Aces High Bulletin Board
Help and Support Forums => Technical Support => Topic started by: Blagard on September 25, 2013, 08:46:05 PM
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I wonder if I am missing something in my windows 7 setup because I have a new weird problem in Aces High.
I have not been online in the games for a while so thought to try out Aces High on my new Windows 7 installation (64bit). So about a week ago I got into the air and after around 5 minutes my PC shut down and rebooted on its own. I didn't bother re-logging until a few days later and there was a weird message of "Your 5 mins of AI flight time was expired" when I entered the LW arena. I logged off without flying to see if I could find any info on that but didn't.
A short while ago I logged on again to LW, upped and found an F4U, shot it down and on the way back again my PC rebooted just about 5 minutes after entering the LW arena. Even weirder was that when I re-logged I was reconnected to the host on the same flight (thank god for the autopilot!) this was a first for me as I have never had a airbourne reconnection before.
So what is it mucking my PC about after 5 minutes on Aces High ? - This does not happen with any other program and the fact that I half expected it would happen only reinforces my suspicion something is not right with the way I run it. I checked the windows firewall to ensure I had allowed Aces High as an allows program. I suspect the 5 minutes of AI is a co-incidence as that was probably what kept me in the air when I logged back in.
Edit:
I think I will try it under my old installation of Windows XP to check if it runs OK there!
Update on timing - The film recorder captured the period before the reboot and it was 8 minutes into the flight. LOL nice clean kill of the F4u to view!
Just tried in XP and no problems, 11 minutes 2 kills and no dump.
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There is a new feature in AH that will let you continue with a flight after a disco if you can get back in time. I believe that the "5 minutes of AI flight time expired" is in reference to the AI taking over when you are discoed, and not getting back in time to continue your flight. The second time you were discoed you obviously got back in time to continue with your flight.
The issue with your comp shutting down I have no idea what can be causing that. I'm not very familiar with win7 but usually a shut down would indicate an issue within the OS, or with the comp such as overheat.
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Unfortunately there are any number of reasons why a computer would go into a boot loop cycle. If it only happens in Aces High the first thing you'll want to do is reinstall the program. Its probably a missing file or a registry issue.
It can also happen due to hard ware. Try reseating stuff, most of all your graphics card. If it happens in other games then its probably the graphics card, but it could be other hard ware or your power supply. The last time this happened to me re-seating stuff fixed it. It could also be over heating.
Re-seating stuff and maybe a windows repair or system restore are the most painless things to try.
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This is normally heat related, or power related. Both are more controlled in Windows 7, than Windows XP. I lean more towards the power supply side on this one. It is a classic symptom of a power supply crow barring from the power load.
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Thanks for the replies,
I must admit that a hardware problem with the PC is something I have in mind but it is because it has only happened in Windows 7 running Aces High I needed to explore that possibility. - I don't play any other games so it is probably the only time when my system has to work a bit more!
I have not been able to identify any heat issues and think that is unlikely in this case (but not ruled out). The PSU is definitely on my list of suspects and I have one fan in the PSU that gets loud/squeaky at random times, even occasionally on booting up. The good news is I have a PC not in use so can try the PSU from that to see if the problem goes away.
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Since you don't play other games, HeavyLoad by Jam Software (http://www.jam-software.com/heavyload/) might be your tool to simulate both CPU and GPU intensive gaming. Your motherboard BIOS most likely has an option to view both voltages and temperatures under the title of "computer health" or similar. If HeavyLoad crashes your computer, go to BIOS settings to look at the temperatures. The most used buttons for going to Setup are F2 and Delete, take a close look while booting to see which if you don't already know.
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I have already checked the BIOS for Temperature and Voltage right after the reboot and no problems there. The CPU is reported well within temperature limits. The 12v is a little low but within 5%. The graphics card is something that I can't really check except that the fan is running, so for the time being I have to hope it is not that. I could use the card from my unused PC if it comes to it for checking purposes, but would have to set AH graphics lower!
I have an aversion to installing any software unless I really need to - So thanks for the idea of "Heavyload" but there's no chance of me installing it!
