Games Freezing or return me to Desktop

[Guest]

I decided to spoil myself with a new computer and to start using Windows XP pro. For the first time I am having problems with some but not all games. Call of Duty plays well but will freeze or crash the computer forcing me to reboot and seems to happen at a random time period within the game. Medal of Honor and Battlefield 1942 (All with the latest Patch) again play well but sometimes will crash and take me back to the desktop. Haven’t had any problems with either Max Payne 2 or Splinter Cell. I didn’t have any of these problems from my previous computer which was a lower spec to my current and using Win 2000 pro

Windows XP Pro. Service Pack
Direct X 9.0

Asus P4P800 Deluxe Mother Boar
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.80GHz, 2940 MH
1024MB DDR SDRA
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro. 256MB Graphics Car
NTFS 40 GB 7520rpm Primary Hard Driv
NTFS 80 GB 7520rpm Secondary Hard Driv
350 watt power suppl

1/ Installed all the latest Drivers and Bios including the chipset
2/ CPU and Mother Board Temperatures run well under Max Temp
3/ Installed all the latest Windows updates
4/ Removed Sound Card, disconnected Secondary Hard drive and both CD ROMs to test power supply, game still crashed

If anyone could please help me with some advice to solving this problem I would be most grateful

Martyn

 

[Guest]

Update to Problem

Have tested the DDR Ram with Memtest v3.0 and found no problems there

My computer freezes with the game Call of Duty even when it is paused. I came back to the game 10 mins after pausing it and found it had frozen again and neither keyboard nor mouse would respond, so I had to reboot

Any suggestions

Cheer
Marty

 

[Neil Dela Osa [MS]]

I did a quick Google search and found thiks link:

http://www.warfaregames.com/nuke/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=1034

I found other links indicating problems with the 3.8 and 3.9 catalyst
drivers and Call of Duty. I saw ATI put out a 3.10 driver a few weeks ago.
I'd investigate different drivers and the latest patches for Call of Duty.

--
This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties and confers no rights.
Please do not send email directly to my alias. This alias is for newsgroup
posting only.

Update to Problem.

Have tested the DDR Ram with Memtest v3.0 and found no problems there.

My computer freezes with the game Call of Duty even when it is paused. I

came back to the game 10 mins after pausing it and found it had frozen again
and neither keyboard nor mouse would respond, so I had to reboot.

 

[Microsoft Video Driver OCA Triage]

Martyn,
There are known issues with the games you mention and older ATI drivers....
you need to install the CATALYST 4.1 drivers from the following location.
http://www.ati.com/support/drivers/...prod=productsXPdriver&submit.x=16&submit.y=10
Let me know if this fixes the problems you are seeing....
Thanks,
Aaron C. Smith
Microsoft Video Driver OCA Triage
(e-mail address removed)
* This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

I decided to spoil myself with a new computer and to start using Windows

XP pro. For the first time I am having problems with some but not all games.
Call of Duty plays well but will freeze or crash the computer forcing me to
reboot and seems to happen at a random time period within the game. Medal of
Honor and Battlefield 1942 (All with the latest Patch) again play well but
sometimes will crash and take me back to the desktop. Haven't had any
problems with either Max Payne 2 or Splinter Cell. I didn't have any of
these problems from my previous computer which was a lower spec to my
current and using Win 2000 pro.

Windows XP Pro. Service Pack 1
Direct X 9.0b

Asus P4P800 Deluxe Mother Board
Intel Pentium 4 CPU 2.80GHz, 2940 MHz
1024MB DDR SDRAM
ATI Radeon 9600 Pro. 256MB Graphics Card
NTFS 40 GB 7520rpm Primary Hard Drive
NTFS 80 GB 7520rpm Secondary Hard Drive
350 watt power supply

1/ Installed all the latest Drivers and Bios including the chipset.
2/ CPU and Mother Board Temperatures run well under Max Temp.
3/ Installed all the latest Windows updates.
4/ Removed Sound Card, disconnected Secondary Hard drive and both CD ROMs

to test power supply, game still crashed.

