Computer likes to reboot -- directx? drivers?

[Peegee]

The computer's randomly rebooting again. This time the specs are as follows:

- Desktop PC
- some Radeon 9200 card
- random asus mobo/ P4 2.8 chip
- 2x 3200 ddr 512 ram
- 1x 2700 ddr 512 ram
- 3 fans powered by IDE, one by mobo (or it would give me a cpu fan not working error)
- 400W PSU

Anyway everything is as it was -- same windows install from before I went to HK. However I couldn't install directX -- it apparently was installed already. In any case, when I run directX related screen savers (like 3D text) or play video games requiring directX (like doom3 or world of warcraft), I will randomly get one of the following:

- computer freezes
- hard reboot
- drawing errors leading to freezing

Never an error -- just plain freezing.

Now is this a driver error? I installed the drivers from the cd that came with the card, plus windows updates. I *am* planning on getting a new video card (upgrading from 128 to 256), but like the dvd burner and etc, if it can wait, it can wait.

So what think you? hardware/software? It's not a virus. :D

[Yamaneko]

Why are you running two types of RAM? PC2700 (or DDR 333) and PC3200 (or DDR 400) have different RAM timings in relation to the front side bus. Can you tell us what speed your FSB is running at? It might be that you've pushed the stick of PC2700 RAM too hard because it really shouldn't operate at 200MHz.

Anyway, I don't know if that could be the problem. Could be heat issues regarding running RAM at higher speeds than it should.

[Peegee]

I thought ram runs at the lower speed. I have two faster sticks of ram because that's what they gave me -_-

Anywho, 533 Mhz bus.

[Samuraid]

Unless you are forcefully overclocking the system, all the RAM should assume the speed of the slowest RAM in the system; in this case, 166MHz/333MHz.

I installed the drivers from the cd that came with the card, plus windows updates.

You may want to get the lastest Catalyst drivers from www.ati.com as they are likely much newer than what MS provides on WindowsUpdate as well as the OEM driver CD.

[bipper]

Funny, I just updated my directx and updated windows on a new computer, and when ever i load a directx run game, I am getting mass flashing hystaria out of any monitor I try.

I am looking into the problem, mabey it is related in some way.

bipper

[Black Mage]

Oddly enough, I have the same trouble with my Radeon 9800.

Whenever I do something, such as play a video game, or sometimes even when I don't do anything, the computer will freeze, or perform a VPU recovery.

I've always attributed this to over heating of the card, since I have the most up-to-date drivers, and it seems to occur less when I have an external fan running on it.

But maybe I'm wrong, and there's a reason for it?

[Yamaneko]

There are so many things that could be wrong. I've read posts where people's systems were BSODing because they had a Creative sound card below the third PCI slot. A lot of these problems, though, seem to be attributed to overheating or faulty memory.