Oh...my...GOD....please help!!!

[Devon]

I bought Doom 3 and Far Cry this afternoon, and an HP AMD 3400+
computer, an extra 512MB of RAM, and a Radeon x800 Pro to go with it.

That's the good part.

I can't get either one of these puppies to go longer than 5 minutes
before dumping me back to the desktop, or locking up the PC entirely.
I've tried ATI's latest drivers, their beta Doom 3 drivers, AND
Omega's drivers, with no luck.

I'm starting to think that I wasted a lot of money today - if anyone
has any suggestions for me, I'd be forever grateful.

Thanks.
Devon

 

[Blonks]

I bought Doom 3 and Far Cry this afternoon, and an HP AMD 3400+
computer, an extra 512MB of RAM, and a Radeon x800 Pro to go with it.

That's the good part.

I can't get either one of these puppies to go longer than 5 minutes
before dumping me back to the desktop, or locking up the PC entirely.
I've tried ATI's latest drivers, their beta Doom 3 drivers, AND
Omega's drivers, with no luck.

I'm starting to think that I wasted a lot of money today - if anyone
has any suggestions for me, I'd be forever grateful.

Thanks.
Devon

What rating is the PSU?

 

[Dr Richard Cranium]

sorry if this sounds like a broken dual layer dvd here.

You might could used cpuz http://www.cpuid.com/ and clockgen
http://www.cpuid.com/clockgen.php
to sort out the various bus probs.

I found that using clockgen I could set my cpu voltage (VID) closer to mfg spec. caused
stability to get better also.


imho: you might just also want to go corsair cas 2 ddr. ESPECIALLY if your 1 gig memory
has set your memory buss lower than the rated bus speed specified by the DDR sticks.

the AMD 64 (at least the 3200+) is rock solid at at 8x and fastwrites with the ATI
9800pro.
http://www.smokeypoint.com/My_PC.htm

i am running the cat 4 6 's .


** NO i do not have a vested interest in what is at cpuid - just really worked/helped for
my amd 64 rig.

hope this helps,

** no fate **

dracman

HP a530n -- Asus mainboard AMD Athlon "clawhammer" 64 3200+ (2.0ghz cpu, 200mhz HTT,
200MHz memory, 1x512 PC3200 400ddr
PCI, AGP Pro/8X ® nvidia® nforce 150 chipset
AMD 64 2.00 gig , 512meg PC3200 400mhz ddr (1x512meg)
** <Mike> at pretested cpu's is sending me two 512meg sticks of CAS2 400ddr ($134 each)
and a 485 watt power supply,
** what the problem with the HPa530n seems to be is that PC3200 cas3 memory will not run
at 400ddr when more than one memory stick is utilized. (in other words, you CAN'T run 400
mhz DDR with one gig memory or more. The memory bus shifts back to 166mhz and runs your
PC3200 cas 3 400 ddr at 333 ddr.
note: the AMD HTT bus is not the FSB is not the memory bus. Great that the HTT bus can run
1600 mhz, but so what. All I am interested in here is getting my HP a530n up to one gig of
400 DDR and have the stinking memory bus stay at 200 mhz.
further note; NO the 400 DDR cas3 1 gig (2x512) running at 333 ddr will not work - crash
big time all the time. So you have to pull one 512 out. Anyway I'll let you know here if
the cas2's fix the memory bus shift (200 to 166) at one gig.
IF it doesn't fix the problem, then i'll get another main board that will work.
OKAY!! fast forward to one week later: the package was delivered. I'm now running the
memory bus at rock solid 200mhz, the HTT at 200mhz (big wow ?) and the 2 each Corsair
CMX512-3200C2 Xms3202v3.1 0410031-0 (all the numbers for you)
Xms3200 512mb 400mhz CL2, Ultra-performance DDR memory, Extreme Memory Speed XMS. The
important thing to remember here is that "CL2". I noticed some Kingston XMS is still CL3.
Anyway my prob was solved with the mem freq. and I am happy with the 1 gig !!

