tgeorge12

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I currently have AMD Barton 2500 with ASUS A7N8XDeluxe MB, 512mb ram Geil; crappy TNT 32mb video card. I put together myself, been having constant problems, BSOD, rebooting sporatic, and basically tired of messing with it. I want a new computer to mainly play newer games with, however I dont want to spend all my time messing with it like my last one. I dont care if it overclocks or not, just as long as its stable & can play games.

I am thinking of buying one prebuilt (Dell, Alienware, etc) looks about $2000 from them. Would I be better off buying prebuilt or try once again to put one together? If put together, I would like a list of "stable" parts.

I am leaning toward AMD.

Any help or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. I am just worried that if I decide to build myself, I will go an endless time of tinkering to get stable system. I just want to have a pc that is stable and can play games on, not work on constantly.
Thx,
tgeorge12
 

pat

Expert
Why dont you just put a good video card it your current system to get RID of BSOD and play new game? You may need a better PSU too.. Way cheaper than a new system. A good PSU is the key to stability in today's system. if your's is too weak or too cheap, you woth be able to have a stable system.



-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
 

tgeorge12

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thx for the post, I have put a new Antec TruePower 380W PS in but has not helped with BSOD & system reboots; I was actually thinking of getting new video card, maybe 9800Pro ($200-$250); but figured if I installed it; that I would still have the reboot issues
thx
 

Cybercraig

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Pat's dead on! Big trouble awaits you in newer games with that crummy card. Even a 9600XT has trouble with Doom3 and HL2.

Abit IS7 - 3.0C @ 3.6ghz - Mushkin PC4000 (2 X 512) - Sapphire 9800Pro - TT 420 watt Pure Power
Samsung 120gb ATA-100 - Maxtor 40gb ATA - 100
Sony DRU-510A - Yellowtail Merlot
 

pat

Expert
Well, then when do the reboot occurs? Idle(computer just sitting at the desktop), normal use(browsing the internet, word processing,..), power use(dvd encoding, rendering, ...) or gaming?

Keep in mind that old video card might crash the computer in certain newer game. Like Silent hill, that isn't even compatible wi a gforce mx440 gpu.

Sometime, a bad vented case can create overheating problems. Try the computer with open side panel. The memory may need a little bump in voltage to be stable in dual channel, in the bios, give it a .1 volt boost and test it.



-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
 

tgeorge12

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I have flashed bios, raised Vcore to 1.725; raised DDRVolt to 2.7
Games I try to play are Diablo II, Unreal Tournament Game of year version; cant play any newer ones
Reboots occur at random times, during games, surfing net, when burning dvd; sometimes even when idle
I cant tell that its happening at any specific time in particular
There is nothing in event logs either
thx
 

pat

Expert
I would simply try with the side panel open. How long sinse you last reinstall Windows?


-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
 

tgeorge12

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I have installed new HSF Thermaltake Silent Boost and taken side off while running a portable fan blowing into box
I has been a while since I reloaded XP, maybe 9 months
thx
 

pat

Expert
My last computer was a 2500+ on a soltek board with a thermaltake silent boost and corsair memory. Are you running dual or single channel? did you try one stick at the time?

That thing should run. I never liked Asus, but I guess that it should run stable because that what Alienware and some other put in their machine. Oh..and 9 month for Windows...well, I reformat and reinstall at least after 6 month, to get rid of unwanter stuff and clean the registry even if my machine run stable.That was, on my 2500+ computer a 40 minutes job. Maybe it is time for you to do it!!!

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
 

Flinx

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Is that tnt32 even a 4X card? I guess it is.
I guess the question is also what are you using this system for when it crashes.

You could try adding a little voltage to your memory and/or your processor and/or your chipset for stability. You might relax your timings. Also a memtest86 would be a good idea. And did u update your BIOS?

This was an extremely popular motherboard though there were a fair number of teething problems with it. Considering the popularity of the board I would have expected to hear more complaints about constant BSOD if there was something fundamentally wrong.

