Crash to desktop

[Death Engineer]

After my recent complete reload of my system, I've been experiencing random crashes to desktop from multiple games (NFSU, DAOC, MP2, etc). Is anyone familiar with how to get rid of this annoyance?

I don't know exactly what's going on because I've tested for heat related issues (opened case...same problem) and it doesn't happen in the same point in any game.

The symptom is the same for all games except Max Paine 2. They all run fine...no artifacts or issues. Then, suddenly, the desktop is there and the game is closed down. Almost like an illegal operation without the message.

Any ideas?? Besides this, I can't say anything bad about XP. But in the long run, this is very annoying. :devil: Help me!!

EDIT: I've already tried reloading the graphics drivers (latest release from Nvidia). Also, the link for the motherboard drivers only had one item of interest.. the IDE driver. Link (http://www.ecsusa.com/downloads/drivers_k7s.html)

[Grimmy]

Are you on DX9? I think I saw someone ask that in DAOC, and I didn't catch the responce.

Otherwise, get new puter :shifty: :P

[Death Engineer]

Originally posted by Grimmy@Dec 26 2003, 01:22 AM
Are you on DX9? I think I saw someone ask that in DAOC, and I didn't catch the responce.

Otherwise, get new puter :shifty: :P
DX9 runs ok. I'm using a GF3 TI200 (I know, I know....not exactly state of the art). No new computer in the budget anytime soon.

It seems to be related to when I have my digital camera plugged in (USB port). I'll have to test for a while longer to be sure, but after I unplugged it last night, I was able to play camelot for more than 5 minutes at a time. :P

DE

[Slice]

I was going to say a hardware related conflict. Your usb may be sharing the same IRQ as your graphics card. I had the same problem once before and it was my sound card that was doing it. I moved it to a different pci slot and it got assigned a new irq and all was fine.

[EXEcution]

Doing any overclocking?

[SALvation]

Take a closer look at your temperatures. Taking the case off does nothing...actually, it hurts your PC because you disrupt the designed airflow of the system. Go into the bios and see how hot everything is running.

[ME BIGGD01]

yes temp may be problem and also irq sharing.

go into bios and disable com ports and midi port also onboard modem should be disabled. also may want to try reinstalling dx9 and updating chipset drivers. you may need usb patch. have you gone to windows update lately?

[Death Engineer]

Originally posted by Slice@Dec 26 2003, 08:02 PM
I was going to say a hardware related conflict. Your usb may be sharing the same IRQ as your graphics card. I had the same problem once before and it was my sound card that was doing it. I moved it to a different pci slot and it got assigned a new irq and all was fine.
I'll check the IRQs.

[Death Engineer]

Originally posted by DaRkAgent@Dec 26 2003, 08:31 PM
Doing any overclocking?
No. :P XP2000+ I'm happy with it as it is. No overclocking on video or ram either.

[Death Engineer]

Originally posted by SALvation@Dec 27 2003, 12:34 AM
Take a closer look at your temperatures. Taking the case off does nothing...actually, it hurts your PC because you disrupt the designed airflow of the system. Go into the bios and see how hot everything is running.
Temp for Sys/CPU was 30/64C.

[Death Engineer]

Originally posted by ME BIGGD01@Dec 27 2003, 12:41 AM
yes temp may be problem and also irq sharing.

go into bios and disable com ports and midi port also onboard modem should be disabled. also may want to try reinstalling dx9 and updating chipset drivers. you may need usb patch. have you gone to windows update lately?
Need the COM ports, but onboard sound/modem/lan is turned off in BIOS. DX9 has been reloaded. Windows update is cleaned out. No more updates except an older Nvidia driver. :wacko:

Not sure what to do about chipset drivers. The only driver I could find on ECS's website was the AGP port driver which caused severe instability.


Functional update: I have been running games without a problem for over 24 hours now (not straight :P). I plugged in the camera and haven't seen a change yet. I'll post if I have more trouble. Thanks for all the help.

DE

[ME BIGGD01]

death, just noticed the board brand and i will tell you this---i have built over 20 system using ecs brand for cheap systems and they have all been problematic after a 1-2 years. this company deserves to go out of business. check the capaciters and look to see if the are puffed out. the boards i used fom ecs were all sis chipsets and model was k7s5a--and 6a.

ecs--sucks and will never get a pennys worth of business from me. i wil have to post a pic of the amount of boards i have due to disatsres and malfunctions. funny thing i just picked up sisters computer with same board and will be replacing it with an nforce2.