The AGP video card I am using in the agp pro slot is the ATI Radeon 9800 pro 128meg DDR
YES! I pulled the Nvidia something out of my HP a530n and stuck in the ATI 9800pro (whoa).
8x, fast writes, combining on, sitting on top of a nvidia agp slot. heh

1280x1024x32 @75hz display setting
Western Digital ATA 200 gig and Maxtor ATA 200 gig.
Windows XP pro upgraded from installed OEM Windows Home edition
Logitech cordless Trackman wheel
Microsoft Elite cordless keyboard
HP 1903 Lcd flatscreen 19" (DVI)
nforce chipset sound - Have a Creative audigy 2 zs ready to plug in, gotta fix the memory
prob first, know what i mean.
Logitech z-680 THX 5.1, woof! my dog (brendled Lab Retriever) sits and listens now

nvidia EtheRx 100 on mainboard
Sony 148 cdrom
HP dvd-writer dvd 400i
case mounted OEM fan at rear.
tye wrapped blue light fan cooling HDD's

2048 meg virtual memory cache allocated
-=-=-

dracman
Tomb Raider: Shotgun City
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tomb.htm

** Far Cry with Valerie as the Adventuress **
http://www.smokeypoint.org/farCry.htm

http://www.smokeypoint.org/traod/traod.html
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tombraider1/tombraider1pictures.htm
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tombraider1/tombraider1midaspics.htm

**savegame editors all versions Tomb Raider & TRAOD godmode
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tr2code.htm

http://www.smokeypoint.com/3dfx.htm
http://www.smokeypoint.com/My_PC.htm

** Win2k and winXP hi-res with TR1
http://www.smokeypoint.com/glidos.htm

** Tomb Raider 1 add on UB levels
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tomb2.htm#Tova

** GTA III vice City Character MOD
http://www.smokeypoint.com/uzi.htm#gta3

** Singles: Flirt UP Your Life AI and character MOD
http://www.smokeypoint.com/childrenspajamas.htm#singles

http://www.smokeypoint.com/uzi.htm
http://www.smokeypoint.com/tomb2.htm
http://www.smokeypoint.com/medipak.htm
-=-=-






: I bought Doom 3 and Far Cry this afternoon, and an HP AMD 3400+
: computer, an extra 512MB of RAM, and a Radeon x800 Pro to go with it.
:
: That's the good part.
:
: I can't get either one of these puppies to go longer than 5 minutes
: before dumping me back to the desktop, or locking up the PC entirely.
: I've tried ATI's latest drivers, their beta Doom 3 drivers, AND
: Omega's drivers, with no luck.
:
: I'm starting to think that I wasted a lot of money today - if anyone
: has any suggestions for me, I'd be forever grateful.
:
: Thanks.
: Devon




.................................................................
Posted via TITANnews - Uncensored Newsgroups Access-=Every Newsgroup - Anonymous, UNCENSORED, BROADBAND Downloads=-

 

[walter mitty]

I bought Doom 3 and Far Cry this afternoon, and an HP AMD 3400+
computer, an extra 512MB of RAM, and a Radeon x800 Pro to go with it.

That's the good part.

I can't get either one of these puppies to go longer than 5 minutes
before dumping me back to the desktop, or locking up the PC entirely.
I've tried ATI's latest drivers, their beta Doom 3 drivers, AND
Omega's drivers, with no luck.

I'm starting to think that I wasted a lot of money today - if anyone
has any suggestions for me, I'd be forever grateful.

Thanks.
Devon

Do you have your video card or motherboard/cpu overclocked? If so, turn
the overclocking off. Although with that system I doubt you would have.

 

[John Hall]

Hi Devon;

If it's a brand new machine I would take it back. There is no reason given
the hardware that you purchased, that this should be happening. Let the
vendor sort it out.

JK

 

[Bill C]

Hardware fault is likely, I would agree. Maybe try removing the extra RAM.

Bill

 

[chainbreaker]

Hi Devon;

If it's a brand new machine I would take it back. There is no reason
given the hardware that you purchased, that this should be happening.
Let the vendor sort it out.

I second the advice. That machine shouldn't be doing more than very
slightly burping. It's possible that it's bad RAM or something fairly
simple like that, but that shouldn't be your problem. Exchange the rig and
save yourself some headaches.

 

[Thomas A. Horsley]

If it is a memory problem, it should be found by memtest86 - google search
should turn it up, and it is easy to use, just let it crank for a while
and se if it notices any problems.
--email: (e-mail address removed) icbm: Delray Beach, FL |
<URL:http://home.att.net/~Tom.Horsley> Free Software and Politics <<==+

 

[Briarroot]

I bought Doom 3 and Far Cry this afternoon, and an HP AMD 3400+
computer, an extra 512MB of RAM, and a Radeon x800 Pro to go with it.

