PC keeps crashing

[Omen109]

Hey guys,
I recently posted a question about my system and heat issues but Im starting to wonder whether or not my problems were heat related or not.

I installed an athlon xp 2100+ onto my asus A7A266-E and booted up things ran fine etc.. until i played any games and then it decided to crash on me. So i checked the heat and asus probe (yeah i know its inaccurate) told me it was around 75 -80 degrees in there underload.
(yes i am using the stock fan)

I underclocked the cpu to 1.3ghz instead of 1.73 and ran the games and they did not crash and my system only reached temps of about 70 maybe a bit more when under load.(with me so far?? good ! )

I then forked out some cash for a new chieftek scorpio TX case in the hope that it would cool down my system and I would be able to enjoy some happy gaming.

the installation of everything went fine (except the cd rom which is old it didnt fit right so i had to ingeniously use a long screw to hang it right)

I started up the pc and everything worked so i decided to clock it back up to 1.73 like its supposed to be. the temperature now is around 55 0c and nearly 70 when under load (i.e playing games) however it still crashes (not as early as b4 but it still crashes sooner or later)

Since the maximum temp it has been is 68 at 1.73ghz and it never crashed at 73 at 1.3ghz is there still reason to believe that its heat related?
if not then what could it be?
I really dont know what to do and i need help

Im running
win98
Asus A7A266-E bios revision 1011 (latest)
Athlon XP 2100+
Asus Geforce 3 Pure v8200 on Nvidia 30.82s
Western Digital 40gb 7200rpm
512mb pc 133 ram


if u need any other information please let me know.

thanks in advance

[Birdkiller]

those temps yer having is bloody hot, if they are in celcius that is.
most BIOS's will shutdown at 65 degrees to prevent harm to yer computer.you should be running at 30-50 degrees.

maybe try running it for a while then feeling the metal on the heatsink and seeing if it really is hot or not, its normal to be warm, but if its very hot to the touch then you got a problem

[Beefy]

Cooling is definately required (assuming Celcius). A couple things to do, if you don't want to get a new heat sink / fan, is to get rid of the thermal pad on the stock cooler and put some Arctic Silver on there. While it's no substitute for a better cooler, it will help somewhat.

[Gilad]

Yes there are physical reasons that it is heat related. You did not state the temperature of the case. If it is below 40 degrees I'd think of using a better sink and if that does not help I'd consider water cooling.

[Kheldar]

what sort of power supply are you running

I'd also get rid of win98, its just too old and slow

[Omen109]

im running a 360w chieftek psu.
win98 seems .. i dunno like an old friend i cant get rid of it.

anyway upgrading to a new o/s means that lots of my programs will stop working wont it?

I was looking at the slk 800...its been rated as the best cooler around (next to watercooling) how does it work? where does the fna go and how do u fit it cos i dont get it it looks strange.

cheers for responses

[Gilad]

If you think of installing a new OS (and it is a good advice) take care not to take the upgrade route as you are in for trouble. Install all of your programs from zero. It is time consuming but it is worth the while (I tend to reinstall my whole system every 6-12 months when using MS OS).