game lockup

[ace57567]

Had to get a new pc (the old me HP died) keeps locking at different times in game,have too power down pc to get out of game.
 HELP PLEASE
 emachine W3080
3000+ AMD Athlon XP processor
CD-RW 48x max write
16xmax read DVD
80 gb ultra DMA HD
512mb DDR
win XP Home Edition preinstalled
   
   Current AH settings
primary display driver\MS direct 3d hardware
 VIDEO RES-800x600 (have tryed all others)this is best
 COLOR DEPTH- 32 bit (have tryed 16 bit) no help
 MAX FRAME RATE- 60 FPS (have tryed both more & less) still no help
 ENABLED MIP MAPPING (have disabled) no help
 DISABLED PALITTIZED TEXTURES (both settings used same prob)
Have had this problem in both Main rooms and H2H.
 Have deleted the video 7 file
 Have run out of ideas, some of the ideas I have seen in here I have no idea how to accomplish (above my head).
                                                 THANKS
E-MAIL- daddy72761@yahoo.com

[fuzeman]

Well, this could be certain components using the same interrupt or IRQ or varioius things. What video card are you using and what drivers.
You can run DxDiag to see and check some operation of your system. You can use the 'Find' or 'Run' optoin from the START key to use these.
Also check Skuzzy's Sticky post in this section called 'Hints and Tips' on limiting the stuff running in the background of XP. It does have loads of baggage running that is not needed.
Turn off ALL auto-update features in ALL programs and you usually don't need to run Virus programs while AH is running.

Does a hard reset,  hard reset = hitting reset button ; soft reset = resetting/restarting thru software , clear this? Something is definately rotten if you need to power down to get out of this lockup.
Does this only happen in AH or do you notice it in other games or applications?

[ace57567]

inreply the video card is VIA/S3G unichrome graphics
                                        TOTAL MEMERY (appx) 64mb
                                        MAIN DRIVER-vtdisp.dll

 I did change a couple settings that seemed to help a bit. seem to get more time in, but still locks/freezes. About 2 hours this morning no prob but then she locked after 15 minutes when i loged in this afternoon. Will do some more changes,fly a bit and see what happens.
                                                             Thanks:aok

[fuzeman]

That might point to settings being the problem. I know IRQ sharing can lead to this and it might require moving certain cards to different slots in the mobo to correct it.
Keep plugging away and don't hesitate to post any more questions. A more computer literate person might jump in with better help then I could.

[ace57567]

Hi Fuze
  Have been operating fairly well, but I have noticed that while operating in H2H rooms that when the arena fills (7-8+ players the lockup prob gets worse. Does this offer any ideas? I'm out
of them. There seems to be some arenas that are worse than others.
                                                   Thanks ace57567