I have now extracted my older PSU from a PC I don't use anymore and will fit it in the next day or so. Essentially I will test what I can one step at a time. I try to be methodical about my approach to fault finding so hope to pin it down sooner or later.
My wifes PC once started to do random reboots and I pinned that one down to the motherboard. I nearly changed it before spotting the slightly swollen capacitors and just replaced them instead and it was fine again - much cheaper than a new motherboard! So I'm not a complete newbie to trouble shooting, but it always pays to ask around. For what it's worth I regret chucking out some electrical gear over the years as I have now fixed four things that have failed with duff capacitors, the other three, a pressure washer (huge starter cap), DVD player, and a digital tuner.
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FWIW HeavyLoad can be run without installing. Download the zip version, unzip and run. It can be run from an USB stick if needed, allowing to download and unzip with another computer than yours.
Using another PSU for testing is an excellent idea, as many if not most of the problems are due to a slowly failing PSU. Since you seem to be familiar with swollen caps, checking the ones of your PSU wouldn't hurt. To cover my bacon, I must warn you that opening it is allowed only to a qualified person due to risk of even fatal electric chocks. But you knew that, didn't you, since you've dealt with the gadgets you mentioned.
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Using another PSU for testing is an excellent idea, as many if not most of the problems are due to a slowly failing PSU. Since you seem to be familiar with swollen caps, checking the ones of your PSU wouldn't hurt. To cover my bacon, I must warn you that opening it is allowed only to a qualified person due to risk of even fatal electric chocks. But you knew that, didn't you, since you've dealt with the gadgets you mentioned.
We shall see over the next day or so as the PSU has now been swapped over! - Actually a bit tidier inside now as the older PSU is a modular ANTEC which also happens to be what my case is. It should feel at home there!
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Well that was interesting. - I went online to the TA as I didn't want a dump in the MA and basically the same happened again with the replacement PSU in about 3 minutes. - My old modular Antec PSU is noticeably quieter than the PSU I swapped out, so it will stay :)
For my next move I decided that as I had done clean installs for the new Windows 7 (64bit) there should not be any problem in the registry, but all the same I ran a registry checker and there we quite a few issues raised, in particular with respect to shared ddl's. I can only put this down to installing things like Microsoft Office 2007 and even an old copy of Visio. All of which seem fine in Windows 7 but according to forums have a history of screwing some things up. So I cleaned the registry and went back on line in AH. So far I no longer have any problem after what must be an hour (4 kills no deaths :aok).
Thinking back there was one sneaky program that got installed that I didn't recall doing deliberately. It was some sort of pop up that showed links to sales sites when I ran IE10. I uninstalled it straight away and checked for virus's and malware afterwards, just in case! Maybe that did something, otherwise I am still at a loss to what went wrong. - I just hope it continues to as today but will post again if the problem rears its head again.
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Now that was interesting! For what I've experienced, a couple hundred registry issues is more of a rule than an exception after finishing a clean install with all updates and other installations. Another noticeable feature is, that the HDD can be quite fragmented even after such clean installation procedure!
You might be on the right track suspecting the sneaky program. It may have been quite harmless per se, but it may have left the door open for something nasty, or infected by something like that. I've seen viruses trying to sneak into device drivers, causing a blue screen because the driver got corrupted to the point Windows couldn't load it. A Windows file may also get affected that way, so I recommend you toboot from the Windows installation disk, choose Repair and run chkdsk /r from the command prompt of it. SFC /scannow wouldn't hurt either to check all Windows files were intact. And of course, if it turns out to be related to unwanted software, deleting all restore points might be wise.
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The hunt is still on! - I was using the film viewer quite a bit after my uninterrupted AH session on line and it rebooted :(
Bizman, I agree that doing chkdsk /r is a good idea as well as running other checks. Before hitting the sack last night I set Memtest86 running and this morning was pleased to see some seven hours after running, that there were no errors. Also checked the BIOS again for temperatures and running nice and cool. After looking at those thing most likely to be the source, the process is now more of what is OK! - So far the facts are that it has rebooted only in AH or AH Film Viewer and only on my Windows 7 drive. My XP installation is on a separate drive. The PSU has been eliminated as a likely cause because the same problem occurred on different PSU's. The Memory seems OK. The timing of the reboots is not consistent. So some Hard drive checks will be the next thing I do.
