Glad to be of service!
"Jimmy S." <Private> wrote in message | Hi GP,
|
| Here's a few things to try to solve those freeze ups in GTA and Warcraft:
|
| 1. Update video drivers (instructions to follow)
|
| 2. 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
|
| 3. 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.
|
| 4. 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.
|
| HOW TO: Updating video card drivers can solve most gaming issues.
| Me & XP users should create a restore point before any upgrades:
|
http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/using/howto/gethelp/systemrestore.asp
|
| Before you update your drivers, I recommend you upgrade to DirectX 9.0a:
|
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/...22-0B25-4E5D-A584-6389D8A3DAD0&displaylang=en
|
| Keep any download accelerators or antivirus programs disabled.
| Here are the steps I recommend you use to update your driver:
|
| 1. To identify the make and model of your card, right click your
| Desktop, choose Properties / Settings / Advanced / Adapter.
|
| 2. Download the latest video driver for your card online, using
|
http://www3.sympatico.ca/nibblesnbits/Video.html#drivers
| to find the website to download from. I also have advanced
| video driver and direct X troubleshooting steps on that page.
|
| 3. Save the .exe driver (or uncompress the zip file) to a folder
| in My Documents named after the driver version number.
|
| 4. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
| about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.
|
| 5. Click Start / (settings) Control Panel / System / Hardware
| Device Manager / expand +Display Adapters / right click on
| the adapter, pick "Uninstall", and click No if asked to reboot.
|
| 6. Use Control Panel / Add-Remove programs to uninstall the
| previous driver (exe)software which may have been installed.
|
| 7. Restart the computer in Safe Mode by pressing the F8 key
| about once every second as it's rebooting to pick Safe Mode.
|
| 8. If the driver is a (exe)program file, GO DIRECTLY TO step 10.
|
| 9. When Windows prompts you to install the video adapter,* click
| "Install from a list or specific location", click the "Browse" button,
| browse to the My documents folder where you saved the driver,
| click on one of the driver files to begin installation. Go to Step 11.
|
| * If Windows doesn't prompt you to install the video adapter, click
| Start / Control Panel / System / Hardware / Device Manager /
| click the + next to Display Adapters / Doubleclick the Adapter /
| Update Driver... / follow the instructions in Step 9 to install driver.
|
| 10. If / when Windows prompts you to install the video adapter, click
| "Cancel". Double click the driver program to install the new drivers..
|
| 11. After you reboot, go to Control Panel / Display / Settings and
| choose 32 bit Color Quality, and 1024x768 Screen Resolution.
|
|
| TROUBLESHOOTING:
|
| Test your drivers using DXDiag: Click Start / Run / type: DXDIAG
| Click the "Test" buttons in the Display, Sound, Music & Network Tabs;
| If any of the Display options are Disabled and you cannot Enable them,
| your most likely solution would be to update your Chipset Drivers as per:
|
http://www3.sympatico.ca/nibblesnbits/Video.html#v11
|
| Along with your Video card, Sound Cards, Motherboard Chipsets,
| and Video Monitors may also require updated drivers. Even your
| motherboard's BIOS may need to be updated for compatibility with
| your Video card. These steps are listed at:
http://NibblesNbitsVideo.tk
|
| The latest video drivers sometime don't work with a particular game.
| (Check the Video suggestions in the readme.txt file in your game folder/CD)
| If there's no suggestions, try an older (WHQL) driver, and/or if you still
| experience problems try a Beta driver, or even an Omega driver instead:
|
| BETA Drivers:
http://download.guru3d.com/
| OMEGA Drivers:
http://www.omegacorner.com/
|
| Do you have more than one video outlet on your card? If so, test the
| monitor using other outlet and disable the 2nd outlet if that doesn't help.
|
| There you have it, if you have any questions feel free to post them!
|
| --
| 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.
| _________________________________________________________
|
| | I tried playing WARCRAFT III but during a couple of
| | minutes of gameplay the game freezes up for 30 seconds
| | and the players are unmovable and the pointer is slow,
| | before I know it my army is dead it is continious and
| | freezes every minute, making the game unplayable. I
| | tried doing a system restore (no luck)...I tried
| | uninstalling and installing the game (no luck) its not
| | the game because I tried GrandTheft Auto III and
| | encounter the same problem...does anyone have any
| | suggesstions?
| | thanks GP
|
|