That's the good part.

I can't get either one of these puppies to go longer than 5 minutes
before dumping me back to the desktop, or locking up the PC entirely.
I've tried ATI's latest drivers, their beta Doom 3 drivers, AND
Omega's drivers, with no luck.

I'm starting to think that I wasted a lot of money today - if anyone
has any suggestions for me, I'd be forever grateful.

Unlike the other poster's in this thread, I'm betting it's a
software problem not hardware. When you buy a machine from a
major manufacturer like HP, they load up the system with all
sorts of crap that you, as a gamer, won't need or want running
in the background.

Check to see which processes are running and shut them down one
by one. Start in Scheduled Tasks and shut down all that junk,
though you may have to hunt around a bit to find out how. I once
helped out of friend whose new machine (a Dell) was behaving like
yours and I was amazed to discover that his box had come from the
manufacturer set to defrag his hard drive every 10 minutes!

So make sure everything you don't absolutely need is turned off
especially the System Restore function. You don't want that on
until you want to install new software, otherwise leave it off.
When you load up a demanding game like Far Cry or Doom 3, nothing
should be running except the basic essentials that Windows needs
to function. You won't need a firewall or anti-virus scan running
unless you're playing online. I'm not entirely familiar with XP,
but if it's like the previous versions, you'll only need to have
Explorer and Systray running, everything else is overhead that
you'll want to get rid of. Perhaps some XP users will chime in
with some more precise instructions.
Good luck!

 

[walter mitty]

Unlike the other poster's in this thread, I'm betting it's a
software problem not hardware. When you buy a machine from a
major manufacturer like HP, they load up the system with all
sorts of crap that you, as a gamer, won't need or want running
in the background.

Check to see which processes are running and shut them down one
by one. Start in Scheduled Tasks and shut down all that junk,
though you may have to hunt around a bit to find out how. I once
helped out of friend whose new machine (a Dell) was behaving like
yours and I was amazed to discover that his box had come from the
manufacturer set to defrag his hard drive every 10 minutes!

So make sure everything you don't absolutely need is turned off
especially the System Restore function. You don't want that on
until you want to install new software, otherwise leave it off.
When you load up a demanding game like Far Cry or Doom 3, nothing
should be running except the basic essentials that Windows needs
to function. You won't need a firewall or anti-virus scan running
unless you're playing online. I'm not entirely familiar with XP,
but if it's like the previous versions, you'll only need to have
Explorer and Systray running, everything else is overhead that
you'll want to get rid of. Perhaps some XP users will chime in
with some more precise instructions.
Good luck!

With enough memory these system programs do very, very little when
running a game. I disable my anti-virus and thats about it : no problems
or slowdowns whatsoever.

 

[tanpien]

B U Y A N X B O X

Sorry, I quit PC gaming because of this...

 

[Jamie_Manic]

I bought Doom 3 and Far Cry this afternoon, and an HP AMD 3400+
computer, an extra 512MB of RAM, and a Radeon x800 Pro to go with it.

That's the good part.

I can't get either one of these puppies to go longer than 5 minutes
before dumping me back to the desktop, or locking up the PC entirely.
I've tried ATI's latest drivers, their beta Doom 3 drivers, AND
Omega's drivers, with no luck.

Smells like a memory issue to me. Try playing with just your original RAM in
place.

Or did you get a new mobo as well? It might not like the RAM you have.

I doubt something is broken, most likley just a compatibility thing.

 

[Ken Marsh]

Hi,

#Unlike the other poster's in this thread, I'm betting it's a
#software problem not hardware. When you buy a machine from a
#major manufacturer like HP, they load up the system with all
#sorts of crap that you, as a gamer, won't need or want running
#in the background.

Well, you're right about the deleterious effects of shovelware.

However I've also noticed that Power Supplies from Dell and HP are
typically marginal with the delivered system, and worse than that when
upgraded. IMHO anyone putting in a high-end video card better take a
long, hard look at their PS first.

Ken.

 

[GTS]

Smells like a memory issue to me. Try playing with just your original RAM in
place.

Or did you get a new mobo as well? It might not like the RAM you have.

I doubt something is broken, most likley just a compatibility thing.

