Games crash back to desktop

[Matt H]

Hi,

I've recently built two new Athlon systems (1.33 266 FSB).

One works perfectly for games and the other randomly crashes back to the desktop in the middle of a game.

The problem system is as follows:

Power Supply: 300W from Quietpc.com
Motherboard : Epox 8K7A
Memory : 256Mb PC2100 2.5 CAS DDR
CPU : 1.33 Ghz Athlon 266 FSB
HS/Fan : Radial Fin from Quietpc.com
(rated to 1.33Ghz).
Graphics : Creative Blaster Geforce2 Pro
Sound : Creative Live 5.1 Player
CD-RW : Hewlett Packard 8100i
Hard Drive1 : IBM Deskstar 40Gb ATA100
Hard Drive2 : IBM Deskstar 34Gb ATA66
3.5 Floppy : Unbranded
Network Card 1 : 3Com Etherlink 3C900 Combo
Network Card 2 : 3Com FastEtherlink 3C905B-TX
Fans : Pabst 80mm front inlet fan
: Pabst 80mm Rear Exhaust fan

I need two network cards because I connect to an old Shiva Access Port linked to an ISDN line. This requires a particular IP address and a gateway to access my work network. Card 2 is used to connect to a LAN with my two brothers for playing games. This is just a peer to peer setup.

The second system which works perfectly has identical parts except for the following:-

Power Supply : Macron 300W
Only 1 Hard drive : IBM Deskstar 40Gb ATA100
No CDRW
DVD Rom : Matsu****a
Sound : Unbranded Aureal Vortex 2
Only 1 NIC : 3Com Etherlink 3C900 Combo
HS/Fan : Taisol with copper base

Both systems are running Win98 second edition although the problem system has been updated with the Windows update facility.

The settings in the motherboard bios are identical on both systems.

They both use the drivers provided on the Creative disk (12.40) although I have also tried the current Nvidia drivers (12.41) which makes no difference.

Neither system is overclocked. I have tried adjusting the AGP settings to 1x/2x and 4x but makes no difference.

I have loaded the motherboard failsafe settings but no difference.

Both systems run DirectX 8.0 (updated from the same CD).

The temparature of the working system is typically around 117F after a heavy gaming session. The problem pc is much hotter (about 138F) but I understand this is perfectly normal as most people get between 50C and 65C.

The games I have tried are Half-Life, DeusEx, Aliens Vs Predator and Max Payne.

When playing these games there are no graphic artefacts or crackling sound. Everything looks and sounds fine but then all of a sudden the game disappears and I'm back at the Windows desktop. If I press Ctrl+Alt+Delete to see what is in memory it only shows Explorer and Systray. There is no trace of the game or any 'game not responding' message.

Device Manager shows absolutely no conflicts or problems. The System info program under Accessories shows a number of shared IRQs but I understand that this is OK for PCI cards. I have tried reformatting and reinstalling cards to different slots. This gives each card a different IRQ but doesn't solve the problem.

All applications work perfectly well. There are no blue screens or error messages. It's only the games.

I tried disabling the work network card (3Com 900C) in Device Manager but this made no difference.

I tried using an old Macron 300W power supply which I used in a SlotA 550Mhz Athlon system. Half-Life seemed to run much longer when playing over the LAN but did reset to the desktop once.

My gut feeling is that maybe I need a higher rated power supply but I'm unsure as the old Macron seems to have less Amps on the various +5, +12V, etc than the Quietpc power supply. Is there a difference in the quality of power supplied even if one supply seems less? I would buy an Enermax 450W supply but I don't want to spend £80+ if the problem isn't the power supply.

If it isn't the power then I haven't got a clue what the problem is.

I'd be truly grateful for any suggestions.

Matt.

[bullsnot]

Are the games your playing using the original CD in the drive, or are you using a "backup copy" of the disk?

[Matt H]

The games are all originals. Half-Life and Aliens V Predator don't need the cd for multi-player LAN games. My brothers' pcs all work fine without the cd for network games.

[spacecookie]

Try swapping the HSF

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T-Bird 1.3@1.33, Alpha PEP66 W/Delta 38 cfm fan,ABIT KT7A-RAID , Geforce 2 MX 220/185, 512Megs PC166 CAS 2 Ram, 2 X 45G 75 GXP, Creative 52x CD-ROM, SB Live Value, DFE 10/100 Nick, Windows2KPRO, Logitech ifeel mouseman, @home cable 3200/1400

[netdude]

try swapping the RAM also