Tech support gave up on me, and couldn't suggest ANYTHING!

OK, I really want to know how you can call it tech support when they won't even get on the phone with you. They just flat out gave up after everything they thought it was proved to be wrong, and refuses to admit that maybe, just maybe, my computer is fine software and hardware wise and yes, the game doesn't work quite right.

First off, my question status said "solved", so I thought they had patched the game. Then I read what they said:

"Hello--

We have troubleshoot this problem to the greatest extend possible. Most GW problems are caused by general system instability, GPU heat or third party application interference. Any further troubleshooting should be pursued through your system vendors (Dell,ATI,Nvidia,etc). I apologize for any inconvenience this issue may of caused.


Regards,

Guild Wars Technical Support"

What kind of response is that? "Your problem isn't solved by suggesting easy stuff like reinstalling drivers, so we give up, hope you enjoy losing the $50 on the game and the $100 you spent cuz we said your video card was goofing up"

I am really at a loss right now. This is just the shoddiest support I have ever gotten on any product. Now I am left $150 poorer without a game to play. Is there anything that I can do at this point?

First you will want to tell us the problems you are having, preferably in detail.. and any steps you have already taken to fix the problem. Then we can try and help you out the best we can.

Go with Ramus' advice. We can at least figure out something...

I don't have a lot of time to post right now, or even to play the game for a few days due to some stuff that is going on, I guess I am just frustrated.

I'll post everything when I get a free minute.

Thanks for the offer, I'll definitely take you up on it =]

I would be very interested to try and help but without knowing your hardware specifics and the description of the problem and the steps you have already to done solve it we can only offer sympathy. I have had problems with the game but so far I have solved them and now its awesome.

Read Me

An index of previous problems people have experienced so far. If you can post up the suggestions made in that thread (information wise) it will be a huge helping hand. =)

Thanks.

OK, here is the lowdown:

my system:

ecs motherboard with VIA chipset
intel pentium 4 1.7 GHz
dvd-rom drive
plextor cd/dvd-rw drive
floppy drive
netgear wg311t wireless network card (matching router, wgt624)
two hard drives, 80 gig and 160 gig
pny technologies g-force fx 5500 128 meg
sound blaster audiogy
three 256 meg sticks of RAM (pc133 I think)
windows xp sp2, all updates
latest drivers for everything, installed after driver cleaner
300W power supply

Here is my problem:

when playing, after a random amount of time (3 minutes to 30 minutes) my computer will freeze. It will just restart automatically, freeze the image with a nasty sound repeating, freeze the image with no sound, or give me a blue screen saying windows had a critical error and this error code:

BCCode : 1000007f BCP1 : 00000008 BCP2 : 80042000 BCP3 : 00000000
BCP4 : 00000000 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 2_0 Product : 256_1


C:\DOCUME~1\Tony\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERa793.dir00\Mini0 51905-01.dmp
C:\DOCUME~1\Tony\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERa793.dir00\sysda ta.xml

This used to happen after it would get choppy and "stutter" a bit, but that stopped after one of the patches so now it freezes with no warning, in town or fighting, whenever it feels like it.


What I have done to try and solve it:

Adaware and virusscan both run.
Driver cleaner and newest drivers installed for everything, including direct x and the VIA hyperion drivers (tried the older version too since my motherboard is older)
Ran memcheck on the RAM, all of it turned out perfect.
Tried the game with each stick of RAM independently, had the same problem with each.
Took out DVD-ROM, one stick of RAM, and floppy drive to make the power consumption lower (the site they sent me said what I had at peak would consume 298W, so I removed 30W worth, and it crashed just as fast).
Took out Audiogy completely and ran without sound.
Ran monitor on temperature - CPU starts at 30C and mainboard at 35C, they go up to ~40-42C during gameplay and peak there - that is the temp it freezes at (I have older stuff and the case is open, so less overheating methinks).
Got a new video card (used to have a Geforce 4 ti 4200, but it got a hair hot, replaced it) - the new video card is not hot at all when the comp freezes.
The system is NOT overclocked and never has been.
Installed SP2 and all the updates.
Tried using a warrior because of the suggested fire spell glitch, crashed before I even fought anything.
Ran with --nosound and --noshaders for no effect on crashes.
Ran msconfig and disabled all non-windows processes.


