PC crashing when under "heavy" use

Well I've had a new computer since christmas with no problems so far. Untill two to three days ago. I have a AMD dual core athlon 4400, with 8600 gt 512mb, I'm using a (cheap) surround sound that I got for my gaming systems. Anyway whenever I play a pc game sometimes it works fine, then all of a sudden it will freeze up and go to a black (or light blue) screen and a buzzing sound will repeat very quickly. I have scanned my pc with symantec antivirus(corporate), Spybot S&D, and AdAware personal. I haven't done a hijack this yet, if you need it I'll download it and post again. Games this happens with include Elder Scrolls 4blivion, Crysis, and a couple others. HDD is also pretty cluttered, that might be it I guess. My icons on my startup menu have also gone to a default .exe image.

 

I'm fairly confident that this isn't a malware/virus issue, though it doesn't hurt to check it out. If the only time this happens is during heavy gaming, then I'd say it may be a thermal issue. Maybe the CPU is overheating, or the video card, or maybe even the RAM. It may also be a power issue. Low quality power supplies can cause all kinds of stability problems. If you have (for example) an Emachine with a stock power supply, it may not be enough. Stock PSUs (especially in EMachines) are notoriously weak, and generally need to be replaced if any serious gaming is to take place. So, check your temps (there are numerous free programs that will do this for you), maybe look at your power supply specs, and maybe post your hardware specs; like how much RAM you have, which OS you're running, PC or motherboard make and model, etc.... Here's some links to some programs that will report your temps:
Speed Fan http://www.majorgeeks.com/download337.html (will also report voltages)
PCWizard http://www.majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=3846
GPU Caps Viewer http://www.majorgeeks.com/GPU_Caps_Viewer_d5716.html (for video card temp)
Core Temp http://www.majorgeeks.com/Core_Temp_d5665.html (for CPU temp)
CS Fire Monitor http://www.majorgeeks.com/CS_Fire_Monitor_d4243.html (for monitoring all sorts of stuff including RAM usage, CPU usage, etc)
These should be enough to at least get you going, and many of them will run logs so you can see when temps go up and down in relation to the software you're running. You may also want to run a diagnostic on your memory to make sure it's 100% healthy. I like this one http://www.majorgeeks.com/Microsoft_Windows_Memory_Diagnostic_d3955.html It's free and lets you make a bootable CD or floppy. When you boot to it, run the extended tests for at least 3 or 4 passes. It'll take time, so be patient. Also, you can find lots of other monitoring programs here: http://www.majorgeeks.com/downloads11.html
Good luck!
And Welcome to Major Geeks! :major

 

Yeah I didn't think it would be a virus issue because of when it occurs. I looked at my eventlog and got a couple other warnings in the past week too (although I didn't see any windows pop up), Tcpip(4226) W32Time(36) and errors are System error (103, 1003),nv (108), and NetBT(4321).

 

I'm sorry for the double post but I didn't see any way to edit my previous one. I have a powersupply from my brother, it should be a little more than enough. I have 2gb of ddr2 ram, windows XP sp2, gigabyte motherboard (will have to look up the model). Crysis doesn't even get to the opening intro, just a black screen. Ran all the dxdiag tests and they passed. I'm going to do a mem test later when my brother comes over, along with swapping gpu's to see if it changes.

 

Those are all great ideas... when you get a chance, post the Gigabyte model number... let us know how things go!
Good luck!

 

If you can find the model number, try running Motherboard Monitor, its available on MG, and it gives you high temps for your stuff.

If it is a thermal issue, it might be partially relieved by using a standard desk fan to increase the airflow into the case. Try that, and see if the games function. Use it in conjunction with MBM to get more exact data.

 

Turned out to just be a bad cord for the power supply. All working now.

 

:roflmao