Crashes after some time

[melovearmy 10]

Im thinking of buying arma gold from amazon, so while i wait, i have been playing the demo. Every 30 mins (not sure haven't counted), my screen goes black, and my monitor loses signal. The only way to fix it is to restart my comp. Then i can start playing again until it happens again, and again. Running everything as low as possible, on 1024x768 with 2000 view distance. Can you tell me what the problem is, how to fix, and if i cant fix will it happen in the full game?

SPECS:

Pentium 4 CPU 3 ghz

1 gb of ram

ATI x1650 pro agp

[Dwarden 1124]

running 1.14 or 1.18 RC ?

[melovearmy 10]

Im playing the demo, not the full game.

[Gunter Severloh 3965]

What do you have to cool your computer?

I have the full version and had some trouble for a bit in the editor, and what

happened was I would be playing for a bit and then the game would crash to desktop,

then sometimes my compt would restart.

Well low and behold i found out that my cpu was overheating because I didn't have enough air being drawn out of

the case, same was happening to Arma 2. I found this out by downloading a cpu and Gpu monitors for temps and the

temps were borderline makign my compt either restart, or CTD.

I installed a large fan to draw heat from the motherboard and have not had trouble since.

SPECS:

Pentium 4 CPU 3 ghz

1 gb of ram

ATI x1650 pro agp

Your cpu is good, not sure about your graphcs card, I dont know anything about ATI's,

but your ram is low, I would at least get another stick of ram.

as for cooling like i said above your computer and game will do the same if the cpu

and or graphics cards are overheating.

My suggestion to you is, open your case up and clean it of any dust you may have in there,

be sure to unplug it first and touch the metal part of the case to destatic yourself.

Any dust will act as insulation increasing the heat produced from the cpu and the Gcard,

also get more fans in there.

I'm a big believer of cooling, all the problems I ever had was from overheating,

as soon as I cleaned, and added fans my issues stopped.

Hope that helps.

[desertjedi 3]

Sounds like your video card is overheating - but still a guess. My second guess would be a weak power supply but it sounds more like a heat problem. So, I'm in agreement with Gunter.

[melovearmy 10]

Could you tell me any good programs to use for monitoring?

[Gunter Severloh 3965]

use this program to

monitor your CPU temp:

http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/

for GPU or video card heres a whole lsit of programs you can pic from

http://majorgeeks.com/downloads22.html

get your system monitored and see where things are at.

I would highly, and seriously reccomend that you clean out your case of any dust,

and then get some fans in there as well anyways.

Up to you, but hope all that helps.

[melovearmy 10]

Well, i found a program called "HWmonitor" that measures CPU and GPU but i cant tell which is which. All it says is diode 1, ambient, and diode 2. How do i know which diode is which? And i tried core temp and my processor wasn't supported.

[Gunter Severloh 3965]

The temps you dont want to go over for example and this can be different for each card and or cpu,

but based off of nvidia graphics card I can tell you what would crash my game if it reached the temp.

for the graphics card my game would crash if the temp hits 70 that celsious (however thats spelled:rolleyes:)

for my CPU I have an AMD 2.4 single core, and the temp i know that has crashed my game in the past was also at 75c

you want to keep your cpu under 60 and and you gpu (graphics card) under about 60

I use the core temp for my cpu, and for my graphics card I use EVGA precision:

http://www.evga.com/precision/

but thats if you have an evga graphics card.

just keep the temps under 60 if possible, and if you cant....:eek:

then i suggest you dust the inside of your computer and get more fans in there,

seriosuly take the time and do it you will see the difference.

when i did that my game stopped crashing altogether, and now I maintain a constant temp of 55 max

for my GPU and CPU is about the same 55-60. thats pretty good if you think about it just for cooling, thats how big a difference it is.

hope that helps

[melovearmy 10]

Lol... im definetly overheating. Remote 1 ( i think graphics card, could be cpu) Reached (with closed case) 78 C. while playing :eek: Like 60 ish with open case. And i noticed that the fan on the back of my comp isnt working ( the fan near the hole in the back of the comp). Just gotta run with open case til i get that fan fixed. Although remote 1 is idling at 52C as i type this, with case open. I try and dust tomorrow.

[Gunter Severloh 3965]

What you can do as a test is play your game like normal with your case closed, and when you game

crashes then look at which temp is the highest and what it is at, and keep note of it, take note on both

temps, most likely your cpu might be a higher temp then your GPU, well for me it was.

When you open you case again then watch the difference in cooling.

Now that you have your case open are you getting any more crashes?

If not then we have narrowed down your issue to overheating.

Cleaning your compt of dust will definatly help, should do it at least 2-3 times a year,

although temps can tell you if you need to or not but for the sake of routine and reg performance.

[melovearmy 10]

I Dusted computer, not much dust Except in the heat sink above the processor ( maybe? not a computer person, the heat sink had a fan on top) remote 1 still idles at 55C-ish but remote 2 went down to 40c from 45c ish. Will my program save the highest temp even if i have to hold the power button to shut off?

[Gunter Severloh 3965]

Not sure about the program if it will save it.

when you shut down you computer you should really shut it down from the start menu,

otherwise your doing something like a force quit in a way.

The fan on top of the heat sink is what draws heat from the heat sink, so basically the

heat sink is absorbing all the heat from the CPU and then the fan draws the heat from the

heat sink and disperses it into the case to be dispersed or moved yet again by other fan

out of the case, even that wont be enough though as inside the case itself needs to be cool.

Your best test is when your playing, your not going to get accurate readings if your not

ingame because the temps will change in the cpu and Gpu because of the demand from the game.

Is your game crashing anymore?

[melovearmy 10]

The reason i was talking about force shutting off, is because my game doesnt crash, my monitor loses signal, and i hear a recurring sound of whatever the last sound was when it happens. And i played for awhile and it didnt happen, but i needa play for longer.

[peyoteros 10]

Everything you want to know (and don't) about your PC. Temps could be found in "sensors"

http://www.gtopala.com/

http://www.gtopala.com/siw-download.html

Have Fun!