PeteC Posted June 26, 2004 Share Posted June 26, 2004 After about 5 minutes my game will lock/freeze. It will last about 20 seconds and then freeze/lock again in a couple of minutes. It will lock/freeze for 30 seconds and then be OK for 1.5 minutes and so on until it just completely freezes and locks up. Nothing in particular seems to cause it (i.e. rotating a certain way). I have a NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti4600 video card. I downloaded older drivers (before 4.72) and newer and turned off Anti-aliasing but I still have the same problem. I also have an Intel 4 2.8 Ghz processor and plenty of memory. I can provide further specs, however, I ask that someone point me to teh appropriate screens to get the information. Fans are working and the computer in general works so I do not think it is a tempature problem. Help! Any thoughts or help would be greatly appreciated as it is now impossible to play this great game 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted June 27, 2004 Share Posted June 27, 2004 What sound card do you have in your computer ? If you turn off 'ambient sound' or all sound in CM do you still have the same problem ? Does this problem consistently take 5 minutes to occur when you start running CM ? Is your computer left on for long periods of time or do you usually play CM fairly quickly from a cold boot (power on) ? Have you stopped/unloaded any programs/utilities running in the background while you play CM ? In particular you may want to stop anti-virus utils, instant messaging clients, file sharing programs, etc. It's possible that something in the background is taking CPU cycles from CM. Do you have any USB devices plugged in (other than a mouse) ? You may want to disconnect them to see if this makes any difference. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteC Posted June 27, 2004 Author Share Posted June 27, 2004 Schrullenhaft, My sound card is a Creative SB Audigy card. I will try it with the sound turned off. What do you mean by "ambient sound"? Yes it consistently takes 5 minutes to occur after I restart the computer (not just after I go in and out of CMBB - quickier when I just do that). My computer is left on for long periods of time. I checked task manager and did not have anything running in the background - is that the correct way to check for things running in the background? I have speakers and a printer attached to the computer. I use a wireless Logitech keyboard & mouse. I do not have any joysticks attached. Is that what you mean by USB devices? Here is a couple more things to consider I guess. I have noticed (about the same time that I started playing CMBB) that I have been bombed by quite a lot of pop-ups and adds to remove pop-ups (how annoying is it that pop-up removal programs zap you with pop-ups...) and some ads that state I am being spied on and that I should download spyware programs. Also, just yesterday I noticed that the pointer of my mouse will every now and then turn into a 4 cornered box with an almost translucent colored normal mouse pointer in the middle. I must use the upper left corner of the box to click on things. It comes and goes and always turns into the hand symbol when I am over links. It also scrolls around normally. Rather strange. Don't know if those two things add any insight for you. Thanks for your help (and patience). I will be able to try the sound off situation in about an hour. Will let you know how that works. Although, for the long term I will need the sound for this game. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
junk2drive Posted June 27, 2004 Share Posted June 27, 2004 we have had a problem where i work. people dl'd an innocent looking screensaver, popup blocker, smileys, wallpaper, etc. the next day when they start their computer, it opens i.e. and goes crazy with popups and porn sites. just an idea, could be something overwelming your computer in the background. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted June 27, 2004 Share Posted June 27, 2004 I don't know if spyware or trojans are the cause of your problems. One thing to try (assuming you're on a broadband internet connection) is to disconnect your network cable before turning on your computer. That will at least keep the spyware programs from contacting their servers (of course this is only a troubleshooting step and not a solution). You may want to try out and purchase a spyware destroyer program like Spyware Nuker or Spybot (and there are others). I'd be very wary of clicking on the spyware ads since that software is quite likely spyware itself. One other thing to be aware of, those spyware remover ads are not really scanning your computer or your network packets, they're just blantant popup ads to make you paranoid and consider downloading the software. Bringing up Task Manager will allow you to see what is running, but you want to look at more than just Applications, you want to look through the Processes too. Anything that is running with your login is a potential candidate to get 'ended'. You can also check out your System Tray (lower right hand corner of your screen). Shutting down some of the programs running there may help (they will also typically be present in the Processes tab too). In CM ambient sound is the background sound that constantly loops (chirping birds, wind, distant explosions, etc.). By turning it off the intent is to find out if the sound card is swamping the CPU and/or databus and potentially