[Death Engineer]

I wouldn't buy one again. After I purchased it, I found websites that discussed the heatsink on the south bridge chip. It's attached with an adhesive, non-conductive material. It would systematically overheat and lock the system up.

In order to correct it, I had to remove the heatsink, scrape all the gunk off and remove the residue with alcohol. Then reattach the heatsink with some better cpu-grease. What a pain in the butt!!

THEN I found out that I couldn't run two sticks of PC-133 SDRAM at 133Mhz because there were timing issues. I had to step my cpu down to 100Mhz clock which effectively made my XP2000+ an XP1700+.

ECS = :down:

This will be the last time I will spring for a quick deal at Fry's. Newegg.com has my business from now on.


ANYWAYS....I've been reading some online and was wondering what other people who own XP2xxx+ processors get for temps. I think mine is running a little high (64C).

DE

[Grimmy]

Not sure about C temp, but I just checked mine and I am running 102 F. I have a 2800+ with barton core. During the summer, and no I don't have a/c I have seen it in the upper 120F and well I was a little leary about running that hot, but it never gave me any havoc. A good thermaltake fan pulling 75 CFM at 5400 RMP keeping this baby cool has done me well. :cool:

[Death-Dude]

Not sure if this helps, but there is definitely an issue with 52.16s and enemy territory/wolfenstein - but it seems to be limited to engaging a Punkbuster server; it locks you up solid. Just to rule it out, you could load some older drivers and see if it still occurs. I went back to 44.03s, problem is gone.

[Death Engineer]

Originally posted by Grimmy@Dec 29 2003, 04:07 AM
Not sure about C temp, but I just checked mine and I am running 102 F. I have a 2800+ with barton core. During the summer, and no I don't have a/c I have seen it in the upper 120F and well I was a little leary about running that hot, but it never gave me any havoc. A good thermaltake fan pulling 75 CFM at 5400 RMP keeping this baby cool has done me well. :cool:
Hmmm....mine's closer to 150F. I'll have to see if I can round up a better fan.

DE

[Grimmy]

Originally posted by Death Engineer+Dec 31 2003, 12:39 AM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Death Engineer &#064; Dec 31 2003, 12:39 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-Grimmy@Dec 29 2003, 04:07 AM
Not sure about C temp, but I just checked mine and I am running 102 F.* I have a 2800+ with barton core.* During the summer, and no I don&#39;t have a/c I have seen it in the upper 120F and well I was a little leary about running that hot, but it never gave me any havoc.* A good thermaltake fan pulling 75 CFM at 5400 RMP keeping this baby cool has done me well.*&nbsp; :cool:
Hmmm....mine&#39;s closer to 150F. I&#39;ll have to see if I can round up a better fan.

DE [/b][/quote]
Thermaltake fans pull like 75 CFM at max speed. I have like 8 of them, 7 in my case, 1 on my proc, and well the thermaltake speed control I got with my case isn&#39;t worth a crap, they all run at max speed, and if I see my proc get around 130F I start to get nervous, but know it will take it (hey it&#39;s AMD, you can&#39;t go wrong :P )

I just feel safier pulling more air them what I may need. I have the thermaltake cool mod on my proc, same 75 CFM fan, for like &#036;20 mod, and it&#39;s pretty cool IMO.

I know my case moves a ton of air, I put my hand in the back and it is all hot air. During the summer, hell even the winter I just fire it up to warm the puter room up 10 degrees&#33; :jammin: Plus my PS has 2 fans in it, yea it is noisey, but that is why they made 5.1 surround sound for&#33; :D :wootrock: :jammin:

Oh, and I have heard, seen, people remove the cover to there case, and well IMO that breaks the air flow of your case, and it could cause components to run hotter them what they should. Plus the dust you pull in, smoke if you are a smoker (yea I am) and well I wouldn&#39;t advise it. Cleaning those boards of dust n all, and taking the change of being statically charged and not grounded while cleaning and frying you board, I just wouldn&#39;t take the risk.

[<<Hybrid>>]

take care DE, say hello for your ill PC :bawling: