Games freeze at startup/BSOD

brhsoccer14 · 07-11-2008, 12:38 AM

Hey guys,

Have been here before with my laptop, back now with a brand new desktop since you helped out tremendously with my last problem.

As I said, I just bought a brand new computer, installed all the drivers at set up, installed windows updates, so im pretty sure everything is up to date... Anyway, all of my games, within 1 minute of startup, freeze/lockup or whatever, hindering me from playing obviously... I have no idea what else I can do... Have tried the beta video drivers for my 8800GTS and that only made it worse... Any help is deeply appreciated...

My specs are right under my name...

**koala** · 07-11-2008, 03:43 AM

Whenever games start ok and then crash shortly after, it's usually due to overheating or a lack of power.

Your Raidmax 500W PSU is not suitable for a PCIE 8800GTS because it is a low quality unit with only 22 amps on the +12V line. PCIE cards need a minimum of 26 amps. Anything less will cause the problem you're having. You need to replace it with something like the Corsair 650W (52amps/+12V, $90) before you do permanent damage to the rest of your components.

If you bought this computer prebuilt with a weak 500W and 8800GTS already fitted, take it back and complain. They should know better than to underpower a PCIE card.

brhsoccer14 · 07-11-2008, 03:36 PM

Excellent! At least we know what the problem is now although it will take a few weeks to get everything settled.

Now, I have another question...
My family has another computer at home that's a bit out-of-date and were wondering if certain games my sister plays might be slowed down because of the components. She plays The Sims 2 and has a few expansions for the game.

That computer's specs are:

OS: WindowsXP5.1 SP3
Memory (RAM): 511 MB
CPU Info: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz
CPU Speed: 2350.7 MHz
Display Adapters: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 | NetMeeting driver | RDPDD Chained DD
Network Adapters: Intel(R) PRO/100 M Network Connection - Packet
CD / DVD Drives: D: SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-616E | E: HL-DT-STCD-RW GCE-8481B
Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation
Product Make: Dimension 8250
Motherboard: Dell Computer Corp.
Harddrive: 120GB Ultra ATA/100
Video: 128 MB GeForce
Powersupply: 250W (stock)

**koala** · 07-11-2008, 05:05 PM

The longer you leave it, the more potential there is for serious damage to your graphics card and other expensive components. Try to keep 3D gaming sessions or other heavy graphical applications to a minimum until the new PSU is fitted.

Feel free to name and shame the company if they won't fix the problem in a reasonable time frame.

There are a few things that could be causing the other computer to be slow. Just going on the specs listed......

512mb RAM is quite low for XP. 1gb is usually recommended.

The CPU is ok for an older computer.

The 120gb hard drive might be getting full or need a defrag. It should have at least 15% free space and be defragged every couple of weeks.

The FX5200 graphics card is not up to playing modern games. Replacing with a higher quality AGP card would be a good idea, but to do that you'd need to also upgrade the 250W PSU.

Dell are well known for supplying weak PSUs that will only just power the computer for a short time and offer no possibility for hardware upgrades like new graphics cards. The output from all PSUs deteriorates over time, so a 250W that is over 2 years old will not be performing at anywhere near its full potential and should be replaced.

We can give more detailed advice on upgrades if you like, but I would say a good quality 450W PSU with 20A/+12V, a newer AGP graphics card and an extra 512mb RAM should improve things considerably.

In the meantime, to try and improve matters without spending any money, uninstall any programs that are not needed and burn things like music, photos and videos to CD/DVD to leave more free space. Install the latest drivers, MS updates and DirectX. Disable any programs from running at startup that are not required (things like auto-updaters, systray icons, office apps, IM chat apps, etc). Defrag regularly. Run some malware scans. Increase the swap file size and make it static (same Initial and Maximum values).

Hope this helps. Let us know if you need more detailed advice and we can go through the options separately.

brhsoccer14 · 07-11-2008, 05:19 PM

I truly appreciate all of the help and when and if my family decides to upgrade their computer, I will definitely ask here for help. Going off what you said earlier, the Vid card, mem, and PSU def had to be upgraded on their comp and we knew for a fact that with the current computer, we couldnt upgrade the memory in there.

Thanks again for your time and help!

