Crash,Crash,and Crash again

[MonTana_Prussian]

I've had SH4 v1.4 installed for a month,and it has been running great...Until yesterday,then,it began crashing to re-boot at various times in the game,the load screen,everywhere. I have tried everything I know,and have seen here,to no avail,so that is why I'm posting this.

System:

Intel Celeron 3gHz processor

80 GB Harddrive

e-GeForce 6200 256 MB Video card

OS: Windows XP SP-2.


This is what I get after re-boot:

Error Signature: BCCODE: 4e BCP1:00000007 BCP2:000E0A90 BCP3:0039456

BCP4:00000000 OSver: 5_1_2600 SP: 2_0 Product: 768_1


Error Report Contents:

C:\DOCUME~1\DALE\LOCALS~1\TEMP\WERa24d.dir00\Mini0 41908-02.dmp

C:\DOCUME~1\DALE\LOCALS~1\TEMP\WERa24d.dir00\sysda ta.xml


I have tried to locate the above without success. any help would be appreciated.

Thanks...MP...

[Quillan]

What, if anything, has changed in your computer in the last week? Have you installed any new software or hardware? Any new mods to the game? Any Windows updates?

[MonTana_Prussian]

Nothing has changed. I have not installed any new hardware/software. I did get one Windows automatic update 4 days ago,but I do not know what it was.

[Quillan]

I'm not going to guarantee it, but it's entirely possible that update is responsible. My last Windows update broke my copy of Civ IV Beyond the Sword; I've been going round with 2K tech support since late February and still cannot play it.

[peabody]

What about trying a restore point prior to the automatic update?

Peabody

[Rockin Robbins]

When weirdness happens and everything ran good before see the unfortunately named SH4 will not load/install instructions!!!!!!! (http://www.subsim.com/radioroom/showthread.php?t=133290) thread. Report back when you're done and I'll bet you are back on track. That, by the way, is an SH3 stalwart coming to our aid with one of the most valuable posts ever made in the SH4 forums. Thanks Doolittle81!

[MonTana_Prussian]

Thanks RR. I'll give it a try after work tonight.

[Charlie901]

You might have a corrupt save...

Try an earlier save point and save again.

This fixed sudden CTD's in the campaign that appeared out of no where, for me.

Before that the game has been stable as a rock!!!

[AVGWarhawk]

I would try Charlie901s answer first then Peabody's if Charlie901 does not correct the issue.

BTW, how well does the game play with the 6200? I had that card when SH4 came out and it struggled to stay afloat.

[MonTana_Prussian]

Well guys,I've tried all three and no joy. The game loads up just fine,and as soon as I try a mission or career,it crashes to re-boot.:damn:

[MonTana_Prussian]

I would try Charlie901s answer first then Peabody's if Charlie901 does not correct the issue.

BTW, how well does the game play with the 6200? I had that card when SH4 came out and it struggled to stay afloat.

The card and game have been working great,until yesterday:shifty:

[Rockin Robbins]

I hate to even bring it up after all the graphics card trouble I've been having but.... if a totally clean install won't run then you have hardware problems. Since everything else runs good I have to take a baleful look at your graphics card.:cry:

There's an outside chance that a new driver or other piece of software is in the way. That's why the earlier questions about system restore points and did you install something new lately.

[MonTana_Prussian]

I did DL an updated driver for the card last week,but it was working until yesterday.

[swdw]

Hi from a fellow Montanan MP, I grew up in Great Falls.

The problem may appear in SH4 because games stress your system more than any other application, and if there's a weakness they'll show up.

Anyway- check to see if your fans are running at the correct speed. Depending on your card and driver update, it may have killed your fan control on the vid card. Try downloading Rivatuner. Set it up to monitor your vid card temperature.

Depending on your motherboard manufacturer, check to see if there's a system temperature monitoring utility you can install.

There are a couple of other possibilities, too.

One possible cause is memory. This often produces the symptoms you are experiencing. The cause can be overclocking that pushes the memory too close to it's limits, or failing memory. You can test your memory with this utility
http://www.memtest.org/

The other problem may be the hard drive. You'll need to stress test the hard drive. Try this tool
http://www.hitachigst.com/hdd/support/download.htm#DFT

Good luck

On the off chance you moved your computer case for some reason, you may want to make sure all the cables are seated.

[AVGWarhawk]

I would try Charlie901s answer first then Peabody's if Charlie901 does not correct the issue.

BTW, how well does the game play with the 6200? I had that card when SH4 came out and it struggled to stay afloat.

The card and game have been working great,until yesterday:shifty:

Perhaps the card has given up the ghost. My 6200 just struggled. I used it less than 1 hour before I headed out for a better card. The bad part here is you might be taking a chance that it is not the card. But, it it is not, you will have a better card in your system. Very frustrating to be sure.