Glitches I have noticed:

The only thing that the game seems to be doing that is weird is when I cast the fireball when it hits it makes the sound of the weapon I have equipped. IE when I have a bow equipped the spell, when it hits the enemy, sounds like when an arrow hits the enemy. It always has done this, and it seems harmless enough since it has locked up when I have never used this spell.

I also have not updated the BIOS of my motherboard but I really don't know if that could be a problem or how to replace my BIOS if I could find the right version, since I don't know my exact motherboard.


Any help you can provide is appriciated.

I had a similar problem awhile ago with my computer.

These are some questions that will help us solve the prolems

Does your computer only crash when playing Guild Wars ?

Does your computer crash when left alone connected to the internet ?

Does your computer crash when left alone dis-connected from the internet ?

Computer only crashes when playing Guild Wars, never restarts on its own at all.

I will say this though, my network card USED to all of a sudden demand all my resources from time to time (every 20 or 30 minutes) to the point that even if something not too memory intensive like winamp (I am still running 2.8, so not a mem hog ^_^) would actually skip. It was just for a split second, but still something I noticed.

I have since updated my drivers and firmware on the router and have not noticed this problem anymore, however.

http://www.belarc.com/free_download.html

That'll tell you what you have and it's an awesome program to boot.

Not only that but post up a log from generating a scan in Hijack This. Download it from: http://www.merijn.org/files/hijackthis.zip

Some other aspects to think about:
My chipset fan started stalling recently. I noticed after monitoring all of my fans for a time. This wouldn't show up on a temperature monitor. The computer would simply freeze up. Just FYI, it's a good idea to double check your fans in the case, especially if you have a chipset fan. Grab a can of air and use that to dust your components. Dust is also conductive, in general.

If all else fails, as guild wars support suggests, this may be a hardware issue at the very core. In the past, I had a motherboard with an inherent flaw with voltages and the more power hungry modern video cards. Check your motherboard manufacturer to see if there's been a board revision. If so, check to see what was fixed in the revision. You may have to RMA your board, as I did.

I'm giving you these examples because no matter what you may think, or how seemingly obvious it feels to blame the game, I know from lots of experience that the opposite can very often be true.

I have no heating problems, I was really irritated that they would not help me update the BIOS, since that is probably the issue (either that or a problem with the game code on some level).

Here is the hijack this log:

Logfile of HijackThis v1.99.1
Scan saved at 9:41:28 AM, on 5/21/2005
Platform: Windows XP SP2 (WinNT 5.01.2600)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP2 (6.00.2900.2180)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\System32\smss.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\winlogon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\services.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\savedump.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\lsass.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\spoolsv.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
C:\WINDOWS\System32\svchost.exe
C:\WINDOWS\Explorer.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\System32\MsPMSPSv.exe
C:\Program Files\NETGEAR\WG311TSU\Utility\Gear311T.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\RUNDLL32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wscntfy.exe
C:\WINDOWS\system32\wuauclt.exe
C:\Source\hijack this\HijackThis.exe

