New(ish) build game crashes - ATI? Dx? Card?

[[dnb]junglist]

I built this in May, been very happy with it for everything with the exception of games crashing. I've run memtest86, prime95, Heavyload with no crashes at the current settings.

At first it was Steam games crashing - HL2, CS:S. Sometimes they freeze and I get the BSOD with either ati2dvag or ati2mtag, other times the game just... goes away. Occasionally I get the "HL2 has encountered a problem..." message. After this happens, any future attempt to open a Steam game, BF2, NFS:MW or NFS:U2 will flash black and then do nothing.

I've had BF2 crash on me once or twice, but HL2 and CS:S are the most common by far. The Need for Speed games have never crashed on this system without one of the other games failing first. After reboot, its usually OK for a while.

Heat is not an issue - the hottest my CPU has gotten was 51 ºC (on some 100+ ºF days when my A/C can barely keep up), it's usually ~32 idle, ~42 gaming. The GPU gets a little hotter, but I've never seen it over 60 ºC, usually runs around ~46 gaming.

I've tried reinstalling the games, Steam (twice) and reinstalling the video drivers, all to no effect. Any help would be appreciated.

XP Home SP3
EVGA nForce 650i Ultra
Intel E2200 running @ 2.5 GHz
3 GB OCZ PC2 6400
ASUS EAH3850
OCZ Stealth Xtreme 600W PSU
COOLER MASTER Centurion 532 Case
SAMSUNG 20X DVD±R DVD Burner SATA

[BipolarBill]

Did you completely uninstall the video drivers before updating?

Mind your sound drivers. They can crash games too

[[dnb]junglist]

Originally Posted by BipolarBill

Did you completely uninstall the video drivers before updating?

Yes

Originally Posted by BipolarBill

Mind your sound drivers. They can crash games too

I'll give those a shot.

[[dnb]junglist]

Reinstalled audio drivers, was ok for a couple days. Then it crashed again just now playing CS:S. This time, the ATI utility wanted to send a crash.dat file (attached).

It's allowing me to start games, but the resolution is set to 1280X720 (Usually 1024)

/edit: after another try I can run games at normal resolution, but some things don't show up correctly. I'll reboot and see what happens.

[Big_Daddy]

What is your video setting on BF2?

[[dnb]junglist]

1280 X 1024, all quality settings at max, 8x AA. That shouldn't be too much for this card, should it? I get good framerates, and the card doesn't get very hot...

[JPMiller]

Make sure the bios doesnt have an update that could affect the video and that you have the latest chipset drivers...
Technically you DONT know how hot your devices are because you have to rely on software readings of questionable hardware probes...
You should take the case side off and aim a house fan in and then try gaming again

[[dnb]junglist]

Update: got out a fan, put it next to A/C vent, aimed at the open side door. Was playing HL2 for ~ 1/2 hour, quit (no crash) and went to do other things for a bit. Came back and tried to run HL2 and it just flashed black and then returned to the desktop. I tried to run CS:S, NFS & BF2 and they did the same thing.

Then, I tried running some other games that I haven't tried in a while. Doom 3 ran fine, but America's Army and Dungeon Siege 2 both threw up a DirectX error (something about D3D Acceleration). I pulled up Dxdiag, and everything under the Display/Features Section was set to "disabled", and all the buttons were disabled as well.

Again, everything seemed normal after reboot.

Drivers are all the latest.

Edit:I have BIOS v P02. I haven't updated it to P03 or P04, I don't have the chips that are affected, and I've heard of some stability issues...

[zulquar]

hmmz try reinstalling ur windows afresh