More Awesome Than You!

/me takes deep breath, this could take a while to explain.  Consider yourselves warned

For what seems like forever my game has suffered from the NVIDIA blue screen then crash (well I assume it crashes, the screen goes blank, the monitor's power light blinks on and off, and nothing can be done except to use the magic button to turn the computer off then on).

I updated my video card from the FX5200 128MB to the 7300GT 512MB (heh, thinking back, shoulda gone for ATI instead of another NVIDIA).  Still suffered from blue screen then crash (to add insult to injury, for the 45 seconds I was able to look into a lot, bits were missing from sims).  The animation was much smoother though, I noticed.

I finally found what Assoid Sam had referred to as the 'last known good NVIDIA driver' (he'd made it tough by making a typo.  Grr).  So loaded up the game again and visited the Brokes in my vanilla account.  The missing bits of the sims were now filled in... hurrah!  And there was no blue screen.... No siree.  My computer decided to skip that little inconvenience after the usual 45 seconds and go straight to the crashing.

When I start up the computer NVIDIA does warn me that the card is not getting enough power and will reduce performance to prevent damaging the computer (from what I recall it needs about a 350W PSU and my measly Acer T300 only came with a 200W PSU), but I don't know whether to point at that as being the cause of the crash at this stage.

Thoughts?  I'm all out, thought I'd borrow some of yours.

That's the culprit, you lack the power to support your newfangled video card. 200W PSU can't support most of graphic cards on the current market. Changing driver versions can't solve your problem. Buy a new power supply NOW. From my experience, most of pre-built computers come with crappy PSUs to lower the cost, which are barely able to support newer graphic cards.

I use Sea Sonic 430W for my ATI HD 3800 and am quite satisfied with it. It's stable, and the noise level is relatively low.


ETA: Oh, I forgot my own experience with early crashing. Make sure if CPU cooler is securely attached to the CPU. Overheat of CPU/video card can make the game crash.

Before I upgraded my computer, I got constant hanging with a sandglass after 30 or 40 minutes of playing time. After the upgrade I no longer had hanging, instead the game crashed straight to the desktop without any error message. Turned out that the CPU cooler was not properly attached to the CPU, causing overheat. After I reapplied heat sink and attached the cooler properly, the crash was gone instantly. Lucky I caught the culprit right away, otherwise my CPU would have been fried to death. (Never again will I let anyone else assemble my own desktop.)

You needs MOAR POWER!

Heh.  Suddenly it all comes together for me.  Pescado is Hordak.

We're gonna try plugging in the boyfriend's power supply this weekend, but I'm not sure its gonna be enough (I think it's a 300W supply).  Maybe I'll at least see if the game lasts a little longer, which might give me an idea of if the power supply really is to blame.

It's OBVIOUS the power supply is to blame. Didn't the computer flat out WARN you that the power supply is to blame? This is your computer right now:
(http://www.moreawesomethanyou.com/cats/inadequate.jpg)

And a 300 isn't any better. You want at least a 450 for any modern computer, preferrably more. Otherwise the powersupply is overworked and may catch FIRE.

When I upgraded from the Nvidia FX5200 to the Nvidia 7600GTPro, I also changed the PSU to a 450 but that didn't stop the crashing/blue screen. Just to be clear, I'm not disagreeing, you definitely need a better PSU.

However it wasn't until I upgraded from 1 gb to 2 gb that the crashing/blue screen stopped, so if you're problems continue after you swap out the PSU, you might give that some thought.

I'm assuming you mean 1gb to 2gb RAM?

I was wondering if my problem is the same and would be cured by a larger power supply. The scenario is:

I load up sims and play for a while (with useshaders on, obviously) and then I quit it to play oblivion or vanguard. When I play oblivion or vanguard after playing sims I get the warning about lowering settings due to low power within 2-3 minutes. However my computer only ever does this if I have played sims first without restarting.

So, would a larger power supply fix that problem or the blue screen crashing?

Yes, I ASSumed you would know what I meant. Sorry. :-[

Budcot, I'm certainly not an expert but if my computer was giving me warnings about low power warnings, I would definitely look into getting a better PSU. They are not expensive at all; I believe mine was about $40-60 (can't recall the exact amount now) and the computer place I bought it from installed it for free.

Not an ASS KellyQ, I just wanted to make sure I wasn't leaping to the wrong conclusion.  Wouldn't be the first time.

Thanks for reminding me about this; I've recently been having way more crashes than usual and I just could not figure out why until I saw your post.  Then it just clicked.

I used to get the nVidia BSOD all the time until I started turning shaders off.  Then after I installed the latest FT patch I started getting the crashes again- but they were different, crashing straight to desktop or even a complete shut-down, rather than the hanging BSOD/hourglass of the game.  I thought it was the patch at first, what with all the SecuROM bullshit.  But I've been out of town and only really started playing more often after I installed the patch, so I think the game just never had time to crash on me before.  Turns out, it WAS the heat- CoreTemp had me running at between 104-110 F (normal for my system is 92-95 F).  Not surprising since outside temp right now is usually over 100 F by noon, and even with the AC and ceiling fan on full blast the office sits at about 80 F during the day *doh*.  So I found an old floor fan and I have it oscillating between my SO's comp and my own (he's been having all kinds of crashy problems with a new game he's been running, too).  Core temperature is back down to normal for both of us now, and less crashiness in both cases.

Lately I've been made to wait until night time just to freakin' run my game  >:(

Is it a desktop? Try taking off the side panel so the computer isn't so stuffy.

If it's a laptop, try elevating it on a non-solid object (kitchen cooling racks work well).

Nooo! I need something to catch the cat hair before it gets into the processor's fan. But thanks for the advice; sometimes there is just no fighting the weather.