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://yahoo.sbc.com/dsl
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Int ernet Settings,ProxyOverride = 127.0.0.1
O1 - Hosts: 202.157.177.11 bitconsole.com www.bitconsole.com
O2 - BHO: AcroIEHlprObj Class - {06849E9F-C8D7-4D59-B87D-784B7D6BE0B3} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Acrobat\ActiveX\AcroIEHelper.dll
O2 - BHO: AcroIEToolbarHelper Class - {AE7CD045-E861-484f-8273-0445EE161910} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O3 - Toolbar: Adobe PDF - {47833539-D0C5-4125-9FA8-0819E2EAAC93} - C:\Program Files\Adobe\Acrobat 6.0\Acrobat\AcroIEFavClient.dll
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [AS00_Gear311T] C:\Program Files\NETGEAR\WG311TSU\Utility\Gear311T.exe -hide
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvCplDaemon] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvCpl.dll,NvStartup
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [nwiz] nwiz.exe /install
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [NvMediaCenter] RUNDLL32.EXE C:\WINDOWS\system32\NvMcTray.dll,NvTaskbarInit
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [ctfmon.exe] C:\WINDOWS\system32\ctfmon.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: E&xport to Microsoft Excel - res://C:\PROGRA~1\MICROS~4\Office10\EXCEL.EXE/3000
O9 - Extra button: (no name) - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_02\bin\npjpi150_02.dll
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Sun Java Console - {08B0E5C0-4FCB-11CF-AAA5-00401C608501} - C:\Program Files\Java\jre1.5.0_02\bin\npjpi150_02.dll
O9 - Extra button: AIM - {AC9E2541-2814-11d5-BC6D-00B0D0A1DE45} - C:\Program Files\AIM95\aim.exe
O9 - Extra button: Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O9 - Extra 'Tools' menuitem: Windows Messenger - {FB5F1910-F110-11d2-BB9E-00C04F795683} - C:\Program Files\Messenger\msmsgs.exe
O16 - DPF: ActiveGS.cab - http://www.virtualapple.com/activegs.cab
O16 - DPF: {41F17733-B041-4099-A042-B518BB6A408C} - http://a1540.g.akamai.net/7/1540/52/...eInstaller.exe
O16 - DPF: {6414512B-B978-451D-A0D8-FCFDF33E833C} (WUWebControl Class) - http://v5.windowsupdate.microsoft.co...?1111022459742
O16 - DPF: {CAFEEFAC-0014-0000-0001-ABCDEFFEDCBA} (Java Runtime Environment 1.4.0_01) -
O16 - DPF: {D6FCA8ED-4715-43DE-9BD2-2789778A5B09} (NPKCX Control) - http://guard.gunbound.net/nProtect/keyCrypt/npkcx.cab
O23 - Service: AntiVir Service (AntiVirService) - H+BEDV Datentechnik GmbH - C:\Program Files\AVPersonal\AVGUARD.EXE
O23 - Service: NVIDIA Display Driver Service (NVSvc) - NVIDIA Corporation - C:\WINDOWS\system32\nvsvc32.exe
O23 - Service: Sandra Data Service (SandraDataSrv) - SiSoftware - C:\Program Files\SiSoftware\SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2005.SR1\RpcDataSrv.exe
O23 - Service: Sandra Service (SandraTheSrv) - SiSoftware - C:\Program Files\SiSoftware\SiSoftware Sandra Lite 2005.SR1\RpcSandraSrv.exe

O1 - Hosts: 202.157.177.11 bitconsole.com www.bitconsole.com
O16 - DPF: ActiveGS.cab - http://www.virtualapple.com/activegs.cabO16 - DPF: {41F17733-B041-4099-A042-B518BB6A408C} - http://a1540.g.akamai.net/7/1540/52...meInstaller.exe

Those three look suspsicious to me the most.

As for the error, BCCode : 1000007f BCP1 : 00000008 BCP2 : 80042000 BCP3 : 00000000

From what I have heard about that, it could be caused by a bad memory stick. I would try running http://www.memtest.org/ and seeing if you have a bad stick.

I already ran that, and my mem sticks all passed with not a single error, and I let it run through more than once. I also tried to run Guild Wars with each stick on its own to see if there was something the program wasn't picking up.

It is also funny you say that since tech support said my error was for a driver issue?

Bitconsole is for bittorrent, so it is harmless. If anyone else wants to comment on the other two I might delete them. I am pretty sure the apple one was a shell program that made my comp look like a mac, but I thought I uninstalled it?

