Problems....

[Lint42]

I'm trying to fix my brother's computer and cannot for the life of me figure out how to do so. Whenever he starts up a 3d game the computer freezes and his monitor flashes no signal.
He has an xp 2000+, asus a7s333, radeon 8500 LE, win xp...I've tried to update all the drivers I could, taking out different PCI cards, trying a new video card (different radeon 8500 card), updating bios, updating sis chipset drivers, trying a different stick of ram, re-installing windows, updating windows, installing the newest direct x, and trying a different monitor.
If anyone has any suggestions or if I forgot to include any info it would be very appreciated.

 

[sargeduck]

These might have no bearing what so ever, but have you tested the power supply? What do you have for power? What about heat? Also, have you tried a different monitor with a different video card at the same time?
Just some suggestions.

 

[10GHZ]

since you've tried all those things and they are all not the cause for the crashes, maybe you should look else where, such as, as other have suggested , the PSU. which i dont think is the one thats responsible,but you should still check it out. what about the CPU or the motherboard?? harddisk?? bios settings??
eliminate things 1 by 1 and hopefully you should be able to pinpoint the cause.

 

[endyen]

Did he have an nvidia card before? When I first went to a Radeon, I had similar problems, and had to do a clean windows install to get them to go away.
Did you remember order of install is agp drivers, video card drivers, then directx?

 

[GeneticWeapon]

It sounds to me like the game is launching in a refresh rate higher then the monitor can handle. But if all 3D apps are doing this, then thats probably not the case....

 

[ytoledano]

Try getting a screenshot by using the print screen button and viewing it later, if you can see a picture then it's a problem with the monitor or with the connection between the monitor and the card. If not, there's a problem with the computer...

Coppermine, Banias, Opteron, Prescott, Barton... How 'bout investing less in the CPU and more in its name?

 

[GeneticWeapon]

His monitor is blacking out...how the hell do you expect him to grab a screenshot?!?

 

[ytoledano]

well, can't he take a screen shot, exit the game and save it? even if the monitor won't turn on again it can be done if he remembers hot to open mspaint, paste form clipboard and save the file...

Coppermine, Banias, Opteron, Prescott, Barton... How 'bout investing less in the CPU and more in its name?

 

[Lint42]

I believe at some point I've tried a different power supply but I'll try it again. And I'm not able to take a screen shot because the computer totally freezes. I can tell this because if I press num lock the light doesn't go away. I've tried switching out everything that I can think of besides motherboard and processor so I'm thinking its the mobo. I might try mine in his comp but that takes so long...thank you all for the input and suggestions!

 

[phial]

a fresh install of windows woulda taken less time you know =)

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[endyen]

Try to get it to run the directx tests. If it fails, do a windows clean install

 

[tombance]

Doesnt sound like the mobo, the PSU, RAM or overheating is usually the cause of instability. Anyway that mobo has the Sis 745 Chipset which is very stable. Mine is running 166FSB completely stable on a 1700+ Tbred B.

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