07-11-2008, 12:38 AM	#1 (permalink)
brhsoccer14 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 40 OS: xp My System	Games freeze at startup/BSOD Hey guys, Have been here before with my laptop, back now with a brand new desktop since you helped out tremendously with my last problem. As I said, I just bought a brand new computer, installed all the drivers at set up, installed windows updates, so im pretty sure everything is up to date... Anyway, all of my games, within 1 minute of startup, freeze/lockup or whatever, hindering me from playing obviously... I have no idea what else I can do... Have tried the beta video drivers for my 8800GTS and that only made it worse... Any help is deeply appreciated... My specs are right under my name...

07-11-2008, 03:43 AM	#2 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,405 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Games freeze at startup/BSOD Whenever games start ok and then crash shortly after, it's usually due to overheating or a lack of power. Your Raidmax 500W PSU is not suitable for a PCIE 8800GTS because it is a low quality unit with only 22 amps on the +12V line. PCIE cards need a minimum of 26 amps. Anything less will cause the problem you're having. You need to replace it with something like the Corsair 650W (52amps/+12V, $90) before you do permanent damage to the rest of your components. If you bought this computer prebuilt with a weak 500W and 8800GTS already fitted, take it back and complain. They should know better than to underpower a PCIE card. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

07-11-2008, 03:36 PM	#3 (permalink)
brhsoccer14 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 40 OS: xp My System	Re: Games freeze at startup/BSOD Excellent! At least we know what the problem is now although it will take a few weeks to get everything settled. Now, I have another question... My family has another computer at home that's a bit out-of-date and were wondering if certain games my sister plays might be slowed down because of the components. She plays The Sims 2 and has a few expansions for the game. That computer's specs are: OS: WindowsXP5.1 SP3 Memory (RAM): 511 MB CPU Info: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz CPU Speed: 2350.7 MHz Display Adapters: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 \| NetMeeting driver \| RDPDD Chained DD Network Adapters: Intel(R) PRO/100 M Network Connection - Packet CD / DVD Drives: D: SAMSUNG DVD-ROM SD-616E \| E: HL-DT-STCD-RW GCE-8481B Manufacturer: Dell Computer Corporation Product Make: Dimension 8250 Motherboard: Dell Computer Corp. Harddrive: 120GB Ultra ATA/100 Video: 128 MB GeForce Powersupply: 250W (stock)

07-11-2008, 05:05 PM	#4 (permalink)
koala Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Mar 2005 Location: UK Posts: 12,405 OS: XP/7/Ubuntu My System	Re: Games freeze at startup/BSOD The longer you leave it, the more potential there is for serious damage to your graphics card and other expensive components. Try to keep 3D gaming sessions or other heavy graphical applications to a minimum until the new PSU is fitted. Feel free to name and shame the company if they won't fix the problem in a reasonable time frame. There are a few things that could be causing the other computer to be slow. Just going on the specs listed...... 512mb RAM is quite low for XP. 1gb is usually recommended. The CPU is ok for an older computer. The 120gb hard drive might be getting full or need a defrag. It should have at least 15% free space and be defragged every couple of weeks. The FX5200 graphics card is not up to playing modern games. Replacing with a higher quality AGP card would be a good idea, but to do that you'd need to also upgrade the 250W PSU. Dell are well known for supplying weak PSUs that will only just power the computer for a short time and offer no possibility for hardware upgrades like new graphics cards. The output from all PSUs deteriorates over time, so a 250W that is over 2 years old will not be performing at anywhere near its full potential and should be replaced. We can give more detailed advice on upgrades if you like, but I would say a good quality 450W PSU with 20A/+12V, a newer AGP graphics card and an extra 512mb RAM should improve things considerably. In the meantime, to try and improve matters without spending any money, uninstall any programs that are not needed and burn things like music, photos and videos to CD/DVD to leave more free space. Install the latest drivers, MS updates and DirectX. Disable any programs from running at startup that are not required (things like auto-updaters, systray icons, office apps, IM chat apps, etc). Defrag regularly. Run some malware scans. Increase the swap file size and make it static (same Initial and Maximum values). Hope this helps. Let us know if you need more detailed advice and we can go through the options separately. __________________ New members: Subscribe to your thread (Thread Tools) to receive an instant email notification when you get a reply. TSF Folding@Home Team 85015 - details here

07-11-2008, 05:19 PM	#5 (permalink)
brhsoccer14 Registered User Join Date: Dec 2007 Posts: 40 OS: xp My System	Re: Games freeze at startup/BSOD I truly appreciate all of the help and when and if my family decides to upgrade their computer, I will definitely ask here for help. Going off what you said earlier, the Vid card, mem, and PSU def had to be upgraded on their comp and we knew for a fact that with the current computer, we couldnt upgrade the memory in there. Thanks again for your time and help!