[BlackDove]

PIII 800, 124RAM, TNT2, 9.32gb HD, win2kpro sp2...


Ok, this is possibly the first time I ever needed help with fs2. I've had the thing for about 4 years (FS1 also), always ran as it was supposed to. Until about two months ago. The thing started to lock up in any game that I would play (and I mean a big time lockup, ctrl+alt+del doesnt work anymore, I gotta boot manually), and the lockup would occur in the time frame of about 5-15 minutes while I'm ingame and sometimes in the lobby_20 also. So as there was no actual way of me to prevent that (I tried re-installing Windows again, didn't work) so I formated the hard-drive and made a new clean install. It was all working like it was supposed to, until about 3 days ago when it started repeating the same thing. I wondered what did I do to piss it off again, but I couldn't think of anything that I could have done or install that would screw things up... today I put on the new nVidia drivers (40.somethingBeta, instead of 30.something), scanned the disk with norton windoctor, virus check it, I installed a RAM cleaner called Free Mem Pro, I even thought it could be my connection, but then I remembered that when it started to lock up in the first phase (before I formated) that it was locking up in single player also. The first time it was a problem I checked out my TNT2 if it was jacked up, but everything was fine with it and well when I formatted afterwards it was all going well (oh yeah and I reinstalled freespace first, thats a given).

I just don't know what to do anymore...do I have to format the thing every month or?...blah...if anyone can help me it'd be great, but this is starting to suck big time...any IDEA on what to do is also welcome because I'm fresh out...

so...PLEASE HELP!!!!!!!!!!!...if you can...

-€dit-, also, I have no mods, no tables, no NOTHING in the FreeSpace directory, this thing just wants to happen on its own -€dit-

[Unknown Target]

Only thing I can think of right now is a virus. Try running something to fix that sort of thing...

[CP5670]

From the lockups it really sounds like a cooling issue, but if a format fixed it last time then I don't really know...

[BlackDove]

Originally posted by Unkown Target
Only thing I can think of right now is a virus. Try running something to fix that sort of thing...

Already did that, mentioned it in the post above.....

[Goober5000]

I had a very similar problem a few months ago that had nothing to do with FreeSpace but might be what's going on with your computer.

My computer had been working happily for quite a while when things started to randomly freeze -- unpredictably, and CTRL-ALT-DEL didn't work to reboot.  They got more and more frequent and nobody could figure out what was going on.  We reinstalled the offending programs and scanned for viruses but to no avail.  We even reinstalled Windows.  Finally we started replacing hardware.  We ended up replacing every single component in the computer until we got to the MOTHERBOARD, and as soon as we replaced that (and processor along with it) everything worked fine.

So I would guess the problem lies with your motherboard or processor.  If you can't figure out what's going on and have reinstalled Windows and scanned for viruses, it's gotta be a hardware problem.

[Dan1]

The only thing i can think of....is to open the comp up and check to see how dirty it is on the inside...i had a similar problem a month ago..and it was extremely dirty inside...fan processor and such...clean it out..that's all i got to suggest...U might be surprised...or not..

Peace..good luck

[IceFire]

Hard locks (not being able to ctrl-alt-del) are usually indicative of a hardware problem...although not always.  It may be a cooling issue, or a defective system that under stress shows problems.  If its just inside of 3D games, then it may be a video card issue...one that crops up every once in a while.

[BlackDove]

Well the vid card is getting replaced soon anyway...TNT2 isn't really "hot" anymore...and it's been "inside" for about a year now...maybe it's that...any other ideas? I really need EVERYTHING you can pull from the back of your minds...

Originally posted by IceFire
Hard locks (not being able to ctrl-alt-del) are usually indicative of a hardware problem...although not always.  It may be a cooling issue, or a defective system that under stress shows problems.  If its just inside of 3D games, then it may be a video card issue...one that crops up every once in a while.

But yeah, it happens in lobby too...

-edit- heh I ran 3d Mark 3 times, on 1024x786 32bit colors, ehh the results were UBER low, but no lock ups..... -/edit-

[vyper]

Originally posted by CP5670
From the lockups it really sounds like a cooling issue

Indirectly, I'd say this is spot on - directly, I'd say your motherboard is up sh1t creek. Sorry.

[Solatar]

Yeah, clean the inside of your comp out. That works wonders. If you need to replace your motherboard, clean your current one out and try it first.

[Unknown Target]

Hit it with a hammer.
Actually, I would bet on that it's a hardware problem. Like they said, pull out the components, and replace them (temporarily) with a new one. Is your hard drive chugging when these freezes happen, or not? Generally, when my (working) PC hard locks, the hard drive starts to really rip itself a new one. Maybe if your HD's silent, it could be bad. That's just a random thought, you said to pull everything from the back of our heads, so it might not have any relevance.

[BlackDove]

Originally posted by Hades
Yeah, clean the inside of your comp out. That works wonders. If you need to replace your motherboard, clean your current one out and try it first.

Well ok, I'll try...but it only happenes in game...

Originally posted by Unkown Target
Hit it with a hammer.
Actually, I would bet on that it's a hardware problem. Like they said, pull out the components, and replace them (temporarily) with a new one. Is your hard drive chugging when these freezes happen, or not? Generally, when my (working) PC hard locks, the hard drive starts to really rip itself a new one. Maybe if your HD's silent, it could be bad. That's just a random thought, you said to pull everything from the back of our heads, so it might not have any relevance.

Processor is always silent...the lockup doesn't effect it, it's not in motion before nor after the lockup...the thing just sits there and actually, the sound also stops on the note it was playing, so sometimes I get a really really annoying sound out of it, like SCREEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEETCH!!!!!!.....and stuff like that...

[Zaxzon]

I had the same problem the cause was that windows was going into suspend mode while I was waiting in the lobby. When I went to go play a game it would freeze.  So if you have that option on you might want to disable it. (this was on win 98 so I don't know if it applies to win2k)

[IceFire]

But yeah, it happens in lobby too...

As far as I know, the game is already making calls to the video card's hardware for 3d acceleration....at the very least its routing through DirectX's stuff.

[BlackDove]

Well thx for the help...I'll see what I can do from the suggested above