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PC Shutting off during playing games.

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by karma1

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Hey...

I'm being a little lazy here as I don't really have time to troubleshoot this problem for myself, so I'm posting a question to get some help.

I have a PC that is shutting itself off while playing games, and only while playing games. I originally thought it may've been a overheating issue, but the PC will remain running for days until you play a game. The list of games that do it are: Call of Duty, Call of Duty 2, World of Warcraft, NFS: Most Wanted, NFS: Underground, and NFS: Underground 2. It will take anywhere from 15 minutes to 30 mins for the PC to shut off, but once it does, rebooting and re-entering the game doesn't reset the amount of time. It ends up turning itself off after 10 mins everytime after the first time. It's a hard shut down, not a lock up. All of a sudden the power just shuts off, very annoying.

The system is a little outdated... P4 2.8Ghz, 512M RAM, SB Audigy 2, ATI Radeon 9000 256M, and 3 extra case fans. Running WinXP SP2.
It does get warm but I've put it under some stress to see if I could get it to shut off from 'normal use' and nothing.

If anyone requires any additional info, I'll be happy to post it.

Thanks in advance.

4 replies

by older mycroft

Because you don't have anything inside the case that would generate enough heat to justify their use. Maybe they're just for show?

The fact that your system will run quite happily 'for days' until you start a game, rather narrows the field for investigation. When one of your listed games is started the Radeon comes into play and your RAM is under heavier strain due to increased data throughput.

Strictly speaking, if your Radeon is a 'vanilla 9000', irrespective of your 256MB of graphics memory, I would suggest that your GPU is incapable of sustaining (indeed I'm surprised you can run them at all) play for more than a short period of time.

Check the 'minimum system spec' for Call of Duty 2 and you'll find your card unlisted. According to uk.gamespot.com: "To say that Call of Duty 2 doesn't play nice with graphics cards is an understatement. Anything older than a Radeon X700 Pro will likely render the game basically unplayable."

Suggested graphics hardware runs to the following:
Graphics Cards: GeForce 7800 GTX, GeForce 7800 GT, GeForce 6800 GT, GeForce 6800 GS, GeForce 6600 GT, GeForce 6200 TC, Radeon X1800 XT, Radeon X1800 XL, Radeon X1600 XT, Radeon X1300 Pro, Radeon X850 Crossfire edition, Radeon X700 Pro, Radeon X600 Pro, Radeon X300 SE.

I think you need to upgrade your graphics capability.

by ah121076

i found the Solution !!!!! Very Easy One! it is the Bios SETUP! YES! in section "PC Health" you will find option for temperature warning. this makes your pc shuts down instead of giving you a warning. Raise the warning temp! that is it!!! (my warning was at 60. i raised it to 70)

by slayer_

It used to do it on its integrated, once maybe a week? But I stuck in a video card, low powered mind you, but now it will usually shut down the moment it begins to load anything graphical.

I know the repair shop has replaced the mobo 3 times for this issue, I suspect it is probably the power supply. I increased the demand on the powersupply (though still well within the power limits) and now it shuts down more often.

This 6 year old ATI AGP4 card doesn't require much power, doesn't even need an extra power cable to itself.

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