I am also thinking of rolling back my Nvidia driver as it may currently be one placed on the system by windows update. (I always refused to let windows update renew my XP Nvidia drivers - if it isn't broke don't try to fix it!)
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LOL, information coming drop by drop! So it's only the Win7 installation that crashes. XP on the same machine, different hard disk, stable as rock. Crashes only in AH and FilmViewer - on the other hand they're the only ones using your video card effectively. And now the fact that you might just have at least remnants of an Nvidia driver by Windows Update.
Do you use some video driver cleaner program, or are they on your list of not wanted? One of those might help getting totally rid of the Microsoft driver. If I dare to suggest another tool to install, it would be WhoCrashed by Resplendence Software. If the crash has time write a minidump, WhoCrashed can translate it into easy-read mode, even telling which driver or dll was the culprit for the crash.
And of course, running a hard disk diagnosis is one obvious test to do. HDD's can go bad in mere months with bad luck, even faster.
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This is turning into an interesting thread. Hopefully we can all learn something from it. One thing I have always tried to stress about Windows is the fact that any program one can install has the ability to impact any other program already installed.
Anything from Roxio or Intuit are shining examples.
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LOL, information coming drop by drop! So it's only the Win7 installation that crashes. XP on the same machine, different hard disk, stable as rock. Crashes only in AH and FilmViewer - on the other hand they're the only ones using your video card effectively. And now the fact that you might just have at least remnants of an Nvidia driver by Windows Update.
Do you use some video driver cleaner program, or are they on your list of not wanted? One of those might help getting totally rid of the Microsoft driver. If I dare to suggest another tool to install, it would be WhoCrashed by Resplendence Software. If the crash has time write a minidump, WhoCrashed can translate it into easy-read mode, even telling which driver or dll was the culprit for the crash.
And of course, running a hard disk diagnosis is one obvious test to do. HDD's can go bad in mere months with bad luck, even faster.
Yeah! - Sorry about the information flow, but being a bit under the weather at the moment means anything requiring thought is hard work at the moment :headscratch:
Anyway here is the next drop or two. After running Chkdsk /r a very small amount of allocated space was being reported as empty or it could have been the other way around. Sorry about that but I forgot to note it down before exiting the command prompt! Small as it was, it could have some bearing. Another drop, relevant or not, is that I had decided to let Windows 7 create the hidden partition when installing it, so I used diskpart to remove the original single partition on the drive before letting windows reformat the drive for the installation. I did use quick format.
The next drop ;) Listed on optional windows updates a new Nvidia driver was available for install (since around 20th Sept). When I looked at the current driver installed I was surprised to see it had been updated in August 2013 - So why a further release so soon afterwards unless the August one is flaky? So in this instance I have just installed it. - I also checked the Nvidia website and Microsoft was simply releasing what they have done.
I plan to do nothing more for the moment to see how things run. Normally I would only do one step at a time then check, but seeing that Nvidia driver information, I felt it was such a likely source of the problem I just had to do something.
I don't use any sort of driver clearer - I am aware Nvidia have one to clear out all there own video drivers when needed and that is pretty much the only one I would use.
As useful as your "WhoCrashed" sounds, I can't see myself installing it as simply I don't know if I could trust it! - I would have to read up on it before considering it further. I don't trust even Microsoft's software unless it has been tried and tested to death!
SFC /scannow is new to me and I have not run it yet, but will if the problem persists. After reading up on it, it seems to be a seriously useful utility and I can't believe I was unaware of it. - So thanks for that pointer.
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Heh, no panic about the information flow. I've got used to it, my customers often give even less - not to mention erratic! Figure telling "the Internet doesn't work" meaning "the computer doesn't power up at all"...
I understand your concern about programs you don't know. The Internet is full of programs that look like direct copies of known-good tools with a different logo and a fancy site bragging about how their coding team hasn't been saving their efforts etc. Not to mention such programs get advertised on various "tech" sites. At best such programs are just plain copies, at worst they're filled with crapware. About.com is one site whose recommendations I've learned to take with a grain of salt, although they also have some easy reading advice. A site I've learned to trust is WindowsSecrets.com which I found after LangaList merged with it. Needless to mention that WhoCrashed has come to my toolbox via the latter. I haven't been using it much, but the only thing I've noticed it to install apart itself is a Microsoft dump analyzer whose results it translates into plain English. There's a way to use the MS tool by itself, but it's much harder. At least for me the MS instructions were gibberish...
