OK im completely annoyed at my computer and i honestly feel like taking a sledge hammer to it. For the past 3 months when i play some 3d games (counter-strike 1.6, guild wars) it will work fine for 20-30mins and then itll either reboot without warning or go into a machine_check_exception BSOD. This is annoying the hell out of me ive tried everything possible and cant find the problem. If anyone can help me with this that would be a HUGE help.

I'd tend to believe that it may be some sort of driver issue, MSDN Machine check exception What kind of Video card do you have? Could be the drivers causing problems. Or From the sounds of it , an overheating issue, What are the numbers , for the Machine check exception? MSI 845e mb 1 gb ram and a p4 2.4n running xp ,win 2000 advanced server and win 98 SE alot to learn and I know so little !!!!

KNOWLEDGE BASE LINKS STOP MESSAGES Click 9C at the left side of that page. It says-- This is a hardware issue: an unrecoverable hardware error has occurred. The parameters have different meanings depending on what type of CPU you have but, while diagnostic, rarely lead to a clear solution. Most commonly it results from overheating, from failed hardware (RAM, CPU, hardware bus, power supply, etc.), or from pushing hardware beyond its capabilities (e.g., overclocking a CPU).

i have a radeon 9600XT, havent overcloked anything in my pc .. how do i narrow it down to the problem wether it be hardware or PS or wutever.

First maybe check to see the min. computer requirements for the games, and have your computer better than that min. Second, see that your power supply is not being overworked with too many computer accessories trying to suck power out of the PS. Following has guide to go by-- How PC Power Supplies Work Third-- Dust collects inside computers. I vacuum mine out once a year, using a plastic nozzle. Do not blow it it out, or dust will go where you don't want it. Try vacuuming yours out. That will keep the heating down, if no dust.

Most likely overheating... I recommend downloading and installing Everest. Click COMPUTER - SENSOR and make sure your cooling fan speeds are at least 2000RPM. Sorry, but I have a difference of opinion on blowing vs. vacuuming. There are too many resistors on the motherboard and some cards that can easily be damaged by gliding an object over it and trying to get into the tight places. Having moved to Vegas from Hawaii, I now make blowing out the inside of my client's computers a part of my service as a clean surface here is covered with a layer of dust in about a week. Don't use directional tubes in blowing out the dust, as this can force fine particles into bearings, but a back and forth motion from about 6" inches away, from top to bottom, should remove the dust well enough to avoid it retaining heat. Gently blowing out a slow fan will more often than not fix the problem.