Hello all. I have been having a problem for a couple of months where my computer randomly restarts itself. This does not appear to happen at any specific moment but rather completely random. It has restarted when starting games, when playing games, surfing the net, reading email, even sitting idle at the desktop. I have a thread in the Win XP forum and the guys over there have found that nearly everytime I have a crash, nvidia shows up in the event viewer. Some of my debug logs also showed a memory problem so I ran a couple of system memory diagnostic tools and came up with no errors. One thing I have found, by accident, is that when I have the side of the case off the computer works fairly well. I still get a few crashes, but only to the desktop and not a blue screen. With the case panel on, I get far more blue screen errors. This, along with the nvidia references in the event viewer, is leading me to believe that my graphics card in overheating and/or damaged. Is there any way to confirm this? Is this likely to be my problem? Here is some system info in case it helps. Thanks in advance.

OS Information:
PropertyValue
OS Name Microsoft Windows XP Professional|C:\WINDOWS|\Device\Harddisk0\Partitio n1
Service Pack 2.0
OS Manufacturer Microsoft Corporation
Windows Directory C:\WINDOWS


Processor:
PropertyValue
Current Clock Speed 1659
Description x86 Family 6 Model 6 Stepping 2
Manufacturer AuthenticAMD
Name AMD Athlon(tm) XP 2000+


Memory (RAM):
PropertyValue
Bank Label RAS 11 & 4
Capacity 268435456

Bank Label RAS 11 & 4
Capacity 268435456

Total Memory Deteced in Hardware: ~512 MB
Memory Reported to Operating System: 511MB

Disk Drives:
PropertyValue
Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model WDC WD300AB-00BVA0
Media Type Fixed hard disk media
Size 30014046720 (~28 GB)
Number of Partitions 1

Description Disk drive
Manufacturer (Standard disk drives)
Model HP psc 2175 USB Device
Media Type
Number of Partitions


Installed Printers:
PropertyValue
Name hp psc 2170 series
Port Name USB001
Default True
Driver Name hp psc 2170 series


Motherboard:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer ECS
Model
Name Base Board
Part Number
Product K7S5A
Serial Number
Version


BIOS:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer American Megatrends Inc.
Name Version 1.00
Release Date 20010402000000.000000+000
Version AMIINT - 1000


Monitor:
PropertyValue
Description Samsung SAMTRON 55E(Plus)
Name Samsung SAMTRON 55E(Plus)
Screen Height 768
Screen Width 1024


Keyboard:
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Description Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard


Pointing Device:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer Microsoft
Name Microsoft PS/2 Mouse


Sound Card:
PropertyValue
Manufacturer C-Media
Description C-Media AC97 Audio Device
Device ID PCI\VEN_1039&DEV_7012&SUBSYS_030013F6&REV_A0\3&61A AA01&0&17

Manufacturer Creative Technology Ltd.
Description Creative AudioPCI (ES1371,ES1373) (WDM)
Device ID PCI\VEN_1274&DEV_5880&SUBSYS_20001274&REV_02\3&61A AA01&0&78


Video Card:
PropertyValue
Adapter Compatibility NVIDIA
Adapter RAM 67108864
Description NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200
Installed Display Drivers nv4_disp.dll
Driver Version 6.14.10.7184
Driver Date 2/24/2005 1:32:00 PM
Video Mode Description 1024 x 768 x 4294967296 colors


DirectX Installation:
PropertyValue
Version 6.03.01.0146


Modem:
PropertyValue

Network Adapters:
PropertyValue
Description SiS 900 PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter - Packet Scheduler Miniport
Description RAS Async Adapter
Description Packet Scheduler Miniport
Description WAN Miniport (L2TP)
Description WAN Miniport (PPTP)
Description WAN Miniport (PPPOE)
Description Direct Parallel
Description WAN Miniport (IP)
Description Packet Scheduler Miniport
Description Motorola SurfBoard 4200 USB Cable Modem - Packet Scheduler Miniport
Description Packet Scheduler Miniport

External Ports:
PropertyValue
External Reference Designator Def

Expansion Slots:
PropertyValue
Slot Designation PCI1
Slot Designation PCI2
Slot Designation PCI3
Slot Designation PCI4
Slot Designation PCI5

Something I forgot to add. I downloaded the Everest system monitor and it shows my MB temp to be 109 and my CPU temp to be 135. I'm wondering if there is some way to stress test my graphics card to see if it causes a crash. I was also wondering if there is a way to get a temp reading off the graphics card.

3DMark will do it, so will one of the hottest games on the net (HL2 or Doom3)

You card manufacturer may have that tool. I know they have them for the FX6800...

