Lockups Lockups LOCKUPS!!

[DES]

Have you considered a reformat and reinstall of your entire system. I know it can be a PITA but sometimes it's the easiest way to fix a problem like your having. If you do this just reinstall windows, hardware drivers and AH and try it. If it locks like this then I would suspect something hardware related. If AH runs ok like this then add back your other programs one at a time untill you have a problem or perhaps everything will be fine. Sometimes when installing or uninstalling other programs your system gets corrupted and causes problems for unrelated programs.
DES

[Urchin]

I may do that, as a last resort.  I hate reformatting the drive because as it stands now, my computer is working.  AH is not working.  If I reformat the drive, I may get to the point where niether my computer nor AH is working.

[whels]

Originally posted by Urchin
I may do that, as a last resort.  I hate reformatting the drive because as it stands now, my computer is working.  AH is not working.  If I reformat the drive, I may get to the point where niether my computer nor AH is working.

Urchin, for the last week or 2 AH ahs been doing the samething
to me, lockup hard and have to reboot to get out. i bought new video card thinking it might have been that, it wasnt i still get the locks. nothing has changed in my system  for about 2 months, xcept the new video card and that was after this started.

there is no 2 things that happen  to make it lock, its totally
random when it happens. i uninstalled AH, defragged, and installed Ah fresh , same result. its like something on the server
side is causing it, cause there are serveral people this has started
happening to in AH lately.  i can go almost whole day with no locks
or like now ive had 6 in last 2 hours.




whels

[Urchin]

Well, it started online only, but now it locks up offline as well.  Doesn't seem to do it nearly as often, but it didn't ever used to lock up at all.  Still it is good to know that it isnt just me that has been having a lot of trouble with it lately.  That kinda makes me hope that it is something about AH that changed to cause it (which can be changed BACK I hope).  I've been averaging a lockup every 35-40 minutes or so, and I didn't have any for the first week and a half or so of this tour.  So I think that really means I'm averaging a lockup every 10-15 minutes (which dovetails with my real average if I were to get on and play).

[Urchin]

Well, I don't know what it is, but I have a pretty fair idea of what it isnt.  There is just about no way in hell this is a problem with my computer.  EVERY OTHER GAME I HAVE WORKS JUST FINE   (BTW, I've got about 100 other games, so this is no idle comment).  This problem started about a week and a half, two weeks ago maybe.  Up until then I had NO problems with lockups or disconnects.  Check my stats tour every other tour, I've NEVER had MORE disconnects than I've had HOURS PLAYED!

This is friggin ABSURD.  I am a proponent of the "something has to have changed to change the behaviour of this program" school.  NOTHING changed on my end.  That leaves either a change in the software (and I don't believe HTC had any D/L's available lately), or in the hardware on HTC's end.  No, I've got no idea how something screwy on that end could make me CTD or lockup, but I CANNOT find a problem of ANY KIND on my computer.  I've changed video settings, RAM settings, sound settings (SOUND CARDS!), updated drivers for EVERYTHING, got the new Via 4 in 1's.  It isnt heat buildup, there is nothing wrong with my RAM (or my video card, or my CPU, or anything else as far as I can determine).  

Sure, I can buy it is a hardware failure of some kind.  What I CAN'T buy is that it is some sort of Aces High specific hardware failure.  That doesn't make ANY sense to me at all.  The EXACT same hardware works fine one week, and doesn't work at ALL the next week?  Furthermore, that exact same hardware has always worked fine with every other game, and continues to do so.  Hardware failure?  I don't think so.  

Heat?  How?  EVERYTHING ELSE WORKS FINE.  I've got a whoopee desk fan blowing into the side of my computer now, if my video card was overheating I think it would be overheating when I was doing something OTHER than playing AH.  Hell, the new Wolfenstein has WAY better graphics than AH does, I can't believe that AH would make it overheat if it can pump out Wolfenstein graphics for hours on end.

I'm baffled, fed up, and really really pissed off.  I just don't understand why ONE whoopee game wont work NOW, when it has worked FINE for almost a whoopee year.

Well, I almost feel better now.  If anyone can think of anything that hasnt been mentioned yet, feel free to post it.

[GunnerCAF]

I also have been getting lock-ups starting about a week ago.  Things have been running fine up until then.  The screen freezes and the keyboard locks up.  It happens about every 2nd or 3rd flight.  The framerate seems to drop, then it just pauses.

I uploaded the new version of CashMan a few weeks ago, and I have been using the "Games" profile for about the last week.  Tonight I reset my profile settings to what I had before upgrading Cashman and it seemed to have stopped the lock-ups.  I get short graphics pauses now and then, but no lock-ups.

Gunner

[hazed-]

Urchin i have

900 Tbird
abit KA7A-RAID via based mobo(latest 44in137v(a) and new bios)
512MB 133 Mhz mem (running 100MHz)
Hercules prophet GF2 MX 32mb (driver no. 4.12.01.0752 (Detonator 7.52)
Soundblaster Live! 1024 (4.06.00.0624)
Win98SE
40GB 100UDMA HD (hotrod ata controller latest)
saitek cyborg 3d usb (drivers with starup disc but NO software)

very similar to you i think?

heres a list Id go through:

if every ither game works then its AH specific whether its driver conflict or software related so you do the simple thing:

what did you change at around the time it started locking behaviour? if you can remember REMOVE it all and sweep registry of anything that has its name

a newest sound driver? new video card? new windows essentials update? the via 4in1 driver update? if they changed something for the worse remove them again.

whatever it was try to remember the old driver numbers.