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I dont know if you tried this yet but you can get a driver error message, and a start up loop, by a badly seated Graphics card. If you havnt tried reseating the card then do so.
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I dont know if you tried this yet but you can get a driver error message, and a start up loop, by a badly seated Graphics card. If you havnt tried reseating the card then do so.
Thanks for the contribution but that really isn't the problem - While there is nothing wrong in pulling out components and reseating them, the card is doing it's job fine in XP. So I am still focused on something about the Windows 7 setup that is the problem (I have XP and Win 7 on separate drives in the same PC). I think the problem is likely either software or the hard drive windows 7 is on. In an effort to identify the culprit I will usually do just one change at a time then test. - Reseating the card is a long way off at this stage.
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Blag,
Have you tried loading Win7 on the drive that has XP on it? if that drive is functioning properly,loading the OS to it should let you know if the other drive is bad or not.
There are some issues with doing a dual boot on a single drive that has xp already on it but they aren't insurmountable.
:salute
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Blag,
Have you tried loading Win7 on the drive that has XP on it? if that drive is functioning properly,loading the OS to it should let you know if the other drive is bad or not.
There are some issues with doing a dual boot on a single drive that has xp already on it but they aren't insurmountable.
:salute
My Win7 is installed on the drive I used to use for XP - So it is not exactly a new drive but the newest one I have and 1Tb. I cloned XP back to a smaller drive to free it up for Win7. The small space allocation issues found when doing chkdsk may have come from the disco's/reboots I am seeking to solve.
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Blag,
Have you tried loading Win7 on the drive that has XP on it? if that drive is functioning properly,loading the OS to it should let you know if the other drive is bad or not.
There are more reliable ways to test a hard drive than loading the OS to it. All major manufacturers have a free testing tool both as an ISO file for a bootable CD and as a Windows program.
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There are more reliable ways to test a hard drive than loading the OS to it. All major manufacturers have a free testing tool both as an ISO file for a bootable CD and as a Windows program.
I understand that,my thinking was if Win7 worked on the HDD that has xp on it and is known to function properly and it doesn't go into the boot mode then it would make sense that the other drive has issues.
I'm the first to admit that I know just enough about comps to really mess them up! :furious
:salute
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I understand that,my thinking was if Win7 worked on the HDD that has xp on it and is known to function properly and it doesn't go into the boot mode then it would make sense that the other drive has issues.
That's a good way to test power supplies and processors, for which there are no widely available, reliable and inexpensive testing methods.
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I ran SFC /scannow and there were no problems. All my drives are Seagate and I have used their tools before now. In fact the last time I had any problems with a Seagate drive it turned out to be a messed up OS - So much for letting the wife and son please themselves on their PC!
Windows 7 drive - I have been on AH last night and got into a busy area - the PC rebooted. I re-logged but lasted about 1 minute or less after the re-launch into the busy area before the next reboot. All told about 4 re-boots so I had enough :bhead and selected XP on the last reboot.
Windows XP drive - Flew around 4 or 5 sorties in all sorts of situations and quite a lot in really busy spots - Rock steady, at least I was able to enjoy myself for a bit :cool:
I checked the Nvidia driver version on XP it was release 275.33. The latest available for XP is 327.23 Interesting, loads of updates and I have ignored them all and have a stable XP! -its staying that way.
The driver I had for Windows 7 64bit was release 327.23 (Interesting that its the same as the latest XP 32bit one).I have found Windows 64 bit drivers for the 275.33 release and have installed them. I have not really tested in AH yet as it was only one uneventful and quiet sortie. I have checked the Video settings in AH and I have used the same in both installations so nothing different there.
