back again. same pc probs.

[Doc Holliday]

Right people. first off heres a link to the old thread. i NEED SOME HELP and i havent heard from the help desk in days.

this thread explains the situation without havin to bump it :P (http://forum.neocron.com/showthread.php?t=104764)

i have had the pc back. new psu 450watts. new heat sink and new internal fan so temperature isnt a problem. i have freshly installed the os ( win 2k now ) fully patched it up to date and reinstalled neocron. it still fucking reboots. im not gonna rant and rave but im getting fucked off and for the sake of a fiver a month i might as well cancel. im getting zero help from the support team despite 2 seperate tickets being raised and all info submitted to them. if someone minds trawling through the old thread and checking anything else out most of my answers give info as to what i have already tried. also i have reinstalled the drivers i got with my current gfx card.

Any help would be lovely. mods or who ever if u see this can u take a look and pass on my concerns to the support team. tickets have been raised.

[cRazy2003]

if you mean as its loading it just dissapears i had the same problem, weather u have this or not try it:

uninstall your gfx drivers
uninstall neocron
reboot
install your original gfx drivers
reboot
install neocron
reboot
run it

if that doesnt work, try the same step with your latest gfx drivers, and i couldnt read the other post either because it doesnt work for me :/

[Richard Slade]

How about you throw Win2k to HELL and try something else?

[Juht]

1) Do you have any other RAM chips you can swap out an try? Try one chip at a time if you use more than one chip -- if you use a dual channel memory setup, try each chip alone in a single channel setup.

2) Heat is rarely a problem in my experience, unless you're talking the old Thunderbird Athlons, which you're not. o_O How old is the processor? Even if it's new it could have a defect. Sometimes they get rated higher than they should, you could try, for instance, running at 100MHz FSB instead of the 133 or 166 you're at now. Just see if you still get the same reboots. The fact that Neocron is more processor intensive than any other game released in the last year or so, could be why you haven't peaked your CPU outside of Neocron. I think there is an app that you can run in windows to put max load on cpu for testing -- someone post a link.

EDIT: Fix your link to the old post by taking out the extra http://

[Doc Holliday]

sorry. fixed the link. ok. ram its not im certain of. its been in my local pc store and its been checked out fully. im not sure how to fiddle with the fsb either.

at slade. i used xp mate. i reinstalled 2day and thats the only os i had to install to get the pc working.

crazy i did the driver thing already mate.

its just launched on me crashed with a c++ runtime error and now its managed to corrupt most of the terrain files. forgive me if im wrong but could this be a hdd problem. ie the data isnt written properly. the guy in the shop suggested i send it away to ibm as its not under the stores warranty anymore but could be under IBMs as he thought there might be a problem with it.

[Lexxuk]

Hard Drive, go into BIOS, enable SMART for your hard drive. Go on to IBM's website, look around somewhere they have a programme which can examine your hard drive for you (apparently 80% of hard drives they get back are working fine, just misconfigred - 80% might be a number I made up on the spur of the moment :p)

Also, right click My Computer, go to Logs, System Logs, look for a red type icon, should give details on why system crashes (2k will not crash cause NC does, its designed to kill the game not the kernel).

[Juht]

Well that would be the last thing that has to do with data -- all data operations are done by the CPU RAM and HDD. If any one of those is defective, you'll be getting data errors, which almost always causes install errors and/or blue screens for windows.

Do what Lexxuk suggested, download the IBM hard drive (now hitachi) fitness test (http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT) to scan for errors. You may want to run the test a couple times. Sometimes a faulty IDE cable -- too many bends or a cut -- can cause problems too.

If there are hard drive problems or corrupt sectors you should find them with that utility. Sometimes they can be repaired with the utility as well -- other times you'll get a red error screen with the drive serial number and error code that you must supply to IBM/Hitachi for them to give you an RMA. Most older IBM drives have 3 year warranties, their newer ones only have 1 year, with the exception of the uber expensive series.

