pc crashes when playing cod5
 

i have updated my graphis card drivers etc but it still doesnt help, am using the new 1.2 patch for the game as well.

i will be playing the game, and it will freez, and the screen will go off, and after about 30 sec it will come back on again, and sometimes it wont.

i get a pop up about the geaphics card, about something to do with losing contact or something like that from what i can remember.

im on xp home with service pack 3

this is my comp spec

Intel core2 duo cpu (E8400) @ 3.00GHz
1.98GB RAM
radeon x1900 card
500w power supply

any idea on what i could try?

How old's the PC? Might be worth taking the side off and seeing if the CPU or graphics card heatsinks need the dust clearing out of them.

Check the graphics card is properly seated and that the monitor cable's tight too.

my dad built it last year, forgot to add on the graphics card, it has a different heat sink on it with a cintroller (it is set to the fastest spin) it is bigger than the standard one. i think the make begings with a Z?

do you think it could be a over heating problem?

i have also got one of them mini case fanc blowing on the graphics card, on the oppisite side of the graphics card fan

just played the game, and it happened again

this is what it said

VPU recover has reset your graphics accelerator as it was no longer responding to graphics drives commands

Sounds heat related :wonder: try taking the side of the case off and make sure the fan on the card is working correctly.
Could be worthwhile reseating the heatsink/fan too.
Pretty sure you can check the core temp of the card in Catalyst Control Centre, run 3d Mark (can get a trial copy online) and check temps whilst its running.

ATi gfx card, crap drivers, nuff said. Should of bought Nvidia :)

Never had a problem with ATI cards or drivers in the 10+ years Ive been using them :wonder: IMHO ATI best bang for buck cards out there

Drivers have always been poop though regardless of whether they have worked well for you or not.

Agree with Bio on this one, ATI cards are poop for gaming. Talking from experience on this one, had many problems with gaming issues when I was using ATI cards. Its not the cards itself, its the drivers or lack of proper support.

Have you tried any modded drivers to see if it makes any difference ?
OmegaDrivers.net - Home of the ATI & NVIDIA Omega Drivers. Home
nVIDIA Geforce 280 260 9800 285 8800 295 GT GTX AMD ATI Radeon HD 4850 4870 X2 - Guru of 3D: PC Hardware Reviews

I had a similar problem with an ATi card, and it wasn't the card, it was the bloody software! I had the exact same error as you, VPU pissing about with things. It kept thinking the fan had failed or it was too hot, but it simply wasn't.

Uninstalled the software and switched to Omega drivers and it never troubled me again.

I have nobbed ATi off now in favour of NVidia. The drivers are so much better.

Geezer

i have similar probelms with cod5 and it feezing/crashing whilist in game, no problem with any other game apart from this one

Go on call of duty.com, cod 5 is notorious for system crashes, and treyarch keep blaming peoples hard ware configurations, but no other games i have crash, except fall out 3, but thats badly coded!

There are certain things you can do to minimise the risk of crashes, like rolling back to approved drivers, both gpu and soundcard, and not exiting sservers half way through a match.

Bascially its badly written, and until 1.3 comes out, were all in the same boat.

I have asus sli mobo with nforce chip set, amd fx 60 overclocked to 3.1 ghz, 3 gig of corsair dominator matched ram, gtx 260 core 216 overclocked by me, 700w coolermaster psu btw.

Maybe the OP's gpu is working too hard, what res do you game at, is it time for a new graphics card?

Rubbish its the drivers. Cod5 hasn't crashed once on my nvidia rig.

i have just instaled the omega drivers, so will see how it goes

i have just had a quick play, and it did not crash, but i was getting this beep sound, and the screen flickers.

when i quit the game i had this message pop up.

Thermal protection warning
graphics card is running above a safe temp
clock frequence is being reduced in order to lower temp
etc

I agree, when i updated my radeon drivers it was playing havoc with not just games but the whole computer!!! binned them and my computer is spot on

if i open up another page now, they both freez grrr, going to put the other ones back on i think.

what is the best value gaming card at the mo, would profer second hand, anyone selling? ebay etc?

Try this :D

does that go into the hard drive, or is it best worn when using the pc?

Its best for bumming so i believe :D

you tit I innocently clicked on that

Da one are you pci or agp?

pci

old drivers back on, but game goes funny as before, but i am not getting the overheating warning like i was getting with the omega driver.


any other ideas?

Yep, sell your ATi card n buy one from Nvidia.

:D

i have a nvidia rig and it still crashes on me and other members of the clan im in

On nvidia rigs the cure for random crashes is you must have the latest card drivers and phys x driver installed.

Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers
NVIDIA PhysX System Software

what is a good nvidia card at the mo? something better than i have got at the mo

You can pickup 8800 / 9800 cheap now.

Zotac GeForce 9800 GT 512MB GDDR3 TV-Out/Dual DVI (PCI-Express) - Retail (ZT-98GES4P-FDR)

any good ones on ebay? second hand?