lock up problems

[jackmbd]

I just got CM. Love it. Played demo just fine. Cannot play full game w/o lock up. Read all posts on subject. Downloaded latest drivers for my old system. Checked for IRQ conflicts, could not find any, but unable to locate IRQ for video card, sound card IRQ5. Locks up regardless of scenario size and during playback, unit selection and target selection (thats all I noticed before my tolerance level reached)Sometimes can escape out of (.exe then unresponsive and will then lock up at desktop)but usually must reset system. System=k6200, 64 mg,intense 3d rush (early voodoo) 6 mg, 1.2 g hd, sb16 clone. I thought that was the point of W95 so we wouldn't have to write system files and tweek for every game. ok so i'm gonna have to work OT and buy new system. but looks like lots of lock up issues on p3's w/ 10 g of ram and b1 bomber video cards. this game potential is great. if i spring for new system i would like to make sure CM plays. no mucho dinero. please advise of known low end system that plays CM (and CM2)as it should be played (or advise of solution with present pc)thanx

[Schrullenhaft]

You say the demo played fine for you but the full version locks up for you ? One of the biggest differences between the Gold demo and the full version is that the audio is sampled at 44kHz instead of 22kHz for the demo.

Do you know exactly which chipset you have for your audio card ? You say it is a "SB16 clone", which means that it could possibly be doing software emulation of a SoundBlaster.

If you're sure that you have the latest drivers for you audio card, then I would suggest running the DirectX control applet and turning down the hardware acceleration for audio (run C:\PROGRAM FILES\DIRECTX\SETUP\DXDIAG.EXE). Go to the Sound tab > DirectX Features section > adjust "Hardware Audio Acceleration Level" slider to the left. You will probably need to reboot once you Exit this applet.

Though this will ruin the experience you may want to turn off sound in CM with Shift-S and see if this helps with the crashing. If this works then it would appear that CM isn't cooperating with your sound card and a new one may fix the problem.

For your Intense 3D Rush card 3dfx would recommend that you stick with the manufacturer's drivers. However some of these cards don't get frequent updates when they get older, so it is possible that the 3dfx Reference driver for this chipset may be newer. Looking at Intergraph's website they list the "non-Quake3" driver as 03.01.01, while 3dfx list theirs as 3.00.01. You will have to know if your board is dual-planar or not (I'm not sure if it is, but it does have two Voodoo chips on it). There is also a BIOS update on the site, but you may have it already installed:

Intergraph drivers:

http://www.intergraph.com/ITservices/voodoo/support.asp

3dfx Voodoo Rush PCI drivers:

http://www.3dfxgamers.com/drivers/voodoo_rush/voodoo_rush_win9x.stm

If you can only afford so much in upgrading, then the first thing I would suggest is to get a faster video card. You will be limited to getting a PCI with your current motherboard. You may also want to consider a faster CPU if your motherboard can support it. Many of the newer AMD K6-2s require lower voltages and your motherboard may not support them. Check out your motherboard to confirm the model and revision and then check the manufacturer website and see if it gives you any details on what CPUs you can install.

For a video card upgrade I would suggest a PCI card with 8Mb or more. I'm not sure how good the performance of some of the higher end PCI cards will be with your current processor. A Guillemot MaxiGamer Cougar TNT2 M64PCI 32Mb (there is an AGP version so be careful what you order) may work for you, but the graphics chip may be "starved" for data and not perform to its fullest possible potential. These cards are in the US$100 - $120 range (check out pricewatch.com, but be wary of some of the vendors).

[Arrow]

Well, my advice would be to either build your system, or get a hold of a build to order company (such as Falcon Northwest) and get a machine built within your budget, but MOST IMPORTANTLY, without a lot of crap preloaded on the system.

I got a 'high end' HP (which is a joke, since only the processor is high end. I had to replace the sound card and modem, and I am now in the market for a video card). My Grandparents recently got a 'low end' Dell. Both machines came with a lot of stuff preloaded on it, most of which got deleted. All that extra stuff leaves behind/modifies DLLs and who knows what else that can FUBAR your system. The key thing is to keep it stream line (which is a very difficult thing to do with Windows... I think I want my Mac back).

You might be able to find one of these no-thrills machines at your local sears or circuit city, but I doubt it.

Also, if you can find your video card's IRQ under display adapter in your System control panel, try looking around in the Display control panel.

I know this probably doesn't help much, but its the best I can offer.

[jackmbd]

thanx when i get home i'll try to poke around some more

[jackmbd]

ah master schrullenhaft you velly smart man.

i think the directx video acceleration solved problem for awhile. last nite downloaded I3D bios update and turned directx acceleration off and played 3 1/2

turns b4 lockup. then t-off sound in game and played until i got to sleepy (6 turns) this morning i get up and system is totally unstable, even getting fault messages in windows for wierd stuff like ED fault or something. CM loads game but is locked up immediately. could it be new bios? please don't say format.

[Schrullenhaft]

jackmbd - Can you be more specific on the error you are getting ("ED fault") ? It seems strange that you could play fine last night for several hours and this morning everything is unstable. Did you power off you machine last night or leave it on ? Did you apply the BIOS update to the Intense 3D after playing last night ? Basically I believe that the BIOS update only affected TV video out resolutions, so I wouldn't think it would be the cause of your problems.

Run Scandisk on your system to check for any disk errors. Did you install any software/drivers last night ? Does you computer lock up even when you're not playing CM ? Have you changed any settings in your CMOS/BIOS setup lately ?