Take it back pronto and demand a refund! Don't let them take it in to work
on, god knows what parts they'll replace and never tell you. HP are
certainly not known for fast gaming PC's, but I bet you paid way over he
odds for it - all the big name brands are over-priced.
Caveat: Did you buy the brand new PC and then fit the extra mem and x800
yourself? You could be on shaky ground then so far as demanding a full
refund goes :-(
Build your own PC so you can only blame yourself is something is amiss -
whats the worst that can happen? Assuming that the video card is OK (if not,
get a refund) the most expensive parts of a PC cost no more than £100
tops...

 

[Aki Peltola]

B U Y A N X B O X
Sorry, I quit PC gaming because of this...

Yes, buy an X-box if you don't know what's happening
inside your PC/Windows. And get used to lower quality
graphics etc. because that wormbox is running out of
juice already.

 

[JLC]

B U Y A N X B O X

Sorry, I quit PC gaming because of this...

I'm almost there myself. I bought Mafia yesterday at Wal-Mart for $10 and
was excited to finally give the game a go. It took about 20min to install
the thing, I load up the setup applet and got that going, then I started the
game only to have it drop back to my desktop right after the load screen. I
spent over 2 hours last night trying to get it to run on XP and finally
decided to boot up '98 (I have a dual boot setup)
and had to sit through another 20 min. install. I was happy that the game
did start, and I'm having fun so far. But I did some looking around on the
Mafia forums and found out the a whole lot of other people have the same
problem with the startup crash. And guess what? The game maker could give a
crap about it. After reading 10 pages of posts about the problem I figured
when I went to the games support page there would be some type of reply
about this problem. I found nothing.
I must say that being able to buy an Xbox game and having it run great
without all the hair pulling is really a nice thing indeed.
I've been PC gaming for 9 years and I'm almost to the point of bailing. With
Xbox 2 coming, it's really going to be hard to keep on putting up with all
that I have to deal with as a PC gamer. The one thing I thought would never
pull me away from the PC was the graphics. High rez and AA had me sold. But
what I discovered was the Xbox games look damn good on my TV. I'll never say
that they look as good as my PC games, but because of the fact that I don't
have to worry if a game is going to run or not it's worth it to me.
JLC

 

[Tim Wheale]

Have you tried one of the Doom III fan sites? Maybe someone else had a
similar problem.

 

[Predator]

looks like someone didn't test their shit before they sold it to you. send i
tback

 

[johns]

It is simple. Go read my post on AMD 64 / ATI 9800

You have to disable fast writes and set AGP to 4x.

And you have to double check that on reboot,
those 2 settings are not re-enabled.

johns

 

[Mr B]

...

I bought Doom 3 and Far Cry this afternoon, and an HP AMD 3400+
computer, an extra 512MB of RAM, and a Radeon x800 Pro to go with it.

That's the good part.

I can't get either one of these puppies to go longer than 5 minutes
before dumping me back to the desktop, or locking up the PC entirely.
I've tried ATI's latest drivers, their beta Doom 3 drivers, AND
Omega's drivers, with no luck.

I'm starting to think that I wasted a lot of money today - if anyone
has any suggestions for me, I'd be forever grateful.

My guess is that it is an overheating problem.
Games like these will dramatically increase temperature on both CPU and GPU,
ie they will run for typically 5-15 minutes before freezing or dumping you
back to desktop.
Backgroud applications and shjite are unlike to cause these kinds of
crashes....

Here is what you do...

Take the system back and kick some butt..... but as this will prolly take
more than a couple of hours before you are up and running again, you could
also try....

Place the puter somewhere cool, and open the cover.
See if that makes the games run for more than the 5 mins

Get Prime95 and run the torture test for 10-20 minutes, that will make sure
your CPU isnt overheating, and has enough power.

Get a benchmark like 3DMark03 and run it again and again for 10-20 minutes.
That will make sure your GPU isnt overheating and has enough power.

I had a 2.2G CPU and a Pro9700 stuffed inside my desk..... the inside got
hot as hell due to bad ventilation, but the puter worked fine.
I then upped with a 2.8G CPU and an 6800GT, and the system crashed after 10
minutes of Doom3...
Took the puter out of the desk, opened the cover..... clocked the CPU to
3.4G and the 6800GT to 420 MHz, and it has been running stable ever since

Mr B