Game crashing, BSOD, etc... - Overclock.net

RaCeR123 · 07-11-08

Hey.
My system is starting to have some minor problems and I can't seem to figure out what it is.
It's actually quite weird. I reformatted before thinking that it would fix all these errors but I guess it didn't.
I am getting BSOD, game crashes, both in Windows XP and Vista.

It started out with programs not installing right in the beginning.
I will try to install something from my Hard-Drive (not even cd) and Windows will tell me that the disc is damaged or can not be read. Then I try it a second time and it will work just fine.
Games: All my games no exception crash very frequently. Usually just the standard Windows messages telling me that The game encountered an error blah blah send to microsoft...
BSOD: Both. More in Vista than in XP. It doesn't happen very often at all but it happens every once in a while (A lot more than they used to).

My system is NOT overclocked and at standard settings.
What should I check for? How could this be fixed or what can I do to figure out what the problem is?
I am at at a loss here and have no idea what to do.

Any help is appreciated

**The Duke** · 07-11-08

You might think your PS is fine, but just the other day a member wit the same PS had a weak rail and the voltage was low enough to cause issues.
Low voltage can screw with the HDD big time too, wreaking havoc with the OS and data transfer.

SerenityKill3r · 07-11-08

PSU seems to be the culprit...

Barkers101 · 07-11-08

its usually the PSU when nothing else is the cause. As long as you have up to date drivers and all hardware seems connected and working fine.

**txtmstrjoe** · 07-11-08

I would check RAM first, actually. It's far more fragile than a PSU, and it's not unknown for RAM to go sour even if it's never been overvolted or overclocked. I would recommend running MemTest86+ initially at your present settings; if it is a RAM problem, it would be exposed fairly quickly by MemTest86+.

As an aside, your motherboard has MemTest already in it, so it really is a very easy and convenient first step to try.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

**thlnk3r** · 07-11-08

Quote:

Originally Posted by RaCeR123

Hey.It started out with programs not installing right in the beginning.
I will try to install something from my Hard-Drive (not even cd) and Windows will tell me that the disc is damaged or can not be read. Then I try it a second time and it will work just fine.
Games: All my games no exception crash very frequently. Usually just the standard Windows messages telling me that The game encountered an error blah blah send to microsoft...
BSOD: Both. More in Vista than in XP. It doesn't happen very often at all but it happens every once in a while (A lot more than they used to).

My system is NOT overclocked and at standard settings.
What should I check for? How could this be fixed or what can I do to figure out what the problem is?
I am at at a loss here and have no idea what to do.

RaCeR, it probably would help too if you ran a diagnostic on your drives. Seagate's Seatools can perform a full surface scan (sectory by sector). If anything start backing up crucial data if you have any. If one of those drives fails then your in big trouble...especially on a raid 0 array.

If you have a multimeter handy then I'd recommend also checking the voltages on the PSU. Here is a helpful guide that explains this process: http://www.clunk.org.uk/forums/guide...ing-guide.html.

Let us know what you find

Good luck

RaCeR123 · 07-11-08

Ok, so I have downloaded Seagate Seatools and installed it. I started the program and got this error *see attached picture*. It does this every time, should I try the DOS version? I do have a floppy drive.

As for Memtest86, you are correct it is included with my motherboard. What test should I run? I ran it before but such a long time ago I don't remember how to test my memory correctly.

Help is appreciated, thanks.

**txtmstrjoe** · 07-11-08

As far as MemTest is concerned, my routine for a "quick and dirty" test is to run Test 5 at least five times through, and Test 8 at least three times through. If there are any obvious hardware problems, they'll show up very quickly.

A more thorough testing procedure would be to run the entire suite of tests over an extended period (overnight is suggested by many). If no errors show up after running MemTest overnight, then the RAM is most likely healthy enough.

Good luck!