Game Crashes in Vista

[Guest]

I am running Windows Vista Basic and while playing the game Jewel Quest my PC
freezes up. At first the game starts to run slow and then crashes to the
desktop or to a blue screen and I have to do a hard reboot. What could be
causing this? Hopefully it's the game as this is a brand new computer.
Thanks for any suggestions.

 

[Dale White]

Afraid it might be your PC or namely something running on your PC. The GF
plays Jewel Quest enough that if it was crashing, I would have heard about
it by now. Not sure what it would be, as it's a pretty basic game, but maybe
your Anti-Virus or video drivers are not likign something. As always, teh
first suggestion is to try and update the system

 

[kronos]

It's probaly windows defender, everytime a game uses a new source like a
driver or an executable or creates a new save file it's been scanned first
by defender.
Had the same problem with oblivion, so the best thing to do is to shut down
windows defender.

 

[Liam Yates]

I'd recommend doing the usual steps - Update your graphics card
(www.ati.com, or www.nvidia.com are the most popular ones), and seeing if it
works. If not, try disabling your Firewall and Windows Defender, as well as
any other anti-virus, -spyware, and -adware programs. Basically, anything
that could potentially stop the program in it's tracks.

Obviously, by doing that, you're putting your computer at risk, so really
you should only do that in a last hope scenario.

 

[Paul Smith]

It's probaly windows defender, everytime a game uses a new source like a
driver or an executable or creates a new save file it's been scanned first
by defender.
Had the same problem with oblivion, so the best thing to do is to shut
down windows defender.

Are you sure it was Defender? I've not experienced any issues what-so-ever
with Defender causing random crashes to desktop or stop errors and this is
the first time I've heard of it.

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

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[Guest]

I contacted Hewlett Packard as this computer is only 2 weeks old and any
new/updated drivers should be covered under my warranty. Hewlett Packard
told me the problem is that Jewel Quest is not compatible with Windows Vista.
Is this news to you? I have no idea how to update my graphics / video card.
Thanks

 

[Paul Smith]

I contacted Hewlett Packard as this computer is only 2 weeks old and any
new/updated drivers should be covered under my warranty. Hewlett Packard
told me the problem is that Jewel Quest is not compatible with Windows
Vista.
Is this news to you?

Sounds like the HP techs lying to me. I'm pretty sure my mum was playing
Jewel Quest on her Vista machine the other day, not sure if it was 1 or 2
though.

I have no idea how to update my graphics / video card.

Its usually just a case of running a program.

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

*Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*

 

[Dale White]

Well, I'm sure they are technically correct it's not Officially supported,
just like about 90% of games out now don't officially support Vista. But I
don't know why it wouldn't run or would cause the problem you are having.

What the model of PC or give us the hardware specs and well try to give some
some other options to try

 

[Paul Smith]

It was Jewel Quest II from http://zone.msn.com/en/vistagames/ which is Vista
compatible and "enhanced". So that definitely works.

Sounds like any problems you're having is probably down to a video card
driver.

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

*Remove nospam. to reply by e-mail*

 

[Liam Yates]

Updating your graphics driver is incredibly simple - If you have a Radeon
card, go on www.ati.com, or if you have an nVidia card, go on
www.nvidia.com. There, follow the links (usually under "Support", or
"Download"), and download the correct driver for your card. Then run the
program, and just follow the steps to install it.

If you don't know the graphics card you have, you'll find it under "Device
Manager":
http://img413.imageshack.us/my.php?image=graphicscardyu2.jpg

Yours will probably say ATI or nVidia, or possibly Intel.

 

[Dale M. White]

The one the Girlyfriend has is from iWin, which I guess is a part of
Bigfishgames.com now. Under their games compatible and not compatible, Jewel
Qwest is listed as not. But so far it works for the Girlyfriend

http://www.bigfishgames.com/support/index.html

 

[Guest]

I found the information and it is ATI Radeon 1100 Series. The driver is
8.31.100.0. When I went to update my driver, I received a message that I
had the latest drivers. I have a Pentium 4 Comaq Presario SR2172NX. My
problem is only with this game and starts when I've played after about 2-3
hours. Could the Video Card be bad or am I playing too long??
I appreciate all of the assistance I am receiving....

 

[Dale M. White]

If you would like to test out the video card with a little stress tester.
Goto www.futuremark.com and download the 3dmark03-06 series. That will
hammer your card and give you a good guess at where the problem is. If it
plays the demos without issues, then you know the problem is most likely
with the game itself

 

[Guest]

36 mak is indeed a good test, but it doesnt always show if you have problems
with the drivers/games etc.
i have a friend who can run games, but not 3dmark, and im the opposite.
its worth a try then.
i would also reccommend running/installing anything that doesnt work as an
administrator and/or in compatability mode (this sorted out some games for me)
its a standard reccommendation but it does often work im afraid....

 

[Guest]

I just got a new PC and I have done everything with the security and
compatability stuff nothing is working to get Jewel quest to work. I have
Jewel Quest (the first one) and I have the CD. It downloads when I put the CD
in but when I click on to play the game i get an error saying Jewel quest has
stopped working. I have tried everything and checked all of the problem
solutions available even contacted Iwin and mumbojumo . I am ready to toss
the game out but I LOVE it LOL.

I loaded it up on my other PC and it works fine for about 2 rounds then it
restarts my PC. I think they are trying to tell me to stop playing.

 

[Guest]

Ok, I finally figured out how to get the game to work the problem now is that
it does not save the game so when you close you lose everything LOL. Now im
clueless on how to get that to not do that

 

[Kaindog]

Hey Clois,

problem with manufacturers of home PC's is that they don't make the drivers
for your hardware. the good news is that the makers of all the components in
your PC have dedicated teams improving these programs 5 days a week. firstly,
find out what graphics card and sound card you are using in your PC, and then
go to the website for each one and download the latest ones. this will
increase the stability of your PC %100. Next go to the web site and download
the latest "patch" for the game you are playing, as although the game might
be made for Win XP or older, some games make patches to fix bugs that appear
after the game is released.

 

[Kaindog]

Hey Clois,

that sounds like a clasic case of PC overheating. does your PC have lots of
space around it or is it stored neatly in an office desk or some such thing?
If you know someone who knows about PC's, get them to take a look at how many
fans are inside your PC keeping all the internal stuff cool. the minimum is
3...1 to draw in air, 1 on the back as an exhaust and lastly one on the CPU
to keep it nice and frosty. as for myself....i play some hard core graphics
on my little puppy of a PC so i have 6 fans in total...2 at the front, 1 on
the side, one big'in on the CPU, one on the graphics card and 1 at the rear.
after i did all this to my PC...game crashes came to a %99 stop.