Lockups Lockups LOCKUPS!!

[Urchin]

Why the HELL does AH keep locking up on me?  I've exhausted EVERYTHING I know, and I still can't find a solution.

I have a T-bird 900 with 256 MB of 133 Mhz ram.  I have a 32 MB Geforce 2 video card (more on that later).  I HAD a onboard soundcard that I thought may be causing the problem (it wasn't), now I have a Soundblaster Audigy sound card.  I am using Win98 2nd edition.

My NIC, video and sound card are all on seperate IRQ's, with nothing else on them.  I have the latest sound and video card drivers (not that it seems to matter, more on that later).

The problem SEEMS to be video related, at least I think.  With the older 12.41 drivers, I get some minor 'freezes' that last a couple seconds, then the game plays normally.  The game seems to lock up about once an hour with these drivers.  With the later 21.xx drivers and 23.xx drivers, I get no minor freezes.  However, the game seems to lock up more frequently, perhaps every 45 minutes.  These times are rough estimates, I locked up 3 times within 5 minutes earlier tonight (lockup, reboot, start AH, lockup, reboot, start AH, lockup, reboot, say the HELL with AH).

I don't know WHY it locks up like this.  I've pretty much eliminated the following.  

Heat-  Sure, I guess it COULD be heat, but then my computer would be locking up all the time.  It doesn't.  It locks up when I play AH.  That is the ONLY time it locks up.  I have probably 100 other games (not that I play them all regularly).    I play Everquest and the new Wolfenstein on a fairly regular basis... NO lockups whatsoever.  It also doesn't lock up when I am just surfing the Internet (which I have had happen before on a different computer that WAS overheating).

Bad memory- Again... it COULD be bad memory, but why would it be AH specific in that case?  I had a stick of bad memory in this computer once, it locked up within 10 minutes of booting up, no matter WHAT I was doing.

Soundcard/Sound card drivers-  Locked up with my old sound card, locks up with my new one... I think this eliminates that as a cause.   Also doesn't lock up with anything else...

IRQs- well, I set up my NIC, video, and sound cards on seperate IRQs, so I don't think it is this either.  

Background progs-  Nothing else running.  Well, that isn't quite true.  I have the Saitek software running, which I need to use my joystick, and I have the new Soundblaster software running, which I need running to change the volume (which couldn't be causing the problem anyway).  I sometimes have Roger Wilco running, which causes longer lockups (5 seconds or so) if it can't find a channel.  Game locks up regardless of whether RW is running or not.

Anything else anyone can think of?  I can't think of anything, and I am getting SERIOUSLY pissed off over this.  Any help would be appreciated.  I have 14 disco's in 10:45 hours.  11 in flight and 3 in the tower.  ALL of them were lockups.  Make that 15 discos.   And 16 and 17.... something is SERIOUSLY wrong with either AH in general, or the baltic map in particular... where I've had SIX whoopee lockups in the space of a whoopee HOUR.

This is a HARD lockup also, cntrl-alt-del doesn't do a THING except make my computer go "beep beep beeep", which is coming out of the computer speaker, not my headphones.

[Urchin]

bump......................... ........

[bloom25]

I'd updating DX to 8.1 and reloading your video card drivers to begin with.  There is a bug with nVidia drivers I've noticed, playing an OpenGL game (RT Castle Wolfenstein is open GL) and then launching a Direct X game (Aces High is one) without rebooting will result in blue screens.

If RTCW doesn't cause lockups, I'd rule out heat as well.  Do any of your other games use a joystick?  If AH is the only one, the joystick software could be to blame.

Another likely culprit is a corrupted .res terrain file.  (Since you say the baltic locks up a lot.) You can safely remove these from your AH terrains folder and it will redownload them when you log in.   This would be a good thing to try.

[Urchin]

I've got DX8.1, video drivers were installed after it.  I *think* that it may be a corrupted terrain file, but it doesn't lock up ALL the time.  I tried it again and flew in Baltic for about an hour without locking up last night.

