New Computer , Same Suffer...

[Duncan_James]

Hey everybody,

 Today it's been 17 days since i bought a whole new computer (including the screen , the keyboard , the mouse & the sound system) after years of suffer with the old computer. But it seems to me that nothing has changed , but became even worse. I'm having serious problems with my new computer , specially with games. Let's take a look at the specs :

Motherboard : Gigabyte G41MT-S2PT FA
Processor : Intel Pentium 4 (3.00GHz)
RAM : 4GB DDR3 (3.25GB usable)
Graphics : Nvidia GeForce GT 520 (2GB Memory)
OS: Windows XP SP3

 When i first bought this computer , i installed Windows 7 on it with the drivers and the games , but some problems occured when using this OS :

Problems in GTA SA (and SA:MP) :

1- (Rare) - Colours messed out in the screen (Relogging fixes the problem)
2- (Happens max. twice a day) - The game shuts down with a Do not send report window... (Relogging fixes the problem)
3- (Some days happens some days no) - Blue screen of death when quitting the game (Restarting PC helps)

Problems in The Sims 3 (Which my little brother plays) :

1- The game exits to the desktop without any message or report (If i restart the PC , it doesn't happen again)
2- Blue screen of death sometimes when leaving the game (The percentage of it occuring is 1/5)

Problems in Mozilla Firefox :

Firefox crashes sometimes (specially on Facebook) and gives a report window (Asks me if i want to report it to Mozilla , i also have 2 choices : Quit or Restart Firefox)

 First , i thought that it's Windows 7 which caused these problems , so i formatted the whole computer and installed Windows XP with the latest drivers , installed Avast! Antivirus 7 and the 3 games i have (GTA San Andreas , The Sims 3 & Crazy Chicken Kart 2) . First it looked fine , but after sometime the problems came back specially on GTA San Andreas as new problems appeared :

A.
1. (Happens only in the first time after turning PC on) - SA-MP loads Single Player sceen but then loads SA:MP as normal (without the mouse cursor) , SA:MP works still but it's better to relog...
2. (Very rare) - Mouse freezes and i can't look around using it (Character moves using the keyboard , it's just that i can't look around) - Pause (ESC) and resume fixes the problem.
3. (Sometimes) - I play normal , but then the games become slow for like 4-7 seconds and then goes to normal speed , then does that again and so on... (Relogging/Restarting PC fixes the problem)

B.
Same problems for The Sims 3

C.
Firefox is a little bit better with less crashes...

Here is my tried list :

1. I tried formatting the whole computer and installing Windows XP SP3.
2. I tried installing the latest drivers including the ones of the graphics card Nvidia GeForce GT 520 with the latest drivers available (301.42).
3. I tried changing the installation DVD of GTA San Andreas.
4. I tried (in GTA SA) changing the Visual FX to low and the Frame Limiter to OFF.
5. I tried scanning the whole computer using Avast! Antivirus 7 (No virus found).
6. I tried checking out the cables from the back (All are well plugged).
7. I tried updating Mozilla Firefox to 13.0.1 (Latest version) and verified the plugins (All are ok).
8. I tried everything else i know , even re-installing Windows XP SP3 many times.

Extra Information 1 :

- The video card is all new and came from its box to the computer and was plugged in the computer by an expert.

Extra Information 2 :

- I live in the North-West of Algeria (Which is located in the North-West of Africa) , a region in which the Summer is kinda hot and dry (The maximum temperature is by July-August with 48C) , that's why i have the air conditioner in the room where the computer is , so i thought that the temperature could cause problems , that's why i said i can wait till the Autumn or Winter , maybe it gets fixed so i know the reason...

 Please , please , please guys help me fixing the computer , after 3 years of suffer with the old computer , this one came and maintained the same suffer , i need to fix these problems , i want to surf like anyone else , to play like anyone else , to use the computer like anyone else , i'm sick of these problems. Otherwise , i'll just give this computer to the seller or simply throw it from the window , i'm really tired of this , really.

Thank you for reading this ,

Best regards ,

David.

[Zaila]

When you installed your Graphic Card drivers, did you install Gamer OSD (i think that was the name)?

[Duncan_James]

I don't know that thing , but i'll tell you what i remember :

The driver has auto-installed these things :

1. Display Driver
2. Configuration Panel
3. nView
4. HD Audio driver (for the HDMI port)
5. PhysX

In the installation , i had put "check" on all the options , so everything was installed , and correctly.

[Gandalf]

Did you change your harddisk and software or are you running the same old junk ?
Check for any software that causes popup screens and regular disk searches.
SA:MP reacts bad to popups and it usually freezes or messes up.
A regualr freeze for 3-4 second sounds like a program that searches your disk or hogs your memory.

