wierd quake2 problem on the internet

[xhktm]

when i play quake2 or q3a (or any other OGL stuff) on the internet multiplayer servers my pc freezes. In single player everything works just fine. but when i play on multiplayer i get random lockups, actually my computer is not really lockedup its just the game not responding and so i cant alt-tab and have to reboot. the weird thing is it only happens when playing on the internet. And this problem only happens when running opengl games (it has not occured in software mode...yet)
I can provide info on my system:
-win98se
-zx/bx motherboard
-celeron 533
-64mb ram
-matrox millenium g200 on irq 11 with pci controller (driver 604 certified but i have also tried 433c and 552)
-cm8338 sound
-56k modem
I can tell you what display modes i have tried in quake2 (in defaut opengl):
-800x600 32bit 30fps (problem occurs often)
-800x600 16bit 40fps (problem occurs often)
-640x480 32bit 40fps (problem occurs often)
-640x480 16bit 55fps ('' often)
-512x384 32bit 65fps ('' not very often)
-512x384 16bit 80fps ('' very very rarely and only occured once)
problem has not yet occur in software mode.
Ive tried reinstalling games and downloaded the latest drivers (the 604 version) and nothings changed. Im currently using the 512x384x16 mode but i would like to use the 32bit mode for nicer graphics.
Can anyone help me? thanks.

[xhktm]

and btw i dont think its a heat problem because it doesnt occur in single player and also a heat problem locks up the whole pc which is not the case here (only q2 locks up, the computer is still working).

[xortam]

I'd bet its your lacking of RAM. Q3A acts very poorly when it doesn't have sufficient memory to run. You might be able to throttle it down with the hunkmegs parm but it probably won't accept less or it probably won't be playable. Make sure you have an abundance of swap file size available. Best thing for your system is to buy more RAM.

[ayoub_ibrahim]

are you sure your modem isn't conflicting with another piece of hardware for an irq?

[xhktm]

.

[Rags]

+

[xhktm]

ayoub_ibrahim:
yes, im pretty sure. i opened the system thing in control panel and it said that i had no conflicts.
xortam:
If the problem is caused by the ram, why doesnt it happen in single player? Im confused, does the ram have something to do with the internet? I downloaded quake2 bots and played deathmatch with 30 bots(to simulate an online multiplayer) and had no lockups, or maybe i should have tried with 40 bots? It only happens in multiplayer on the internet and its random(sometimes it locksup immediately after i finish loading the maps and stuff when connected to the server)and when it happens the sound repeats and graphics freeze but there is no distortion in the graphics.