having a driver problem then.

Let's try the next steps and see what shows up.

Go to
Start and then to Run
Type in Chkdsk /r Note the space between k and /
Click Enter ...It will probably ask if you want to do this on the next reboot...click Y

If the window doesn't shutdown on its own then reboot the system manually. On reboot the system will start the chkdsk operation
This one will take longer then chkdsk /f

Note... there are 5 stages...
It may appear to hang at a certain percent for a hour or more or even back up and go over the same area...this is normal...
DO NOT SHUT YOUR COMPUTER DOWN WHILE CHKDSK IS RUNNING OR YOU CAN HAVE SEVERE PROBLEMS
This can take several hours to complete.
When completed it will boot the system back into windows.

Let me know if this fixes the problem

[MR0624]

At first, I thought this had solved the problem as I was able to play for several hours without a problem. I didn't post back because I wanted to give it a few days. Sure enough, after playing about 40 minutes today, the graphics started not necessarily to freeze and then update every 5-10 seconds. I closed the game, and the problem was fixed temporarily, but to check for overheating I looked at the sensors section on everest. My GPU was at 77 celcius. I figured this is too high and I shut off the computer for about 30 minutes to let it cool down.

Now, it won't start up (as normally happens sometimes when it crashes) and it's giving me 1 long beep and 3 short beeps on start up, every time I try.

If I keep trying, it will probably eventually boot as normal, but the problem isn't fixed =[

[MR0624]

Got the computer to boot again, so if we need to run more tests or whatever, that's possible atm.

[rshaffer61]

How to Interpret Computer Error Beep Codes

When the computer makes those funny sound via the system speaker, it's not doing it because it wants to be heard.
The computer is trying to talk to the operator/technician and tell them what's wrong.

Beep Codes:

No Beeps: Short, No power, Bad CPU/MB, Loose Peripherals

One Beep: Everything is normal and Computer Posted fine

Two Beeps: POST/CMOS Error

One Long Beep, One Short Beep: Motherboard Problem

One Long Beep, Two Short Beeps: Video Problem

One Long Beep, Three Short Beeps: Video Problem

Three Long Beeps: Keyboard Error

Repeated Long Beeps: Memory Error

Continuous Hi-Lo Beeps: CPU Overheating


Thanks to alandemartino for this tutorial.

Sounds like the video card is for sure overheating.
how old is your system?
Is it a name brand?
Make and model
Have you ever cleaned the inside of it out?

[stettybet0]

Try increasing the GPU fan speed to 100% through the NVIDIA Control Panel:

• Right-click on the desktop, and select NVIDIA Control Panel.
• Then, select Device settings under the Performance heading.
• Select the GPU tab from the top row of pictures.
• Change the Geforce GPU (under the Cooling heading) to 100%.

Do you experience any crashing while gaming with the GPU fan speed set to 100%?

[Broni]

Your computer is definitely overheating, and this issue has to be solved first.
E8400 max temp is listed as 72.4° C
While gaming, your CPU temps are at 63C, which is not tragic yet, but what worries me is idle temp at 55C. Too high.
Same situation with video card. They can withstand higher temps than CPU, but again 77C while idle is too high.

When did you clean the case inside for the last time?

[stettybet0]

You definitely can't trust the numbers SpeedFan gives on newer systems. On the voltage end, it has the 3.3V rail putting out 0.00V, the -12V at 16.97V, and Vcore2 at 3.12V. (I'm not sure what Vcore2 is even referring to, as the entire Core 2 Duo receives the same voltage from the same source, but if 3.12V was going through a Core 2 Duo, it would die immediately.)

As far as temperatures go, SpeedFan is also usually off. The newer the CPU, the more off it tends to be. Download CoreTemp to see real CPU temperatures.

[Broni]

I have to disagree.
I have no clue about voltages, but regarding temperatures, SpeedFan readings are usually good enough to detect the problem. Sometimes labeling is not correct, but this can be easily checked by using some other program.
So far, I didn't have any serious problems with SpeedFan readings, even with newer systems.

Actually, on my desktop, and my laptop, CoreTemp readings are 15-20C off, comparing to almost exactly same readings coming from SpeedFan, Everest Ultimate, and RightMark CPU.

[stettybet0]

SpeedFan reads most Core 2 Duo/Quad temperatures incorrectly without recalibration. I stated the wrong program earlier, I actually meant RealTemp (similar names ). RealTemp also includes a feature to test for faulty sensors which are common in 45nm Core 2 Duos (such as the OP's CPU) which causes the idle temperature to report as being above 50C, even though it isn't.

[MR0624]

I'm leaving in a few minutes to pick up a can of air. I haven't cleaned it out in like a year, so this will probably help. I may also buy one more fan (I've got enough space for another).

Here's my temps taken with Real Temp. The sensor detection test thing didn't work, it required some other file that wasn't included in the .zip.

While just using firefox :



After 15 minutes of Counter Strike Source :