My Computer Is Shutting Off During Gaming

Discussion in 'Hardware' started by indyattic, Oct 28, 2010.

  1. indyattic

    indyattic Corporal

    Hi - my son's computer shuts down only when he is gaming. We can use word processors and surf the internet with no issues, but when he starts playing online, the system shuts down randomly with no warnings.

    I can't afford a new computer, and I know this could be one of several things...power supply, heat related, etc etc. How can I diagnose it?

    I read some other threads already, and we reformatted the hard drive, reinstalled just a few things, and the problem persists. No firewall or AV right now. Scanned using all the tools in the anti-malware procedures, no malware.

    What now? (I ran Belarc Advisor and my system specs are below.)

    *****
    Windows Vista Home Premium Service Pack 1 (build 6001)
    Gateway FX7020
    Enclosure Type: Desktop


    2.30 gigahertz AMD Phenom 9600 Quad-Core
    256 kilobyte primary memory cache
    1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
    64-bit ready
    Multi-core (4 total)
    Not hyper-threaded
    Board: ECS MCP61PM-GM 2.1
    Bus Clock: 1 megahertz
    BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 12/14/2007
    Drives Memory Modules c,d
    500.11 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
    126.95 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

    MBITGBO Q3G1UJW SCSI CdRom Device [Optical drive]
    Optiarc DVD RW AD-7203A ATA Device [Optical drive]


    c: (NTFS on drive 0) 488.51 GB 122.14 GB free
    d: (NTFS on drive 0) 11.60 GB 4.82 GB free

    Canon MP640 series Printer on CNBJNP_001E8FCCED09
    Microsoft XPS Document Writer on XPSPort:

    IDE Channel [Controller] (2x)
    NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller (2x)
    Standard Dual Channel PCI IDE Controller
    NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT [Display adapter]
    Samsung SyncMaster [Monitor] (22.0"vis, s/n HVBP504552, May 2007)
    Bus Adapters Multimedia
    A8GDD3LE IDE Controller
    Microsoft iSCSI Initiator
    Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller
    Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller
    AVerMedia M791 PCIe Combo NTSC/ATSC
    Generic USB Audio Device
    High Definition Audio Device
    Screaming Bee Audio
    USB Audio Device

    6TO4 Adapter
    Hamachi Network Interface
    primary Auto IP Address: 5.189.123.34 / 8
    Gateway: 5.0.0.1
    Dhcp Server: 5.0.0.1
    Physical Address: 00:23:C3:BD:7B:22
    Microsoft ISATAP Adapter
    NVIDIA nForce 10/100 Mbps Ethernet
    Auto IP Address: 192.168.1.105 / 24
    Gateway: 192.168.1.1
    Dhcp Server: 192.168.1.1
    Physical Address: 00:1E:90:12:51:58
    Teredo Tunneling Pseudo-Interface
    TL-WN321G USB Wireless Adapter
    APIPA Address: 169.254.209.246 / 32
    Dhcp Server: none responded
    Physical Address: 94:0C:6D:E0:12:0E

    Networking Dns Servers: 216.146.35.35
    216.146.36.36
    HID-compliant consumer control device (3x)
    HID-compliant device (3x)
    Microsoft eHome Infrared Transceiver
    USB Human Interface Device (2x)
    Logitech QuickCam E3500
    Microsoft eHome MCIR 109 Keyboard
    Microsoft eHome MCIR Keyboard
    Microsoft eHome Remote Control Keyboard keys
    Standard PS/2 Keyboard
    HID-compliant mouse (2x)
    eHome Infrared Receiver (USBCIR)
    Logitech USB Camera (QuickCam E3500)
    USB Composite Device
    USB Mass Storage Device
    USB Root Hub (2x)
    Generic volume shadow copy
    Microsoft WPD FileSystem Volume Driver (4x)Processor a
    Main Circuit Board b
    2.30 gigahertz AMD Phenom 9600 Quad-Core
    256 kilobyte primary memory cache
    1024 kilobyte secondary memory cache
    64-bit ready
    Multi-core (4 total)
    Board: ECS MCP61PM-GM 2.1
    Bus Clock: 1 megahertz
    BIOS: Phoenix Technologies, LTD 6.00 PG 12/14/2007
    Status: Healthy
    3070 Megabytes Usable Installed Memory

    Slot 'A0' has 1024 MB
    Slot 'A1' has 1024 MB
    Slot 'A2' has 512 MB
    Slot 'A3' has 512 MB

    Local Drive Volumes


    c: (NTFS on drive 0) 488.51 GB 122.14 GB free
    d: (NTFS on drive 0) 11.60 GB 4.82 GB free
     
  2. Caliban

    Caliban I don't need no steenkin' title!

