Solved Computer crashing a while after playing games

Belial13

Member
I've been facing this problem for a while, and I have absolutely no idea what to do, tried googling the solutions but none of the posts I found were very helpful. I start playing any game for a while, and then the screen goes all black and in standby mode, the sound keeps playing for a few seconds until it starts looping, and I have to restart. There's no specific time for the crash, sometimes it takes 10 minutes, sometimes 35 minutes...This has been happening for a month now, with games that have been working very fine before, like Skyrim, The Sims 2, Heroes VI, Renegade (which is a bit old so I'm guessing it's not very graphics related..)

Here are some specs of my personalized desktop:
Windows Vista Ultimate Service pack 2
Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7200 @ 2.53GHz 2.53 GHz
NVIDIA GeForce 9400
2.00GB RAM
32-bit Operating system

I also have to point out that I have 1 GB of free space on C, and 6 on D, but it has been like that for over a year now and I haven't faced any problem with it (except more or less slow performance *sometimes*)

I ran a speedfan test since most of those facing similar problems have been asked to do that, and here are the results:
CPU0Fan: 1140 RPM
GPU: 74C
System: 81C
CPU: Between 39-45C (goes up and down every 2 seconds)
AUX: 125C
Temp: 74C
HD0: 43C
Core 0: 58C
Core 1: 58C

Help please? :/
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Personalized Desktop
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7200 @ 2.53GHz 2.53 GHz
    Memory
    2.00GB RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 9400
Your cores shouldn't be 58C just at idle. Aswell your gpu is too high for idle.

D/l furmark FurMark: VGA Stress Test, Graphics Card and GPU Stability Test, Burn-in Test, OpenGL Benchmark and GPU Temperature | oZone3D.Net
It'll stress just you video card. If it crashs up, or gets to 105C You have heat issues with the gpu.

Also d/l prime95 |MG| Prime95 27.7 Download
It'll stres just your cpu. If you get over 75C or crash, you have heat issues.

Odds are you need a good cleanout and thermal paste redo.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Dual L5639 // i7 950 @ 4.0Ghz
    Motherboard
    Evga SR-2 // Gigabyte x58a-ud3r
    Memory
    12Gig Corsair XMS3 // 6Gig OCZ Gold
    Graphics Card(s)
    gtx 560 ti // gtx 260-216
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 22" // Headless
    Hard Drives
    OCZ aGILITY 3, 120Gig + Seagate 500Gig x 2
    PSU
    Silverstone da700 // Corsair 520hx
    Case
    Rosewill BlackHawk Ultra // Antec 900v1
    Cooling
    Twin CM Hyper 212+ // Noctua NH-u12
    Other Info
    Acer 8930 laptop with x9100...
Okay so GPU got to 105C 2 minutes after running Furmark, and it took the CPU around 4 minutes after starting prime95 stress test to get to 72C then it stopped going up for like 30 seconds so I closed the program because the computer turned awfully slow. But no crashes or anything. So I'm guessing there's nothing I can do on my own? :/
 

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Personalized Desktop
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7200 @ 2.53GHz 2.53 GHz
    Memory
    2.00GB RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 9400
Okay, those show that your problem is heat. Which is something you can easily fix on your own.

Basically you need to open up your case and carefully clean out the dust from the cooling fans. I'm betting you'll have tonnes of it.

Watch this video PC Cleaning Tips / Removing Dustbunnies (NCIX Tech Tips #13) - YouTube and see if you are confindent enough to do it.
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Dual L5639 // i7 950 @ 4.0Ghz
    Motherboard
    Evga SR-2 // Gigabyte x58a-ud3r
    Memory
    12Gig Corsair XMS3 // 6Gig OCZ Gold
    Graphics Card(s)
    gtx 560 ti // gtx 260-216
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 22" // Headless
    Hard Drives
    OCZ aGILITY 3, 120Gig + Seagate 500Gig x 2
    PSU
    Silverstone da700 // Corsair 520hx
    Case
    Rosewill BlackHawk Ultra // Antec 900v1
    Cooling
    Twin CM Hyper 212+ // Noctua NH-u12
    Other Info
    Acer 8930 laptop with x9100...
Thanks! Watched it and will do.

EDIT:
So after I watched the video, I was thinking of ways to replace the compressed air can since I'm guessing no shop next to me sells them, so I came up with the smart idea of making A4 Paper cones (took a picture) :
IMG-20120803-00124.jpg

And used them to blow out the dust, and yes there was tons of it. It worked like a wonder though.
And woah, fan temp dropped A LOT, and cpu fan is faster:
CPU0 Fan: 1172 RPM
GPU: 51C
System: 71C
CPU: 29C
AUX: 125C
Temp: 51C
HD0: 40C
Core 0: 48C
Core 1: 48C

So yeah I guess that's it, thanks a lot!
 
Last edited:

My Computer

System One

  • Manufacturer/Model
    Personalized Desktop
    CPU
    Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Duo CPU E7200 @ 2.53GHz 2.53 GHz
    Memory
    2.00GB RAM
    Graphics Card(s)
    NVIDIA GeForce 9400
Good job. Nice MacGyver job.

So yha, run those programs again. Those 2 programs are your worse case situations, as games don't nearly tax the system. If they do okay there, you'll be fine.

On another fyi, cpu's and video cards are designed to slow down when the start overheating, which is why you slowed.

You're next step to clean would be to remove the cpu fan and cooling block and redo the goo that's between the cpu and metal cooler. But if its good now, then its not needed....... yet
 

My Computer

System One

  • CPU
    Dual L5639 // i7 950 @ 4.0Ghz
    Motherboard
    Evga SR-2 // Gigabyte x58a-ud3r
    Memory
    12Gig Corsair XMS3 // 6Gig OCZ Gold
    Graphics Card(s)
    gtx 560 ti // gtx 260-216
    Monitor(s) Displays
    Dual 22" // Headless
    Hard Drives
    OCZ aGILITY 3, 120Gig + Seagate 500Gig x 2
    PSU
    Silverstone da700 // Corsair 520hx
    Case
    Rosewill BlackHawk Ultra // Antec 900v1
    Cooling
    Twin CM Hyper 212+ // Noctua NH-u12
    Other Info
    Acer 8930 laptop with x9100...
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