Computer shuts down randomly

I have this problem with my computer that when I play some of the games on my computer (strangely not all of them) my computer shuts down. So I've been checking around on the forums when I came across someone saying "Check your device manager if there is any yellow ! marks"
So when I checked I found a Yellow mark on my storagedirectordevice thing, "A9B8T7ST IDE Controller" but I don't know what this does. It says that the driver is out of date but I can't update it either. What should I do? (By the way, the games did run smoothly before but a while ago the computer started to shut down and the inside is clean)

Some computer information
Service Pack : Windows vista Home premium (not best for gaming I know) Service pack 2
Processor : Intel(r)Core(TM) 2 Quad CPU Q9950 @ 2.83GHz 2.83GHz
64-bit operative
Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280
Motherboard : Gamersrepublic (not sure which or if it makes any difference to this problem)

My computer is kinda old (4years maybe)

Thanks in advance.

 

Welcome Miloo.

When ever I read someone asking why their pc "Shuts down randomly while gaming" the same alarm bells ring.
I personally don't think it's got anything to do with the missing driver from your IDE controller, but you should be able to find and download it from your motherboard manufacturers website or it should be on the disc you may have got.

But as far as your problem, heat is a likely issue.

Download and install this ...

http://majorgeeks.com/Speccy_d6358.html

start it up and record the temperatures of your CPU and GPU. Then fire up a game that often crashes and play for a couple of minutes and then minimize and record the temps again. Then post your findings.

I'm also pretty sure Speccy will tell you what model of motherboard you have, that will possibly help with the driver issue.

 

I've been checking the temperatures while playing games like HoN and CS:S and I noticed that my GPU and CPU were extremely hot, it went up and down between 75-85*C which I think is kinda hot... What can I do to solve the problem?

 

Well that's not that for of a stretch for your GPU, high for CPU.
Although if you put something with more stress on it, a more heavy duty game then it could push it to crash.
Having said that you said it's 4 years old which generally means the peak temp resistance to GPU more so than CPU is lower and heats up faster and hotter than it would have when new.

But it could be your CPU maxing out also.

What to do about it depends on your skill/knowledge level.

First thing to do would be to clean the inside of the case and concentrate cleaning of the heat sinks on both CPU and GPU.

Then run the tests again.

Do you have any kind of cooling system?
Case fans or Liquid?
I'm sure you have at least 2 case fans, you might want to think about putting in as many as you can without altering or buying a new case.
If you do have several fans, how do you have them set up? (Meaning which ones blow in and which ones blow out) You want a somewhat even mix, the argument to whether to have positive or negative air pressure rages on, but as a rule of thumb, more air pushed in will result in better cooling but more dust build up and vise versa with exhaust.

As for your CPU, if the cleaning and fans don't work but it still runs hot you might want to clean and change out the thermal paste, if you do not know what I'm talking about then you probably shouldn't attempt it.

That's all I got for now.

Edit: Afterthought, it is also possible your PSU is on the way out, less likely I think but while we're on the subject I thought I'd mention it. If your PSU is starting to fail then when you fire up a game and your CPU/GPU go to ludicrous speed, they pull more power, if the PSU is not as strong as it once was it might not be able to supply that power. But for now I'd go with the heat tests as they are much easier unless you have a decent PSU laying around you can use for a test.

 

Okay, well thanks for all the help If I don't manage to fix this now with all the help you've given me I'll probably call my friend who was the one who put the whole computer together and hope maybe he'll know what to do. Thank you so much