Mystery System Crashes

Deji · 11-06-2009, 09:09 PM

Okay, this will be the third tech support I've posted this on. I've also tried contacting PNY but got no reply.

My old card, a nVidia GeForce 6200 by 'Jetway' worked fine for ages. I have a computer that is only capable of PCI and AGP, so it's the best card available. My PC is at least 10 years old. AMD Athlon XP 2400+ overclocked to 166 FSB (2.0 GHz) with 768 MB of RAM. After a while, a capacitor managed to burst... 2, actually... I still don't know why it happened, but it seemed to be okay with new cards.

I'm no stranger to computers, but this is something I have no clue about anymore. I've tried just about everything. My new card is the same, a nVidia GeForce 6200 by PNY, this time. Apparently the firmware is also supposed to be newer... So I plugged it in and started using it again. Things seemed fine. I installed my drivers and continued usage. After a while, though... The monitor began turning off for a few moments and then turning back on after a while longer, it just froze.

So basically, since I got it the monitor has been turning off, on, off, crashing. Sometimes it bluescreens. Other times neither of them happen and everything but the mouse freezes, then the mouse stops too and the system just hangs. When I try to start games my pc will end up freezing and looping the last .5 seconds of audio or w/e. It also seems that the more recent the game, the faster the crash. But the odd thing is, this only occurs while using drivers... Maybe hardware acceleration is the cause? I've actually not tried turning it off yet, but lately it takes longer for the system to eventually freeze without running games, so it's kinda hard to test whether it's working properly. Anyway, when I uninstall the drivers, the videocard works fine but while they are installed the crashes occur again. Sometimes I get those classic "infinite loop" bluescreens.

Another weird thing is that the more recent the drivers, the faster the crashes seem to occur... Still, I don't want any crashes. The card is fine when I check it. I've also got another card, a nVidia Vanta. It's a really basic card (16MB, I think) and that, like my new card crashes the system with drivers installed... But not as often. I'm hoping that my motherboard hasn't decided to stop working with my card... I know the problem isn't with the card. I'm certain there is no overheating occurring, it stays at around 58 degrees Celsius even at the time of it crashing..

I've tried loads of things. Slowly decreasing hardware acceleration, disabling "write combining", reducing the Aperture size (seemed to work better at 4MB than 256 MB...), changing a load of drivers (not just for the videocard), reducing resolution from my usual 1024x768 which is my monitors maximum, removing the additional and rarely used soundcard, disabling many things, changing many BIOS settings, resetting the BIOS, defragmenting, reinstalling Windows, using "Omega" drivers instead of nVidia's ones, installing nVidia loopfix, wiping drivers, reinstalling drivers. Nothing seems to work. I've changed between my 2 cards at least 30 times since I got it and it's really bugging me.

If anyone has any other ideas of what to do (aside from getting a new computer... trust me, I'm working on it) I'd be grateful... Hopefully I'm missing something and it's not just my motherboard that's broken.

**emosun** · 11-06-2009, 10:27 PM

It's sounds like that motherboard is done. Your overclocking may have easily caused the board to fry. You also shouldn't even have the machine on if it has blown capacitors on the board. IF it does it even with low end cards installed I's say that's all the proof you need.

Also , the maximum age of your computer is around 7 to 8 years , not over 10.

Deji · 11-07-2009, 02:45 PM

There are no blown capacitors on the motherboard. The blown capacitors where on my old videocard.. Just about anything could have caused that. At the time that the capacitors blew on the old card the system wasn't even overclocked (it was on the default of 100FSB which apparently is underclocked). Also, it's an FSB Overclock, not a voltage change... I believe that doesn't really affect the temperature? Anyway, it would appear that (at least so far) everything is fine until I start playing a game or other application that depends on GFX power. After a while of playing the system will freeze without any temperature changes at all. Apart from this, everything seems to work properly. I'm not saying it definitely isn't my motherboard, but there are no obvious signs of it being damaged in any way... I've spent ages checking.

11-06-2009, 09:09 PM	#1 (permalink)
Deji Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 22 OS: Windows XP SP3	Mystery System Crashes Okay, this will be the third tech support I've posted this on. I've also tried contacting PNY but got no reply. My old card, a nVidia GeForce 6200 by 'Jetway' worked fine for ages. I have a computer that is only capable of PCI and AGP, so it's the best card available. My PC is at least 10 years old. AMD Athlon XP 2400+ overclocked to 166 FSB (2.0 GHz) with 768 MB of RAM. After a while, a capacitor managed to burst... 2, actually... I still don't know why it happened, but it seemed to be okay with new cards. I'm no stranger to computers, but this is something I have no clue about anymore. I've tried just about everything. My new card is the same, a nVidia GeForce 6200 by PNY, this time. Apparently the firmware is also supposed to be newer... So I plugged it in and started using it again. Things seemed fine. I installed my drivers and continued usage. After a while, though... The monitor began turning off for a few moments and then turning back on after a while longer, it just froze. So basically, since I got it the monitor has been turning off, on, off, crashing. Sometimes it bluescreens. Other times neither of them happen and everything but the mouse freezes, then the mouse stops too and the system just hangs. When I try to start games my pc will end up freezing and looping the last .5 seconds of audio or w/e. It also seems that the more recent the game, the faster the crash. But the odd thing is, this only occurs while using drivers... Maybe hardware acceleration is the cause? I've actually not tried turning it off yet, but lately it takes longer for the system to eventually freeze without running games, so it's kinda hard to test whether it's working properly. Anyway, when I uninstall the drivers, the videocard works fine but while they are installed the crashes occur again. Sometimes I get those classic "infinite loop" bluescreens. Another weird thing is that the more recent the drivers, the faster the crashes seem to occur... Still, I don't want any crashes. The card is fine when I check it. I've also got another card, a nVidia Vanta. It's a really basic card (16MB, I think) and that, like my new card crashes the system with drivers installed... But not as often. I'm hoping that my motherboard hasn't decided to stop working with my card... I know the problem isn't with the card. I'm certain there is no overheating occurring, it stays at around 58 degrees Celsius even at the time of it crashing.. I've tried loads of things. Slowly decreasing hardware acceleration, disabling "write combining", reducing the Aperture size (seemed to work better at 4MB than 256 MB...), changing a load of drivers (not just for the videocard), reducing resolution from my usual 1024x768 which is my monitors maximum, removing the additional and rarely used soundcard, disabling many things, changing many BIOS settings, resetting the BIOS, defragmenting, reinstalling Windows, using "Omega" drivers instead of nVidia's ones, installing nVidia loopfix, wiping drivers, reinstalling drivers. Nothing seems to work. I've changed between my 2 cards at least 30 times since I got it and it's really bugging me. If anyone has any other ideas of what to do (aside from getting a new computer... trust me, I'm working on it) I'd be grateful... Hopefully I'm missing something and it's not just my motherboard that's broken.

11-06-2009, 10:27 PM	#2 (permalink)
emosun Moderator Hardware Team Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: usa Posts: 6,890 OS: xp pro sp2 My System	Re: Mystery System Crashes It's sounds like that motherboard is done. Your overclocking may have easily caused the board to fry. You also shouldn't even have the machine on if it has blown capacitors on the board. IF it does it even with low end cards installed I's say that's all the proof you need. Also , the maximum age of your computer is around 7 to 8 years , not over 10. __________________ Gpu Benchmarks Cpu-Z Power supply information and selection Gpu-Z Video card quick list

11-07-2009, 02:45 PM	#3 (permalink)
Deji Registered User Join Date: Nov 2009 Posts: 22 OS: Windows XP SP3	Re: Mystery System Crashes There are no blown capacitors on the motherboard. The blown capacitors where on my old videocard.. Just about anything could have caused that. At the time that the capacitors blew on the old card the system wasn't even overclocked (it was on the default of 100FSB which apparently is underclocked). Also, it's an FSB Overclock, not a voltage change... I believe that doesn't really affect the temperature? Anyway, it would appear that (at least so far) everything is fine until I start playing a game or other application that depends on GFX power. After a while of playing the system will freeze without any temperature changes at all. Apart from this, everything seems to work properly. I'm not saying it definitely isn't my motherboard, but there are no obvious signs of it being damaged in any way... I've spent ages checking.