f13.net forums - Battlefield 2 Destroys Computers...or something.

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June 05, 2024, 05:41:54 AM

we're back, baby

This is from CAD (Ctrl-Alt-Del) the webcomic by Tim Buckley (aka Absath):

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I'm having a weird problem that I could use some help figuring out.

Here are the specs:

Asus A8N-SLI Deluxe
AMD Athlon 64 3700+
2 GeForce 6800GT PCI-E connected via SLI Bridge
2GB Corsair XMS DDR400
200GB SATA HD
480W Thermaltake Power Supply

The case has 7 functioning fans and plenty of airflow, so I don't think anything is overheating. Video cards are operating at 64C with ambient temperature of 45C.

The system runs great, except when I go to run a game. When I fire up a game (World of Warcraft or Battlefield 2 for instance) the screen will go black and the system will hang up. Nothing I can do short of restarting will pull it out o the black screen.

Now, if I reinstall the display drivers, reboot, re-enable SLI (because installing drivers sets it to off by default) reboot again, *usually* the games will run just fine. That is, until I reboot again, after which I get the black screen again, and have to reinstall the drivers.

I've tried a few different nVidia drivers including the latest ones, and the ones that came with Battlefield 2. I haven't had any luck one way or another. Obviously I don't want to have to reinstall drivers every time I reboot my computer.

Also, the BIOS SLI setting is set to auto, which is the best way to have it, though I did try setting it to SLI with no improvement. I have rechecked everything and everything is installed correctly.

Any ideas?

Update:

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I don't think it's a hardware issue.

Once the games are running (after the driver install and reboot), I can run the games with no problem whatsoever, for as long as I want. I played Battlefield 2 for four hours last night.

The problem comes once I have to reboot the machine for one reason or another, so it has to be a software conflict somewhere.

Update:

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A lot of people think it's the power supply...

It could be possible. But then why would the system run perfectly some of the time, for as long as it's on, and then games stop working only after a reboot?

Update:

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Ok, I'm going to reinstall Windows. It's a brand new gaming rig, and only has two games on it, so formatting and reinstalling isn't that big a deal.

At least this way I can try to determine whether or not it's a conflict due to remnants of old drivers, or whatever.

We'll fine out.

Update:

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Ok, totally clean install of Windows. Latest drivers, direct X and BIOS version. Installed Battlefield 2. It told me to reboot. Upon reboot tried to start the game. Black screen.

Reboot twice more, and 2 more black screens.

So I opened up the case, and moved some of the power cords around. There were two fans on the same line supplying the video cards, so I took those off and moved them to another line with some other fans.

Booted the computer up, started Battlefield and it ran fine.

So at this point I'm not too sure. Is it entirely random, and the time I fiddled with the power lines just HAPPENED to be the time it decided to work? Or are they related?

I'm sick of fiddling with it, so I'm going to play some games now, while it's running. I'll wait and see what it does the next time I reboot, and see if I can distinguish some sort of pattern.

Thank you for all of your help, everyone.

I think I see a pattern. It's called Battlefield 2. *Chortle*

It's late, and there's little to do. Still, this is a pretty scary situation he's presented.

Hardly. Pure coincidence. BF2 caused my X800 Pro to start artifacting on a regular basis only because it actually made the card need the power the ATX cable is plugged in for. Seeing as I used the cable that came with the card (cheap piece of shit) the card wasn't getting the power it needed. After much googling and a power cord change the card hasn't had a problem since. Just happens to be that BF2 made me aware of a problem that would of come up at some point down the road.

Seeing as BF2 made you "aware of a problem that might come up down the road" it looks like this is much more than "pure coincedence." Think about what you just said.

He had the same problem with WoW. He needs a bigger power supply.

It's not the size of the power supply, but how you allocate the wattage.

Interestingly enough, I've had only one crash to desktop from BF2 so far, and it's run fine otherwise. I'm certain next time I fire it up my computer will spontaneously explode, and then there will be lots of crying because I cannot get my fix.

Quote from: schild on June 27, 2005, 11:34:59 PM

Seeing as BF2 made you "aware of a problem that might come up down the road" it looks like this is much more than "pure coincedence." Think about what you just said.

I wrote a whole bunch of stuff, but in the end I can't help but just call you something. Stupid ass mongering cock festering jacktard. One day you'll pull your head out of your ass. Enough so that you might just make sense.

Quote from: NiX on June 30, 2005, 08:57:33 PM

Quote from: schild on June 27, 2005, 11:34:59 PM

Seeing as BF2 made you "aware of a problem that might come up down the road" it looks like this is much more than "pure coincedence." Think about what you just said.

Hey wiseass, I just call them like I see them.

Having loaded up the game and played it for a bit, I'm pretty confident to say that, You Sir, managed to avoid a bad case of Battlefield 2.

Absath did not.

Age of Wonders: Shadow Magic destroyed my computer!

No, really, it did.

Well, it didn't but since we want to blame the game we were playing when it died, there you go. No wonder TBS is dead, IT KILLS COMPUTERS!

rolleyes

Did you open up the case and blow on the motherboard? That helps.

Sky's computer blowing up was Battlefields 2's revenge for not playing it. EA actually installed a very malicious piece of malware that detects when you're playing something else.