[Lori12]

I apologize if this isn't the correct forum, maybe someone can direct me to the correct place.

My pc shuts off and restarts and says "the system has recovered from a serious error" when I play hidden object games that I've downloaded. My older games that aren't as much KB or MB or whatever it's called play fine but the newer, larger games shut the pc down. This is the only time it happens, when I try to play games. I set my firewall to allow them but it didn't help.

I've seen suggestions it could be because the pc fans aren't working or overheating to dust to not enough memory to updating drivers to setting system managed file paging to viruses to re-installing the OS. I regularly delete temp files, defrag, disk clean-up, etc. The fans are working, the pc is clean, I have no extra programs that I don't need (after playing a game I uninstall it). I have 86% free space. This never used to happen but now it happens all the time, it's been doing this for a few months. Could it be a virus? I have basic free AVG 9.0, I thought that would stop or remove viruses, etc.

I can't afford to add memory but when I can if that doesn't help then I don't know what to do except re-install the OS but that won't help if it needs more memory will it? I know next to nothing about computers so I'd really appreciate advice from anyone who can help, thx!

P.S. My pc is a Compaq Presario SR171ONX
256 MB
I use Windows XP

It says "total paging file size for all drives = 344 MB", I set it to "system managed size".
It says "used space = 12.3 GB", "free space = 80.7 GB"

Total memory 256.00 MB
Available physical memory 56.34 MB
Total virtual memory 2.00 GB
Available virtual memory 1.96 GB
Page file space 552.32 MB
Page file C:\pagefile.sys

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Hello Lori12.... Welcome to GeeksToGo,,
I think your problem you have already discovered but do not see.

My older games that aren't as much KB or MB or whatever it's called play fine but the newer, larger games shut the pc down
This is most likely caused buy this:
Total memory 256.00 MB
Works great with the older ones as they don't need much memory to run. The newer ones do.

Go to HERE and run the Crucial online scanner.
This will give you the exact memory configuration for your system.
You do not have to buy the memory from there, but write down the information and if you need assistance in purchasing the upgrade memory GTG can assist with suggestions also.






.

[rshaffer61]

Hello Lori12.... Welcome to GeeksToGo,,
I think your problem you have already discovered but do not see.

My older games that aren't as much KB or MB or whatever it's called play fine but the newer, larger games shut the pc down
This is most likely caused buy this:
Total memory 256.00 MB
Works great with the older ones as they don't need much memory to run. The newer ones do.

Go to HERE and run the Crucial online scanner.
This will give you the exact memory configuration for your system.
You do not have to buy the memory from there, but write down the information and if you need assistance in purchasing the upgrade memory GTG can assist with suggestions also.






.

[rshaffer61]

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.
Click the + by computer, click on Sensor. Get a screenshot and post it so I can check your temps and voltages...

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

[Lori12]

Thx for your reply. I had already checked Crucial for memory, it costs 38 bucks and I don't have it. Do you know if I can get memory anywhere for about $20?

I'll try the Everest suggestion as well.

Again, thx so much!

[rshaffer61]

Post the suggestions Crucial gives and I will try to find some for you

[Lori12]

http://www.crucial.c.....ario SR1710NX

Thx

[rshaffer61]

Take a look HERE
27.00 USG and you might get lucky and get free shipping.

[Lori12]

Thx, you're the best!

[rshaffer61]

Did you get the Everest report done? I don't see it in any of your replies.

Download Speedfan (The download link is to the right), and install it. Once it's installed, run the program and post here the information it shows.
The information I want you to post is the stuff that is circled in the example picture I have attached.
To make sure we are getting all the correct information it would help us if you were to attach a screenshot like the one below of your Speedfan results.

To do a screenshot please have click on your Print Screen on your keyboard.

• It is normally the key above your number pad between the F12 key and the Scroll Lock key
• Now go to Start and then to All Programs
• Scroll to Accessories and then click on Paint
• In the Empty White Area click and hold the CTRL key and then click the V
• Go to the File option at the top and click on Save as
• Save as file type JPEG and save it to your Desktop
• Attach it to your next reply

Once these are done then we will look at your Autoruns also to see if we can shutdown some of the unneeded programs that are running all the time.

[Lori12]

I'll do the Everest and Speedfan both this evening, I have a dr. appt in a bit so it'll probably be 6 or 7 p.m. by the time I post the results, if that's ok.

[Lori12]

I meant to include in my original post that at least once a day, sometimes more, I get the pop-up message "Windows virtual memory is too low"---if that helps.

See you this evening.

[rshaffer61]

Windows Virtual Memory Low is another side affect of not having enough Ram Memory and should be taken care of with upgrading to 1 gig of memory.
I can give you instructions on how to increase it manually but you would need ot change it again once you put the new memory in. Let me know and no problem with replying back later. I am going to be here for at least another 8 hours. Hopefully everything goes well at your Dr appt.

[Lori12]

Sorry to be so long replying, I fell asleep earlier.



I can give you instructions on how to increase it manually but you would need ot change it again once you put the new memory in.


Ok, so do you want me to not run Everest and Speedfan now, just this part?

[rshaffer61]

Please run the two programs and depending on how long it will take you to purchase the new memory then we can change the settings or not. Let me know and we will continue from there.
Another option is to go through the Autoruns and disable the ones that are not needed. This would allow your existing memory to be freed up for those programs you use all the time.

[Lori12]

I don't see anything with Everest that says Quick Report Summary, just System Summary, is this it?

Computer:
Operating System Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition
OS Service Pack Service Pack 3
DirectX 4.09.00.0904 (DirectX 9.0c)



Motherboard:
CPU Type AMD Sempron, 2000 MHz (10 x 200) 3400+
Motherboard Name Unknown
Motherboard Chipset ATI Radeon Xpress 200, AMD Hammer
System Memory 224 MB (PC3200 DDR SDRAM)
BIOS Type Award (11/15/05)
Communication Port ECP Printer Port (LPT1)

Display:
Video Adapter ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series (128 MB)
Video Adapter ATI RADEON XPRESS 200 Series (128 MB)
3D Accelerator ATI Radeon Xpress 200 (RS480)
Monitor Plug and Play Monitor [NoDB] (PW6054701103)

Multimedia:
Audio Adapter ATI SB400 - AC'97 Audio Controller

Storage:
IDE Controller ATI IDE Controller
IDE Controller Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
Disk Drive Generic USB SD Reader USB Device
Disk Drive Generic USB MS Reader USB Device
Disk Drive Generic USB SM Reader USB Device
Disk Drive Generic USB CF Reader USB Device
Disk Drive Maxtor 6L100M0 (93 GB, IDE)
Optical Drive TSSTcorp CDW/DVD TS-H492C (DVD:16x, CD:52x/32x/52x DVD-ROM/CD-RW)
SMART Hard Disks Status OK

Partitions:
C: (NTFS) 95393 MB (82421 MB free)

Input:
Keyboard Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Mouse PS/2 Compatible Mouse

Network:
Network Adapter Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC (192.168.2.3)
Modem PCI Data Fax SoftModem with SmartCP

Peripherals:
Printer Microsoft XPS Document Writer
USB1 Controller ATI SB400 - USB Controller
USB1 Controller ATI SB400 - USB Controller
USB2 Controller ATI SB400 - USB 2.0 Controller
USB Device USB Mass Storage Device

Edited by Lori12, 31 December 2009 - 11:42 PM.