When you disabled DirectX Video acceleration last night you forced the CPU to do the job of rendering the 3D scenes in CM. Your Voodoo card wasn't doing anything 3D-wise (to my knowledge) at that point.

Do you know what motherboard you have ? You can check by opening up your case and looking for a possible model name silk-screened in white (and there may be a version number near it). These model numbers can be painted anywhere on the surface of the board often they're found in the middle or on the very edges of the board. If the revision number isn't nearby it may be near the keyboard connector or the last ISA slot (sometimes these are laid out in the same metal as the traces on the board). I wouldn't think a BIOS update would do anything for you in this situation, but it may be worth checking out.

[jackmbd]

will be more specific on fault messages. was rushed this a.m. and did not take time to note. one flashed by and couldn't read anyway. i did not power down. when i got up machine was locked up in screen saver (flowering box or whatever)with illegal function error box. reset and when came back screen saver message again but not locked up so disabled ss. tried to load game with constant lockups as soon as actual game scenario screen appeared. Bios update was installed b4 successful game session w/ no sound. scandisk ran every time system reset but not thorough. it takes so long and no damaged areas show up on defrag so i have neglected that. i installed only bios last night. new video and sound drv the night before. i will crack case tonite and find out mb for bios update. i realize may be hardware problems and plan to upgrade. was hoping to save myself trial and error on purchasing. hope others could recommend proven system components. i am looking at tiger direct for possible new mb and cpu, video card, sound, and hd. (@$500)the new system would be k6 550 w/ agp 3dfx 5500, use same simms 64mg

the system i have has not failed b4 except w/

Panzer Commander and Panzer General III. Panzer Commander was too slow/choppy and PG3 wouldnot even install. just finished Age of Empires (dum game) w/ no problems.

Can bios update to video card be removed? i really don't think it was really update anyway because was dated 1997 close to when i purchased. i believe my original game problems were solved when i turned off game sound now have many problems even not in game so i think bios must be problem unless coincidence and mb is going bad. thanks for replying.

[Schrullenhaft]

jackmbd - Unfortunately there doesn't appear a way of going back in your Intense 3D's BIOS upgrade. Unless it backed up a BIOS file image (which most of them don't do) you would have to get the older one from the Intergraph website and I don't think that they have one posted. The update may have been the same version you had already.

When you go to Control Panel > Display control panel > Settings tab > Advanced Settings button do you see several tabs for your Intense 3D ("Director's Chair" "AT3D") ? The following info from Intergraph tells how to get rid of the extra tabs (if you have them):

http://www.intergraph.com/ITservices/voodoo/VoodooFaq/vdoc025.asp

If you want to try to reflash the BIOS of the Intense 3D here are the instructions from Intergraph (you did download the NTSC version - the first one listed on the website ?):

http://www.intergraph.com/ITservices/voodoo/VoodooFaq/vdoc230.asp

Also if you had problems flashing:

http://www.intergraph.com/ITservices/voodoo/VoodooFaq/vdoc208.asp

Also I would suggest running your display in 16bit color (if you're not already). Make sure that you're using the 2073 version from the Intergraph website - the first driver listed on the webpage is geared for OpenGL in Quake3 and nothing else (to my knowledge).

Do you normally leave your computer on for a long time ? If not, then what you're seeing may be a heat-related problem.

You may want to go back into the DirectX control applet and reduce the Hardware Audio Acceleration Level on the Sound tab. You may then want to experiment with re-enabling the Video DirectX Acceleration and see if the game still locks up.

[This message has been edited by Schrullenhaft (edited 09-01-2000).]

[Dogmat]

I am having lockup problems as well. At the two top resolutions the game continually locks up on me requiring ctrl alt del to get out of. I have only been able to run the game at 460 X 600 which is pretty clunky and awful.

System

Pentium II Celeron 300

64mg ram

Video Card - Creative Savage 4 AGP 32

Creative Soundblaster 16

Directx 7.0a

I have updated my video card and sound drivers, played around with Advance Graphic settings under system,with the AGP settings and checked that IRQs are not in conflict. None of these have helped.

I haven't tried to delete my drivers and inf files etc in safe mode that has been suggested in other discussions. I wanted to check if there was anything else I should do before heading down that track. If I should do it what should I delete?

Can you give me any other ideas. Hellllpppp

[Schrullenhaft]

Dogmat - you may want to do a search in the Tech Support forum for "Savage". You'll get threads on people who've had problems with the Savage 4 based video cards.

Here's a site listed in one of the threads that has the lastest "Reference" drivers for the Savage 4 (though I believe one Creative Labs Savage owner had problems with the non-Creative Lab's drivers). There is also a BIOS update for the Creative Lab's Savage (v.1.0.3.1 near the bottom of the page)

Savage 4 Reference drivers (v. 8.20.29):

http://cgi.s3planet.force9.co.uk/cgi-bin/sml?sections/files/savage4.sml

The BIOS upgrade will probably do very little in terms of the CM problem you're having, but I would recommend it.

You may want to see if your CMOS/BIOS setup will allow you to adjust your "AGP Aperture" (or "Grahics Aperture"). The default is usually 64Mb and some users have had luck in reducing the aperture to 16Mb or less (though few CMOS/BIOS setups allow going down very far). If the setting doesn't get below 16Mb it may not be worth adjusting, but you may want to experiment anyway.

Are you overclocking your Celeron ? If so you may want to try a lower speed to see if this helps your situation or not.

Though this may do nothing for you here is a utility that you can use with the Savage 4's.

S3TC Tweak Utility (go to Savage4 section):

http://www.reactorcritical.com/download.shtml