Hey guys,
I just built my computer 2 weeks ago:
Asus p5k-e wifi/ap motherboard
intel e7200
gigabyte geforce 8800gt
2x corsair 1gb ram sticks
seagate 250gb hd

whenever I play mmorpgs (rohan and cabal specifically), the screen would randomly lose signal, then after 10-15 seconds the sound will loop the same beat like a frozen/ broken file. At this point the computer is effectively frozen and/or crashed and I have to force shut down to reboot it. I looked around online and I see that the p5k-e has a common problem with the nvidia 8 series when it comes to running games. I've read 5 other threads showing similar, or the same symptoms as mine and they all point at returning the motherboard for a different brand or it's something wrong with my video card. I don't have the old drivers for my video card so I can't try to roll back the drivers as this was SORT OF a solution for 1 person.
I was hoping that some of you may know of a different solution before I take my motherboard back and exchange it for something else? I haven't done a complete diagnostic on the bios, nor volt tests so I can't give you the specifics as I don't know how to do these tests. Searching for p5k, p5k-e, and p5k freeze haven't yielded any results in the search function.

Any help would be great, thanks.

edit:
I'm not sure if this helps, but I found this information off the bios:
cpu: 39c/102f
mb: 87.5f
is this hot or normal?

voltages:
cpu: 1.080
3v:3.280
5v: 4.920
12v: 12.096

I changed the fan control to performance on the cpu at all times, I don't know if that'll do anything.

I am sure you already did this but have you updated the BIOS ?

Also run a ram test if your using Vista if not download one (Im sure there is a freeware one out there somewhere)

You have the latest drivers and I assume you did a clean install of the OS (if not then this could be part of your issue)

These are just some generic things to try if you already did them just ignore this post lol

thanks for your post.

I have BIOS 1013 from Asus, which is needed to run a e7200 properly
I installed Windows XP myself and it installed just fine. This also means I don't need a ram test for Vista as you noted.

I just installed speedfan and I was looking at the system status. I think I'm worried.

I don't know what AUX is, but it has the fire symbol next to it and is reading 125c. compared to the CPU's 37c and the motherboard's 29c, I think this is alarming. Can anyone help me figure out what this is and why it's so dang hot? I'm guessing it's the video card fan or something.

speedfan readings:
system 29c
cpu 37c
AUX 125c
HD0 40c
core0 50c
core1 49c
core 50c
ambient 37c
sys fan 0rpm (i don't have a system fan connected)
cpu0 fan 880rpm
aux0 fan 2200rpm
cpu1 fan 0rpm (i don't think i have a 2nd cpu fan)
aux1 fan 0 rpm

hope this helps anyone reading.

edit:
not sure if this is unusual, but the core temperatures rise 4-8c when i turn on a mmorpg. and for some reason fan 2 is listed at only 32% fanspeed while the rest are 100%

125º or 126º means nothing is connected.
Your cpu0 fan speed look kind of slow.

What is your GPU temperature under load?
Try removing the side of the case and blowing a fan against it.
Then play the game again.

Quick recommendation here download the temp thingy from ASUS called PC-Probe II.

that 120C thing is indeed scary.... I would suspect some sort of overheating combined with the symptoms you gave

leave everything plugged in and open your case (carefully) see if all the fans are spinning. If one is not shut it down and see if you can either fix it (plug it in ?) or if it needs to be replaced

Ack I feel for you man.... I run my system OCed all the time and always check my fans clean them and replace them if they make any odd sound at all lol (paranoid I know)

Best of luck to you !!!

I don't see a GPU temperature showing and the cpu still holds the 870~rpm range with cabal running. the cpu only goes up to 46c under that load.

I'll have to do the fan against an open case later since I don't have a fan lying around at the moment.

Can the slow cpu fan cause my system to completely crash?

First of all, does it happen only with those 2 games?
if you play other games for awhile does it crash as well?

for SpeedFan, hit the Configure button to see which sensor belongs to what,
my bet is that the Aux is a Mobo sensor(probably a bad read or something, mine's on 2c.......)

it makes sense that the Temps will rise when you start playing.

for the memory, http://www.memtest.org/ , that's a good program.

