Just bought killer PC- Already dissapointed :(

[Guest]

Hi guys,I finally bought a new PC and it's not letting me enjoy FS for more than 5min at a time. Basically the PC will reboot itself after running flight sim for 5-10min, as if someone hit the reset button.Configuration as follows:Windows XPAMD Athlon XP3000+MSI K7N2 Delta-ILSR MB1024MB DDR PC3200 400Mhz Generic RAMMaxtor 80G with 8Mb Cache ATA-133MSI 128Mb FX5800-TD8X video cardCDROMIt seems to run longer before resetting if I dissable hardware accelleration in the FS Display menu, but eventually it still reboots itself.I've checked to see that everything is snugly fitted on the MB, but no more ideas here.PLEASE HELP!! Cheers,Nick

[Guest Bigshot]

Most likely heat. Both that processor and video card produce tremendous amount of heat. Try taking the cover off and setting up a room fan to blow on the components. See if it makes any difference. PCs are designed to restart if the components get too hot.

[Guest]

I checked the CPU temperature in BIOS as soon as it reboots and temp indicates 49 deg C. I don't know if that's too hot or not but I'll try openning it up.Another strange side-effect is that the gauges in the instrument pannel begin to bleed downwards (colours merge/smear) rapidly. My memory is in 2 sticks, XP home, 350W pwr supply.Cheers,Nick

[Guest ba747heavy]

49C shouldn't cause reboots, that isn't too hot at all.Go to http://mbm.livewiredev.com/ and install Motherboard Monior, then you can watch your CPU temps more closely in Windows.

[Guest]

I ran it with the cover off whilst fanning the internals but it still rebooted. I also tried running with 1/2 the RAM but still no good.I dissabled the "Automatic restart" feature in the system settings so it gives an error message before it reboots, and error reads something allong the lines of "an error has occured in nv4_disp.dll file". I should have mentioned that it reboots faster when in full-screen mode, so maybe that's another clue.Cheers,Nick

[Guest ba747heavy]

Sounds like either, your Video Card is messed up, your video drivers are messed up, or perhaps your RAM is messed up. You said that you ran FS with 1/2 the RAM, did you try both sticks of RAM?I had the same problem with my dads computer, and the problem turned out to be two fold: 1) The CPU was underclocked(I highly doubt this is your problem) 2) One of the two sticks of RAM was bad.

[Guest FPSFREAK]

I'm surprised that nobody has even mentioned the fact of a 350 Watt PS w a system such as that. :(I don't know if you had the machine built for you or wether you purchased it from a retailer but in my opinion you may be experiencing a voltage problem. Bottom line...With your current CPU,Ram and Video Card a 400 Watt would have been my bottom line.Just something to think about.Bobby

[Guest]

The system was built by a large retailer and they made no recommendation for bigger pwr supply :( In any case I took it back today and told them what was going on. They promtly informed me that warranty doesn't cover software incompatiblility issues/drivers/games etc (to be expected I suppose), and they'll update drivers for me and check components. I really don't care, so long as it's fixed. I'll update this thread as soon as I get results.Cheers.Nick

[Guest ba747heavy]

Good luck, I hope that you get your problem resolved.

[Guest FPSFREAK]

>The system was built by a large retailer and they made no>recommendation for bigger pwr supply :( >>In any case I took it back today and told them what was going>on. They promtly informed me that warranty doesn't cover>software incompatiblility issues/drivers/games etc (to be>expected I suppose), and they'll update drivers for me and>check components. >>I really don't care, so long as it's fixed. I'll update this>thread as soon as I get results.>Exactly why I will never buy another retail built machine.Good luck and let us know what happens.Bobby

[Guest Bigshot]

Bobby is right about the PS. That video card requires a minimum of a 400 watt PS. Also in regards to: ""They promtly informed me that warranty doesn't cover software incompatiblility...".Don't let them give you that kinda crappola. You have a Warranty by law of 'fitness for a particular purpose'. If you ordered a machine to run FS2k2, then it'd better run FS2k2 or they are in breach of that warranty. The only way around that warranty is to sell the product "AS IS". I doubt that was the case. If you charged the machine, call your cc company and stop payment. If you wrote a check, go into your bank and stop payment. Simple as that. If the product they produced for you doesn't do what you wanted it to do, they're the one in breach.Just a suggestion; that video card didn't get very good reviews. You might want to try a 9700 Pro. Probably cheaper and has more go-nads than the 5800 with AA & AF running. It's also probably a part of you system problem.

[Guest DNelson]

>They promtly informed me that warranty doesn't cover software incompatiblility issues/drivers/games etcThat comment makes me wonder about these guys. XP will not blue screen or re-boot because of software incompatability. It will just close the offending program. Re-boots in XP indicate hardware or driver problems.Dan

[Guest]

I got my PC back.The techies updated thevideo card driver, which appears to have solved the rebooting problem, however I did experience 1 lockup and 1 reboot after a few hrs of running. So it seems there may possibly be further issues with FS or Captain Speaking, Scenery, Ema Field, but at least can get some flying time up.I worked out why the instument panel would "bleed" down the screen. I dissabled "Anti-aliasing" option in FS hardware setup and it stopped doing this. I don't know what that feature does exactly but it worked :)The techies also said that FS2002 may not be totally compatible with my FX5000 card and I should see if any patches are available. Where there any patches released for FS 2002?Overal I think I had some success, but some more work ahead of me to sort it all out.Cheers.

[Guest ba747heavy]

I think the techies are idiots. The FX5000 should have no problem running FS. And there are no patches for FS2002.BTW, Anti-aliasing does is to reduce the number of jagged edges on the screen. However, it is generally agreed that keeping the FS Anti-aliasing option off is the correct procedure ;-)

[Bert Pieke]

Anti-Aliasing has been known to give problems with some Nvidia display driver releases, mainly when running in 16 bit color mode..What seems to work best, is to turn off AA in FS2002, but turn it on in the Nvidia display driver properties panel. Make sure you are running in 32 bit color. Start with 2xAA and work your way up from there, if the display quality improvement is worth the FPS hit to you..Personally, I find 1280x960x32 display resolution with 2xAA a good compromise. Also check your direct3d display refresh rate and make sure it is not stuck at the XP default of 60, but set to 85 or similar..