Crash and Rebooting of computer

[jellomold]

(NOTE; I tried to submit a support request via the square-enix website but it refuses to accept my form. it always returns with "missing fields". I haven't missed any fields so I resort to posting here.)

The Situation:
Just bought game from steam.
played first chapter fine.
chapter 2: after getting "eyes fixed" game rebooted my pc.
ran game second time, hard crash
read forums; updated video drivers
ran game 3rd time, hard crash.
read more forums; did a very stressful motherboard flash upgrade
ran game 4th time; hard crash
read more forums; found no answers except link to the support page which won't let me submit.
don't know what else to try. please help!

system:
xp pro sp3
motherboard: MSI MS-7519, 3 Gb ram, Intel dual core 2.4 GHz
GeForce 8800 GTS (driver v 6.14.0011.7516 )

[El Zoido]

A hard crash is often a sign of underlying hardware or serious driver issues.

Former may be e.g. overheating of GPU or CPU or faulty ram. You can run a memory check through Memtest (comes with many linux boot-disks, or maybe Prime95, which also stresses your CPU, so it will expose overheating, too. Also clean the fans in your system (e.g. with canned air).

The latter might be addressed by checking for newer drivers for your system and installing them.