Here is the top section of the other program:

Operating System System Model
Windows XP Professional Service Pack 2 (build 2600) ECS M921LR
Enclosure Type: Desktop
Processor a Main Circuit Board b
1.70 gigahertz Intel Pentium 4
8 kilobyte primary memory cache
256 kilobyte secondary memory cache Board: ECS M921LR
Bus Clock: 100 megahertz
BIOS: Award Software International, Inc. 6.00 PG 09/07/2001
Drives Memory Modules c,d
245.88 Gigabytes Usable Hard Drive Capacity
44.52 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space

LITEON DVD-ROM LTD163D [CD-ROM drive]
PLEXTOR DVDR PX-716A [CD-ROM drive]
3.5" format removeable media [Floppy drive]

Maxtor 4D080H4 [Hard drive] (81.96 GB) -- drive 0, s/n D408JMSE, rev DAH017K0, SMART Status: Healthy
Maxtor 6Y160P0 [Hard drive] (163.93 GB) -- drive 1, s/n Y60932ZE, rev YAR41VW0, SMART Status: Healthy 768 Megabytes Installed Memory

Slot 'A0' has 512 MB
Slot 'A1' has 512 MB
Slot 'A2' has 512 MB
Local Drive Volumes


c: (NTFS on drive 0) 81.96 GB 23.13 GB free
d: (NTFS on drive 1) 163.92 GB 21.39 GB free
Network Drives
None detected
Users (mouse over user name for details) Printers
local user accounts last logon
Tony 5/21/2005 9:36:48 AM (admin)
local system accounts
Administrator 9/8/2002 4:51:00 PM (admin)
ASPNET never
Guest 5/15/2005 9:22:58 PM
HelpAssistant never
SUPPORT_388945a0 never

DISABLED Marks a disabled account; LOCKED OUT Marks a locked account

Adobe PDF Converter on My Documents\*.pdf
HP DeskJet 930C/932C/935C on \\3XYKR01\HP
HP DeskJet 970Cse on \\LOU\HPDeskJe
Samsung ML-4500 Series on LPT1:
Controllers Display
Standard floppy disk controller
Primary IDE Channel [Controller]
Secondary IDE Channel [Controller]
VIA Bus Master IDE Controller NVIDIA GeForce FX 5500 [Display adapter]
NEC LCD1712 [Monitor] (17.1"vis, s/n 3Y450704GA, November 2003)
Bus Adapters Multimedia
AXVSCSI Controller
ST3WOLF SCSI Controller
VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller (3x) Creative Game Port
Creative SB Audigy
MPU-401 Compatible MIDI Device
Standard Game Port
Communications Other Devices

1394 Net Adapter
NETGEAR 108 Mbps Wireless PCI Adapter WG311T
primary Auto IP Address: 192.168.0.2 / 24
Gateway: 192.168.0.1
Dhcp Server: 192.168.0.1
Physical Address: 00:0F:B5:65:29:A1

Networking Dns Server: 192.168.0.1
OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
Standard 101/102-Key or Microsoft Natural PS/2 Keyboard
Microsoft USB IntelliMouse Explorer 3.0 (IntelliPoint)
USB Root Hub (3x)
Virus Protection [Back to Top]
AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic Version 6.30.0.-90
Realtime File Scanning Off

Missing Microsoft Security Hotfixes [Back to Top]

All required security hotfixes (using the 05/10/2005 Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary) have been installed.

Installed Microsoft Hotfixes [Back to Top]
.NETFramework
1.1
no verification data S867460 on 5/8/2005 (details...)
no verification data M886903 on 5/12/2005 (details...)
DataAccess
no verification data Q318202 on 4/30/2002 (details...)
no verification data Q318203 on 4/30/2002 (details...)
no verification data Q823718 on 8/20/2003 (details...)
no verification data Q832483 on 4/17/2004 (details...)
no verification data KB870669 (details...)
DirectX
passed verification DX819696 (details...)
Internet Explorer 6
SP1
passed verification KB890923-IE6SP1-20050225.103456 on 5/8/2005 (details...)
Internet Explorer
no verification data SP2 (SP2)
Windows Media Player
passed verification WM320920.1 (details...)

Windows Media Player (continued)
passed verification WM817787 (details...)
passed verification Q828026 (details...)
SP0
passed verification Q828026 on 4/17/2004 (details...)
Windows XP
SP2
no verification data KB811113[SP] on 5/10/2005 (details...)
SP3
passed verification KB873333 on 5/10/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB873339 on 5/10/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB885250 on 5/13/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB885835 on 5/10/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB885836 on 5/10/2005 (details...)
no verification data KB885884 on 5/13/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB886185 on 5/13/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB887472 on 5/13/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB887742 on 5/13/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB888113 on 5/10/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB888302 on 5/10/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB890175 on 5/10/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB890859 on 5/10/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB890923 on 5/13/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB891781 on 5/10/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB893066 on 5/10/2005 (details...)
passed verification KB893086 on 5/10/2005 (details...)