For what its worth the hard drive with windows 7 on it has never previously given me any problems when I used it for XP and it still seems alright in windows 7 except for AH. - I may buck my one step at a time approach and try re-installing AH in Win7. Of course when I do find what the problem is, I have that sneaky feeling it will turn out to be something stupid I have done. - It was that way at work when some-one had a PC problem and nine times out of ten it was a user problem. Some of my colleagues got in the habit of calling me before our IT dept. because as one of the more able users doing the same job I was familiar with all the silly things they tried to do that caused a problem.
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Reinstalling AH in Win7 doesn't sound like it were a hard job to do.
How about the possibility that your Win7 nVidia driver might be too new? I didn't find your video card model, but there has been issues with a little older cards using new drivers which may try to run features not applicable for the card in question. Someone more nVidia savvy might be able to tell the best drivers for your card. So the best drivers might be the last ones released before releasing a new series of cards with new features. Waiting to read how the 275.33 works.
I've witnessed hard drives act less funny although they pass all manufacturer tests. That means their platters are intact but there's something like a cold joint in the circuit board. Impossible to detect other than changing the hard disk. In the cases I've worked on, even cloning worked perfectly well, resulting a stable system.
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I am using an older driver and that did not solve the problem and so re-installed AH over the top of my current win7 installation to keep my settings.
Now it may sound silly but do you have to run AH as an administrator to avoid the permissions pop up (I just don't remember seeing them before), and do you need to run it in XP compatibility mode ? I can't remember what it was before except I am pretty sure I did not have it in compatibility mode. I didn't get any pop ups before in Win7 so must assume I set it to run as administrator. On the re-install I have set both on and flown once with no problem but not really enough to be sure yet.
Also I have run various Seagate Tools on the hard drive and it has passed all tests.
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Does not need to be run in 'compatibility' mode. Not sure why you are getting the UAC warning every time you run the game. That should not be happening.
No, you do not have to set the game to run as administrator. I run Aces High on Windows 7 at home and at work and never get a pop up. I do have UAC turned down one notch from its default.
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Thanks Skuzzy,
I have unchecked both compatibility mode and run as administrator and tried again - this time no pop up seeking permission to run. But I do wonder if because it happened before if it is a clue as to what is not right!
Edit:
Just had a few sorties and working the same as before and still getting rebooted now and then in Win7. The only other bit of software I have that seems less than stable is IE10 and when I opened it after being rebooted I got "Your last browsing session ended....." But so far as I am aware I was not running it at the time! - I have reverted to IE 9 as 10 does not seem to be an improvement to me. It mades no difference to AH.
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Just checking - I am using Microsoft Security Essentials for anti-virus protection is this a known problem?
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Any type of anti-xxxx or security software could cause a problem with the game.
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If you had a spare hdd lying around, how about cloning the Win7 setup onto it? Especially if you used the Windows7 backup feature, the clone would contain every possible bug you might currently have in your installation. If the clone worked, then the culprit would be your hard disk. I recall that the destination disk doesn't even have to be as big as the original for the backup copy to work, enough space for your data will suffice.
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If you had a spare hdd lying around, how about cloning the Win7 setup onto it? Especially if you used the Windows7 backup feature, the clone would contain every possible bug you might currently have in your installation. If the clone worked, then the culprit would be your hard disk. I recall that the destination disk doesn't even have to be as big as the original for the backup copy to work, enough space for your data will suffice.
I had not considered that. - I do have a a third drive on the PC thats big enough although only IDE and not Sata like my OS discs. The IDE is currently a pure data disc for all things DOSbox that currently takes up just 1 gigabyte of the available 57Gb. I could transfer that to my external data backup drive which is 500Gb with room to spare.
I still think I have done something wrong in the software setup of Windows 7 and in the process have pretty much tested PSU, memory and graphics card. The hard drive has passed all tests thrown at it with just with exception of a small allocation of space error when I ran chkdsk /r, but running that after several dumps it did not surprise me.
I have reached the point where I am considering re-installing windows from scratch and have been gathering together all the drivers I will use. One thing that popped up in that process is that there are two rather different sets of drivers for the Gigabyte Motherboard chipset so I have just got a reply back from Gigabyte to confirm which set I should use considering the other hardware for my PC. - I think one set is for the AMD graphic card users, very confusing when the board is for AMD CPU's and the file is labelled simply AMD chipset drivers! For the time being I have re-installed what I know is the correct set and will check what happens over the next day or two.
