STOP message during gameplay

[megidoflare]

hi there! i'm new here in the forums and i thought that i'd share to you my problem.

here are my PC's specs...

processor: P4 2.40 GHz (533MHz FSB)
MoBo: Foxconn 648FX4MR-ES (3PCI 2DDR AGP8x)
Vid card: ATI Radeon 9200 SE 128MB AGP8x
Memory: 512MB PC400 DDR SDRAM
HDD: Seagate 40GB 7200RPM
OS: WinXP Pro

now everytime i play a game (whether it be NBA Live 2004/2005, NFS underground 2), after some time during the game (usually after 10-20 minutes), my PC will automatically restart. now, i did the thing with my computer wherein i turned off the "restart my computer on system failure". once i turned this off, STOP messages appear (pretty scary...) like
DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL.

i've already tried a few things but to no avail...

a. updated my display driver (same result; it even frequented the crashing!)
b. reformatted my PC (same result)

take note that it only happens when i play video games. everything is normal when i'm not playing anything... i sent my video card back to my vendor and they tested it for one whole day. no flaws/reboots according to them.

also, i am not sure if this could be an issue, but during BIOS my memory frequency is 200MHZ (im using a 512mb pc3200 (400 MHz) DDR SDRAM ).

any help would be greatly appreciated.

Merry Christmas to ALL!

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

Ok well firt thought was overheating, a lot of CPU's shut them selves down after they hit a certain temperature, and as games use CPU cycles more than say... internet browsing, it would heat up you CPU a bit more, see if you can give us some temps... I have had this problem once when my heasink was a little loose, some new Artic Silver 5 on there and I was good to go.

[TheOne�]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

do you use onboard sound or have a soundcard? in which pci slot is it?

what STOP error are you getting? 0x0000???

go to start>all programs>accesories>system tools>system information
check for any IRQ conflicts.

the memory/bios thing is that its really running at 400mhz the memory, but its split into 2 when it reads to bios & front side bus. 2x200 = 400mhz.

[megidoflare]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

i ahve an onboard sound card...

yup, i get that 0x0000... error message... i'll check the IRQ conflicts later coz i'm not on my PC...

thanx for the info on the memory/FSB thing

[megidoflare]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

Ok well firt thought was overheating, a lot of CPU's shut them selves down after they hit a certain temperature, and as games use CPU cycles more than say... internet browsing, it would heat up you CPU a bit more, see if you can give us some temps... I have had this problem once when my heasink was a little loose, some new Artic Silver 5 on there and I was good to go.

oh.. ok.. i actually checked it up last night while tinkering m BIOS... CPU TEMP-51 degrees...

oh, and do you think i should enable the "shut down" thingy when my CPU reaches a specific temperature?

[Amd_Lover2004]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

That might be a good idea, unless your like me and have a program that shows you your temps no matter what you are doing, even during games. Appears in the top corner, can't remember what it is called(my buddy installed it on my comp...) But in any case I would suggest it yes. In case you forget to check it and it gets to... say 80...

Im not to sure how well your particular CPU handels temps but, I knoe that I would never alow any of my computers to reach 51C.

[wayout44]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

oh.. ok.. i actually checked it up last night while tinkering m BIOS... CPU TEMP-51 degrees...

oh, and do you think i should enable the "shut down" thingy when my CPU reaches a specific temperature?

That temp is not to bad but I wouldn't worry about enabling the overheat shut down as your CPU will start to automatically throttle itself down once core temps get to around 75C and if throttling doesn't help temps then the CPU will shut itself down.

[megidoflare]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

oh.. thanx wayout... i'll try that...

i was actually thinking of maybe replacing my video card, but the vendor said that it had no problems (remember that i sent it back to them for a 1-day test run).

besides the video card and probably some MEMORY issues, i have no idea what's the deal with my PC...

[megidoflare]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

go to start>all programs>accesories>system tools>system information
check for any IRQ conflicts.

hey, how will i know if i have any IRQ conflicts? under "System Summary >> Hardware Resources >> IRQs", all Statuses are OK.

[megidoflare]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

hey... here are the things in my System Info as you requested...

[megidoflare]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

TheOne,

here's the other image...

[megidoflare]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

i'm back!

i forgot to tell you that my problem is also causing the System has recovered from a serious error message upon restart.

here are two common error signatures i have encountered:

BCCode : 10000050 BCP1 : BEA0D980 BCP2 : 00000000 BCP3 : BEA0D980
BCP4 : 00000002 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 1_0 Product : 256_1

and

BCCode : d1 BCP1 : A2A5B800 BCP2 : 00000002 BCP3 : 00000001 BCP4 : F6DFC8DA OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 1_0 Product : 256_1

there... any help would be greatly appreciated (because i am sick and tired of my PC having to reboot everytime i play games...)

[wayout44]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

Go into your system properties/advanced/startup & recovery and untick Automatically Restart. This will produce a blue screen with an error report instead of restarting so tell us what the complete error report is when you get the next blue screen.

[megidoflare]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

oh... sure... i'll give you the complete error report...

what i remember seeing is a" driver_irql_not_less_or_equal" mesage...

i'll fill in the complete details as soon as i encounter the BSOD...

[TheOne�]

Re: STOP message during gameplay

sorry bout not responding, haven't been here for sometime(out of town).
you have your ethernet & a modem pci cards? if you use the ethernet try taking out the modem card, as those are conflicting(when 1 IRQ is being used by 2 devices).