Hard lock-up in AH

[Yeager]

Over the past several weeks I have been experiencing hard lock-ups that require
a system re-boot while using AH.

These lock ups seem to occur only when visual effects are heavy.  During explosions or with heavy smoke.

This is starting to happen just about every time I use AH.  No other programs are causing this lock up.

My system is stable although becoming aged:
PII 333, 128 megs pc100 ram, Asus V3400 AGP with 16 megs.

Any suggestions appreciated.

Yeager

[kbman]

Hi Yeager,
          I think your machine is just showing its age and choking a sputtering a bit. Are you overclocking the card at all? What drivers are you using? I think that the best for WB/AH for thr TNT Is are the 0.48 reference build. Here is a link to a  reference driver library that has them. http://zoiah.m3dzone.com/  

I would try them out and see if you get any improvements in FPS. That might help to get a little more life from your system but its really time for an upgrade if you want your machine not to limit your flying performance and enjoyment. You can do this fairly cheaply depending on your motherboard and I would be glad to help if you need it.  

kbman

[PropNut]

Im getting the same thing Yeager . I had one every now and then before but since 1.04 its doing it all the time usually when i select a plane in the hanger ,and i noticed while i was in a tank the other day at an enemy field someone bombed a hanger and as soon as it blew it froze the video with the hanger pieces in the air. anyone have any ideas .....system + Cel 300a OC to 464 (everything running cool) 128mb ram..TNT 2 ultra 32mb. never any problems anywhere but here.    thanks

[Eagler]

I think they are still optimizing graphics on 1.04. My voodoo 5500 goes from >80 fps in the air to <10 fps in heavy action, usually base attacks. They're still tweaking and debugging.. I hope.
P3 - 500mHz
128 ram
20gb ATA 66 hard drive
Road Runner Cable modem

Eagler

[Haksaw]

Having the same problem....complete freeze ups requiring a power down to restart...This has been happening on my system since the previous version...and continues on this version, although I haven't noticed any correlation to activity in the game...one things for sure, if I play more than 30 or 40 minutes, I'm sure to have at least 1 lockup..

800 Athlon with GeForce card..

[kbman]

Haksaw,
        The fact that it happens after a certain period of playing would suggest a heat buildup problem. Its summer here and must be hot in AK. Try taking off your case and placing a fan to blow into it. See if this either cures it or lengthens your interval of play before it locks. If so, therte's your problem and you can figure out the best cooling solution for your needs. If not then we need to look further.

kbman

[Haksaw]

Thanks kbman...When it does freeze, I immediately reboot and then go right back into the game usually...and might play for another half hour...However, I'm gonna go ahead and try your suggestion..

Thanks again

[HABICHT]

hi all,

since 1.04R1 i have same problem. it's no heat problem. only in AH , after running some
time, AH freeze. i had it now LOTS OF TIMES.
(chk my discos stats!)
i had in in 1.03. but only sometimes. 1.04
freezes frquently. other games are running without any freeze or "back to desktop" crashes.
have:
athlon700 (300power suply)
geforce DDR (nvidia 6.18drivers)
asus K7m MB
128mb ram
sb live player.....

help, pls!!
repeat: often in 1.04r1 now

[air_guard]

I had the same problem, i found out that my
gforce II card took to much power outa my system so it hung up (250W power supply and lots of stuff in my puter)
i changed to 300w case and no i havent had any lockups since (only a few discos)
I also tried my old system with a tnt2 card it then it worked well too.
So it must have been the gforce card that used to much power.


airguard

[kbman]

Hi Habicht,
           Your problem may be the 6.18 drivers. They are known to cause lockups on some GEForce cards and Nvidia is struggling to push out another official releases to deal with these issues. I am not familiar with them(TNTII Ultra here) but I understand that the 5.30 build is very stable and fast on those cards. On my box, older driver builds consistently provide better performance than the newer builds in WB and AH. This is probably because both use an older D3D graphics engine. anyways, try using an older build that you know has run stably on your system and see if that doesnt cure the lockups. Be sure you do a proper driver installation and purge the registry of ALL references to your video drivers and then install the new build of your choice. This is the only way to ensure that your problem is not a corrupt registry due to improper installation. If you need help with that go to www.tweak3d.net  and see their GEForce tweak guide for step by step directions for changing drivers. Its a pain to do but you must do so in order to isolate your problem and avoid creating more in the process. Good luck!!

kbman

[Westy]

 Yeager, I have a PII 333, with 256sdram and running a questionable version of Win98 and with a Diamond Viper V770 Ultra 32mb I am getting fps in the HIGH 30's to low 40's. Dropping into the hi 20's aournd damaged bases. When I'm around alot of cons and a damamged base I tend to abbreviate my view with the shift F2 or shift F3 key.
 Two things could be cauing you to hang I figure. You video card or maybe even your sound card - the sound card because all those effects also come with sounds. You may want to check for the latest drivers for both. And seriously consider a TNT2 Ultra based 32mb video card. It should carry you till you need a serious mb/cpu upgrade someday - like me.
 BTW, I'm using a Diamond MX300 soundcard ($29 online) and it works great! Except it does not put out the standard 5V needed for most joysticks, but I have a dedicated gamecard in my PC anyway for that.

 -Westy

[Haksaw]

Well, I took the side of the case off of the pc and went back to AH...I have been playing for a couple of days without a lockup until last night..I had been flying for about an hour and a half, which is the longest time ever, then it froze...I decided to physically touch the graph card..and sure enough, it was too hot to hold..the GeForce cpu chip already has a fan built onto it, but it was very hot....what to do??

[Lephturn]

I'd suggest some or all of these:

1.  Put a real HS\fan on the GeForce.  Get some good heat grease and mount it properly.  Most of the stock ones would do the job if the surface was cleaned and mated to the chip with proper heat grease.

2.  Add a fan or two to your case.  One sucking in the side blowing on the PCI cards, and another sucking air out the top of the case.

3.  Make sure your power supply can handle the extra load.  A 300 at minimum, and a good quality one.

Or you could do what I do... leave the side off and sit a table fan under your desk. <G>

------------------
Lephturn - Chief Trainer
A member of The Flying Pigs  http://www.flyingpigs.com
 

"My P-47 is a pretty good ship, she took a round coming 'cross the Channel last trip.
Just thinking 'bout my baby and lettin' her rip, always got me through so far."
 - Steve Earl

[This message has been edited by Lephturn (edited 09-17-2000).]

[Haksaw]

Thanks kbman and lephturn.....I'm going to try find some sort of fan/heatsink kit for the card...


Haksaw

[PropNut]

Well I actually fixed mine ...shortly after i added my complaint here my power supply died ( it seems the fan froze up and it heated up untill it fried)...I think i was seeing signs of its slow death.  I replaced it (250w} with a 400 watt with 2 fans..been flying a week and no problems...I think with some of the new video cards power supply limitations may be showing up...just my...02
PropNut