How can you tell...?

Chips such as the CPU and chipset can only be dead or alive; there's no in between (dying).

If you're getting a picture on your monitor, your chipset is working. It is not dying. If you're having problems with stability, the problem lies elsewhere.

Chips such as the CPU and chipset can only be dead or alive; there's no in between (dying).

If you're getting a picture on your monitor, your chipset is working. It is not dying. If you're having problems with stability, the problem lies elsewhere.

My_name_a_Borat

I see. So if my computer just decides to restart itself on occasion, that wouldn't be caused by the chipset... right? In a post I made a little while back, many suggested the problem was related to not enough power. Any particular symptoms of power shortage in the case?

Well, before my computer got trashed by a courier I used to send it to my new home and re-building it. I use to have an issue with Medieval 2: Total war, that it use to reset at random intervals when I went to the campain map. I too was stumped as I checked the power consumption, checked for virus, updated my drivers, cleaned my registry, etc and nothing. So I went to the "Help" forums and got told a lot of "It's your hardware, update your drivers" Told them I did and all I got was "Well it isn't the game, can't be the game, the game doesn't cause this problem for anyone." And then three other people posted similar problems.

Anyways, my point is, it could be a software issue. What are you usually doing before the system restarts? Have you ever considered that one of your memory sticks have headed south? Yes, your processor and chipset can start to fail and you can notice. Download a motherboard monitoring program and check to see if it is receiving enough power.

Do this and see if it can eliminate some of the possible issues.

Well, before my computer got trashed by a courier I used to send it to my new home and re-building it. I use to have an issue with Medieval 2: Total war, that it use to reset at random intervals when I went to the campain map. I too was stumped as I checked the power consumption, checked for virus, updated my drivers, cleaned my registry, etc and nothing. So I went to the "Help" forums and got told a lot of "It's your hardware, update your drivers" Told them I did and all I got was "Well it isn't the game, can't be the game, the game doesn't cause this problem for anyone." And then three other people posted similar problems.

Anyways, my point is, it could be a software issue. What are you usually doing before the system restarts? Have you ever considered that one of your memory sticks have headed south? Yes, your processor and chipset can start to fail and you can notice. Download a motherboard monitoring program and check to see if it is receiving enough power.

Do this and see if it can eliminate some of the possible issues.

Cdscottie

I never considered that it would be the memory. Most of the time I start the game running my usual background processes: ZoneAlarm, AVG, and Trillian (aside from all those other background processes that Windows and other drivers need to keep functioning). I would be playing a game like Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault and then it would just lock up at some random point during the mission. I've been plagued by this problem for two months already, and it's really starting to get annoying, since it's frustrating with games with a checkpoint saving system.

Regarding that motherboard monitoring software, do you have one that you could recommend?

Well Scottie, I think your memory theory might have some support.

I just got a rather strange BSoD and it spat out this code:

STOP: 0x000000FC (0xA687910C, 0x0EBFF963, 0xA6878E18, 0x00000001)

I tried a Google search, but it came up with nothing. Not sure if anyone can help me out here...

Well Scottie, I think your memory theory might have some support.

I just got a rather strange BSoD and it spat out this code:

STOP: 0x000000FC (0xA687910C, 0x0EBFF963, 0xA6878E18, 0x00000001)

I tried a Google search, but it came up with nothing. Not sure if anyone can help me out here...

DennisChu22

I condition my computer pretty regularly (once every month or so). The computer is about a year and a half old, but I did upgrade a lot of the parts recently. Check the specs in my signature.

Oh yeah, and what do you guys think about this memory:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231047

I searched the code and it brings up thishttp://support.microsoft.com/kb/886348 stating a driver issue. Best course of action is remove all unnessecary parts from your computer and see if the issue resolves. Also, the BSOD should have also listed a file name/process such as MOM.exe or ATIDriver.exe or something on those lines. That could be a very good help in tracking down exactly what is causing the problem. As for the memory possibly going south, you should try http://www.memtest86.com/. It is a very good program and usually finds errors if they exist in the memory.