System Restarts. Help me!

[Giggy]

I play my sims game. first few minutes the game freezes then runs fine. then after an hour or so. the system freezes and completely reboots itself.
This started when I installed Nightlife. actually it started when I installed my brand new Nvidia 6600GT (I hate it)
I cant update it as I will get graphical errors. I can only go up to 78.01 or it will get triangle holes.
I have:
1 gb of ram.
Intel pentium 4
Nvidia GeForce 6600GT
Compaq presario.
Can someone help me!

[Simlover]

Is your card seated properly? Do you have low density ram? Is the fan on your card working properly, in fact are all your fans working properly?

[Giggy]

its nothing to do with the fans as it doesnt overheat and the card is sealed into place

[Simsample]

Try removing all of your older drivers, and also reinstalling Directx. Also, have you reinstalled the sims since you upgraded the card? Sometimes the user properties do not get updated correctly, so the game is 'detecting' the wrong card.

[Giggy]

I also do that. ditto. 
Its nothing to do with over heating. should I reinstall my graphics card or will it not make a difference.
I cant buy a video card as its too expensive and I cant put in my old radeon  9200 as I cant install it without a disk.

[DrBeast]

Are you sure your power supply is up to it? A 6600GT is much more power-consuming than a Radeon 9200. Does the system reboot only when you're playing Sims? Try another demanding game or application and see what happens.

[Hegelian]

Spontaneous reboots are usually the result of an inadequate or failing power supply. The power supplies that come with off-the-shelf PCs are generally the cheapest, lowest-power units they can get away with, and rarely deliver their nominal rated power at normal operating temperatures.

You certainly can reinstall the ATi card. Simply uninstall the nVidia drivers, shut down, switch cards, and boot your computer. You can run with the default Windows VGA drivers, and then download the latest Catalyst drivers from ATi's Web site. The board-specific drivers are needed to get all the options and optimizations, but you can use any video card that will work in your computer without the manufacturer's drivers.

[Simlover]

Spontaneous reboots can also be related to RAM conflicts/problems.

[phyllis_p]

There are also some worms going around that cause spontaneous reboot.  My sweetie had one called "backdoor haxdoor."  If his computer was connected to the internet (cable modem, always connected), the computer would reboot spontaneously regardless of what else he was doing (like playing TS2).  If he physically disconnected the cable, no reboots. Needless to say, once the trojan was dealt with he had no further problem (though to deal with it, we had to reformat the hard drive and reinstall everything -- it defeated all my attempts to remove it).

[Giggy]

it strangely works with TS1 though 
I think its either the power or the ram.
I'll go and try the power first before fiddling with the ram

[Simlover]

You should have it written on the side of your case what wattage you have, I was running on a 350w which ran fine but have noticed the system is smoother since installing the 500w

[Final Warrior]

Yeah, you might wanna get a new PS if you're going to upgrade to a much more powerful GPU/CPU.

At least, that's how I fixed my problem when I upgraded to my 7800 GTX. (From a BFG GeForce 5700.)

-- Griffinhart

[Giggy]

Ok I'll check

[Giggy]

how do you check the power supply volts or wats or whatever it is?

[DrBeast]

You open the case (obviously) and locate your power supply unit (PSU). It's usually at the top and back of the case (though in some cases it's mounted at the bottom and back for some obscure and completely anti-ergonomic reason). On the PSU you'll find a label that states some facts about your power supply. Jot them down and let us know.

[Giggy]

thanks.
Edit: Crap. the case is sealed damn tight. but at the backo of the pc there was a red label which had a warning and usual crap but also it said 230v. I'm thinking thats the right one but I'll give it a try tonight.

Edit: GOT IT OPENED!

Power supply:
Model: Hipro-d2537f3h
Volts: AC input: 100-127V /6A
                      200-240V /4A
DC Output: +5V = /25A
                 +3.3 = /18A
                 +5VSB = /2A
+5V and +3.3V shall not exceed 165W
+5V and 12V Shall not exceed 218W
Max output power: 250W

Hope that helps

[Simlover]

The 230 volt is the voltage of the power supply, you want the wattage amount which you will find on the inside of the case.  Most cases these days have sides that slide off, some have tabs on the front that need releasing, and of course they have screws holding them in at the back.

[Giggy]

got it now shown in my previous post. Hopefully in the weekend I can get a more powerful power supply.

[Simlover]

I think that would be advisable! They are not terribly expensive, I just paid $38 Au delivered for my 500w so it would be cheaper in the states.

[Giggy]

  How can I travel to the states to buy a power supply. anyway would I need to upgrade my power supply

Power supply:
Model: Hipro-d2537f3h
Volts: AC input: 100-127V /6A
                      200-240V /4A
DC Output: +5V = /25A
                 +3.3 = /18A
                 +5VSB = /2A
+5V and +3.3V shall not exceed 165W
+5V and 12V Shall not exceed 218W
Max output power: 250W

[Simlover]

Sorry you didn't say where you were from but most here seem to be in the states, and yes you are trying to run on a 250w power supply and it won't cut it. Minimum Nvidia recommends is 350W

[DrBeast]

Wow, a pitiful 250W and it crashes on you only when you play The Sims 2? You're really lucky you know. You need a new power supply yesterday I'm afraid. Any PSU over 400W will do, but I wouldn't get a cheapo one. Anything around the 50-60 Euro range for that wattage is ok.

ETA: make sure the new PSU has extra connector(s) specifically for your graphics card. Newer graphics cards get their power directly from the PSU and not from the motherboard.

[Giggy]

ok will do.

[DrBeast]

Good, let us know how it went.

[Giggy]

I think the driver is at fault. I've unchecked the reboot if problem occurs thingy and the following error occured.
nv4_disp
The driver got stuck in an infinite loop
***STOP: 0x000000EA (0x8604A588, 0x863451f8, 0xF78C2CBC, 0x00000001)***

Like I said. I cant update the card so should anyone want to hack into this crutial driver please tell me how to stop this? ( I have a rar file of this and can someone tell me how to stop this problem)
Edit: I have the infamous infinate loop problem. lol I'll try the power supply first. I'm getting it today asap.