hi guys!!! well, i`m having a very, very weird problem with my p.c. and so far it`s driving me mad.

i have a pc with a 2.4 pentium processor 512 of ram, and an ati 9800 card. Lately i`ve been having this very weird problem that happens when i play games, with nothing else. When i play a game suddenly the hd resets and windows restarts, this always happens when i`m playing and it doesn`t matter if i`m playing a very demanding game (like tomb raider anniversary) or a not very demanding one (like scratches). this always happens, so far i have reinstalled windows just in case there was something wrong with it and it didn`t work, i have the latest drivers for the card, the last version of direct x, i have checked the temperature of my computer but there is no overheat problems, no problems with the power supply, i checked all the connections and re inserted everything like the processor, the memory, i reconnected everything, checked the wires but nothing has solved the problem. Sometimes the problem has a variation; it happens that suddenly the hd resets as i already explained, but for some weird reason windows doesn`t so the game stays there and freezes for a moment and the hd suddenly wakes up and then the game continues running like if nothing happened, but this is not very often, most of the time when the hd resets windows does it too. As i said the weird part is that this only happens with games, i also use 3d max, zbrush, flash and photoshop and i never have any problems with this programs no matter how demanding the program is or if i have a very complex 3d model i never have a problem. Do you guys have any ideas why this is happening?? i was thinking that maybe the hd is the one of the problem but is it really possible when i don`t have any problems as long as i don`t run games???

please help!!!

thanks!!!

i think i'd start by opening the case and clean the dust bunnies from the processor heat sink and fan, the power supply and the video card gpu and fan with a can of air from walmart.

First, a comment, your term "hd resets" is most likely incorrect. It's likely that your WinXP is crashing, it's a software issue.

What you describe does happen with games. Some more than others, and it's Dependant on the game, WinXP, and system resources.

You may want to look at TweakGuides' Game Guides, System Guides, and especially the TweakGuides Tweaking Companion.

Their info may help with your problem.

I have this same problem with my buetiful better half baby gaming rig

what stinks is this can be caused by sooo many different things.

overheating is common problem as mentioned above... CPU, GPU, memory ETC.

CPU issue wether overheating, or malfunctioning

Power supply issues as well. Using "Everest" I was able to monitor what happens when a game engine starts and I am astonished.... My video cards double thier gpu clock rate, and memory rate that must increase the load on the powersuply...

so after checking heat... dust bunnies etc... I purchased a Power supply to see if I found my problem.



** I would first find out if your reboot is a software reboot or a hardware reboot by checking if your system is configured to reboot on blue screen ** If your computer is only rebooting on blue screen look at drivers and fun stuff like that.

Hope anything I said helps!

with symptoms simular to yours as mentioned in my post yesterday... I replaced my power supply and all is good!!!

remember check temp problem first as that is the most common. Good luck with your computer!