My retail Windows 7 is pre-SP1 so I think I might try and download an image to burn a post SP1 installation disc. I have got SP1 already burned onto a separate DVD to save downloading, but it may be cleaner to use an image of Windows 7 with it on.
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You know you can slipstream SP1 to your existing media to create the post SP1 installation disk, don't you? If not, google for it, plenty of advice there.
Since you have the spare disk, I'm curious to find out if a clone continued to crash AH. I can't give any 101 about how to use the Win7 full backup feature, I've only done it once on a customer's machine. But if I could do it the first time I tried, anyone can. The basic process goes like this: 1) Make a full backup with the Win7 backup tool on an external hdd (takes much less space than the original!). 2) Remove the original, plug in the new. 3) Boot from the Windows7 install disk, choose repair, choose to use a backup from an external hdd. Takes an hour or so.
As said, some failures don't show in tests. I've been using all major manufacturer tests and I also have bought the PC Check testing suite. None of them can tell if there's a minor electric failure on the system board of a disk.
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A slipstreamed disc can't be used for repairing Windows 7 should you ever need to. Or so I am lead to believe!
I found the image file for the retail version of Windows 7 professional 64 bit with integrated SP1 so will burn that to a DVD. My retail product key should be fine with that.
I would prefer to clone to another harddrive as it is simple and does not take long, I use a boot CD with various tools on it including Acronis True Image.
I am not sure if Windows backup creates a complete image including the hidden partition and while I have used it to back up a laptop, fortunately I have not required to use it to restore.
In the meantime I want to see if re-installing the chipset drivers has any effect.
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A slipstreamed disc can't be used for repairing Windows 7 should you ever need to. Or so I am lead to believe!
Now that was new to me! OTH I have access to almost any Windows version with or without SP's so I can't either confirm or dispute what you said. But I have created and used the Win7 Repair discs for both 32 and 64 bit systems. Can't remember whether they are pre or post SP1, though, or does it even matter for most repair tasks.
I am not sure if Windows backup creates a complete image including the hidden partition and while I have used it to back up a laptop, fortunately I have not required to use it to restore.
My experience with the Win7 backup system occurred when I had to change the hard disk to a Sony Vaio. The problem was that although I could clone the old disk perfectly, the new disk wouldn't let Windows do certain tasks. At least it couldn't update and/or activate. The same would happen with the factory default reinstall. I made a clone on a used disk which worked perfectly well, including being able to install SP1. After much trial and error alongside with both googling and e-mailing Sony support I found out that the Vaio model in question didn't support the Advanced Format hard disks! And that was news even to the support! Luckily I could find a disk without it so I could deliver a working laptop to the customer.
In the meantime I want to see if re-installing the chipset drivers has any effect.
Waiting for results, hoping for the best.
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Waiting for results, hoping for the best.
Erm... nope, reinstalling drivers didn't solve it either, and I ran Chkdsk again, this time with no errors. While going throught the program list I spotted another one called "browser safeguard" and removed it. I am pretty much convinced that having allowed at least two sneaky progams to be installed that I would never dream of installing on purpose, a clean install with no rubbish is the only way to go.
I have just finished backing up new data since I first installed Win7 and will now do a full re-install. First I will completely clear the drive and do a full format when installing Windows. I hope to be awake when I install this time!
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The aim is to just get Windows 7 fully installed with AH to see what happens - Watch this space ;)
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Err... since you're going to wipe the entire disk anyway, would you mind installing and running ComboFix for testing purposes? It has saved my bacon many times in cases where the nasties have put their roots deep in the heart of Windows and altering some settings that leave Windows crippled even after they've been removed. Download link here: http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/ (http://www.bleepingcomputer.com/download/combofix/).
I'm asking for this favour because you believe that it's possible that your computer has been so badly compromised that AH won't run and I'd like to know if such bad situations could possibly be repaired. Running ComboFix usually takes less than half an hour, after which I'd like to know if AH could be run normally.
