Glad to be of service!
"Jimmy S." <Private> wrote in message | Hi Harold,
|
| If you haven't already updated your drivers try that first (step 5),
| and of course visit the game's website to see if there's an update.
|
| Rather than give you one step at a time, I'm going to give you
| my entire list, so you can know the steps ahead of time.
|
| Start with the first step on the list, and if you have any questions
| please feel free to ask them before continuing. Good luck!
|
| 1. To see if it's a software conflict: Temporarily disable Startup
| programs one at a time, starting with Firewall, Antivirus, and ad
| blockers using:
http://new.jtsoft2001.com/windows/startup.php
|
| You can lookup what a program does before you disable it here:
|
http://www.pacs-portal.co.uk/startup_pages/startup_full.htm
|
| 2. Run a virus scan at:
http://housecall.antivirus.com Afterwards
| Download & Run Spybot from:
http://security.kolla.de to find any
| Trojans, Adware, or Spyware which could clog up your system.
|
| 3. Click My Computer / Rightclick the Drive & Choose Properties
| / Run the "Disk Cleanup..." / Next Click the "Tools" Tab and run
| the "Error-Checking" and "Defragmentation" utilities.
|
| 4. Go to the Windows Update site for everything under Critical and
| Recommended:
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com
| Except: Q811943 which reportedly may cause systems to slowdown.
|
| 5. Update DirectX and your Chipset, Sound, &Video Drivers:
| For all Video / DirectX / Game and Hardware Issues, I have a
| Checklist of Solutions at:
http://NibblesNbitsVideo.tk
|
| 6. Dust your fans, vents and components using a 1/4" paintbrush
| and a hose vacuum. Use compressed air for hard to reach places.
| Set a housefan to blow cold air into your case to expose an over-
| heating issue.. If it works add more fans or replace defective ones.
| Use this Mainboard Monitoring Utility:
http://mbm.livewiredev.com
|
| 7. A faulty power supply can cause STOP errors, random reboots,
| and black screen lockups. One way to test for that is to remove all
| extra devices, network cards, extra RAM sticks, modem, scussi,
| sound card, unplug CD drives (if not needed to verify CD), and then
| try the game again. If the problem is solved look into a 400 watt P/S.
|
| 8. Test your RAM using:
http://www.memtest86.com/memt30.zip
| after you extract that zip file, click on the README.txt file for the
| instructions on how to create the boot floppy to test your RAM.
| * Allow Windows to control your pagefile at a "system managed size".
| Be sure there's enough space for the pagefile size to = 1.5 * your RAM
| Bonus Tip: Set the pagefile to it's own partition or hard drive if possible.
|
| 9. Click Start / Control Panel /Administrative Tools / Event Viewer /
| Click the Applications listing on the left / in the right pane look for
| yellow or red symbols and doubleclick them to identify any problems.
|
| 10. Run Setup.exe on your Windows 98/Me/XP/2000 CD to reinstall
| Windows over itself without erasing your programs and data. Once
| everything works fine reinstall updates one at a time from:
|
http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com test the game after each update.
|
| 11. If you have room on one of your partitions, use it to install another
| clean installation of Windows which you can gradually update with the
| appropriate chipset, video, and sound drivers, as well as Direct X, but
| with no extras including themes, firewalls, antivirus, etc. You may have
| to reinstall the game(s) for use with that partition, but it's well worth it.
|
| 12. If you don't have enough space for step 10 I suggest you at least
| create a new administrators account with no themes, firewall, antivirus,
| or any other software or startup programs installed for that account. If
| this solves the problem, then you should switch over to the new account.
|
| --
| Cheers,
| Jimmy S.
|
| Additional Support Resources: My Zone.com Helpsite:
http://nibblesnbits.tk
| Microsoft Online Tech Support:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=376
| Game FAQ's:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;[LN];gms
| My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
| _________________________________________________________
|
| | | ok,lol, i am not curious anymore. i posted in the wrong
| | room. oops. still need info on lock-up edicate.
| |
| |
| | >-----Original Message-----
| | >i posted a request for help with lock-up recovery
| | >yesterday. i saw it posted. i checked back later for a
| | >reply and i could not find it. curious. am i missing
| | >something
| | >here?
| | >anyway, when i game online, i often have lock-ups. no
| | >surprise there. i try to recover with cont+alt+del.
| | >sometimes i get a window,(the task manager i guess),
| | >allowing me to end the program. that works. sometimes it
| | >seems that the window is under the frozen game and i
| | >can't get to it. then i have to power down. could this
| | >be a hardware problem,(memory or video card) or
| | something
| | >else? and how should i handle lock-ups when they occur?
| | >.
| | >
|
|