[Doc Holliday]

cheers guys. gonna get a floppy disk later im not sure if i have any here. if this doesnt work i swear im gonna give up and go somewhere without internet like hmm siberia or something n forget neocron.

[Scikar]

Didn't have time to check the other thread fully, but did you follow Bram's steps and disable automatic restart? At least in XP, with it disabled Windows won't just reboot, it'll give you a BSOD which at least tells you more about the problem.

[Doc Holliday]

yeah sci i did mate. most if not all of whats on there i tried. driver reinstalls full formating reinstalls with new drivers everything. i got a couple bsods. one was something to do with my soundcard but as stated the guy in the shop said my hd wasnt acting too good when it booted so it could be a problem there. problem is haveing the money to lay out to get it sorted. i tried the above suggestions with the fitness test but my floppy drive doesnt seem to realise i have a disk inserted to make a boot disk. im really getting hacked off now as the guys in the store who do my pc repairs etc checked it all over and said apart from the hdd the rest of it is running fine. they even said they didnt think it was too hot tbh so im convinced the problem is some kind of compatibilty between neocron and my machine. the problem is the OFFICIAL tech support dont respond to emails very often or when they do they ask questions i have already answered by the description i gave in each email submitted. :mad:


i have disabled the reboot again as im now running win2k. im reinstalling all the maps etc as they got corrupted with the last crash that occurred. also when it reboots i can load nc but its been prone to freezing up completely without access to a mouse keyboard etc.

Can someone official take a look in to what i have described and get in touch please as i have had next to no responce from the official helpdesk.

i said before several times this is the only game i have problems with none of the others i have run and run currently give me any grief what so ever so why this could be hardware related i dont no but im trying to provide the people who know more on this than me enough info.

[and1guy]

dunno if anyone said this, but maybe your video card is getting too hot, or your processor is getting too hot. What i did was place a small fan on the side of my computer case (The side of the case is off) and get a new video card with a fan on it. OR you can pay about 200 bucks and get a really cool lookin cooling system installed.. might be it =)

edit: just take off one side of the case and touch the video card.. is it too hot?

[Doc Holliday]

dunno if anyone said this, but maybe your video card is getting too hot, or your processor is getting too hot. What i did was place a small fan on the side of my computer case (The side of the case is off) and get a new video card with a fan on it. OR you can pay about 200 bucks and get a really cool lookin cooling system installed.. might be it =)

edit: just take off one side of the case and touch the video card.. is it too hot?


or u could read what i said about a new psu and new fans etc in the machine just the other day and the fact the guys in the shop said its not too hot. it WAS running at 51 degrees. amds can run to 90 odd apparently before they get any problems. even so i got it cooled down along with a bigger psu being installed.

[jini]

Doc, have you tried installing a fresh OS copy win2000 or XP, with its relevant service packs (maybe even without them) , and then immediatelly the NC client? Also try reseting everything in its default settings (like the bios).
edit: you need to find a starting point from where to start. if you still have problems, even after installing evrything from start, then omg...

[Doc Holliday]

the latest install jini was 2000 on a fresh clean hd. fully formatted. drivers installed for gfx card and sound card. fully updated all critical updates. then installed nc. and guess what. still it doesnt work.

[jini]

the latest install jini was 2000 on a fresh clean hd. fully formatted. drivers installed for gfx card and sound card. fully updated all critical updates. then installed nc. and guess what. still it doesnt work.
can you log on to yr msn service? I'm online now

[Doc Holliday]

thanks for the suggestions. im testing it again. updated all the files from the file check. i have had the game running in the background now for about half an hour. the temp internally is running around 48-51 degrees as per that speed fan prog.

fyi i had nc running in the back ground with no problems whatsoever. i relogged chars to help a friend and begun to buff my ppu up to go help level and the game rebooted. its deffo not a temp problem im sure of this but why is it fucking up when im playing. i still do not no.

this should sum it all up.

http://members.shaw.ca/wenpigsfly/smileys/throw.gif

[Juht]

Got a CD burner? Floppy disks and Win2k/XP don't mix well... too easy to mess up your floppy disks. I would try using Nero or something to make a bootable CD with the IBM DFT on it. It sucks I know... I repair computers all day and it's ridiculous how much stuff you need around you to get things done right.