Go back to Windows 7 as in general it causes much less problems.

And I can not believe that with the rest of the specs you run a Pentium 4.

[SafetyMoose]

And I can not believe that with the rest of the specs you run a Pentium 4.

^ This might be your problem

[Duncan_James]

Actually , i fully got rid of the whole old computer and all its components , and when i bought this new computer , the only thing i added was the graphics card , the rest came with the computer itself.

I don't think that there is that kind of software here on the computer , because sometimes SA:MP just works fine , and sometimes it causes problems.

Anyway , here's the list of the softwares installed currently on the computer :

1. Adobe Acrobat 9
2. Adobe Flash Player 11.3
3. Internet Download Manager 6
4. Internet Explorer 8 (OS came with the 6 , but i upgraded then to the 8)
5. Mozilla Firefox 11.0.3
6. UltraISO Premium 9
7. Windows Media Player 11 (OS came with the 9 , but i upgraded then to the 11)
8. Winrar

I also have these installed :

1. Avast! Antivirus 7
2. K-Lite Mega Codecs

The games currently installed :

1. GTA San Andreas (with SA:MP 0.3e)
2. The Sims 3
3. Crazy Chicken Kart

Keep in mind that all of these listed never caused a problem in the old computer , and they're clean

I can't go back to Windows 7 , because the problems listed were more than the ones currently (Windows Explorer shuts down...etc)

And about the Processor lol , i wish i was asked when buying the computer , but my father bought it straight when i informed him about the problems in the old computer.
Post Merge: June 28, 2012, 10:06:26 pmAbout the processor , i doubt about that because i know a lot of people who has this kind of processor and never had a problem with it , infact i'im thinking about the RAM as i had read in the internet and from what i've noticed in the previous blue screens of death , do you think cleaning the computer from inside would help ? If so , i'll try that. Keep in mind that this is a new computer.

[Gandalf]

If your father bought it new, I am pretty sure it is not a Pentium 4, you may check it by your hardware info (right click on My Computer)

Do you use UltraISO to copy your game CD files so they run without putting in the CD ?
In that case the problem of regular freezing is explained.

[Duncan_James]

I checked out and found that it is a Pentium 4 , and i'll tell you that here in Algeria , you won't find much great computers with the i7...etc specially out of the capital (Algiers) , as they're expensive and people here look for the cheapest and the best , and nope , all the games installed currently were installed using their DVD , i have UltraISO indeed but nothing is mounted actually

[Zaila]

Well, if you really have a Pentium 4, then you got the reason of your problems there. I'm even suprised that someone is still selling the P4 processor.

If you really want a processor that is able to run those programs, but dont got alot of money, i would suggest a Dual core processor. I dont got any exact numbers, but i belive you would atleast get a 50% performance boost by upgrading from Pentium 4 to a Dual core. But then, your motherboard is most likely not supporting Dual core so you also need to buy a new motherboard with the right socket.

[Ratko Gavrilovic]

SAMP works fine on my Pentium 4.

[Gandalf]

I checked out and found that it is a Pentium 4 , and i'll tell you that here in Algeria , you won't find much great computers with the i7...etc specially out of the capital (Algiers) , as they're expensive and people here look for the cheapest and the best , and nope , all the games installed currently were installed using their DVD , i have UltraISO indeed but nothing is mounted actually

Just checked, and indeed a Pentium 4 does fit the Socket 775 of your motherboard.
The highest processors to use are Core2Quad and Xeon, Core2Duo will do ok too.
As for the freezing with set intervals, check if this is at the time the DVD lights up. The DRM check of the games can do a regular check if the DVD is still in place, and this might cause the freezing.
If that is the problem search the NO-CD fix.

[Duncan_James]

@ Zaila , i think the seller didn't want to risk by putting the latest type of processors as even if it'll work , it'll cause problems cause it's not compatible with the motherboard , that's why he picked Pentium 4

@ Crook , exaclty , i have many friends and even my neighbour who has a Pentium 4 and never caused these big problems...

@ Gandalf , Yes , Pentium 4 is compatible with the motherboard , and about the CD/DVD reader lights , don't think so because i don't have any CD/DVD inserted at the moment as i eject every CD once i finish using it , and about the games , the 3 of them were well installed , just like i do in any computer , but still i'll check during the freeze if it lights or not , and i'll tell you as soon as i know , thanks for your help !

[Julio.]

Yup, some Pentium 4s are compatible with socket 775

There is NO way that the PC is brand new, if your Father thinks it is, he has been tricked.

The Pentium 4 is a dated processor.

Are you sure the person who built the PC knows what they're doing? As the Motherboard may have jumpers which you set to your CPUs bus speed.

Which Pentium 4 is it? How fast is it and what cache does it have?