3D-games with G400. Problem

[Yason]

With many 3d-shooters i have same problem - my computer is
locked into the game and onlt hard reset can help.
I have win2k,sp1/Asus cusl2/G400,32Mb/256 Mb memory, last drivers.
Anyone to can help me?

[az]

I don't know of your specific problem, but installing SP2 might help It' been released recently

AZ

[DuRaNgO]

First off, welcome!

Now, does the game lock as soon as you start running it or is it after a few minutes?

Which games are you playing?

Are you o/c'ing your cpu?
jim

------------------
P3-700e @ 1G+! Check it here!
Abit BE6-2
TwinMos 256mb pc-133
a Matrox video card......
Maxtor 40gb 7,200 ATA100
SB Live!
Toshiba 12x DVD
Teac 12x10x32 burner
Winblows 98se & DX8
Roadrunner cable
and 19"'s of crispy 32bit color!

[HollyBerri]

I'd also be interested in what sound card you have, and your IRQ list....

A global problem like this suggests a fundamental configuration issue.

--------------------
Holly

[DuRaNgO]

Try running your sys w/o the case side on to rule out heat, do you run these games in ogl or d3d?

[Wombat]

Did you install the VIA patch yet?

[Yason]

Games: Ganman, Soldier of Fortune, Serious Sam
Overclocing: No

[Yason]

Games locks after the few minutes of playing...

[Yason]

Thank, boys...
I have Creative Live (Value). This games i am playing in the OGL mode.
I can't to install VIA patch, because my MB based on i815 chip...

[Alec]

Try playing them in D3D and see if the problem persists.

[HollyBerri]

I have more questions, Yason...

• Is this a new PC or did you upgrade a PC that used to not have this problem?
• If this PC didn't have this problem in the past, what did you install/upgrade?
• Do the games lock up in the same place each time, or different places?
• What does the screen look like when the game locks (black, looks fine but doesn't move, graphics are partially or totally garbled)?
• Does sound continue to play?
• Does your mouse respond (if you can tell that)?
• Can you access the Task Manager with Ctrl-Alt-Del (even if it responds very slowly and/or is unable to close the program)?
• Do you have any other odd errors with your PC (occasional freezes/GPFs for no reason, display glitches, sound lockups, whatever)?
• The "last drivers" for the G400? Euuugh, that would be 5.52, under which I could not even run Win2k. Have you tried reverting to a previous driver version to see if the problem goes away?

And that IRQ list would be nice .

C'mon MURCers, we're getting sloppy here, trying to solve his problem without even knowing his setup, the details of the problem, or how he's tried to solve it...

-------------------------------
Holly

[DukeP]

Greets.

I have the same problem with my system. Incidently, my system have a lot of things in common with Yours.

Asus Cusl2 G400Max 512mb ram Soundblaster live, win2k service pack 2, latest drivers.

My lockups only occur in open gl games. Every lockup gives repeating sound. I mostly play CS. This locks up at complete random. Some days I play for 5 hours straight (ehm, in between studying for my exams... Ehheh.) other days, I lock up after 5 minutes of play. I think the culprint is the Sblaster Live/G400/Cusl2/win2k combo. I will bet that You too use a soundblaster type card.
I havent found any solution. Live with it, I guess.

~~DukeP~~

[HollyBerri]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by DukeP:
I havent found any solution. Live with it, I guess. </font>

Now, now, let's think positive here . This looks like it ought to be solveable with a bit of digging. I see several possibilities:

• An unsuspected problem with SP2;
• A misconfiguration due to incorrect settings in the BIOS, or incorrectly installed drivers in Windows;
• A conflict between the mobo chipset and either or both of the cards in question.

.
First, let's try to figure out which of these areas the problem is coming from.

Speaking to both of you:

• Was there any time when your PC did not have this problem? If so, what HW/sw/drivers did you install right before this problem started?
• Does playing in D3D rather than OGL reduce/stop the problem?
• Are there any other problems/lockups/odd happenings at other times (opening Explorer, startup/shutdown, using Photoshop, etc.)?
• Are there any games which do not have this problem?
• Does installing an older/certified version of the G400 drivers help?
• Is the CPU or the G400 overclocked?
• What have you already tried (that didn't work)?

I do think this is fixeable, or at least we can find out what it is so you could complain to whoever is responsible . But I won't accept "just live with it"-- when an entire class of applications won't run properly on your PC, that is totally unacceptable. Don't be fooled by the fact that they're "just" games. It's your PC and you should be able to use it as you want!

-----------------------------
Holly


[This message has been edited by HollyBerri (edited 25 May 2001).]

[HollyBerri]

O-ho! I do have a new suspect now... thanks for your answer Yason.

So:

We now know that this is some kind of problem with the configuration as installed by the vendor/OEM-- by the way, Yason, is this a brand-name PC (like Compaq, HP or Dell) or one built by the vendor for you?

What I find most interesting at this point is that the lockups appear in several different ways: sometimes the screen looks fine, but is frozen, sometimes the display is garbled as well.

That implies that something is interfering with the program's operation, but does so to a different degree at each event. Sometimes it's more severe than others. Since it always locks the PC, though, it sounds like a HW component, not software.

As far as I know, IRQ sharing is supposed to be much less of a problem under Win2K than under Win9x. So the "free beer on IRQ 9" should not be an issue...

But...I know from Win9x that having the USB bus on the same IRQ with other components can be a real problem, especially if you have no USB devices connected.

If you do have them... like a USB mouse, keyboard or gamepad, and your video and sound card are on the same IRQ, I can easily see how that might be a problem in a Q3 firefight. After all, there's a great deal of video data, a whole lot of sound data, and you're moving the mouse as well. The data is all going back and forth on the same channel for all these things... it's no shock that a PC couldn't handle it. Even if you had no devices connected, that bus is still polling for a new device (since devices are recognized by USB as soon as you plug them in, the PC must always be looking to see if you have plugged one in), and that might cause a problem with all that data already on the channel.

So it seems to me that we might really want to get that USB moved or disabled (depending on whether you have USB devices or not). Moving the G400 to a higher IRQ (like 11) isn't the worst idea I ever heard either, whatever they say about IRQ sharing in Win2K.

You could do this in the BIOS if you have access to the full BIOS on your PC (many brand-name PCs limit what you can do), but someone who uses Win2K might have a better idea of how to do so.

Suggestions, anyone?

---------------------------------
Holly

[This message has been edited by HollyBerri (edited 25 May 2001).]

[Wombat]

If his box is running in ACPI mode, then all devices would be on the same IRQ. ACPI uses a polling system, instead of interrupt-driven implementation. The devices all appear to be on the same interrupt.

The thing I find odd is that these are his only devices? No COM ports, no nothing.

But I know some systems/devices don't pull off ACPI too well. That's about the extent of my knowledge. We'll need some W2K gurus in here I think.

But more details on the machine itself would be nice.

I have seen this issue before on other systems (some BX based, others not sure). Some MB's won't handle SB Live!'s in ACPI mode. The only solution that I know of is to do a complete reinstall of W2K and use APM mode.
Just to clarify, the system completely locks up, but a small sound sample repeats over and over?