PC Reset

[Blagard]

Since 2193 and with 2194 I have experienced 3 computer resets whilst in game online - the last one when I had a tiffie in my sights
I have done nothing to my PC for ages except allowing the patches from 218 and on windows update. The reboot comes with no warning that I have noticed. My PC is in use most of the day and has never done this reset outside of the game with any other program.

I hate the windowed start up! - otherwise in game no problems to report except the icon flicker in the bottom right where the taskbar sits behind Aces high.

For what its worth I use FSAutoStart and have done for years - I don't actually need it to run the game, but use it to shut down rubbish not needed in Aces High.

[Blooz]

If you've got something flickering through to the game from the taskbar you probably have something running in the background. Do the discos coincide with the flickering? If some program is kicking on while playing that may be the reason for the disco.

Also, I had this issue years ago and it was due to heat. My fan on the CPU went bad and as the heat killed the CPU slowly over a period of days I had just the kind of problems you posted here. May want to check that stuff too.

Hope this helps and best of luck!

[Blooz]

Just thought of something to try.

Next time you get the flicker thing, bring up the task manager (ctrl-alt-del) while in game and check to see if anything is running in the background. Look under the Processes tab see if anything is active.

Good luck!

[kvuo75]

Also, I had this issue years ago and it was due to heat.

that's my first theory. a complete uncommanded reboot? wtf? overheat i'd suspect.

blagard: you haven't done anything "in ages"..  it's in use most of the day.. if your fans are clogged with dust, that is not good..

[DREDIOCK]

Not just him.

After last weeks patch then revert back I had a BSOD with a message saying that the machine was shutting down to protect because of recent hardware/software changes.

Then windows wouldnt boot at all. It would just go through this endless cycle, get to the boot in safe mode option (but wouldnt let me do anything from there) then start the boot up cycle all over again.

Now its quite possible I suppose that its something with my machine. But the only changes that were made were to AH So Im throwing this out there just in case

I ended up having to reinstall windows (which turned into an adventure cause I couldnt find what I did with the product key for almost 3 days)

Reinstall everything then when trying to play AH everything was fine but the sound. which made everything in game (only) sound like I was in a star wars movie instead of a WWII game.. After going through several sets of drivers for my onboard sound. I installed an old soundblaster card I had laying around. After messing with that and finally finding and getting rid of sme old files from my onboard sound. Everythng was golden again in game. Unfortunatey, this only lasted a few days because Then came the new update of yesterday switching back to "miles" and my Vox was porked.
Now we stitch back and my sound is porked again where everything is fine for a moment then it sounds like alot of feedback instead of engine sounds. and the game locked up once.

Gonna try reinstalling the drivers for the sound card again.
Then if I still have a problem in game. Im going to try a few other games and see if I have the same problem there.
Right now outside of the game. All sounds are fine everywhere else. the only thing I havent tried is other games.
Diagnostics on the card turn out ok

[Blagard]

Thank you gentlemen.

Reckon I will check out the the state of the inards as I had not thought about overheat as an issue. Could be that playing the game is just enough to push up it over the edge!

I'll post back in a week or so after cleaning out. Earlier if the problem persists.

Cheers.

[gyrene81]

The one thing that can never be predicted is a hardware failure that may or may not coincide with another activity. Never rule out a hardware problem when strange things start to happen.

[Wiley]

Could be that playing the game is just enough to push up it over the edge!

Sure!  Processor and video card heat is quite dependent on level of activity.  If the rest of your other activity over the course of the day is casual web surfing or running Office, your video card and processor aren't doing nearly as much as they are running a game.  If your cooling is dirty enough to be iffy, doing something like playing a game makes it very possible for the amount of heat your chips are generating to overcome what your cooling is capable of dissipating.

Wiley.

[Blagard]

My PC is now pretty much dust free so we shall see if there is any effect. Interesting that each time I have built a PC I go for a new up to date case and this one turned out to be pretty good so far as keeping the inside clean. The fine mesh filters for the front air intakes had done a good job and definately benefitted from a clean, so cross flow of air was probably impaired to some degree. The recent heatwave in the UK would not have helped either!

As noted earlier I will post back in a week or so if the problem has gone.

[Blooz]

Next thing to check would be the plane graphics and sound files. If you've got custom skins and sounds it may be something there thats causing problems. Delete those files and let the game replace them with new default skins and sounds.

Best of luck!

[Blagard]

Blooz,

I use a standard setup, so nothing to change in AH.

Although I have cleaned out the dust and had a few trouble free evenings, I regret that it rebooted again last night. I had a few hours on-line before this happened. When it happens again I will check the CPU temp in the BIOS. By the time I remembered to do this last night, there was no problem there at all. I suspect the CPU temp will be fine as I don't overclock anything.

So far, the only consistant piece of information I have is that this only happens when I play Aces High! So I am pretty sure it is when my system is being pushed a little harder than usual - No other games played, I'm not that sad yet  . Also worth remembering I have been playing AH on this PC for a long time without any problems whatsoever. Having thought about it, it is extremely unlikely to be AH software. It could still be due to heat in the system and I will first set about making sure that is in the clear. After that my only guess is that it is some intermittent hardware problem that currently may be impossible to pinpoint as it is so infrequent.

Once I have eliminated heat as probable cause I will probably go for a more extensive clean and even reset cards in their slots.

Edit:
The task bar icon flicker turned out to be the icon for my network connection and to be honest, I have not noticed it recently.

[Skuzzy]

Turn that ICON in the taskbar off!  It is a useless resource sucking item.

[Blagard]

Turn that ICON in the taskbar off!  It is a useless resource sucking item.

Ah! right Oh  - now done that, so one less thing to worry about.


Update on the state of play - online for a couple of hours last night and no problems. As I quit AH immediately after quite a bit of low level and intensive dogfighting I reckon if the CPU is going to be warm, now would be a good time to see. It was only a degree above idle although I noted the fan was running at higher RPM. Certainly nothing to worry about in that department.

[2Slow]

Not just him.

After last weeks patch then revert back I had a BSOD with a message saying that the machine was shutting down to protect because of recent hardware/software changes.

Then windows wouldnt boot at all. It would just go through this endless cycle, get to the boot in safe mode option (but wouldnt let me do anything from there) then start the boot up cycle all over again.

I have been there with the BSOD issue (not related to AH) and the constant booting cycle (related to AH by way of Alt-S screen shot locking up the system and giving a lost signal report from the monitor.)

I acquired a copy of BARTPE XP cd sometime ago.  With the constant rebooting I used the cd to boot to a virtual XP session.  I then ran chkdsk /r to repair the NTFS file system on the C drive.  Once the repair was done, and it does take some considerable time based on the size of the file system and hard drive, all was well.

[Blagard]

Just thought I would update this in view of what I recently discovered.

My PC started to reset again, but not just in AH. It ended up not wanting to boot up at all just recently. I removed the side panel and started to look around as before. This time I spotted that my harddrive was almost hanging from the connectors. I have an Antec case where you can suspend the hard drive in rubber belts. The rubber had streched so than it was now hanging very low. Releasing the cable ties to the cables allowed more slack and the drive to settle on the next rubbers below. Strain was removed from the connectors. I have not had a rest problem since!

So it was my fault all along! - I will be installing the Slide in mounting tray alternative, that has silicone grommets for the hard drive to sit on. A check on the Antec site revealed they have got a new type of belt on newer cases to overcome the problem I encountered.