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Bizman,
I missed your post as I was away doing the deed! - When I wiped the hard drive I used Seagate tools to completely clear the drive and any partitions and files on it. It does 2 passes writing zeros then ones so that was six hours! Now I have done a clean install of Windows 7 with the correct drivers installed and updates to windows done. I heard that Windows security software is not that good so put Nortons on instead as I have run it for years on XP without any hassle. Then put my CH Control Manager on because I know it can affect the ID of the devices. Finally a complete download and install of Aces High. The only file I have copied back from my backup is the settings folder and offline it all looks good to go.
Incidentally the Windows 7 with SP1 image I downloaded and used to burn an installation disk was fine. I will keep it with my original pre SP1 discs if ever needed again! - Interesting when looking for the image is that the OEM and Retail versions are different. The OEM easy to find but the Retail version not so obvious!
About another 8 hours to go then I will be testing it out. - Another note, I don't use CH Control Manager in AH. It was purely because I know it impacts on the gear ID that I would sooner have it on before installing AH
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Let's see how AH will run with the fresh install!
There's been a lot of negative opinions about Norton on this board. Personally I've found especially the 360 using resources when you'd least expect. To be fair, every AV-suite and add-on designed or at least advertised to take care of computer maintenance seem to do their best to ruin your computing experience.
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Norton WILL give you problems, when you least expect it! It is the single worst thing (McAfee is right up there with it, as is anything from Roxio or Intuit) you can do to your computer.
The real problem with Norton/McAfee, is once they are installed, they are almost impossible to remove. Symantec has a tool which is supposed to undo the damage done by installing Norton, but I cannot speak to the effectiveness of that tool.
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Symantec has a tool which is supposed to undo the damage done by installing Norton, but I cannot speak to the effectiveness of that tool.
Almost every antivirus program I know of has an uninstallation tool. I've been using most of them, including Avast, AVG, Avira, F-secure, McAfee, Norton, Panda... Most of the time they do what they're supposed to, but there have been cases where I've had to manually search for every instance in the Registry and Windows Explorer to get rid of some deep rooted AV program before being able to install another of a different maker. Yet another place than those mentioned to look for uninstalled AV programs is the Device Manager! Making it show nonpresent hidden devices there are often several virtual devices such as firewalls.
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Norton WILL give you problems, when you least expect it! It is the single worst thing (McAfee is right up there with it, as is anything from Roxio or Intuit) you can do to your computer.
The real problem with Norton/McAfee, is once they are installed, they are almost impossible to remove. Symantec has a tool which is supposed to undo the damage done by installing Norton, but I cannot speak to the effectiveness of that tool.
Skuzzy, I have always been aware of your views on Norton so had a look around before going with it. The thing is, on XP at least, I never had any problems with AH and always left Norton running. For what it is worth, I have always used their Internet Security package. I posted the information and anticipated some comments but at least it keeps those interested informed. I was looking to not using Norton's but do not have any faith in the Windows Anti-Virus. I 'll start a separate thread to find who is using what!
Edit: see http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,354717.0.html (http://bbs.hitechcreations.com/smf/index.php/topic,354717.0.html) for that thread
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Well all that work and no change whatsoever. I even stripped out CH Control Manager and Nortons and still the same problem. i.e. With just Windows 7 and AH installed.
So what I have done now is to clone my XP back to the drive. If it happens now I know it is the drive, but if it doesn't it seems to me to be software related problem although I can't entirely rule out the drive.
Edit:
Just spent an hour or two in AH using the Drive Windows 7 was on but with XP cloned onto it and no trouble at all.
Pretty much all that is left to do is stick Windows 7 on another drive and see what happens.
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Well all that work and no change whatsoever. I even stripped out CH Control Manager and Nortons and still the same problem. i.e. With just Windows 7 and AH installed.
So what I have done now is to clone my XP back to the drive. If it happens now I know it is the drive, but if it doesn't it seems to me to be software related problem although I can't entirely rule out the drive.
Edit:
Just spent an hour or two in AH using the Drive Windows 7 was on but with XP cloned onto it and no trouble at all.
Pretty much all that is left to do is stick Windows 7 on another drive and see what happens.
One thing that jumped out at me, might be nothing, but I'd try as a test reinstalling AH and not using your old settings folder, unless that's exactly what you meant above in the bolded section. That would eliminate every single possibility from your old installation being a factor. Also, in my read of the thread I didn't see it mentioned, but does event viewer show anything just before/at the time of the reboots?
Wiley.
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One thing that jumped out at me, might be nothing, but I'd try as a test reinstalling AH and not using your old settings folder, unless that's exactly what you meant above in the bolded section. That would eliminate every single possibility from your old installation being a factor. Also, in my read of the thread I didn't see it mentioned, but does event viewer show anything just before/at the time of the reboots?
Wiley.
You ever attend a mind reading course?
Having used the hard drive for a couple of days using Windows XP with no problems whatsoever, I have again installed Windows 7 (64bit) on the newly re-formatted drive. Windows download for important updates only.
I will be as you say - installing Aces High completely fresh, no shortcuts. No CH Control Manager, No email etc
The other things I am doing is back to Microsoft Security Essentials (So as not to annoy Skuzzy by using Nortons ;) ).
I am curious about what drivers I need to install, so initially none!
I have a few minutes ago just saved two links on my Web browser the BB and the Hightechs main page. So now off to download AH again!
I will check the event viewer if anything strange happens, It's something I never used to use but I have recently used it when looking for the results of my last Chkdsk which incidentally was clean.
Edit:
With everything so basic there was still no difference. I had forgotten just how many adjustments you have to do to set the game up! Ah well, it looks like I will only be playing AH in Windows XP
If I find the time, I might try the 32bit version as I have both versions in the retail pack.
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The 64 bit version of Windows 7 is fine with the game. It is what we use at the office and what we have on our home systems as well.
The only thing that might be an issue are the 64 bit drivers for older hardware.
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The only thing that might be an issue are the 64 bit drivers for older hardware.
Ah my thoughts as well! -I have just installed Windows 7 32bit after wiping the disc (again). My logic being that as I will not add more memory to the PC it will have to make do with the maximum 4Gb (installed) for 32bit
This is one of the rare occassions when I had the foresight to get a retail version of Windows so I can pick and chose 32bit or 64bit as well as allowing a future upgrade to the motherboard/CPU.
As this install is to stay I have loaded the motherboards Windows 7 32 bit drivers for the chipset/network/sound devices but will stay with an older graphics card driver as I feel newer releases seem to be more for newer cards benefit than any improvement on the older ones. Hopefully the 32bit drivers for Windows 7 will be more stable if it turns out that was the problem.
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You ever attend a mind reading course?
Having used the hard drive for a couple of days using Windows XP with no problems whatsoever, I have again installed Windows 7 (64bit) on the newly re-formatted drive. Windows download for important updates only.
I will be as you say - installing Aces High completely fresh, no shortcuts. No CH Control Manager, No email etc
The other things I am doing is back to Microsoft Security Essentials (So as not to annoy Skuzzy by using Nortons ;) ).
I am curious about what drivers I need to install, so initially none!
I have a few minutes ago just saved two links on my Web browser the BB and the Hightechs main page. So now off to download AH again!
I will check the event viewer if anything strange happens, It's something I never used to use but I have recently used it when looking for the results of my last Chkdsk which incidentally was clean.
Edit:
With everything so basic there was still no difference. I had forgotten just how many adjustments you have to do to set the game up! Ah well, it looks like I will only be playing AH in Windows XP
If I find the time, I might try the 32bit version as I have both versions in the retail pack.
It was just something I'd noticed as something you had brought over from the original setup. I figured I would mention it as when I start troubleshooting I know it's awful easy to miss the forest for the trees. Truly an odd situation. I assume Event Viewer was a bust?
There are far better minds than mine at play in this thread, I hope you'll find a resolution.
Wiley.
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I hope you'll find a resolution.
I think it must have been my hardware being too old for the 64bit version of windows to run 100% stable. While everything else was apparently OK in 64bit the problem simply would not go away in AH.
I have just been online and had around 5 sorties and no problems - I am now using the 32bit version of Windows 7 complete with CH manager installed and various other bit and bobs as I re-instate all my programs. So unless I post again I think you can consider the issue resolved.
My thanks for all the contributions from everyone
:cheers: