Computer and Games

[TheSwedishPancake]

I've been having a problem recently with my computer automatically instantly restarting itself while playing games. The first game that I had this problem with was Halo: Combat Evolved. Being an older game with much less intensive graphics, I thought that it was rather odd that games like Oblivion did not do this. Well, some time passed and Warcraft III, yet another non-graphics-intensive game, began to cause my computer to restart itself.

 

Last night, however, even Oblivion had this problem. I really do think that I have some kind of hardware issue. Possibly an overheating graphics card? I've pretty much ruled out my sound card, since I've disabled sounds in Halo and it still had problems. I think this is a graphics card problem... it's rather old, and I actually have to underclock it before playing Oblivion, or the game will freeze after a time. Is it finally starting to actually die and become unusable?

 

Thanks in advance for the help, Nexus.

[Erik005]

Yes what you described looks like it is getting to hot, and that it is dying.

 

What type is it?

[TheSwedishPancake]

It is an NVIDIA GeForce 8400 GS. I think it's about two or three years old, and it's been having problems (the reason I began underclocking it) for almost a year.

[bben46]

When I see a computer restarting I always suspect the power supply first. The restart is usually caused by the +5 volt line going too low.

 

However, almost any malfunctioning component - card, mother board or even hard drive - can short the 5 volt and cause a reset.

 

Many off the shelf big name computers (Dell, HP etc) have weak power suplies to begin with, and adding a new part such as a more powerful video card, new audio card, or even a second hard drive can overtax them.

 

What I usually see with a failing video card is sudden changes in colors, dancing pixels, odd video artifacts. But it could also affect the 5 volt line and cause a reset.

 

Before spending on a new card, check to be sure the fan on the video card is working and the air channels are not clogged with dust.

[TheSwedishPancake]

I was thinking it might be the power supply as well. However, when Oblivion used to freeze, the some pixels would change to odd colors, like you described. That leads me to suspect that the video card is the real problem, and is just getting worse. I'll look into cleaning it and ensuring that the fan works properly. Thanks.

[Balagor]

True that a weak power supply can cause these problems.

I would also make sure that the CPU cooler and fan is all clean.

An overheated CPU does exactly the same; restart.