if you cant remember or forgot Id first do this:(after a scandisc or defrag)

Unintstall AH completely (save your  preferences views etc)
Uninstall Soundblaster drivers and software packages
go to registry and remove all AH or soundblaster stuff you can find(BE CAREFULL PLEASE )
remove video card drivers too (see website for info on how to do it PROPERLY and fully. (my guess is an old driver may be your problem, you can get resistry sweep programmes for GF2 stuff i think)Uninstall saitek software (not drivers)

switch off...
remove your sound card and try a new pci slot.(recommend 3 or 4 slot)
remove your memory and replace carefully and make sure its fully bedded in

restart comp..
instal YOUR OLDEST(within reason) CERTIFIED drivers for your video card..restart, instal Directx8.1a,restart....everything fine? restart again and then...

instal soundblaster DRIVERS ONLY not the full live! stuff.....
restart, install directx8.1,RESTART(cannot emphasise enough the times a fresh restart can help avoid strange conflict problems when installing multiple drivers )(often it needs 2 to get everything working fully)

chk everything is ok (ie IRQs conflict free etc)

all ok?......


install latest via 4in137v(a) drivers.....restart

chk a few games..ok?. restart the BUGGER

INSTALL OUR BABY aces high

(make sure your settings are all ok then check out as many graphic intensive games you can see if you get stutter when certain affects are present? ie smoke, lens flares etc? if they all ok play AH online.....(offline is not the place to test really)

everything good?........... (if not start trying even older drivers than 12.XX)(I use 7.52 detonators!!!! they work fine with AH so i havent bothered to change them but remember do the change in drivers properly and clean off old crap )



good luck mate

[Lephturn]

Sorry if I missed it... but you do have an up-to-date virus scanning system right?

Also, how do you connect to the Internet?  Have you tried removing your network card if you have one and running offline?  I've had lots of strange problems from a bad NIC.

You've tried the 4-in-1's, tried the 7.78 nVidia's... etc.  Just one question... if you use the 7.78's, does the problem still manifest exactly the same?  I know it gives you stuttering or something, but if changing drivers modifies the bad behaviour you are seeing, that would suggest the problem lies in the video sub-system.

This could be a hardware problem, even though other games work fine.  It's not likely, but it's possible.

I think I'd try the video driver route again, and after that start removing cards one at a time.  Failing that, a clean install of the OS might be in order.  I know everything else works.... but I'm just trying to come up with ideas for you.  This one is very odd.

[Urchin]

No, with the 7.78s the problem still came the same way.  I just got stuttering too lol.  I *think* I fixed it.  I had D/L'ed the updated soundblaster Audigy software instead of the driver.  I d/l'ed the driver and installed it, and I've only locked up once so far.  I'm hoping and praying that one was a fluke, I've gotten in about 4 hours so far with only that one lockup (which is about 10 times better than it was doing).

[Urchin]

Damn.. no I didn't fix it.  

Just got 3 lockups, all in a row.  

I went out and bought a new stick of ram and a new video card, just so I could eliminate those as causes.  They were not the cause of the lockups.  I ran a full scan with a new copy of Norton Antivirus 2002, I have no viruses on the computer.  It looks like I have no choice but to reformat the drive and start over.

[Urchin]

Well, it still isnt working.  I changed out my RAM and video card, it still locks up.  

New video card is a Geforce 2 titanium 64 Mb card.

I've tried the following drivers with it and it still hardlocks within anywhere from 45 minutes to 45 seconds.  23.11,22.50,22.40,21.83,21.81,12.41,7.92.  

I'm reformatting the HDD now and reinstalling windows.  Wish me luck.

[Lephturn]

Start with the 7.78 drivers first.  You don't want to go backwards with the driver versions, it can cause some problems.  Forget the stuttering and such, just troubleshoot the crash bug for now.  You might even want to use the 7.58's to start.  Other issues aside, those drivers have been the most absolute rock-stable Detonators I've every used.  Put them on and don't screw with it until you have tried EVERYTHING else.  Then start stepping up version by version with WHQL certified Dets.  But again, start with the lowest most stable ones, and step up slowly from there as a last resort.  I'd be sure to put your AGP apature size to 128 as well with that card, but I don't think it will be the cause of your problem.  Make sure that after you get Windows installed and running, you do the VIA 4-in-1's and then go to windowsupdate.microsoft.com and do every update you can find.  Do them all, including DX8 before you even bother to install AH.  Also use the Audigy drivers that you get from MS, as they seem to be later versions than the ones on Creative's sites (or so I'm told).

This sounds more and more like a strange hardware problem to me, but we'll see I guess.  Unfortunately if it's not RAM or video, we're left with sound and.... mainboard.  Inspect your mainboard very very carefully for problems.  Look for discolored or bulged capacitors, or anything else that doesn't look perfect on the board.  Take some time and go over it with a magnifying glass, especially the capacitors (small cans mounted vertically) and make sure everything looks fine in there.  I've had some buddies lately who's boards have fried a few capacitors that started doing strange toejam.

[mrsid2]

And you still use your joystick only for aces high?

Maybe your stick is the reason behind the crashes.
Try borrowing another stick from a friend and see if it crashes your box too.

Btw Soviet: Shuttle is more or less notorious for their product quality / reliability even though the KT266A version did get good reviews. If I were you I'd change it for Abit, MSI or Epox. From which Epox is the king in speed.

[Urchin]

Reformatted the HDD, installed Windows, DX8.0, drivers, and AH (and Civ3).  Ah works perfectly now.

[steely07]

I'm glad to hear it,repost in a week and let us know how you are going