[frogdog]

I have had the same random CTD failures on SH IV and Sniper Elite...but not Microsoft FSX. I therefore suspect it has mainly to do with a MS Windows update. I have a DELL XPS Gen III...fully loaded, Windows XP (home) and run SHIV TMO 1.4, RSRD Campaign and ROW PE2.
I first started noticing problem about 2-3 weeks ago...tried re-installation...no joy.
If it is one of the MS auto updates...does anyone know EXACTLY which one? And what negative effects deletion would have on system security/operation? Is Microsoft aware of problem and, if so, do they care.
I notice the problem about 30-45 minutes into any particular session (inconsistant) and not associated with any particular crew evolution. Current solution: back up Patrol roughly every 20-25 minutes of play...annoying...but apparantly necessary to prevent loss of significant Patrol activity.
Maybe UBI might want to initiate/participate in identifying specific problem and create required patch/fix...lest some players abandon interest in game entirely because of frustration. Shouldn't be too difficult for the computer literate (certainly not me) to correct to my way of thinking.

[peabody]

I did DL an updated driver for the card last week,but it was working until yesterday.
I agree with the comments here that it could be a hardware issue. But there are a couple of things you could try first. In xp you can "rollback" the driver (it doesn't always work- but worth a try.) I don't know your computer knowledge but go to control panel/system/harware/device manager/ find you displlay adaptor click the + and then RIGHT click on your video card and select properties and then the drivers tab. There is a button to rollback to your last driver.
Another thing that happens a lot is the fans and vent hole get plugged with dust and you reach a point where the heat is too much. Check them for dust (of course first as swdw commented make sure your fans are working) Then you could try taking the side panel off and getting a regular house fan and blowing it directly into the case to really get the air moving, if this makes any difference at all then it may be a heat problem, but that usually doesn't happen at the exact same time all the time (but I always check the simple stuff first and the stuff that doesn't mean spending money.)

I tend to agree that it is probably a driver, software or your card is on it's last leg rather than a heat probelm but it doesn't cost anything to try.
Also think real hard you may have added something you don't remember. You commented you didn't add anything, then remembered the auto update and the driver update, you may have added something that you don't remember. It doesn't take much sometimes. My friends sound card called me once, his sound card just quit. Did you add any software, drivers, do anything different to the machine? Nope. Are the speakers plugged in? Yup. So I drive the 5 miles to his house. He plugged the speakers into the computer but didn't plug them into the power strip. That's why i always check the easy stuff first.

Also if you can get that far, try setting the game on it's absolute lowest settings, that won't stress your video card or memory or cpu as much, just as a test to see if it is hardware related.

Peabody

[Deimos01]

Theres some good advice here so I will will just chime in and say that if you havent changed anything software wise and none of the afore mentioned solutions help, then that is a good indication that you have a hardware problem. I would crack the case and give the innerds a good cleaning out. Make sure all your heat sinks and fans are clean and dust free, including on your processor. Next thing to try if that doesnt work is to start testing out parts.

I had a bunch of problems on my system and was finally able to trace it to bad RAM and a bad DIMM slot in my mobo. The way I figured this out was by swapping in new parts. Luckily I am still under warranty. I wasnt having the same issues as you, but, my comp was solid for the first 2 months then started going wacky out of the blue. If you are lucky, you have a friend with a comp with compatible hardware and may let you try swapping out their parts for testing.

Its frustrating but keep at it. Youll get it figured out eventually. :up:

[MonTana_Prussian]

Thanks for all the advice guys,I will give it all a try and hope for the best. The card is brand new,I bought it so I could play SHIV.

[gimpy117]

mine crashes coming out of time compression when i go to the outside view...UBI's got at least 10 error reports by now...

[Rockin Robbins]

Thanks for all the advice guys,I will give it all a try and hope for the best. The card is brand new,I bought it so I could play SHIV.

Ouch! I wish you had checked here before you bought that card. It really isn't up to the job. The minimum I would use would be a 7600GT in the nVidia flavor. Others can tell you the minimum in ATI cards. You would be a lot happier if you upgraded at least to that. I'm back to a single 7600GT and doing fine until I go the next round with EVGA:cry: . Such a great company to deal with! Too bad they've had all the problems with electrolytic caps.

[MonTana_Prussian]

Thanks for all the advice guys,I will give it all a try and hope for the best. The card is brand new,I bought it so I could play SHIV.

Ouch! I wish you had checked here before you bought that card. It really isn't up to the job. The minimum I would use would be a 7600GT in the nVidia flavor. Others can tell you the minimum in ATI cards. You would be a lot happier if you upgraded at least to that. I'm back to a single 7600GT and doing fine until I go the next round with EVGA:cry: . Such a great company to deal with! Too bad they've had all the problems with electrolytic caps.


It was working just fine,and,the game is now running fine again:roll: And I don't know why. I just decided to give it another try with a fresh install,defrag,and driver rollback.

Sheesh! Computers!:-?

[Rockin Robbins]

Sheesh! Computers!:-?

Computers are not only stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we CAN imagine.

[MonTana_Prussian]

Sheesh! Computers!:-?

Computers are not only stranger than we imagine, but stranger than we CAN imagine.

And I had managed to save my new Asiatic Fleet career too,so now I'm happy:cool:

[Soundman]

mine crashes coming out of time compression when i go to the outside view...UBI's got at least 10 error reports by now...

I remember reading a thread sometime back where Leo Vampire (Creator of "ROW") said to take a short pause after coming out of time compression, before going to the 3D screen to allow the rendering time to catch up.

[Deimos01]

Glad you got it working again. :up:

The only good thing about a problem with your rig is how happy you feel when you get it solved. :rock: :lol: