[Cardboard Box]

Hi

On several games, my game inexplicently crashes to desktop. At first I just thought they might be natural unstableness in my games, but its starting to get ridiculous. It crashes on S.T.A.L.K.E.R Clear Sky, Left 4 Dead, Fallout 3 and a bunch of others.

My computer has these specs:

- Windows Media Centre
- 2 gb RAM DDR2
- 512 mb ATI HD 2400 PRO
- 2.5 ghz dual core CPU
- 160 gb hard drive space

Could there be a problem with my hardware?

Thanks

[Couriant]

Overheating is a common cause. Check your temperatures, or you could use a fan if you have one and point it into your case (side panel off) and see if that helps

[DerekC]

Get any errors when the games crash?

[Cardboard Box]

Hi

Thanks Couriant- I'll try out putting a fan next to my pc.

DerekC- It either simply crashes to desktop with no errors or it comes up with a generic error. (The one where the two options are to "send error report to microsoft" or "don't send")

Thanks

[Cardboard Box]

Hi

I tried placing a fan next to my opened case. One of my games appeared to be crashing less but that may be a coincidence. My friend suggested that its unlikely to be overheating because overheating generallly causes the whole computer to lock up. He suggested it could be a problem with my RAM.

Thankyou for your assistence

[Couriant]

RAM could be the cause... though I suggested the fan because it seems overheating does tend to be the problem, for example when I play C&C: Zero Hour, i crash out because my video card was working too hard (though at the time didn't have good airflow into my computer) and it overheated, but i still went to desktop with no locking.

There is a RAM test called MEMTEST, do a google and you will find it. You should do this overnight as it may take a long time.

[Cardboard Box]

Hi

Thanks for the suggestion of memtest. My friends mentioned it too. I tried it out but it reports no errors. Overheating is now an unlikelyhood. When playing call of duty 6 (which takes considerably more effort for my hardware to run than the other games, the game never crashes. Also, my average temp is 40- 50. Maximum is around 80, which is apparently still safe.

At the moment, areas of possiblity are:

- Power supply
- CPU
- Graphics Card
- Hard drive

Please notify me if there any suggestions on whether I missed something or something needs to be added.

Thankyou for your time

[Couriant]

maybe video driver instability? If it was your cpu, it would restart the whole machine. Power supply would probably do the same thing, if not shut down completely.

[Cardboard Box]

Hi

So, should I get a fresh copy of the graphics driver, or roll the driver back one in an attempt to preserve compatability?

Thanks

Chris

[Couriant]

Personally I would get the newest driver.