 

[Guest]

Hi

First, thanks for the response and for looking into this problem for me, I found the Warfare sight very handy for info and also have updated the ATI driver to 4.1

I tried out Call of duty again and at first I thought the problem had been solved as everything seemed to work fine. I even put all the settings with in the game back up to maximum. Unfortunately about an hour into the game it crashed or froze. I then had a go with Splinter Cell and again about an hour into the game (might even be more, time flies when you’re having fun) it crashed and brought me back to desktop. I originally thought Splinter Cell worked fine but I was much mistaken

What else could I try or test

Cheer
Marty

 

[Microsoft Video Driver OCA Triage]

Martyn,
Does the game itself crash now or does your entire system crash and reboot.
If your entire system crashes do you get a "send error report" box when it
boots back up?
If you get that box please send me the contents of your "minidump" directory
located in your "windows" directory.
Thanks,
Aaron C. Smith
Microsoft Video Driver OCA Triage
(e-mail address removed)
* This posting is provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confers no
rights.

Hi,

First, thanks for the response and for looking into this problem for me, I

found the Warfare sight very handy for info and also have updated the ATI
driver to 4.1.

I tried out Call of duty again and at first I thought the problem had been

solved as everything seemed to work fine. I even put all the settings with
in the game back up to maximum. Unfortunately about an hour into the game it
crashed or froze. I then had a go with Splinter Cell and again about an hour
into the game (might even be more, time flies when you're having fun) it
crashed and brought me back to desktop. I originally thought Splinter Cell
worked fine but I was much mistaken.

 

[Neil Dela Osa [MS]]

ATI just announced Catalyst 4.2 drivers yesterday or the day before. You
might try those out as well. Another thing to consider is chipset drivers
for your motherboard.

 

[Guest]

Geeze, I just figured out how to update my video drivers and now ATI comes out with a new one already.....
HELP JIMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Jimmy S.]

Use the Force!

Cheers,
Jimmy.

| Geeze, I just figured out how to update my video drivers and now ATI comes out with a new one already......
| HELP JIMMY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Guest]

Hi everyone

I reinstalled the ATI driver again as I was not quite happy the way I installed it the first time. I also made sure the old driver was removed thoroughly and the registry was cleaned out using a reg cleaning program and that all my anti virus software was disabled via task manager when reinstalling. Also I emailed Intel to make sure I had the right Chipset driver and they replied saying the one I had was ok but they pointed me to an updated version

I have now conducted more tests and the results have improved. I have now tried all games at their highest settings and so far so good

So anyone out there reading this with similar problems is to double check for latest drivers and to make sure they are installed correctly. If you are not sure what driver to use then email the manufacture and ask for advice and I have always found they are always willing to help

Again many thanks to all those who responded to my cries of help and helped me solve this annoying problem and saving me from more sleepless nights (This gaming lark is serious stuff!!)

Until the next time

Cheer
Marty

 

[Chris H.]

Good for you, Martyn. Thanks for posting the information. Helpfully, it'll
help others.
--
Chris H.
Microsoft Windows MVP
Associate Expert
Expert Zone -

Hi everyone,

I reinstalled the ATI driver again as I was not quite happy the way I

installed it the first time. I also made sure the old driver was removed
thoroughly and the registry was cleaned out using a reg cleaning program and
that all my anti virus software was disabled via task manager when
reinstalling. Also I emailed Intel to make sure I had the right Chipset
driver and they replied saying the one I had was ok but they pointed me to
an updated version.

I have now conducted more tests and the results have improved. I have now

tried all games at their highest settings and so far so good.

So anyone out there reading this with similar problems is to double check

for latest drivers and to make sure they are installed correctly. If you are
not sure what driver to use then email the manufacture and ask for advice
and I have always found they are always willing to help.

Again many thanks to all those who responded to my cries of help and

helped me solve this annoying problem and saving me from more sleepless
nights (This gaming lark is serious stuff!!)

 

[Guest]

Me again

Forgot to mention in my last reply that I found this interesting page posted by ATI, go to

http://mirror.ati.com/support/infobase/4219.htm

Personally I did not find any difference in the quality of the game play by reducing this setting and if it means stopping the annoying freeze or hang (I hope) then so be it

Hope this helps

Cheer
Marty