locking things up. Another thing to do is to 'tune down' the hardware acceleration that the sound card does and instead have the CPU do more of the audio processing work. From the Run command (in the Start Menu) type in 'dxdiag' and this will launch the DirectX Diagnostic. Go to the Sound or Sound1 tab and under the DirectX Features section slide the tab left at least one notch on the 'Hardware Sound Acceleration Level' (this may require a restart to put into effect once you close up dxdiag). As for USB devices it sounds like you're OK. On occasion some USB devices can 'poll' so often or some other problem, that it can slow down your computer (which may be more evident in a game than the desktop). Concering your cursor problem, that sounds like a display driver or mouse driver issue though it probably isn't anything serious. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Carr Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 Check in the Administrative Services and look at the event viewer. Look at the system events that have been logged to see if there are any errors. I have fixed many a problem by looking here. It's certainly worth a try. Good luck! 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteC Posted June 28, 2004 Author Share Posted June 28, 2004 Jack Carr - can you be a bit more specific. What/where is Admin Services? Thanks 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Carr Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 Do you have Windows 98, XP Pro or XP Home, 2000? In XP Pro, go to control panel and then toAdministrative Services and you will see something called Event Viewer. Click on that and one one of te things listed will be System. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Schrullenhaft Posted June 28, 2004 Share Posted June 28, 2004 In Windows XP go to the Start menu, and then Control Panel. Click the Performance and Maintenance (if in the default view) icon, then click Administrative Tools, and then double-click Computer Management. Go to the Event Viewer. There are Application, Security, and System logs. The System log would be the most likely place to find the errors, though there may be some in the Application log. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteC Posted June 29, 2004 Author Share Posted June 29, 2004 I have Windows 2000 (should have mentioned that sorry). I just went to Control Panel>Admin Tools>Computer Management>Event Viewer>System Log There are well over 1,000 items with many errors and some warnings. The errors come from several sources. Here are the errors and a brief description: 1.cd-rom - bad block 2.automatic updates - failed to instal security update for DirectX 8.1 3.DHCP - ...IP Address LEase...has been denied by DHCP server... 4.IDEChnDr-Device P1TOLO did not respond during timeout period 5. MrxSmb - the masterbrowser has received a server announcement....The master browser is stopping or an election is being forced. 6. nv - idle timeout error channel 0000001 7. Print - a printing problem By far the majority of the errors are the cd-rom bad block errors. How can I fix them? Anything else to look for? I should also mention that as far as I can tell my video card is using DirectX 8.1 not 9.0 - is that causing this? I will get spyware tomorrow and see if that helps. Once again thanks. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Carr Posted June 29, 2004 Share Posted June 29, 2004 You can clear the log and restart the machine. All of the events should be time and date stamped. After clearing the log, the next time you experience the problem, go look into the log for the time and date that it occurred to pinpoint exactly which error corresponds with the problem and then take it from there. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeteC Posted June 30, 2004 Author Share Posted June 30, 2004 Thanks guys, I think I have it now. I used SpyBot and it fixed around 10 things. It still says I have 3 things it can't fix so I think I will go out and buy the actual software so I can get it's full use. The game seems to be working fine now. I was just on it for 20 minutes (was only lasting 5 before) and it looks fine and is scrolling fine. No lock ups or freezes. Jack - I did clear out the log and I just checked it out and there is nothing. So knock on wood, I hope things continue. I will purchase the spy software just to get rid of those last annoying items (something stole my home page and I still get pop-up killer pop-ups). I have noticed a much faster internet connection and general performance is better. I wonder if I should go back and upgrade my NiVidia drivers and turn anti-aliasing (what is that anyway) back on? or should I just leave well enough alone. Once again guys, thank you very much. H 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jack Carr Posted June 30, 2004 Share Posted June 30, 2004 It's a deep well these PC's. I don't think that it would hurt to upgrade to a later video driver and turn on anti-aliasing. Shouldn't cause a problem if done correctly with a proven/stable driver. Glad to hear that the machine is running better. Good luck. 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JP Jones Posted July 1, 2004 Share Posted July 1, 2004 I use pest patrol myself. I have been quite happy with it. pestpatrol.com give it a shot. (no, I dont work for them or anything like that) 0 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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