Dual-boot Win XP + Win 7, picking the right partition

Ok, I did it. The system runs fine and everything.. but one problem that I have with Windows XP persists in Win 7 too.

In brief, when I play (most) modern games, at a certain random point the computer just shuts down and restarts. I've been researching this a bit and it turns out it's probably the PSU? (500 W chieftec) It started happening after 2 years.

But now that it failed installing this Intel graphics media accelerator, I was wondering if that's perhaps the cause and not the PSU? Note that this same "PC shuts down when gaming" happens in XP as well.

What do you think?

It's better if you let Win7 provide the drivers it wants first, and only import those that are missing after all Updates are done or show performance problems.

First enable Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3), then Check for Updates, install all Important and Optional except Bing, with reboots, until no more are offered when you Check for Updates.

This provides not only the drivers Win7 wants but also important patches to make Win7 and your hardware run better.

It seems you might have gotten ahead of Win7 by forcing some drivers in. Are there any drivers missing or in error in Device Manager right now? Run all Windows Updates as specified now to see what else it delivers.

Do you have any overheating? Install Core Temp (carefully avoiding any adware it offers to include) to place in your System Tray to monitor temps, then if necessary clean the dust out of your PC as shown in Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7.

You can also see how your PSU measures up by running the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator

gregrocker said:

It's better if you let Win7 provide the drivers it wants first, and only import those that are missing after all Updates are done or show performance problems.

First enable Automatically deliver drivers via Windows Update (Step 3), then Check for Updates, install all Important and Optional except Bing, with reboots, until no more are offered when you Check for Updates.

This provides not only the drivers Win7 wants but also important patches to make Win7 and your hardware run better.

It seems you might have gotten ahead of Win7 by forcing some drivers in. Are there any drivers missing or in error in Device Manager right now? Run all Windows Updates as specified now to see what else it delivers.

Do you have any overheating? Install Core Temp (carefully avoiding any adware it offers to include) to place in your System Tray to monitor temps, then if necessary clean the dust out of your PC as shown in Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7.

You can also see how your PSU measures up by running the eXtreme Power Supply Calculator

It's strange, for instance, I'm able to play an entire Dota 2 game, but some other games, especially those made with Unity, make my computer restart. Although, when watching a Dota 2 replay, in-game, it also crashes the PC after a while. Of course, it's not the games, but something related to what the game demands from the PSU/system?

I believe temp. are normal. I already have two temp. measuring. CPU goes up to 63-64 C, I believe, during gaming, i3-2100 Intel. GPU is even lower.

I think there are no devices in error/missing in device manager, but I'll check out again.
Anyway, this is not a BSOD type of crash, the computer simply restarts.

AddRAM said:

It usually means the cpu is getting too hot.

64C is 147F, too hot for my liking

I thought that too at first, but I don't think this is the cause as the restarts sometimes happen even when I just begin playing; the CPU literally has no time to get hot.

Oh, at the 5th game of Dota, the PC finally shut down/restarted and then when the computer restarted and I reconnected back, it immediately shut down again...

Try running it intensely from a boot disk like https://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials...cy-backup.html with the HD unplugged or disabled in BIOS. This will confirm if the problem is hardware, or software or HD.

Work through the Troubleshooting Steps for Windows 7 which will reveal most problems' cause.

Hey, found this page:

My Intel GMA Driver Is Missing on the Control Panel | eHow

It says:
"The Intel Graphics Media Accelerator driver is responsible for improving your graphic card's performance. It allows the Intel GMA graphics processor built into the motherboard to communicate with the computer's firmware to enhance image display. Depending on the version, it also may include features that improve video playback for videos in aspect ratio, such as 16:9 widescreen."

So this Intel driver actually enhances my Nvidia GPU?
Maybe this is the problem, I'll run the driver update for Intel. I believe this driver isn't installed neither on my Win XP.
First the windows 7 updates or do I update Intel drivers first?

PS. But still, it worked for 2 years without it no problem. Maybe it's the monitor.. the problems started shortly after I upgraded to a larger monitor.. blah, dunno.

Try installing the driver for XP to see if it improves. If not roll it back in Device Manager.

For WIndows 7 use the drivers Windows Update delivers first to see how they perform.

Hello, I'd like to share an update about the comp. shutdown/restarting when gaming.

I went to a computer service store and explained the problem, pointing at the PSU as the cause. The guy tested another PSU and things ran smoothly.
I told him to try an installed game, but he (also) installed OCCT; I can't find uninstall.exe and the program isn't listed inside "uninstall or change a program"! I'm not happy that he used a program that brings the GPU to its limits.

I'll attach 3 temperature graphs, but I'm not sure if those are temperatures for the GPU or the CPU cores (because it lists core #0 and core #1 even though he apparently ran a GPU3D test).
Can this damage the GPU? He ran it for 20 min..


Also, since they didn't have a suitable PSU they ordered one and he'll install it tomorrow (I took the PC back home with the old PSU).
Just for the sake of it, I tried to ran a game that would *always* immediately make the PC restart upon loading... and it ran no problem for several minutes. Then, all happy, I proceeded to test another one; same. Then the third one... ran for about 1 hour and the dreaded restart happened. Then I tested again the first 2 games, and the first one rans fine, but the other one retarts the PC again. So it seems I definitely need another PSU, hm.