The loving are the daring!<P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1><EM>Edited by Flinx on 12/19/04 05:24 PM.</EM></FONT></P>
 

tweebel

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Are you also loggin the voltages?
And if you are using dual channel mode, are you using matched dimms? If not, try single channel mode. Also check your memory timings and speed.
 

tgeorge12

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Pat,
I am running dual channel, I have not tried just running with one stick.
I have an 80GB disk with 2 partitions; I hate to reinstall due to loosing all data, or are you talking about just reinstalling os?
I guess I really need two drives and put os on one and everything else on other.
thank you for your help
 

pat

Expert
I guess that you have an os partition and like a data partition. Just move your personal stuff to the data partition and reformat only the os partition. reinstall windows, you software you need now (not the hundreds of softwares you just installed to try...) move back your personal data.

On my system, I have a 60 gigs partition for the os and programs install. Data is on my others partition or drive.

Dont forget your bookmarks and e-mail contact. for e-mail, I use foxmail. This little mailer install in one folder, and this folder could be moved without loosing any mail or adress. you should download it and import you adress book and then, move it to your data drive. Once the os installed, you could leave the drawer there and run the program from the icon in this drawer and create a shortcut to the desktop.

And better, it is safer that OE...

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
Try running it with just 1 stick. If it works with either stick but not with both in dual-channel, it's a timing issue with the RAM itself. Those can often be cured by manually setting slower timings.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 

endyen

Splendid
Download mbm5, and set it up to keep a log, on 10 second intervals.
that way, when you bsod, you will have a record of temps and voltages.
I would also recommend you download memtest86, and run it to get the floppy, to test your memory. An explanation- Memtest86 when run will create a floppy disk. You must boot to the floppy to run the program. If you get errors, it means your memory system is the problem. It doesn't mean that the memory is bad, it will do that if your timings are too low, if the voltage is too low, if your cache has died, if the north bridge is overheating etc. It will tell you where to look. I would also take a look at you old graphics card. Is it too hot? When was the last time you cleaned it's fan? What ver of detonator are you running?
Lastly, put the xp cd in, and get it to check your system for compatability.
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
If you send your system to me I'll fix it for $100, then send you an insulting letter about what was wrong with it when I send it back.

Oh, the $100 includes shipping.

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 

pat

Expert
Oh...And if you're from Canada, and still want to buy a new one instead of built one, I could built you a nice performing computer for way less than you can expect!

-Always put the blame on you first, then on the hardware !!!
 

Starfishy

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When you do get this system "up and running again" with the new vid card, you might wanna think about upgrading past the 512 RAM. I have found that to be a little on the low side for many of the new games.
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
You can't say I was being dishonest!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 

Crashman

Polypheme
Former Staff
Have you ever worked on something for a long time and not been able to figure it out, then had some smart ass walk up and fix it in around 2 minutes or less? It makes you feel kind of stupid.

Instead of feeling stupid for missing one out of 100 simple details, he can feel angry about the letter instead. See, a self-esteem booster. Who said I wasn't charitable!

<font color=blue>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to a hero as big as Crashman!</font color=blue>
<font color=red>Only a place as big as the internet could be home to an ego as large as Crashman's!</font color=red>
 

tgeorge12

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Dec 19, 2004
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Since my last post, I have reinstalled XP on new disk (that way I have saved my data from old one), ordered 6800GT from newegg, should be here tomorrow or next day, and ordered 2 sticks of 512mb OCZ EL Platinum Rev 2 PC3200 (Dual Channel Kit). Hopefully when this gets installed, I will see more stability. After the reinstall of XP, stability is somewhat better but not great yet. I will keep you posted.
As for Crashman, from his posts, I can't tell if he is being a smart$$s or really offering help. I hope he is offering help (maybe with an attitude). I am sure he is good as evidenced from his other posts thoughout the forum.
Thanks for all the replies
 

endyen

Splendid
I thought the nasty letter was your Dell impersonation. Of course, if you were really going to impersonate Dell, you would have to take $100 up front for extended service, then charge more for the service, and add a service fee for the "free" return mail, calling it a handling fee.