Trouble shoot this please.

[SoBeiT]

My HD was being flakey so I have acquired a hardly used HD & MB that is still in the owners case. The owner just added my video card to the mix.

System worked fine for him, so can you help me work out whats wrong here?

P4S8X-X ver 1.xx (ASUS)
Intel Pentium 4A, 2666 MHz (5x533)
Nvidia GeForce4 Ti 4200
Memory 1 gig
XP Pro
what else do you need to know here?

So BF keeps going back to the DC screen where I choose the game server I want to play on. It makes me disconnect and then re-choose GA to play again, re load and I'm in the game for a while, only to be kicked again.

Other times it crashes completely and re-starts the computer.


Someone suggested maybe BF doesn't like the Nvidia driver I have. I have 53.03

I'm not tech, so keep it simply..ok?

Thanks for your time :)

[HailtheGoat]

It could be the video driver. I'm still using the 45.23 for my NVidia and I don't think I'm ever going to upgrade until I stop playing UT for good. I rarely have problems playing BF. Just the occasional crash.

Try downloading that driver and using it instead. Be sure to follow the instructions on the NVidia website.

[Salyavin]

There are quite a few posts on the DC Help forum about a known bug in the 52.16 drivers. The 53.03s are supposed to have fixed that bug.

Did you completely remove the old video drivers that were on the system before installing the new ones? Sometimes old files get left behind and make it unstable. Try uninstalling the drivers, rebooting (it should come up with the stock Windows VGA driver), and then clean installing the 53.03s.

I'm using an even older set of drivers (44.03) and they work fine with my GF4 Ti4400.

Another possibility: how large is the power supply (watts) in the system. Your new motherboard and video card may be too much for it.

The DC Help forum (http://www.forumplanet.com/planetbattlefield/desertcombat/forum.asp?fid=6543) has a lot of people with crash problems, but be wary of the advice. People who say 'defrag' in response to every crash complaint don't know what they're talking about. (Defragging may improve performance a bit but it won't fix bad files)

Cheers,
Salyavin

[Phanataz]

People who say 'defrag' in response to every crash complaint don't know what they're talking about.

Thank you. Finally, someone that's been through tech support hell.

Some other most common heard "solutions" from tech support:

1. "Have you tried cleaning your monitor?"
2. "Please cycle down your computer for me for the 100th time."
3. "Empty your recycle bin."
4. "You must run this diagnostic tool that will print 30 pages of useless computer information, your family tree, TV guide listing for your area, and the 7 day weather forecast before I can assist you with your problem."
5. "We apologize for the inconvience, but we are experiencing technical difficulties in your area. The internet may be unavailable at this time. Please visit our website for status updates, useful computer optimization tips, and online customer support."

[SoBeiT]

First off thank you for the suggestions :)

Second thank you to Phan for helping step by step with the drivers :bow:

Spent my time as suggested reading the DC & BF forums..seems Defraging either helps or hurts DC as per the poster.. d'oh!


I have played 4 games and haven't crashed yet, hope it stays that way.

Here's what BigBen posted and I did:

bigben wrote:
You probally need to set your refresh rate from 0 to 1.

Hadn't you better tell her how to do that.
Open the "VideoDefault.con" file with notepad.
It's located here...
"C:\Program Files\EA GAMES\Battlefield 1942\Mods\bf1942\Settings"
Change the line that reads "renderer.allowAllRefreshRates 0" to "renderer.allowAllRefreshRates 1"

EDIT: That only worked for 4 games.

There is an answer out there somewhere.

[Phanataz]

As I understand it, the 0 to 1 refresh rate edit only helps people that couldn't launch into the game because their refresh rate was locked at a certain speed. This allows BF to use any number of refresh rates. Why this isn't enabled by default (to prevent problems) is beyond me.

But if you are playing, and the game crashes to the desktop at random times then the most likey cause is your video card drivers.

Are you saying it worked for 4 games and then you crashed or that you've only played 4 games since you've tried to fix your problem?