    Greetings, indyattic.

    Couple of quick suggestions: What browser are you using? You might try a different browser, see if your symptoms change.

    Check your Event Viewer at or near the time of the crash, see if anything stands out.

    When you say "the system shuts down randomly with no warnings", are you presented with a blue screen, or does the machine reboot?
    If the latter, try going into Control Panel > System > Advanced system settings > Advanced > Startup and Recovery settings - make sure 'Automatically restart' is not checked, and 'Write debugging information' is set for 'Small memory dump'.

    And: most gaming problems are graphics-related - make sure your chipset and graphics drivers are up to date.
     
  3. Caliban

    Caliban I don't need no steenkin' title!

    As far as temps go, there are a number of good freebie monitoring programs available: SpeedFan comes to mind.
    Of course, you can always look at your BIOS, see if everything's kosher there.
     
  4. Nedlamar

    Nedlamar MajorGeek

    Question, you say it crashes when he plays online, are you reffering to a flash game online or a real online game such as Call Of Duty, World Of Warcraft etc?

    Also is this only online games or all games?

    As for temps etc, as Caliban said you could use speed fan, personally I prefer "Speccy" as it's a bit more in depth.

    If this is happening when all games are played and it's just a power down then I'd say it's likely your power supply, if you are losing picture first and then power down after a few seconds then I'd say it's your graphics card.
    But more info and tests will be needed before a real determination can be made.
     
  5. indyattic

    indyattic Corporal

    Steam games, not flash. Not sure if it dies when he's playing a single player game locally. I'll have to ask him when he gets home from school.

    The system powers down with no warning, but there is something wonky with either the monitor or the graphics card. I hate to muddy the waters with another issue. but on the off chance it might be related....when the monitor is starting up (either from a cold boot or just waking up after pc inactivity) it doesn't power up right. It comes up "jittery," then will go black. The power light stays on though. If I turn the monitor on and off a couple times, eventually it will stay on.

    I installed Speccy, and played a Steam game "Portal" then upped the demand by running a long YouTube video in the background. The temp gauge on the CPU maxxed out at 90C before it shut off. All the fans are running. (With almost no load - just Firefox open - it runs between 74 and 74 C. The side of the box is open right now, because he had a small desk fan blowing across it.

    What next?
     
  6. Nedlamar

    Nedlamar MajorGeek

    Thats a little high on the themps range, not lethal but not good either, if you are brave enough/have enough knowledge and confidence then I would say first thing would be to shut down your PC...
    Unplug it
    Hit the power button to disscharge (you will likely see the pc power up for a breif second)
    Then clean the inside and free everything from dust.
    Especially concentrating on your CPU fan and heat sink (don't remove it, just clean it CAREFULLY with a small paint brush or some such and a can of Air to blow it out)
    Do this with the Graphics card too.

    It's possible you need to replace the Thermal paste on the CPU, but I would leave that to a last resort.

    Once cleaned , check it again.

    It's possible that your CPU is hitting the temp cutoff point, running 90C while playing Portal IMO is far too high, if you had been playing Sims 3 or Total War I could understand but Portal isn't a stress game, especially for your machine.
     
  7. indyattic

    indyattic Corporal

    I took the CPU heat sink off, cleaned it, ran to Radio Shack and bought a brand of thermal paste that seemed to be what the internet recommends, cleaned the old stuff off, put that sucker back on, and now it runs at a cool 43C. :-D My son and I did it together, so he can get familiar with the innards of the computer too.

    Turns out that my son had set the CPU to shut itself off at 90C, which means it was doing exactly what it was supposed to do. (I don't know why he could figure out how to do that and not figure out how to post here to ask for help...)

    I also read somewhere that having the side off the case might actually make it run hotter, so that's back on now.

    I didn't do the graphics card yet, so I'll do that next. I wanted to do one thing at a time - I thought it would make it easier to backtrack in case something went horribly wrong.

    The graphics card is running at about 94C with the same load on it, so tonight we will pull it out and clean it. THen he can play it TF2, which has been making it crash pretty regularly, and we'll see how it goes.

    Thanks so much for your help!
     
    Last edited: Oct 29, 2010

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