crash!!!

[greendog]

Can anyone help?

My computer is crashing every time I try to render a video/slideshow. It gets to around half way through the process and then blanks off completely. I've tried with different software packages and I always get the same problem.

Machine's spec:
Graphics - 128MB DirX9
Sound - 128MB DirX9
Ram - 1024MB
CPU - 2.2GHz

[khana]

Could it be an overheating problem ?. Rendering video takes a lot of computational power over quite a long period and your PC is going to get very hot indeed.

It might be wirth checking to make sure none of the vents are blocked and if your brave enough to open the PC give it a good dusting as its amazing how much fluff gets in which can block fans.

[rojash]

Are you sure it's not something simple like you've set your monitor to power down after a period of inactivity?

[greendog]

khana - think you could be on the right track. It could very well be an over heating problem. I�ve recently upgraded a lot of the hardware, with the exception of the CPU as it would be too difficult with the motherboard I�m using (would have to replace the whole board). The computer is squeaky clean and well ventilated so I thought it might be that my CPU is struggling (2.2GHz).

pcwork - I do keep my pc pretty clean; I use AVG, ZoneAlarm, Adaware and Soybot. Think it might be more of a hardware problem. Thanks for the links though.

Rojash - it�s definitely not as simply as that; the base unit suffers a definite and sudden loss of power. After this happens, I have to switch the power off at the mains and then back on again before I can reboot.

It�s a tricky one and thanks for the suggestions. Any more you might have will be more than welcome.

[khana]

If you now think it may be overheating then its easy to rectify. You can change the heatsink on your CPU fairly cheaply and easily for a larger/better model - perhaps one with a fan attached. You can also add further fans in to the case to increase airflow.

It might be worth trying out some other graphically intensive stuff on your pc over a duration to check its not anything else like you need to upgrade your video driver or even motherboard bios. You mention that you have recently undertaken some upgrades so its worth giving this a go first before spending any money (also check to make sure that there is not an IRQ problem with your new hardware using the same channel that an existing part is.

[rojash]

If you've upgraded a lot of hardware, maybe you are overloading the power supply. I can't imagine that a squeaky clean system is suddenly going to get an overheating CPU, especially as you haven't upgraded the CPU, although, as Khana says, rendering is a fairly processor intensive job. Why not google for a temperature monitor (there are loads available for download)?

It would be helpful if you specified exactly what you've upgraded - it could be a video driver problem

[greendog]

Cracked it!

It was an overheating problem after all.
I decided to take the sides off of my base unit and blow some cool air through it with a desk fan while I was rendering a pretty lengthy, high quality slideshow that had been previously failing at around 30%. This time I was able to complete the task; however, I�m still not sure which component was overheating. I downloaded a CPU temperature monitor but found that it needed a lot of technical input from the user � a bit too much for me.
Anyway, I�m happy to have found a remedy for now and I�m sure I�ll find a more permanent solution before long.
Thanks again for your interest and your help.