Hey all. I’m looking for a bit of help with my computer. I have just re-installed 2 games GTR2 and Rfactor, but after the games have started up my PC shuts its self down and then reboots on its own, I have had these games for a while but I haven’t played them since before I upgraded my PC, but every other game I have played has ran perfectly, so I don’t think its anything to do with the hardware. I’m a little clueless to what could be causing it to be honest. Can anyone help? Thanks
1-What hardware did you upgrade??? 2-Is the rest of your system running fine??? 3-Are you still using the same OS?? 4-How old are these games??? Help us help you by answering the above
Hey. My current specs: Operating System Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium Internet Explorer 7.0.6001.18000 DirectX DirectX 10.0 Motherboard CPU Type Dual Core AMD Athlon 64 X2, 3000 MHz (15 x 200) 6000+ Motherboard Name Gigabyte GA-MA770-DS3 Motherboard Chipset AMD 770, AMD Hammer System Memory DIMM1: Kingston KPN424-ELG 1 GB DDR2-667 DDR2 SDRAM (5-5-5-15 @ 333 MHz) (4-4-4-12 @ 266 MHz) (3-3-3-9 @ 200 MHz) Display Video Adapter NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX/9800 GTX+ (512 MB) Multimedia Audio Adapter Realtek ALC888/S/T @ ATI SB600 - High Definition Audio Controller Audio Adapter Realtek ALC888/S/T @ Creative CA20K1 X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity Audio Processor Storage Disk Drive ST3500630AS ATA Device (500 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II) Disk Drive ST3500630AS ATA Device (500 GB, 7200 RPM, SATA-II) Power Coolermaster eXtreme Power 650W PSU ------------------------------- I upgraded the motherboard from a Dell inspiron 531, I changed the graphics card from a 8600 GT. And Changed the power supply about 3-4 months ago. The OS is the same as before the upgrade too, Up to now I haven't had any problems at all, everything has ran fine before. My system has been running a little slower than in the past, I’ve noticed that when I have been watching AVI videos recently the video always freezes up half way through, then I hear my drive spinning up then it will start playing again about 5 seconds later.. This didn’t used to happen at all though. I have been getting a lot of disconnects from the internet and slow d/l and u/l speeds, this could easily just be my ISP though. Also after windows starts up its usually very sluggish for like 10 seconds where in the past usually when the desktop came on screen it would have been lightning quick to open folders etc. right away. The games are not too old really. GTR2 I think came out in 2006 and Rfactor I think was last year or the year before, they ran fine a few moths ago with my old (worse) setup. also every game i have played before these two have ran great aswell, but i don't think this problem i am having is down to just these games. My PC crashed bad a couple of days ago while on the internet. Everything froze up and then I closed the internet explorer window and then nothing responded.. Then all of a sudden internet explorer windows started opening extremely fast like it got to maybe 50 or so windows in a few seconds.. Then I turned off my PC just in case it was something sinister, but I’ve never seen anything like that before was really weird. i did a full scan with McAfee and used a couple of differan't programs to scan for spyware etc, but i found nothing. I’ve checked the almost all my drivers and they all seem to be up to date, directx was updated today to but hasn’t helped. Thanks for your help
Hmmmmm This seems strange. When you changed your mobo and video card, did you do a format and re-install??? Also, the reason your system is sluggish might be Vista Ultimate, as it is a resource hog. IIRC, lots of IE windows opening up at once may have been something malicious
When I changed the mobo I didn't reformat at all. I just put the drives back and started it up, it started fine. Then when the desktop appeared it just began updated and setting everything up on its own, after that I had to re enter my windows vista details so it knew it was the original copy of vista and then everything ran fine and fast. I agree that the lots of IE windows opening super fast seems malicious, I have tried a full scan with McAfee and a full scan with Uniblue’s spyware scanner and a full ad-aware scan and also a full windows defender scan. Found nothing at all. I’m usually careful about what I download and click on so I would be surprised if I have a virus or something. I hope I don’t anyway, doesn’t sound good if it can’t be found.
Hmmm, I'm not too sure Can you tell me what happens from when you double click on the game icon to the re-start??? Does any error pop up??
No, there’s no error message‘s, I just double click the icon. the game menu shows up for about 3 seconds and then the screen just goes black. then the PC just starts up again. there is suppose to be a setting in the system menu under advanced where you can turn on error messages instead of letting it shut down right away. but for some reason it won't allow me to check the box for it.. quite annoying
Sorry man I'm not sure what's wrong. Maybe re-installing the game, or as a last resort you might want to consider a format and re-install (making sure you have the latest drivers for everything) PS - Do you have latest drivers installed ATM
It would pay to do some homework on when changing a large bit of hardware like the mobo whether a reformat should be done,personally i would've thought that a must other wise major conflicts for drivers would occur.As for not being able to tick the error reporting box perhaps articles at CNet ,Tech Republic,PCWorld or PCMechanic can help there or if not perhaps the forums if you have no luck here. Me thinks reformat would be best then go from there otherwise you'll be chasing your tail,if the games were fine on the previous setup & all that's happened is mobo change & now things are getting hairy it's where i would start,as for opening pages like you mention i've had that happen on xp on some occasions it does'nt mean spyware or virus as i know this system to be clean
Yup, I was wondering how it worked after a mobo re-install, as it has it's software. A re-install can solve almost all probs
ok thanks for all your help i'm very greatful you took the time to post. i'm pretty sure everything is up to date in terms of drives etc. but i'll double check everything one more time and rescan again, if it still doesn't work i'll have to try and do a fresh install of vista, somthing i would have liked to avoid, but if there is no other option i guess i'll have to do it. thanks again peeps
Before reformatting do you have a copy of vista or is it a pre-install from dell & the recovery option is a recovery partition on the hdd,if that's the case a reformat won't work or if it does by some miracle it will load all the wrong drivers EDIT: If you do have a install cd/dvd don't reformat just yet there's other issues to consider like is the copy an OEM version & if it is OEM does the sticker label say "2 PC",if so you can continue with a reformat safely but you have now used up your spare option of transfer,that copy of vista will now be locked to that pc the moment you activate it
just to throw in my 2 cents.. I had close to the same problem you are having, but with xp pro. I changed a lot of hardware without a re install of the OS, and my sys kept shutting down a random times and rebooting, plus, same as you, I noticed a system lag and some what of a freeze on my monitor (but the mouse still worked), but then, it would go back to normal and everything I clicked on while froze, would pop up. I finally did start over (because it was the last resort) and reinstalled my OS from scratch, and no more problems. So, I would highly recommend a full format and reinstall of your OS, and make sure you have backups of all important software first.
I recommend you get a copy of acronis or ghost before reformat & do a backup of C (& recovery partition if it has one).Unless vista has a built in partition backup utility & is able to do a full backup
Bloody fista .. pah.. Last random shutdown while under heavy load machine I saw had psu problems. One rail was dropping for a split second.
