Freezing PC

[BrOkEn ArRoW_29]

My computer never freezes until I run Steam. Whenever I open it to play CS or something, I can play for about 20-30 minutes and then my computer totally freezes. I hate this because I don't have the fastest machine around so it takes me forever to restart and I just want to play CS for longer periods of time. I am running it through Xfire and even if I don't it still freezes. This problem has only occurred within the past month or so. Any help is great. Thanks.

[Gryph]

Clean your video card fan and stuff to make sure it's not overheating.

[BrOkEn ArRoW_29]

I just tryed doing that and nothing changed. Any other ideas would be great.

[Robert]

time for the speedfan treatment.

 

Find, download and install Speedfan. It will display the temp of your cpu etc.

 

Tell us what it says. If your cpu rises above 60 deg C, you may have a problem.

[BrOkEn ArRoW_29]

It's all over the place sometimes low, sometime extremely high.

Edited August 6, 2005 by BrOkEn ArRoW_29

[Gryph]

How about telling us the actual temperature? Low and extremely high is subjective.

[BrOkEn ArRoW_29]

Right now it's actually 48 deg. C

[Agozer]

Right now it's actually 48 deg. C

48 is still ok. If it was 58 then I'd be a little worried.

[BrOkEn ArRoW_29]

So how does this contribute to the freezing of my PC only when Steam runs?

[Agozer]

What chipset does your motherboard use?

[BrOkEn ArRoW_29]

I don't exactly know. How would I go about look for this?

[Gryph]

You can try this program: http://www.lavalys.com/products.php?lang=en

 

Since I doubt you did any changes or any overclocking, the only thing I can think of is overheating. But does it only do this in Steam or other processor intensive programs?

[Agozer]

From what I gathered from his posts, only Steam seems to do it.

 

Have you looked throught Steampowered's Q&A page?

[BrOkEn ArRoW_29]

My computer only ever freezes when I run Steam. And it always freezes about 20-30 minutes after I have opened it.

Edited August 7, 2005 by BrOkEn ArRoW_29

[Gryph]

Steam even freezes your comp if you're not in a game and just sitting there. If so, then I suggest you hit the Steam Forums. That place is a cesspool but you might get some help there.