My suggestion is to stress your computer, see if it fails on high temps
GPU - 3dmark 06 http://www.futuremark.com/download/3dmark06/
CPU - Prime95 http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm or
SuperPI - http://files.extremeoverclocking.com/file.php?f=36

These are the only games it's crashed in so far.

I have played Mabinogi on it, but no longer than 5 hours at a time. I play command and conquer on it, but no more than 2 hours at a time. neither of which have caused it to crash. I'll try to leave one on all of a day later this week when I'm out.

Rohan crashed it once (i blamed my mom's monitor at the time), now realizing it was my computer, and Cabal has crashed it 3 times. The only relation I can make between these 2 games is they have similar graphics (WoW type graphics), while c&c is on a whole other level of graphics and mabinogi runs on a more shadow imaging/ CGing system.

It seems CoD4 players come across this problem too.

Are all of those links monitoring programs?

The sad part is nothing is even OCed yet.

No, those are programs to stress (overload) your pc to it limits.
use those combined with Asus' PC-Probe or SpeedFan to check the temps during high loads.

Btw, what cpu cooler do you use?

it's the one that came with the cpu. I believe it's a zalman.

I have just the prime95 running. It's not doing much. core is hitting 60c and cpu is going up to like 51c. this program alone is using up only 53% of the processor. 3dmark is a large file, it'll be a few hours before i can add that too.

by the way, what would overloading my computer with these 2 programs show? just curious if crashing my computer with a 100% load has relevence to 2 games that are 50% loads that cause the entire thing to freeze.

and the longer i leave prime running the lower the temperatures. I guess I have to wait for 3dmark to finish DLing.

edit:
i just ran cabal next to prime and they're still running together. all they're doing is taking up all of the processing power and lagging a lot. nothing near crashing.

Disable Q-Fan on in the BIOS. BTW, you can safely ignore AUX in speed fan.

37-39 on idle with a E7200 is quite warm (but if ambient temp is 32 it's normal you can't do much about it). I run a E6550 (@2.8Ghz) and it idle at 30 with a ambient temp of 24.

I don't know which case you have but you might want to add some fans to increase the air flow.

Edit : I'm also using a P5K-E/Wifi. Never had any problem with it. I guess I'm just lucky.

I'll turn it off next time I reboot.
Nothing happening with the stress test so far.
I have a case my cousin-in-law got me from work. I have 1 rear fan, the psu fan, and 1 side fan. It's kind of beat up but all of the fans are running, I can assure you of that.
I'll buy another rear case fan later today as it's 6am here and I simply can't sleep.

well that's good, atleast we can rule out cpu overheating
just need to wait for the gpu stress test

your temps are fine, better check the PSU, if it's a no-name it can be the cause of your stability problems.

It's an Antec 450w psu, so I'm confident it's not the psu.

I just woke up after 6 hours. I had cabal running along with prime95 the whole time. No problems came up while I was asleep.

I'm about to install 3dmark. and run that.

Hopefully I don't have to return this motherboard like everyone else.

update:

I ran 3dmark and the entire thing froze and blue screened from the firefly test. it was a kernel frame data error i believe.

i can't even boot windows now, i have to drive to my friend's place to get a boot disk.

now what do i do?

well, any information about the errors could help greatly
(blue screen & boot) just write down whatever you can.

the info was:
kernel data frame error
0x00000007a, 0xc0708020, 0xc000000e, 0xe1004110, 0x1da6e8c0

it wouldn't boot after that and i went to get a boot disc from my friend. when i came back, it booted straight into windows like nothing happened. i installed the latest p35 drivers from intel.com and i'm running cabal right now to see if it'll crash. any info while i wait will be great.

I updated the chipset through intel.com and it didn't help.

I just installed Kane's wrath and it gave out again after 40 minutes of mission mode. My friend said if my caps lock and num lock buttons still work as the screen shuts off, it's not the motherboard. I hit both buttons and they don't change. Does this mean it's my motherboard?