I'm outta here until HTC gets this game stabilized.

[EDO43]

My apologies to the community.  However, I do not deserve and will not accept being called a whiner nor will I suffer the insinuation.  I normally do not write poison pen posts and am not usually quick to accuse; for that I do apologize.  Yes, I built my own system and no, I am not a computer know-it-all.  My decision to build my own system was an economic one... I didn't have to pay $5000 for high end machine, plus I had access to a certified computer technician at the time.  I'd be willing to bet that many of the technical support people who work for Dell don't know it all either.  That's why they make CRM systems....  and is also probably why Dell is the giant it is and why many computer configuration geniuses sit blindly by in dimly lit rooms tweaking enlessly to one system rather than...ah, I'm not goin there.  My sister-in-law's gotten more help from me in some instances than she's gotten from Dell technical support.  I don't have the time, nor the inclination to drill down into the infintesimally small details of my system.  I've got it up, running and reasonably tweaked the way I like it.  It's not overclocked...it's just a nice, solid, higher end machine that up until recently, never so much as burped at any intense graphics application.  I never had any trouble with it until HTC went to the Miles Sound System.  There's a few people that I know of that cannot play any more because their systems, for whatever reason, cannot run the game any longer in spite of having decent machines.  They, for the most part, have silently faded away...and is probably why we don't see more problems similar to mine.

My reasoning for determining it was an HTC issue is primarily because I've done everything I can possibly do with the video card support people (XFX has some good peeps) and the ASUS people as well as some of the application folks that make the software for some of the things I have (like the onboard sound system) as well as Skuzzy.  Nothing I have tried or been recommended to try, has worked after 3+ months of trying to figure it out.  The stuff I'm seeing here now is all new...where was it 3 months ago when I posted the intial thread?  Again, I am not a software engineer or a windows geek, or even a computer geek.  I do not know how to test RAM or some of the other recommendations.  I am a geek with things that cost around $40 million...FMS BlackHawk helicopters and until a few years ago, G-IV's and G-V's.  That's where my expertise lies....

Oh, Ack-Ack, my apologies to you personally for the outburst.  However, I will take you up on finding you the next time I notice you're on...that is if my system doesn't crash first. Muwhahahahaha

[guncrasher]

out of curiosity, have you tried a usb headset? see If that helps and disable your onboard sound.  reason I asked, is because I cant use the sound card with my system since about the time the miles systems was released in ah.  but I dont think the problem is with ah, but with an update from either windows system or creative sound card that were released about the same time.  but that's another story.  anyway, I was getting lots of dumps, but also found out my isp had crappy service in my apartment complex. after getting my isp to come in and fix their crap, I am now back to the once in a while disco.

and yeah ack does have an evil twin, hence the akak name.

semp

[Chalenge]

From your description your video drivers are not installed properly EDO. I saw this between the 295s and 480s too. You will have to remove the drivers and clean your system of them before reinstalling them. Probably Windows Update punked your drivers so its not your fault. I know Windows irritates the fool out of users if you turn off automatic updates but if you let the system do everything this is inevitable. I know times are tough now too but it would be a really good idea to update to Windows 7. I say that because I could never get my i7 system stable until Windows 7 while Vista seemed to prefer the LGA 775.

For cleaning drivers I use Driver Cleaner ( drivercleaner.net ) which isnt really expensive and it does a good job. Read the notes on how to use it though or you could remove more than just the audio drivers.

Someone suggested using a memory diagnostic and even though Im pretty sure the video drivers are the problem (video going black and then coming back on is the primary symptom) I would agree that if the video driver cleaning and reinstall doesnt fix the problem that checking your ram is the next step. You do that by visiting www.memtest.com and downloading the Windows bootable CD iso (top link of the downloads page). Then its a simple matter to go into the BIOS and setting your machine to use the CD ROM as the primary boot device. It will require the removal of all but one stick of memory for each memory test (the suggested method) and allowing it to run overnight (at least eight hours).

Removing RAM is easy but there is a procedure. First power down your system. Turn off the power supply with the switch near the power plug and then remove the plug. Let the system sit for at least a minute. Use an antistatic wrist strap while removing the memory. Memory is very sensitive to static and this time of year you probably have the heat on and feel the static. Better safe then sorry.

After reinstalling the video drivers and testing your memory make sure you check the device manager in two areas (Sound Video and Game Controllers AND System Devices) for NVIDIA High Definition Audio entries. In fact you should do it already because this can cause the very problem you are having. If you see those entries right click on them and DISABLE them. At this point your problem should be solved.

[DaCoon]

I am running an i5 core with a Radeon 4580 512m vid card and 8 gigs RAM. OS is Win7. Computer is an ASUS that I picked up at Best Buy. I had a problem of a/c and stars looking like little black and white boxes until within 1k. Emailed Skuzzy who said the integrated gpx chip in the i5 was what the problem was so I installed the Radeon card. Might be a simple and inexpensive fix.   

[2Slow]

I wouldn't be too hard on EDO.  When you know that everything worked fine before an AH update one would not be wanting to hack away at the OS and drivers.  I too get the black windowed screen, stuck and stuttering sound, and the Windows error.  I too am aggravated with the issue.

Getting nasty game crash on-line only.  This started after the latest AH and Windows update.  Running XP.

Event Type:   Error
Event Source:   Application Error
Event Category:   None
Event ID:   1000
Date:      12/22/2010
Time:      8:55:05 AM
User:      N/A
Computer:   JOEY
Description:
Faulting application aceshigh.exe, version 0.0.0.0, faulting module ntdll.dll, version 5.1.2600.5755, fault address 0x000010e6.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 41 70 70 6c 69 63 61 74   Applicat
0008: 69 6f 6e 20 46 61 69 6c   ion Fail
0010: 75 72 65 20 20 61 63 65   ure  ace
0018: 73 68 69 67 68 2e 65 78   shigh.ex
0020: 65 20 30 2e 30 2e 30 2e   e 0.0.0.
0028: 30 20 69 6e 20 6e 74 64   0 in ntd
0030: 6c 6c 2e 64 6c 6c 20 35   ll.dll 5
0038: 2e 31 2e 32 36 30 30 2e   .1.2600.
0040: 35 37 35 35 20 61 74 20   5755 at
0048: 6f 66 66 73 65 74 20 30   offset 0
0050: 30 30 30 31 30 65 36 0d   00010e6.
0058: 0a                        .

[Skuzzy]

Crashes in ntdll.dll usually have to do with drivers (sound, video, motherboard,...).  An application should not be able to crash ntdll.dll.

[2Slow]

Crashes in ntdll.dll usually have to do with drivers (sound, video, motherboard,...).  An application should not be able to crash ntdll.dll.

I think you are correct.  Prior to reading this I thought that perhaps Paretologic PC health advisor may be correct on an upgrade to my sound drivers.  So I did.  I just logged from a good game session.

Thanks for your response.

[Skuzzy]

As an aside, RealTek did have a few versions of thier drivers that were pretty buggy.  So if anyone is running an older version of those drivers, consider upgrading them.  The latest versions seem to address many of the bugs in the older versions.