pleeeease help me!!!

[mcf1]

Hi kaleuns.
I have a serious problem with my pc and thought, you could help a bit.
Well all games I try to play on my pc (SH3, IL2, fs9, fs 2002 etc.) they all crash after a few minutes of play time, no error reports appear the screen just blanks and the desktop appears
Everything started about a week ago and I haven't installed any new devices or drivers, I thought that windows was causing that so I reinstalled them, but the problem remains.
I installed another game and gave me this after the crash:

* * * Vampire Crash Data Log, Generated From Exe Built On: Oct 6 2004 * * *
vampire caused an Access Violation (0xc0000005)
in module engine.dll at 001b:200f5a77.
Read from location 00000000 caused an access violation.
Context:
EDI: 0x00000008 ESI: 0x1048faec EAX: 0x03799c00
EBX: 0xffffffff ECX: 0x00000000 EDX: 0x00000073
EIP: 0x200f5a77 EBP: 0x20d5e0b8 SegCs: 0x0000001b
EFlags: 0x00210206 ESP: 0x0012e6b8 SegSs: 0x00000023
Bytes at CS:EIP:
8b 11 a3 48 09 2b 21 a1 3c 09 2b 21 83 c4 14 50
-----[ SysInfo ]-----
Error occurred at 6/24/2008 08:34:26.
2 processor(s), type 586.
42% memory in use.
1280 MBytes physical memory.
731 MBytes physical memory free.
3055 MBytes paging file.
2319 MBytes paging file free.
2048 MBytes user address space.
1560 MBytes user address space free.
-----[ StackTrace ]-----
0x73656E65 : <unknown symbol> in <unknown module>
-----[ ScopeTrace ]-----
SCOPE_TRACE data, stack depth = 3
02. RunListenServer ()
01. CEngineAPI::Run ()
00. LauncherMain ()

can anybody help me here?
thanks in advance
EDIT: i forgot here are my specs

Windows xp sp2 home edition
Intel pentium 4 2.6 Ghz
Nvidia Geforce FX5200
1.25GB ram

[McBeck]

OK....

Iv searched on the errors and the seem to to common for the Vampire game.

I smell HW faliure: ( However you should go through these steps:

1) Run this to check your memory:
http://www.memtest.org/#downiso

2) Are there any entries in the XP Event log? If there are, what are they?

3) Does your PC overheat? Try removing the side of the cabinet.

4) Are all fans in working order?

5) Do you have the newest drivers for MB, Graphics etc?

6) Try and run 3DMark continuesly to stress the PC
http://www.futuremark.com/download/3dmark06/

7) Defrag your drives

8) Run Adaware to clean you PC

9) Run a chkdsk /R

[kurtz]

I'm no expert but I had a simliar problem which crashed all games using the graphics card, it turned out the AGP port had broken down I could play microsoft FS if I didn't use hardware graphics but if I tried to use the instant crash. Motherboard replacement cured.

Make sure if you do change your motherboard that you get the exact same one as a replacement, if Windows detects a different motherboard to the install (by looking at the disk controller IIRC) then it will refuse to load. This is so microsoft can make even more money. I mean FFS if I buy a car radio there's nothing to prevent me changing the car and keeping the radio, utter, utter bstrds)
/end rant
Of course that may not be the problem

[Reece]

The most likely problem will be video, here are some areas to look:
1) Video card & slot, it's seating may have shifted with transporting etc.
2) Video driver, reinstall incase it is corrupt.
3) Reinstall DirectX, it may be corrupt.

[Arclight]

PSU on it's way out? Efficiency of a (cheap) power supply can drop dramatically over time, although a FX5200 shouldn't be much of a power drain.

The other guys gave you some specific troubleshooting tips, so I'll give you some global ones;

First, make sure all drivers and related software (like DirectX) are up to date. You might wanna include firmware updates for individual hardware and a BIOS update, but those are really for the more experienced user. (but I guess these were already mentioned, so; )

Second, take the thing apart, clean out any and all dust, and rebuild. May seem kinda drastic and intimidating, but it should eliminate things like a CPU overheating because there's dust blocking the airflow through the heatsink, a memory module that's come unseated due to shock / handling / transport, GFX card that's come unseated, etc.

Rebuilding the whole system is kinda drastic and can be a longshot in troubleshooting, so in this case I advice it as a last resort. Still, cleaning it out is a part of maintenance just like defragging and updating, so it's advisable every 3-6 months.

I fix PC's for friends and family, you wouldn't believe how often simply cleaning and rebuilding the thing fixes the issues.

[mcf1]

Hi kaleuns
I fixed the problem, the RAM module was unseated, like Arclight said.
It seems to be working again, I also installed an additional fan because it's pretty hot here in Greece.
Thanks to all of you for your help
regards
mcf1