crash to desktop

[Joe S]

I was having problems with crashes to desktop and then I had my computer consultant clean up my computer and update all drivers. After that, I was able to run many practice missions without problems. I worked on TDC procedures and after a bit of practice, I went back to my career, and can only run the carreer mission for about 30 to 45 minutes before I get a crash. Is it possible that there is something about the settings in the carreer that are causing the problem? Can they be changed without scrapping the career? Any other ideas/ Thanks! Joe S

[maerean_m]

That's the typical behavior of a computer heating up due to intense CPU & GPU activity. Try and improve the ventilation and, also, remove the case cover.

You could do a test and stress the computer for an hour with continuous 3D Mark benchmarking or 3D Studio Max rendering. I bet it will lock up in the same interval of time.

[C DuDe]

That's the typical behavior of a computer heating up due to intense CPU & GPU activity. Try and improve the ventilation and, also, remove the case cover.

You could do a test and stress the computer for an hour with continuous 3D Mark benchmarking or 3D Studio Max rendering. I bet it will lock up in the same interval of time.

That's a NoNo.. doesn't help any, no more air circulation inside the case which results in to much heat staying close to the core.
Tested this a couple of years ago with my previous PC, temperature stayed about the same.

A extra fan or 2 will probably do the job for yah.

[AVGWarhawk]

Also, what was happening when it CTD? What type of soundcard do you have?

[SteamWake]

Generally speaking...

System shut down is indicitave of CPU overheating.

System "hang or freeze" is indicitave of GPU overheating.

Programs dropping to desktop is usually indicative of driver or software conflicts.

I think the soundcard question is a good starting point.

Also make sure all your heatsinks and fans and intake / exhaust louvers are clean. Your 'computer expert' should have checked that for you. If you go to clean the heat sink over the CPU be very very carefull it is easy to jerk the CPU out of its socket, bend the pins, and now your really screwed.

I personally run with the cover off but the case sits near an air conditioning outlet and gets good air movement.

[Joe S]

Thanks everyone, this is what I know about my soundcard:the sound card is built in the motherboard.
the motherboard is an Asus a8n-e.
the sound chip on the board is a realtek alc850.

Does this raise any red flags? Should I consider an add-on soundcard? thanks!

SHIII runs perfectly, so there is something about SHIV that does not agree with this computer. Joe S

[AVGWarhawk]

I use onboard sound also. I did reduce the sound acceleration a bit. Try that and see if it helps. SH3 ran perfectly on my rig but SH4 created a CTD or two. Some additional tweeking perhaps is in order. I have found thought that my CTD were basically internet junk. I clean it up and defrag. This usually takes care of any issues.

[Joe S]

I just started a new career, and a pattern has started to develop. It seems that my crashes occur about one hour into the mission. Is this perhaps a clue that overheating is an issue? Joe S

[AVGWarhawk]

Distinct possibility. Remove the computer cover and place a regular fan blowing cool air directly at it. Go ahead and play, see what becomes of it. Process of elimination.

[wmjoers]

I just started a new career, and a pattern has started to develop. It seems that my crashes occur about one hour into the mission. Is this perhaps a clue that overheating is an issue? Joe S

I have the same problem. But I would vote for memory leak instead of overheating since I don't have any problems with other graphic intense programs. I'll have a look at that tonight when I get home.

[switch.dota]

SH IV doesn't leak. At least not to the point of crashing. I usually play for a few hours on 768 RAM.

[wmjoers]

Maybe it behaves differently under certain conditions? In my experience it's very rare that a program hangs och crashes because of overheating. And that would affect the whole system.

If a program CTD and the desktop still works I would say it wasn't overheating.

[wmjoers]

I found another thread (not SH4 specific though) but with the same hardware as me. Some users had the same behavior on a game called everquest2 and solved it by turning down the sound performance.

start - settings - control panel - sounds and audio - advanced (speaker settings) - prformance - hardware acceleration.

Now that I think about it I've read something similar in some thread about SH4 as well.

Anyway...it's woth a try when I get home

[wmjoers]

If a program CTD and the desktop still works I would say it wasn't overheating.
Correcting my self: I've found several discussions on the net regarding applications that crashes or hangs when the GPU gets overheated.

Looks like it could be overheating after all. Some users got rid of the problem by downclocking the GPU.

You can get the utility (nTune) to downclock nVidias GPU:s here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/sysutility.html

[Joe S]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I raised the box off the shag carpet to increase the ventilation. Then I reduced the hardward acceleration on the sound card. Ran a mission and it crashed to desktop in exactly one hour. I later tried to run a mission and it crashed in five minutes. Then I reduced the accelleration completely and ran another mission , crash in five minutes. Any ideas? Thanks! Joe S

[THE_MASK]

Reinstall , then patch to 1.3 . Turn the comp off at the wall and then clean any dust from between the CPU and heat sink . Do the same for the GPU . Cheers .

[AVGWarhawk]

Thanks for all your suggestions. I raised the box off the shag carpet to increase the ventilation. Then I reduced the hardward acceleration on the sound card. Ran a mission and it crashed to desktop in exactly one hour. I later tried to run a mission and it crashed in five minutes. Then I reduced the accelleration completely and ran another mission , crash in five minutes. Any ideas? Thanks! Joe S

What you have described I would rule out sound issue and rule out overheat as you experienced CTD after an hour and then again after you let the machine sit a while. Sound acceleration adjusted without change. Just for grins attempt a complete uninstall and reinstall.

[RadiationRob]

i had same problem when i tried any grafic settings over 1024X768 seems the game dont support high settings stable, try that setting and see if it fixes it..and also make sure you save your game at sea with no contacts at the surface with a time compression of one. since I've been doing these things I have zero crashes.