I can't get Age of Empires III to run reliably...

At first I had an old GeForce 2 GTS w/32MB, and it would actually run pretty
well but lock up 5 - 15 minutes into the game -- I figured that was due to it
being an old card w/insufficient RAM.

Next I picked up an ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro w/128MB, but had exactly the
same problem. But, I chalked that up to being poor drivers on ATI's part.

Now, I have an MSI-branded nVidia FX5900 XT w/128MB, running the lastest
drivers (I've tried several different driver versions, from oldest to newest)
and the latest patch for the game, and I am still experiencing the same
problems as before. In addition, with the nVidia card, the screen flashes
every 10-15 seconds.

The lockups don't appear to be related to any specific action I'm doing in
AOE III.

Does anyone have any ideas as to what my problem is, and what I can do about
it?

My system is a Sempron 2500+, ECS KT-600A mobo, 512MB Rosewill DDR RAM,
running Windows XP SP1 (*not* SP2).

Thanks!

First thing I'd do would be to update your motherboard chipset drivers
(especially the AGP driver) and your sound card drivers.

http://www.ecsusa.com/downloads/drivers.html

If you try running it with the no-sound option inside the diagnostic
directory that should help limit down the potential cause, if you get no
lockups with no-sound then it's probably sound related.

If none of that helps post back and we'll explore some other potential
causes, the RAM itself, possibly even the PSU, or just so overly-aggressive
timings set in the BIOS. Do you run any other really heavy games?

--
Paul Smith,
Yeovil, UK.
Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
http://www.windowsresource.net/

*Remove 'nospam.' to reply by e-mail*

"Larry G. Fox" <Larry G. (E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:871F2A9F-4CAF-4C47-97D0-(E-Mail Removed)...
>I can't get Age of Empires III to run reliably...
>
> At first I had an old GeForce 2 GTS w/32MB, and it would actually run
> pretty
> well but lock up 5 - 15 minutes into the game -- I figured that was due to
> it
> being an old card w/insufficient RAM.
>
> Next I picked up an ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro w/128MB, but had exactly
> the
> same problem. But, I chalked that up to being poor drivers on ATI's part.
>
> Now, I have an MSI-branded nVidia FX5900 XT w/128MB, running the lastest
> drivers (I've tried several different driver versions, from oldest to
> newest)
> and the latest patch for the game, and I am still experiencing the same
> problems as before. In addition, with the nVidia card, the screen flashes
> every 10-15 seconds.
>
> The lockups don't appear to be related to any specific action I'm doing in
> AOE III.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas as to what my problem is, and what I can do
> about
> it?
>
> My system is a Sempron 2500+, ECS KT-600A mobo, 512MB Rosewill DDR RAM,
> running Windows XP SP1 (*not* SP2).
>
> Thanks!

No, I don't run any other resource-intensive games. I don't overclock my
system, and all temperatures are at reasonable levels (approx. 35* C). My
system is otherwise very stable.

Thanks for the info -- I'll check and, if necessary, update my mobo and
sound drivers. I'm using the mobo's onboard sound chip, so there shouldn't
be any conflicts there. I also received advice from Jimmy S. on the AOE
discussion group; I'll go through his suggestions as well and see what
happens...

"Paul Smith" wrote:

> First thing I'd do would be to update your motherboard chipset drivers
> (especially the AGP driver) and your sound card drivers.
>
> http://www.ecsusa.com/downloads/drivers.html
>
> If you try running it with the no-sound option inside the diagnostic
> directory that should help limit down the potential cause, if you get no
> lockups with no-sound then it's probably sound related.
>
> If none of that helps post back and we'll explore some other potential
> causes, the RAM itself, possibly even the PSU, or just so overly-aggressive
> timings set in the BIOS. Do you run any other really heavy games?
>
> --
> Paul Smith,
> Yeovil, UK.
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
> http://www.windowsresource.net/
>
> *Remove 'nospam.' to reply by e-mail*
>
> "Larry G. Fox" <Larry G. (E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:871F2A9F-4CAF-4C47-97D0-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >I can't get Age of Empires III to run reliably...
> >
> > At first I had an old GeForce 2 GTS w/32MB, and it would actually run
> > pretty
> > well but lock up 5 - 15 minutes into the game -- I figured that was due to
> > it
> > being an old card w/insufficient RAM.
> >
> > Next I picked up an ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro w/128MB, but had exactly
> > the
> > same problem. But, I chalked that up to being poor drivers on ATI's part.
> >
> > Now, I have an MSI-branded nVidia FX5900 XT w/128MB, running the lastest
> > drivers (I've tried several different driver versions, from oldest to
> > newest)
> > and the latest patch for the game, and I am still experiencing the same
> > problems as before. In addition, with the nVidia card, the screen flashes
> > every 10-15 seconds.
> >
> > The lockups don't appear to be related to any specific action I'm doing in
> > AOE III.
> >
> > Does anyone have any ideas as to what my problem is, and what I can do
> > about
> > it?
> >
> > My system is a Sempron 2500+, ECS KT-600A mobo, 512MB Rosewill DDR RAM,
> > running Windows XP SP1 (*not* SP2).
> >
> > Thanks!
>
>
>

OK, looks like updating the AGP driver solved the problem. I've played
several games over 6-7 hours without a single problem.

Thanks!

"Paul Smith" wrote:

> First thing I'd do would be to update your motherboard chipset drivers
> (especially the AGP driver) and your sound card drivers.
>
> http://www.ecsusa.com/downloads/drivers.html
>
> If you try running it with the no-sound option inside the diagnostic
> directory that should help limit down the potential cause, if you get no
> lockups with no-sound then it's probably sound related.
>
> If none of that helps post back and we'll explore some other potential
> causes, the RAM itself, possibly even the PSU, or just so overly-aggressive
> timings set in the BIOS. Do you run any other really heavy games?
>
> --
> Paul Smith,
> Yeovil, UK.
> Microsoft MVP Windows Shell/User.
> http://www.windowsresource.net/
>
> *Remove 'nospam.' to reply by e-mail*
>
> "Larry G. Fox" <Larry G. (E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> news:871F2A9F-4CAF-4C47-97D0-(E-Mail Removed)...
> >I can't get Age of Empires III to run reliably...
> >
> > At first I had an old GeForce 2 GTS w/32MB, and it would actually run
> > pretty
> > well but lock up 5 - 15 minutes into the game -- I figured that was due to
> > it
> > being an old card w/insufficient RAM.
> >
> > Next I picked up an ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro w/128MB, but had exactly
> > the
> > same problem. But, I chalked that up to being poor drivers on ATI's part.
> >
> > Now, I have an MSI-branded nVidia FX5900 XT w/128MB, running the lastest
> > drivers (I've tried several different driver versions, from oldest to
> > newest)
> > and the latest patch for the game, and I am still experiencing the same
> > problems as before. In addition, with the nVidia card, the screen flashes
> > every 10-15 seconds.
> >
> > The lockups don't appear to be related to any specific action I'm doing in
> > AOE III.
> >
> > Does anyone have any ideas as to what my problem is, and what I can do
> > about
> > it?
> >
> > My system is a Sempron 2500+, ECS KT-600A mobo, 512MB Rosewill DDR RAM,
> > running Windows XP SP1 (*not* SP2).
> >
> > Thanks!
>
>
>