PC restarts while playing games

Zenbaas said:
Having had similar problems mine is on the psu:p
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i only had one case a long time ago where the psu was at fault causing reboots, apperently it was because it didn't supply a stable 12v to the mobo. after replacing the psu the problem just went away. but this occured more in a set range of elapsed time vs the randomness the op described which maked me tend to think its more that it is the gpu with its wonderious implementation of varying speeds to "safe" energy. (red not so good after all heh)
 
Stickfigure said:
Hi all.

I have a rather irritating problem atm. Whenever I play a game my PC restarts. Sometimes I can play for an hour without it restarting and other times I'll play for 5 minutes and my PC restarts. I have tried numerous OS (XP, vista, 7) and my PC has restarted in all of them.

I'm pretty sure it's the graphics card but I'm not 100% sure. I have a 4870 and I've checked the temps which are in the 40's so I know it's not overheating. My PC is absolutely fine when I'm on my desktop, listening to music, watching a movie etc. When my PC restarts then screen goes blank and the graphics card fan turns down.

Any suggestions?
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Hmm. I have a very similar problem. When playing some games my machine freezes and the last audio played (a fraction of a second) repeats in a stutter and the screen goes grey or is filled with grey lines until I power off the machine. This happens in newer games (UT3, L4D, COD4) that tax the system. 3DSMARK 06 also causes this problem. Older or less taxing games (C&C4) are fully playable.

My specs:

mboard = ASUS P5Q
gpu = XFX 4850 XXX
PSU = 520W Coolermaster

I suspected the PSU was too weak since I'm also running 8 hard drives in bays (and Budget Technology's techs agreed) so I replaced it with a 700W ThermalTake ... R2,000 later the problem was still there. :mad:

I put an old ATI X800 in the machine and I can game to my heart's content. Everything is playable. I've returned the 4850 card to the dealer; feedback to date is that the card works perfectly and they'll do a firmware update on the card. I'll repost here if their firmware update fixes the issue.
 
Thanks Masti.

Like I said I don't want to buy a new psu and find out I still have the problem. My friend has said he will test my graphics card out for me.
 
also struggling... my got a new card last week and the PC restarts when playing GRAW, Rainbow Six and Far Cry..
 
Ok I am almost positive that it is the graphics card.

Installed Windows 7 a few hours ago and decided to rate my computer. When it got to the graphics card test my screen went black and the pc restarted.

Bummer :/
 
Update: the firmware update done to my 4850 seems to have resolved my issue. 3DSMark 06 now runs through without a problem and I played CoD4 for a few hours last night without one freeze.

Based on this I suggest you get the card's firmware updated.
 
masticore said:
Update: the firmware update done to my 4850 seems to have resolved my issue. 3DSMark 06 now runs through without a problem and I played CoD4 for a few hours last night without one freeze.

Based on this I suggest you get the card's firmware updated.
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im glad you got it all sorted out, nice one! :D

weird... I find this really weird... Do you have the model of the card? I wanna look it up on the net
 
...as i pointed out earlier to this is a known fact for the 4xxxx series. even the 3xxxx had some of it; all related to the "powerplay bug"
 
Ok quick update from my friends house. I'm posting from my phone so excuse the layout.

So i first put my 4870 into my friends pc. Installed the drivers and played cod4 with no restarts.

I then put my friends 9600gt into my pc and played cod4 with no restarts.

I then plugged my 4870 back into my pc and played cod4 with no restarts. Also rated my computer with no restarts.

I wonder if it's going something to do with our monitors (i have a 20" wide and he has a 17") although i highly doubt it. I remember when i still had my 8600gt, i one day turned on my pc but the screen remained blank. Long story short the card was finished. Plugged in a different card and everything worked. So just for fun i plugged my 8600gt back in again and it worked. I wonder if this is a similiar case. Maybe by plugging my friends card in i have fixed mine :)

I will test a few more games when i get home and post back.
 
masticore said:
Update: the firmware update done to my 4850 seems to have resolved my issue. 3DSMark 06 now runs through without a problem and I played CoD4 for a few hours last night without one freeze.

Based on this I suggest you get the card's firmware updated.
Click to expand...

Holy crap - i didnt know u can update graphic card firmware!! :eek: /runs off home to check if there is a newer version of his card...
 
Yeah kill.

I had taking the card out and put it back in a few times but i guess putting in another card did the trick.

I'll also try updating the firmware when i get home.
 
killadoob said:
Sometimes you just need re-seat your hardware, hope it's fixed now.
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how many times I have wished that this would be true :sick:

last weekend my Creative Labs 24bit sound card decided that it was time to die... Was swapping some stuff around in my PC, and put it back in and fired up my PC.. and no sound! :(

popped it into another system and also nothing... sucks! :(
 
Hey masti.

What program did you use to flash your bios? I downloaded the latest bios for my flash and when I oad it in winflash it says I have the latest bios and then my pc freezes.

Any ideas? I doubt that the bios has remained the same since the card was released. If so is it safe to use say a Sapphire or Asus bios?
 
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