...has encountered an error and needs to close down. We are sorry for...

I'm having a problem with my brothers PC running any game. The games are able to start fine and play 100% smooth, then all of a sudden "[game] has encountered a problem and needs to close. We are sorry for the inconvenience." These games include MS Flight Simulator 2004, Jurassic Park: Operation Genius, Battlefield Vietnam (evey game currently installed). I have the latest video card driver for the Powercolor Radeon 9600 Pro (8.49 02/09/05 Version: 6.14.10.6512) and the latest Windows updates for XP Home.

I have no antvirus or firewall software installed. (did have, but removed it)

One thing that I am not sure of with the video card is on ATI's website is you can download a few different things besides the "Display Driver": "Control Panel", "CATALYST Control Center", and "WDM Capture driver." Besides the WDM Capture driver (for All-In-Wonder / VIVO products
Version: 6.14.10.6246 V3) do I need the other two?

Specs:
Biostar M7NCD Pro motherboard
420W Thermaltake PurePower PSU
Ultra 512MB PC3200
Powercolor Radeon 9600 Pro
Athlon XP 3000+

What's going on here? :sick:

 

yes you need the Display Driver, and its recommended to have the Control panel.

Download some new drivers for your card off omegacorner - these are more stable - better performing drivers that are perfectly safe: [google]Omega Drivers[/google]

 

I uninstalled the ATI drivers and downloaded the Radeon Omega Drivers 2.6.05a (Catalyst 5.1). When I tried to open them it said "rad_w2kxp_omega_2605a_7z.exe is not a supported archive."

 

I don't think this is a video card problem. I removed the drivers from ATI, installed a GeForce FX5200 128MB and the latest drivers. Same problem.

 

I have reformatted the hard drive and installed XP three times now. The latest time I only installed the drivers for the ATI and installed FS2004 & Battlefield games. (no audio, ethernet,...) Also I did not mess with any windows updates or SP2 this time. I installed DirectX 9.0a, and now 9.0b, (was using 9.0c from first install) and still exits in the middle of a game. Sometimes it has no error message and sometimes it does. (...has encountered a problem and needs to close blah blah). I'm lost.

 

try using a PCI card...n try some older games cos i dont think the pci card willl be able to handle the new direct 9x games...

 

I don't have a PCI video card to try....but I have tested the RAM with Prime95...

To test my RAM, here's what I did...

First off, I have the exact the same type of RAM stick in my PC (same type, same brand, same amount). I have ran the Prime95 torture test with no errors (with my stick, in my pc). Then I installed his stick in my PC along with my stick. I had 1 error within 10 minutes. BUT, with my 100% error-free stick (and only my stick) in his PC, I get the same result (exiting in the middle of a game, sometimes with error message, sometimes without.)

The only thing I can think of is that his motherboard does not like Ultra branded memory. It should not have a problem because its PC3200 and not PC2700, should it? I just got and installed the ThermalTake PSU due to voltage problem that lead to restarts just trying to install a game. It was using a PowerUp 400-Watt before. When I had the Hardware Doctor program open it said "Your -12v voltage exceed the limits." But I have not had any more restarts since the new PSU, except for one: When I saved some display settings in FS2004, it restarted. I ordered a stick of Crucial 512MB PC2700. If that does not fix it, then I have 30 days to send it back....

 

I installed the new Crucial stick and had the exact same problem; error almost right away in Prime95. I tried a 500W Ultra X-Connect PSU--same thing. So I tried my 100% error-free RAM and CPU in his system--same thing.

So I put all of his stuff back in, lowered the FSB to 100MHz and ran Prime95 with no problems for 1 hour 20 minutes. Then I ran Prime95 again with the CPU frequency at 160MHz (320MHz FSB) for 1 hour 1 minute with no problems. No problems in games either. Awesome....but I should be able to run at 333MHz FSB with no problems. (Athlon XP 3000+ = 333MHz FSB)