[RESOLVED] Computer Crash problem

[falkensmaze]

My computer (cab) kept crashing radomly (sometimes powered on randomly too!) so I replaced the PSU and the HD (I had spares lying about) did a clean install XP SP3 and clean installed Gammex everything seems fine now Except the crashes aren't random they happen exactly as sooon as I try to play a mame game, no blue screen, no hanging, about 3 seconds after I hit "play game" it dies and reboots every time! I doubt its an os or gameex problem im guesing its a mainbboard or VGA card problem. Could anyone thew some options up in the air for me?

Thanks in advance...

[Adultery]

Do you use a custom MAME build? If so, rebuild your exe. You may also want to try deleting your MAME.ini too. I personally would check your Windows crash report/event log and see what it says.

[falkensmaze]

Do you use a custom MAME build? If so, rebuild your exe. You may also want to try deleting your MAME.ini too. I personally would check your Windows crash report/event log and see what it says.

you gave me an idea it was a clean gammex install but I copied all my mame folders from my old HD so ill try a clean mame32 install l8r thanks

[Draco1962]

A little detail regarding your video card might help as well. Copies of your log file (immediately following the crash) might be helpful. I had a similar issue with another program and it turned out to be a bad GPU (video card). Have heard of similar issues with a bad driver as well.

[falkensmaze]

I just tried running a game directly from mame32 (no gameex) and it crashed as game was loading, its a bit l8 tonight so ill try running a new mame instal tommorrow this could be the problem, thanks all.

[simbamame]

I just tried running a game directly from mame32 (no gameex) and it crashed as game was loading, its a bit l8 tonight so ill try running a new mame instal tommorrow this could be the problem, thanks all.

Have you tried running any other graphically intense programs ? say a decent PC game ? as i had this issue and its was my GFX Card that was stuffed after running for a few seconds crash n reset, changed the card no more problems.

[falkensmaze]

Have you tried running any other graphically intense programs ? say a decent PC game ? as i had this issue and its was my GFX Card that was stuffed after running for a few seconds crash n reset, changed the card no more problems.

no but i just coppied mame32 and one rom to my desktop, result, same crash and reboot lookin more like GPU every time will do more test tommorrow.

[falkensmaze]

Ok problem solved it seems that when reinstalling windows, windows had auto installed my GPU driver (nvidia 7300 GS) which I do remember but thought nothing of it as it meant I didnt have to download it manualy, the thing is the driver was dated june 11!! ie brand new, only thing being, it didnt play nice with my GPU!! so I got some old 2006 forceware driver and was able to install it and Bingo were up and running again! on another point changing my PSU prob wasnt a bad thing either as a dodgy NVIDIA driver woulnd't casue a PC to randomly powerup! So maybe I had a few issues which are gladly fixed now. Thanks all!

oh one more thing my old install is on my other HD which is now a secondry HD in cab where can I find my favoutite file to save my the job of loading them bak on Gameex again?

Forget that too lol As my HD wasnt the prob I switched bak to my old one and updated the GPU driver, intrestingly the driver on that HD was dated Feb 11 so obviously they didnt fix the bug in the june update!!

moral of the story if it aint broke dont fix it!!

[Draco1962]

Glad you got things resolved with both!