Oh, and I get no blue screens, just hard lockups.  

[SpyCatcher]

Sounds like it may be your "cpu to agp" controller driver. IF you install the VIA 4-1 drivers w98 may not update the correct file and you may have to manually do it.

http://www.viahardware.com

Hope this helps.

[Urchin]

OK, I may have found a problem that I didn't look for the first time.  My NIC and something called "Via Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller" are on the same IRQ.  Could this be causing my computer to lock up while playing AH?  It is the only game I use a joystick with, so that may be why nothing else locks up the computer.

[Soviet]

I'm having a very similar problem which is like your except my system CTDs a LOT now (new system) I noticed my GeForce 3 and thos PCI to USB thingys are on IRQ11 this could be causing the problem considering I have a USB keyboard, mouse and jostick.

How would I move these things to another IRQ?

[Wotan]

gf3 should have its own irq so should sblive

[maik]

try reinstalling DX8.1 AFTER video card drivers.

[batdog]

I dont use my comm port so I took IRQ 3 and assigned that to a card. I also do not use a printer so I took that one as well (IRQ 4 I think?).

 It might still be a memory problem. AH uses alot of RAM and it might only show up when stressed. I had bad RAM that caused lock-ups in anthor game but never bothered AH. I replaced it w/a Stick from Crucial and never had a problem since.

 xBAT

[Aurelius]

You can try setting the defaults in your bios. Also you may try to reseat all of your hardware and cables. If they are not sitting right that could cause the issue.

[Soviet]

Here's my IRQ report

Still getting lock ups/CTDs i'm getting really tired of this

--------
IRQ CONFLICTS/SHARING

IRQ 4   VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
IRQ 4   VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
IRQ 4   VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
IRQ 5   Creative SB Audigy
IRQ 5   ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
IRQ 11   NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 200
IRQ 11   ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
IRQ 12   NDC 10/100 Fast Ethernet PCI Adapter(MX-A)[MX987x5]
IRQ 12   PCI OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
IRQ 12   ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
IRQ 14   Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
IRQ 14   VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
IRQ 15   Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
IRQ 15   VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller

IRQs

0   System timer
1   (free)
2   Programmable interrupt controller
4   VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
4   VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
4   VIA Tech 3038 PCI to USB Universal Host Controller
4   ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
5   Creative SB Audigy
5   ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
6   Standard Floppy Disk Controller
7   Printer Port (LPT1)
8   System CMOS/real time clock
9   SCI IRQ used by ACPI bus
10   MPU-401 Compatible
11   NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 200
11   ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
12   NDC 10/100 Fast Ethernet PCI Adapter(MX-A)[MX987x5]
12   PCI OHCI Compliant IEEE 1394 Host Controller
12   ACPI IRQ Holder for PCI IRQ Steering
13   Numeric data processor
14   Primary IDE controller (dual fifo)
14   VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller
15   Secondary IDE controller (dual fifo)
15   VIA Bus Master PCI IDE Controller

[Aurelius]

Just curiouse but why do you have your keyboard, mouse and joystick on usb? Have you tried it without the usb and plugging into the ps2 and gameports?

[Soviet]

Originally posted by Aurelius
Just curiouse but why do you have your keyboard, mouse and joystick on usb? Have you tried it without the usb and plugging into the ps2 and gameports?

i'm using the same keyboard, mouse, joystick setup as my old computer (and it didn't give me problems then).  My keyboard hs a PS/2 option for it, my joystick is usb or gameport but it works better USB and my mouse is USB only

[Aurelius]

Have you checked to make sure that the connections on all of hte usb are tight and not loose. If the old system worked just fine then look at some of the differences between the two. Software wise and Hardware wise. Have you unchecked everything in msconfig so there is no programs running in the background. Also what are your system resources at? They should be at least 88% or higher. Your report looks fine.