Another thing you could do is to make the DFT diskettes on a Win98 box or something... Don't happen to have an old comp around? :confused:

I wish this was an easy problem so we could get your ass back in the game. I don't think I've seen a game with NC's level of CPU/HDD access in forever -- if at all. How much RAM do you have installed? You know what you could try... Put a small RAM chip in, like 64MB or 128MB, hopefully you have one... Boot up and play your other games that haven't given you trouble. I know with a lot of these newer games, especially Unreal Tourny, most everything is loaded to your video RAM and system RAM. If you significantly cut your system RAM those games will be forced to cache a lot to your HDD, which if the HDD is the problem, may act up for the other games?

If I think of anything else today while at work, I'll chime in. Good luck.

[Doc Holliday]

tbh juht im half way to getting a new hd and then that will eliminate that prob. i dont have a spare machine and afaik the ram stick is a full 512. if not its 2 256's. what im thinking is get rid of the hd and reinstall to a brand spanking new fresh hd. then use all the drivers i got with my various hardware bits and take it from there. the cooling is fine. if the hd is fine etc then i know for sure its a software issue. as stated other games run like a charm. it would be nice at least if technical support acknowledged i had a problem. they say be patient but i am and im spending a fortune trying to fix the damn machine at the same time.

[Doc Holliday]

ok sorry for double post but i wanted to see if anyone else can think of anything to try. i have tested the heat probs. i dont think its a heat issue here. i have reinstalled to nvidia drivers the 57.62 ones. the machine still reboots randomly. tech support basically said theres nothing they can do due to the amount of stuff it could be. i have tried to give as much info as poss as to what i have done but its still giving me grief. it bluescreened today saying kmode exception not handled with a series of numbers accross the top.

my question is this. number 1 does anyone no any recommended drivers other than the 57.62s i can try. number 2 as previously stated i think the hd may be at fault. Is it possible this could be the cause of the reboots if for example theres bad sectors on the drive or is it all likely to be gfx card related.


oh yeah. one more thing. does the downloadable version have any further updates client side than say the cd version. im wondering if its worth trying that instead.

[THE_TICK!!!!]

d00d if you dont got the finances i got a couple 40 or 80 gig maxtors layin round the house if ya need em

[Lexxuk]

What you "really" need to do is to do a full and total diagnostic of your computer, well within the limits of what a software system can do.

Firstly you need System Information. Click Start/Programmes/Accessories/System Tools/System Information

Click the + at HardWare Resources, then Conflicts/Sharing, see if there are any obvious conflicts. Mine looks like this...


I/O Port 0x00000000-0x00000CF7 PCI bus
I/O Port 0x00000000-0x00000CF7 Direct memory access controller

I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF SiS Accelerated Graphics Port
I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440

IRQ 19 SiS 900-Based PCI Fast Ethernet Adapter #2
IRQ 19 Creative AudioPCI (ES1371,ES1373) (WDM)

Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF PCI bus
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF SiS Accelerated Graphics Port
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440

I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB SiS Accelerated Graphics Port
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440

Which means my Network Card and my Sound Card are sharing IRQ19, but thats ok, the soundcard is pretty much able to share with one device through IRQ Steering.

Next up, to check out your log files. Hit Start/Run and type in mmc. This brings up the Management Console.

Press CTRL+M to open the Add/Remove dialogue, then hit the "Add" button, click "Event Viewer" and hit "Add". You will get a wizard, hit Local Computer then Finish. Click Close on the snapin with Event Viewer, then click "OK" on the Add/Remove dialogue.

Under Console Root you will have Event Viewer. Click the + then hit "System" which will bring up a log of system stuff. (this is best done AFTER a reboot) Read thru all the "eventlog" settings until you find one that says "Windows rebooted from a bugcheck error". It should give you a link to hit which will take you to MS's website and give you further information on your event error.

Try that first, see how it goes then come back <3