Computer Shuts Off During Gameplay

I'm new to the forum and I need some help.

Lately, and I mean within the last month or two my computer will just shut off on me during gameplay. It is fine while im surfing or using other programs, but if im playing a game it will shut off. It doesnt matter which game either. It will shut off on a higher game like call of duty and even on smaller games like age of empires.

I did some searching on this forum and a couple of people said to check the temp of the hard drive. So i downloaded PC wizard and let it run last night as i started to play age of empires. I preiodically checked on the temp while playing the game and it never rose above 40 degrees C.

And then all of a sudden about 15 minutes into the game it just shuts off.
Then it wont start up without turning off the surge protector and letting it set for a couple of minutes.

Then on this forum it said that you could have a bad power source and to check the watts of it.
So my power source is an OKIA 420W.

I have a case fan and a cpu fan and heat sink, and a gig of ram.

If anybody can help me or knows of a program that checks how your power supply is running please let me know.

Thanks Josh

Hey and welcome, I think this has already been mentioned in some other thread, so do a search and you might find your answer there already!

Hmm....I think Everest shows whats going on with power, like whats going where....if that helps. Just put 'Everest Home Edition' in google.

Another thing i just checked on pc wizard is that the +12v voltage right now is 11.67 Does this have anything to do with it?

OK I just downloaded Everest home and it says that my +12v voltage is at 12.22.

And my hd temp is 42 degrees C and my processor temp is 68 degrees C.

Ok i left everest running and left one side of my computer off and started playing age of empires.

I would check the cpu temp about every two minutes and in about 10 min. it rose up to 73 degrees C.

So i shut off the game and came and posted this info and right now its at 72 degrees C.

Is my cpu getting too hot causing my bios to shut the pc off?

And if it is why all of a sudden?

I just looked at the cpu fan and its pretty dirty.
Could this be causing anything?

I am going to shut it down and take the fan off and clean it up.

Dirt can cause the cpu/fan to overheat due to the lower temperature dissipation capability. You never said what kind of video card you have, because that too could be the cause of the random shut down. Your power supply also may be getting intermitent power reduction. But if your computer is fine on everything but games (ie higher GPU usage) it could the cause of your trouble. The CPU overheating from a low end graphics card will increase the usage of the CPU as compared to the normal surfing usage.

Why all of sudden could be caused by something starting to go bad. What kind of video card do you have?

One other thing that might be causing the problem, you have it plugged into a power strip correct? Do you have a UPS on the line?

I took my cpu fan and heat sink off and cleaned all the dust build up off of it and now it seems like everything is running fine.

I never thought that dust could cause a problem like this.

Well I guess I learned something new today.

did you make sure to add [url="http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/ProductList.jsp?ThirdCategoryCode=010416"]Thermal compound[/url] between the CPU and the heat sink? This makes for a much better cooling solution, and is very important in the overall setup. I realize you've resolved the problem but, this is well worth it.

Actually it's IMPERATIVE to have thermal cooling coumpound between the CPU and heatsink. Get anything of your choice and slap a little in there, that will ensure a 100% contact and the best heat disapation.

yeah, I've seen a few heatsinks say that you don't need thermal compound but, that's bs, you need it, always. My heatsink came with thermal compound on it though.. which worked out pretty well.

ever since i reformated my computer last week ill be playing a high end game like Halo 2 or Battlefield 2 and my computer well shut down ill play a lower one like RCT3 or SIMS2 or Tropico 2 and it well shut down Y is this is it b.c over heating or is it b.c of my Graphics

i have 756 MB of RAM

Nvidia Geforce 6200 256 mb

1.8 GHZ Y IS IT DOING THIS IT WASNT DOING THIS before THE REFORMAT..... HELP ANYONE WITH ANSWERS EMAIL ME AT YAHOO04WK@COMCAST.NET THANKS

You need to update your graphics card and look into upgrading your heatsink+fan cpu cooling assembly if your having issues with heating. If that doesn work, you could go insanely all out and buy a nautilaus 500 liquid cooling system.


I want one but I'm scared.

Check it out

http://www.hothardware.com/viewarticle. ... =789&cid=9

Why does he need to upgrade his graphics card? A 6200 is fine. Download speedfan ( http://www.almico.com/speedfan.php ) and then tell us your temps. It really does sound like an overheating issue so lets see what comes from speedfan.