[Paladin]

Sobe, one more thing you can try is to upgrade the driver the motherboard uses for it's AGP connection. The latest one for the SIS648 (same chipset my motherboard has) is http://driver2.sis.com/agp/agp117.exe.

I don't know that it will affect your problem or not, but I installed it on my computer without a problem. It certainly shouldn't hurt to try it.

I'd also go with Sal's suggestion that you go back to the 44.03 NVidia drivers. I had nothing but trouble with Battlefield using any newer ones.

[SoBeiT]

Phan: It only worked for 4 games then the crashing started again.


I am trying a new video card (loaned) GeForceFX 5200 (AGP8X) we'll see if that fixes the problem, after it's put in of course :D

[SFT]

I have an FX 5200 and it works well. I use the driver that came with it. I had a problem with my GeForce2 card where I had to go back to an older driver. Sometimes the new drivers fix an old problem and make a new problem. The game locked up on me last night for the first time in a long time. I don't know why, but it's rare that that happens.

Defrag should never hurt your computer, rather just the opposite. Keeping enough freespace on the drive where your virtual memory resides in important also. All drives should have at least 10% freespace. Also keeping the registry clean helps speed up things.

What programs do you have running in the background? You can temporarily disable Norton Antivirus while you play.

It's probably your video card. I'd look there first. One other thing, is your card getting too hot? Do you have any cards next to it blocking the fan or preventing airflow to the heatsink? You might consider putting another fan to help cool off the vid board. If there is a card next to your vid card try moving it to a different PCI slot further away (yes I had that problem once also).

[SoBeiT]

EH said on his DC crashes the culprit was his memory stick. Tested out fine, just would not work with DC. Good name brands too.


So....we are testing mine out.
First one played for 1/2 hour and did not crash. Second one played 15 mins and went to game menu.

Side question: Does the disk drive need anything done to it after a new HD is installed? It sounds either speedy (and takes a minute or more to get the EA begining) or goes thunk a thunk then an even spin (this too is new).

edit: seems there is firmware for this thing. It's in and I'm testing now.

[{RA}SKYFURNACE]

Is DC the only game causing problems?

have you tried UT?, or UT2K3 or regular BF42, or try a demo or two and see if it still crashes.

i would reinstall BF & DC after updating the drivers. but thats just me, and thats only if i had no other problems with other games.

[StealthDP]

Sobe, you are still having probs with that thing? Have they gotten more frequent?

Might need to schedule another visit...

[SoBeiT]

The farcry demo doesn't crash and I don't play anything else besides DC :p

Stealth the crashes stopped for a few days, then started up again. I hated to say anything as you both are busy people.


I heard EH say he fixed his DC crashes, so the memory sticks are being tried one at a time. The first stick didn't crash but the 2nd one has crashed 3 times already.
We'll switch them again and see how the 1st one does again. If it holds up then it has to be the memory stick itself.

I guess DC is the most demanding thing run on this computer.

[SoBeiT]

Ok it crashed 3 more times on the "good" stick of memory.

Since both are practically new I can't say it is the memory... now its grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr.

[SoBeiT]

I disabled all sound inthe game. Worked for about 4 games then started crashing again. (good idea though)

Disabled enable hardware (in Sound) still crashed.


Can a gremlin actually be watching what is changed and finding ways to mess DC up just for his personal pleasure? :ink:

[StealthDP]

Sobe, I will see if I can make another house call soon. I will let you know!

[SoBeiT]

:)

help is always appreciated, Stealth.

I have done all that was suggested and still something is off somewhere.

[SFT]

If it is crashing after about 20 minutes or more of heavy CPU/vid usage you might check overheating issues. Is the video card fan obstructed by anything? - a ribbon connector - another card too close. What is the CPU temp? - there should be a monitor somewhere - you may have to check in the BIOS. Is the chipset on the board getting too hot? Is the power supply fan working? Feel the air coming from the back fan. How hot is it?

If the problen isn't a driver/ memory problem you may want to check temperature since it happens after you've been playing for a while.