system crashing

Hi all, i need your collective knowledge please. My compo has started crashing recently, almost always when i have just resumed a 3d shooter (HL2, Far Cry, SOF2) either on load up or whilst playing (often within seconds of resuming gameplay). There seems to be a 'click' noise from the hard disk area - could it be dying? Or do you think the Graphics card could be knackered (Nvidia 5900XT). I have the latest drivers for the graphics and steam has updated itself. It also crashes in 3DMark if its any more help.

If it helps, my system -

Athlon XP 3000
1GB RAM (1x512mb PC3200, 2x256mb PC2700)
60GB Hard disk
Leadtek Winfast 5900XT graphics
cheapo 350W PSU (could this be the problem????)

 

hmm it might be your hard dirve.. or it could be your power supply... can you test with another power supply?
and do you by any chance know your system temps?

 

clicking sounds coming from a component is never a good sign, especially in HardDrive's case. Yes it could be getting ready to retire, bad sectors forming on the drive could cause system freezes/OS corruption as well.
Overall system and CPU overheating could cause system reboot, as well as low quality or imcompatible RAM.
If it is crashing and staying frozen, again a sign of bad RAM, OS corruption, malicious software, bad device drivers (especially Video card) and/or dying HardDrive could be the culprit.
Not to forget insufficient PSU...

 

what happens when it crashes? do you get the BSOD or does it restart? or does it just freeze or crash to the desktop?

if it is rebooting .... then that click is just the sound of the PSU shutting off and nothig out of the norm ... (im assuming you have XP) goto start>right click "my computer"(or on the desktop if it's there)>properties>advanced>start up recovery settings>untick auto restart

then play untill you get the BSOD .. if that's the case ... and give us the error code ... most of the time it's too vague but every now and again it points to a faulty driver

I'm thinking it's either bad memory or a burnt out PSU

BTW are you overclocking?

 

I used to get an intermitant click then my computer would dye..... just reboot. I had a Soyo Dragon motherboard at the time. I found that it was the on board controller causing the problems, updating the drivers reduced the incidences but replacing my motherboard with the Asus A7N8X has completed removed the problem (same hard drive, memory, CPU, graphic and optical drives used, although better case and PSU now used)

So try IDE controller drivers.

KCL

 

Sorry for the delay - the computer was REALLY playing up. I replaced the PSU, to a 650W monster, and the crashes became less frequent, however the Hard Drive seemed to be dodgy also, seemingly 'forgetting' previous settings, such as the Steam update, and Zone Alarm settings. Anyway, i now have a new Hard Drive also, and things seem (touches wood) to be OK so far. Thanks for the help.