Just built a new P4 system approximately a month ago w/the following specs:

P4 - 2.6CGhz / 800FSB
Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000 (865PE)
2x256MB Corsair XMS PC3200 DDR
Chaintech GF4 TI4200 8X 64MB
WD Raptor SATA HD
Win XP Home

Everything has been working primo with this computer since day one. The
only strange thing I have encountered so far happened when I installed and
tried to use one of those low end "freeware" games that I downloaded from
someplace like TUCOWS or ZDNet a year or two ago (I tried looking for it to
provide a link, but can't seem to locate the same version I have
anymore......hmm).

The game (try not to laugh) is a version of the old classic "Asteroids".
The file is a whopping 1.5MB download. I have installed this same game from
the very same downloaded file on about 20-30 computers of various
configurations (440BX, 815, 845, 845PE, KT266A, KT400, nforce2, etc.) and
versions of Windows (98SE/2K/XP) and have NEVER had a problem with it until
now. It also plays fine on the A7N8X-D/Win2K machine sitting right next to
it.

The problem is that after playing this game for about 5-10 minutes things
start to get funky. Game action slows down to an unplayable speed and the
sound (RealTek onboard audio) starts to stutter and/or get caught in a loop.

I have tried everything from running Memtest86 on the Corsair to installing
a SoundBlaster Live 5.1 card, but the problem persists. It should also be
noted that games like Unreal Tournament 2003 and the latest Rainbow Six game
(demo) play smooth and without incident on this computer.

After building approximately 25 computers over the past couple years (all
still running well AFAIK), I like to think I have a pretty good idea of what
I'm doing by now. However, I certainly don't claim to be an expert, so maybe
I'm overlooking something. Since it's the *ONLY* weird thing that has
happened with this computer thus far, I REALLY, REALLY want to dismiss this
issue as flaky software, but considering it's worked fine on many other Win
2K/XP machines of various configurations, I have a hard time doing that.

Anybody have any thoughts on this one?

TIA

--
LiveWire