all games CTD

[Uncle Muscle]

A7N8X ASUS mobo
gig of ram
128mb 9200 radeon video card
40G HD
Omega video card drivers
AMD Athlon 2.4 processer

Basicly every game I play on my computer crashes. The only game that hasn't was Close Combat: Battle of the Bulge and A Bridge Too Far. They are strategy games with no 3D rendering. The games that I've played that do CTD are BF1942, Rome: Total War, Day of Defeat: Source, WW2 Online (MMORPG), BF2, BF Vietnam, pretty much any game. There is one game thats not 3D and still crashes, and that is Age of Empires. This has always happened on this computer for as long as I can remember. I've always kind of dealt with it, because sometimes its worse and sometimes it gets somewhat rare. I've reformatted windows on this comp plenty of times. Even right after reformat, after I install all utilities/drivers, and then the game, it still crashes, even the first time I play it. Sometimes it gives me the windows send error message box, other times it just cuts right to desktop, and sometimes the computer just abruptly restarts.

Really the only answer I can come up with myself is my computer is over heating - but I don't see how it could overheat while playing bf1942 or Age of Empires. BTW the comp is pretty old, my dad made it for me about 3 to 4 years ago.

[photolady]

I think you're looking at a newer video card. The video card is kind of old for those games you're trying to play. If you doubt my word, take it to website below and chose your BF1942 and it will tell you if you video card and processor will run these games:

http://www.srtest.com/referrer/srtest

[Uncle Muscle]

Wow thats a helpful site! Thanks for the link. However it doesn't tell me too much. I knew I wasn't able to run BF2 because my video card didn't have the right shaders, but I tweaked it and got it running fine - aside from the CTD issue, which happened the same way it did on every other game. I checked for BF Vietnam, and it all checked out fine. BF1942 isn't on there. And how does my computer not meet the requirements of Age of Empires? However, it suffers from the exact same problem as the newest game I've played.

[photolady]

If the games are crashing before you get a chance to play them, heat is not the issue, it's system specs. Playing games cause heat, as in hours of gaming makes the GPU heat up because it's being taxed.
Age of Empires is an older game and that's why your computer meets its system requirements.

When you ran that test at system labs, did you check the recommended tab?

And just for you information, 3D has to do with your video card not your games.

System requirements recommnend for BF1942 are:
Recommended Requirements:
800 MHz or faster Intel Pentium III or AMD Athlon processor
256 MB or more RAM
16x or faster CD-ROM/DVD-ROM drive
1.2 GB free hard disk space plus space for saved games
64 MB or greater video card which supports Transform & Lighting
Environmental Audio™ capable sound card
The part in bold is what you need built into your video card, if it doesn't have this then your video card isn't worthy of BF1942.

[Uncle Muscle]

It happens randomly during gameplay. Any amount time in game is susceptible to crashing instantly. I could play for 3 hours straight with no trouble, or at other times I'd be lucky to get 15 minutes in game in the course of half an hour. I don't think its my computer's specs, they meet the requirements of 99% of the games I play, including BF1942 easily.

[photolady]

Ok, you say it is not your system. So, try reinstalling the games. Heat usually happens if you're playing for more than 15 minutes.

[Uncle Muscle]

Well, that usually when it really starts to act up. Sometimes sooner, but not by too much. How plausible is the overheating theory?

[photolady]

Have you ever opened the case and cleaned the dust out?

Heat plausibility at what you're experiencing isn't all the good. As I said, if it is shutting down sooner than or at near 15 minutes, that's not enough time for a gpu to over heat.

[Uncle Muscle]

The last time I opened the case was when my power source blew. It just burned up. The fan apparently stopped because I kept my PC on all the time. I cleaned out the dust then, and that was about over a year ago.

[photolady]

You need to clean it out again because over a year collects lots of dust in a computers fans. Also, if you have animals, a computer should be dedusted at least every 6 months.