Click here to see all available Microsoft security hotfixes for this computer.

[installed security hotfix] Marks a security hotfix (using the 05/10/2005 Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary)
verifies OK Marks a hotfix that verifies correctly
fails verification Marks a hotfix that fails verification (note that failing hotfixes need to be reinstalled)
Unmarked hotfixes lack the data to allow verification



The only thing I see as very suspicious is that it lists my memory as 768 meg, and I do have 3 256 meg sticks, but below that it says each slot has 512? Or is that saying 512 is the biggest that my motherboard can handle in each slot?

The Virtual Apple seems harmless to me, atleast looking at the website.

The bitconsole one certainly isn't harmless and should be taken care of.

Edit:

The one with the QuickTime installer is harmless as well I believe, the bitconsole is just a website which you may want to block seeing as it's only a website full with advertisements.

I do not believe the power consumption issue has been sufficiently tested. Taking 30W off the total load does not mean that one particular rail is not overloaded or that the psu is not unstable. Not all 300W power supplies are created equal, and you are running a lot of (potentially) high draw equipment in that machine for a 300W psu.

Voltage fluctuations, etc., could cause hardware errors that could cause crashes. You tested the memory under more favorable conditons for your system than the system experiences during GW, i.e. without Windows loaded and without full current draw from your system executing GW.

Frankly, I would just replace the PSU, because it wouldn't hurt, but if you don't want to spend the cash, I would recommend downloading an 30-day evaluation copy of BurnInTest (search download.com). You could set it to run CPU Math, CPU MMX, RAM and 3D Graphics at 100 load. I would add Sound at 50, as well as CD-RW/DVD and Disks at 25. Set that to run for an hour and see if you can generate errors or crash the computer.

OK I deleted those 3 entries mentioned earlier. I don't think I am running enough to have a problem just because the HDs and DVD drives only draw the max power when they are being used, and they are never accessed during Guild Wars. Furthermore, when I was playing with just one RAM stick it still froze, and I really don't think I am overloading then. I will still run the test though, since there is always the chance that my PSU is going bad and isn't giving full power, although the ratings looked great with no fluctuations in Sandra when I had Guild Wars running.

I guarantee you that when you were running one stick of 256mb RAM that your hard drive was quite active while playing GW (accessing the page file). My thought, though, in throwing the DVD and hard drives into the load test was just to give your PSU an extra little push to see if it can handle it or not.

Yes, 300watts is pushing it but should be enough for your system (although a cheap PSU would cause those problems, have you downloaded MBM5 and checked your rails?). Also I know you said it isnt overheating but maybe you should try putting a box fan blowing into the case and see if the game resets.

After reading your system specs, I totally agree with the PSU problem. If your PSU is cheap (generic) then it's probably not even putting out 300W.

Here is my system :

Athlon 2400XP+M @ 2.5GHz
2x512MB Crucial PC 3200
2x60GB Maxtor SATA RAID0
9700 Pro
DVD-ROM LG
NEC3500A 2.17 firmware

I had a 350W Sparkle PSU - Sparkle, name brand, very good PSU and it would barely handle this setup. Albeit, I did have it overclocked but I noticed I was severly overloading a few of the rails. This would lead to weird errors that looked like memory was the culprit, or sometimes OS problems.

I now have a tagan 480W and haven't run into anything of the sort.

I'd say try unplugging the Disc Drives and playing it. I'm not even sure if Guild Wars needs the cd or not.

Couldn't hurt to try, eh?

I haven't run the new tests, but I did start getting these errors in Nero when trying to burn a CD:

Power Calibration error
Invalid Write state
could not perform endtrack
current program area empty
could not perform fixation

in that order.


The ONLY thing that was changed on my PC between playing the beta and the final was adding a wireless network card, which might be drawing way too much constant juice - and the problem burning CDs started after getting my new video card to try and get Guild Wars to work.