Also, when you have the case open, put a desk fan near it and get the Cabinet temp down to around 30 deg C. (Below 100 deg F.) the lower the better. I dont know if you are reporting temps in C or F, if in C then you are boiling the CPU and the Cabinet is burning up...If in F the CPU temp is about normal but the cabinet is still too high.

How many case fans do you have and what is the wiring like?

Jesus Christ man!!!!!

Originally Posted by tysonp

MB temp to be 109 and my CPU temp to be 135

Best try -

[QUOTE=AphJN]Also, when you have the case open, put a desk fan near it and get the Cabinet temp down to around 30 deg C. (Below 100 deg F.) the lower the better. I dont know if you are reporting temps in C or F, if in C then you are boiling the CPU and the Cabinet is burning up...If in F the CPU temp is about normal but the cabinet is still too high.QUOTE]

It should be like -

or failing that -

Regards
_____
Meck

HEY! Thats my BASEMENT...How did you get in and take a pic!!!

Lol!

I have to admit I'd really like my PC set up like -



or

Originally Posted by AphJN

3DMark will do it, so will one of the hottest games on the net (HL2 or Doom3)

You card manufacturer may have that tool. I know they have them for the FX6800...

Also, when you have the case open, put a desk fan near it and get the Cabinet temp down to around 30 deg C. (Below 100 deg F.) the lower the better. I dont know if you are reporting temps in C or F, if in C then you are boiling the CPU and the Cabinet is burning up...If in F the CPU temp is about normal but the cabinet is still too high.

How many case fans do you have and what is the wiring like?

The temps I reported are in deg F. I just checked it after turning on my computer for the first time today and the MB temp is 102 and the CPU temp is 131.

Are there any graphics card stress testers that I don't have to pay for? I went to NVIDIAs site but couldn't find any kind of graphics card tester, but maybe I didn't look in the right place.

Fans on my system include:
1-on the power supply blowing out the back, no exposed wiring

1-on top of the heat sink on my cpu blowing into the case, wires to a spot on the motherboard next to the cpu

1-on the graphics card itself blowing into the case, no exposed wiring

1-on the back of the case blowing out, wire taps into the power supply for my dvd player

Hummmm ..... its a hard one to call. I usually make sure a case has at least 4 fans, but then you do have to make sure you have enough additional power to power them after you put in your hard drive(s) and CD/DVD-ROM drive(s) ... etc

Just make sure the fans are spinning and you can't see individual the blades whilest they are rotating. If you can then you'll need to replace them.

Or you can try these -

URL - http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...38229&doy=10m5
PIC -
MAPLIN CODE - A47BN

URL - http://www.maplin.co.uk/Module.aspx?...37813&doy=10m5
PIC -
MAPLIN CODE - A47BK

Hope these help


Regards
_____
Meck

Something to think about and this is my belief for asperation of a case:

You need to treat the case like an engine. If you dont get rid of the exhaust it will choke, like wise, if you dont feed enough cool air then the performace will degrade.

Until recently (P4 era) I would put one fan in the front of the case pulling in cool air and then 2 fans (PSU and an Aux fan) to exhaust the heat. Now I put 2 fans in the front of the case to pull air in (60 to 80mm fans depending on room) and then 2 80 or 120mm fans in the rear in addition to what the PSU has. As far as the processor Fan/Heatsink assembly, I always replace the stock combo with either a thermaltake or PC Power and Cooling one. Mostly the thermaltake since they are one of the best.

You also need to ensure the airflow is not disturbed too much by cables and wires. If possible, bunch them together so that you can minimize the air disturbance. The hottest case I had was one where all my power wires were just willie nillie all over. When I tied them together and allowed the air to flow freely by them the case temp went down from 125F to 100F. Added an addition al fan and brought it to 80F.

I have not resorted to Water cooling due to its sooooo expensive. I think they look good, but I wont spend hundreds when 10's will do just as well.

Back in the olden days, if you cabinet was above 80, you were killing components in short order. I still hold to that belief. I also agree that if you have a 300-400w PSU you need to replace it with a 500 if you are going to adding fans due to the power they will draw in addtition to what you currently use. Another point, as the case, MB, Processor, components heat up, they draw more current and thus power. This will cause the Powersupply to not deliver correctly and burn up or wear out.

Meckanix posted a good picture of airflow earlier, look at it and see if you are close to that. Nvidia has its tools embeded into the drivers. You should be able to go to the card properties and see the N on the tabs for nVidia's tools.

Is there a good way to see if I have enough power supply to add a couple of fans?

also, AphJN wrote:
"You should be able to go to the card properties and see the N on the tabs for nVidia's tools."

I'm not following what you are telling me here, can you elaborate a little?