[2kinetic2]

Hi,

I have a hardware problem, which causes the pc to restart, this occurs almost exclusivly when playing games and seems to be worse when it is hot, or more likely to occur if its just occured before (e.g. playing a game it might go 20 mins then reboot, but play it again immediatley after and it will probably go about 10 mins).
Its definitely a hardware problem as I had it before and have just reformated my h/d to upgrade to xp and still have the problem. So it seems very likely to me that it is caused by overheating and i suspect my graphics card. The blue screen of death that it went to before when crashing, would often but not always list nv4disp.dll, which is a nvidia driver file. However the windows error report says

http://oca.microsoft...63db431&SID=134

Could the problem still be the graphics card (Geforce 4 Mx 128mb), and is this type known for overheating?

If I can determine the graphics card as the problem, I'll get a new one now, but seeing as my computer is fairly low-end at the moment and I'm likely to get a new one in probably about a year, should I get a decent one as a sort of investment (and then put it in my new computer when I get one) like a Geforce 6600GT (which my pc at the moment wont make full use of), or just get something mid-range, like a radeon9000 series.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Thanks.

[Advertisements]

to test if it's a temp thing...open the side of the case and put a fan next to it....or if possible have it next to an air conditioner...if it doesn't crash while there is adequate ventilation and coolling..then that's not the problem

[dsenette]

to test if it's a temp thing...open the side of the case and put a fan next to it....or if possible have it next to an air conditioner...if it doesn't crash while there is adequate ventilation and coolling..then that's not the problem

[2kinetic2]

*shameless bump*

For the first time in ages it crashed from windows not during a game) yesterday, does this rule out the graphics card or could it be that anyway? I was running a fair number of apps at the time.

I've tried turning off automatic restart to see if I can get a clue about the problem but it rebooted anway.

[dsenette]

start > run, type
eventvwr.msc
<enter>

Look under systems and applications for items with red Xs that happened at the SAME time as your problem...list them here.

[2kinetic2]

There don't appear to be any red xs at the time of my most recent crah. There are three information ones, 3 events logs and a save dump at about the time.

I have tried debugging one of the minidumps, which is attached. ntoskrnl.exe appears to be listed, but as I said I know it is a hardware problem because, I've had it before and after reformating my harddrive.

Attached Files

•  minidump.TXT   4.93KB   138 downloads

[dsenette]

If the ntoskrnl.exe file is corrupt or missing this can also generate the error. To restore this file follow the below steps.

Insert the Microsoft Windows XP CD. Note: If you have a recovery CD or a restore CD and not a Microsoft Windows XP CD it is likely the below steps will not resolve your issue.
Reboot the computer, as the computer is starting you should see a message to press any key to boot from the CD. When you see this message press any key.
In the Microsoft Windows XP setup menu press the R key to enter the recovery console.
Select the operating system you wish to fix, and then enter the administrator password.
Type expand d:\i386\ntoskrnl.ex_ c:\windows\system32
You will then be prompted if you wish to overwrite the file type Y and press enter to overwrite the file.
Type exit to reboot the computer.


that shold repair the ntoskrnl file

[2kinetic2]

Hmm I've just tried doing this, but again suffered the same problem so that appears not to be the actual cause.

Thx for the input though.

Edited by 2kinetic2, 23 November 2005 - 03:26 PM.