I am going to take out the wireless network card and see what that does, but I think you guys may be on to something (why Guild Wars tech support didn't think of this I have no idea, since I said before they stonewalled me the main things I thought it could be was the BIOS or wireless network card).

While I am testing this, anyone got a good site to order a decent power supply at? And would 400W be enough or should I go higher?

Wait a gosh darned minute now...

I am using onboard NIC card, and old video card now, and I still get this new error in Nero. What program that I have run to try and fix Guild Wars has screwed up nero?

Newegg.com is an e-retailer that I highly recommend...good to great prices, very large number of positive customer reviews, great fulfillment process with mostly reasonable FedEx shipping and very good selection. My only (mild) complaint is that they use the styrofoam packing peanuts instead of the bags of air, lol.

I would go a little higher wattage, as the additional watts don't add a lot to the price, and you're insulating yourself against the future. My new video card requires its own freakin' rail for goodness' sake.

Personally, I like Antec and have been using them for years. Not too flashy but they get the job done well for a reasonable price. I just upgraded to the TruePower II 480W* (which I got on sale for $93) and like it. Good things: 1) meets the new ATX 12V standard, in case you get a new mobo that supports it, 2) unbelievably quiet, 3) has SATA connectors for upgrading to the faster, bigger hard drives, 4) has 18A on each 12V rail, and 5) has PCI-E connectors for the next-gen graphics cards.

The only issue I have with the PSU is that, with one rail committed to the graphics card, it's tight getting everything on the other rail (without Y cables) if you are running IDE drives. However, I'm about to replace my hard drive with a SATA version, which will free up the plug I need for my Audigy "drive" (so far, I'm running that on the graphics rail with no probs...doesn't draw much current during gaming).

*They also have a 430W version in this line that's only about $10 cheaper.
------------
Just saw your recent post: you can reinstall Nero if you think it's been corrupted. However, these new DVD drives suck an incredible amount of current when you are burning at high speeds, and I still suspect the PSU. In fact, it's starting to sound like it's "waving to Jesus", as SK would say.

Here is an update:

I can now play guild wars for a while on my old video card with my onboard NIC card, guess it hated the wireless.

For some reason Nero still wont work, however, so if anyone has an idea...

there is one other way to make sure you get a constant current to you PC. A UPS, I use one on my home server and the power enver fluxtuates from it. so I never get random crashes ore problems. And the server is running 6 40gig hard drives in a raid array.

A simple surge protector is no go and most of the time it will only stop dangerous surges. A UPS on the other hand will smooth out the power coming in to your PC and regulate it.

I reccomend a belkin UPS, also it's saved the server in powercuts a lot of the time.

I'm beggining to suspect my problems with GW are power related as I run a 2 CPU board 2 hard dives a CD rom and a number of cards. I think I'll dump the firewire and USB2 card and see what happens. Also I have a thermostate controlled fan which I think drains power so I might disable that for GW.

However a UPS can be a good buy even if you upgrade your PSU as it will offer a protection to your system and the belkin ones offer insurance shuold the UPS fail and damage your PC.

back in the day (maybe a couple of years ago even) i had a setup including soundblaster soundcard and via motherboard.

my computer would crash lots for unknown reasons, and the error feedback always mentioned my videocard.

it turned out to be something completely different, it was a timing issue with the communication between my via chipset motherboard and the soundcard. after installing the 'PCI Latency' fix i had much less trouble.

anyway, you might wanna try seeing if this applies to you, there is also instructions on the site for how to ID your motherboard.

http://www.georgebreese.com/net/software/#PCI

good luck

this was very much the case for me as well. i formerly used a GENERIC 350W PSU on my comp which was trying to power up: 1 vid card, 2 hdd, 1 dvd-rom drive, 1 cdr drive, sound card, etc. and my games would crash constantly. having upgraded to a 400W psu, games run fine even with the side of my case closed.

Maybe try sytem restoring to some distant time when you didnt have problems or at least before you installed SP2 cuz that maybe still eb cuasing problems im not gogin to install it cuz i dont want it to mess with any of my programs