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I am having screen blackouts and lockups when playing SHIII all of a sudden, my computer consultant suggested trying a new graphics card. I am now using an ATI Radeon 9550. What video card seems to be the most reliable for this game? Thanks! Joe S
iceflatline
10-31-05, 05:16 PM
Any of the most recent GPUs out there should play this game fine. It's simply not that demanding. i have played shiii on a 9550 and it runs well. have you updated your drivers?
Kaptan Tommy
10-31-05, 05:34 PM
Gee, I upgraded to the Radeon 9550. It works fine.
However, at the same time, I decided to upgrade my RAM from 512mb to over a Gig. That's when the trouble started. After several weeks of various tech support people giving me 'advice', and totally re-formatting my HD three times (losing a ton of good stuff, of course), I took the new RAM out and went back to the original 512mb and life is now good - no, WONDERFUL! I never should have bought the RAM.
Oh, and my first new Radeon card was defective but Best Buy swapped it out, no questions asked. Good for them!
:zzz:
I have one gig of ram and have updated my drivers. What should I do now? Thanks! Joe S
benetofski
10-31-05, 06:07 PM
I have one gig of ram and have updated my drivers. What should I do now? Thanks! Joe S
Joe,
It seems like you have PC issues.
I dont think it is your card - I have the 128MB ATI 9250, and the game plays fine - I might add that my PC specs are also much lower than yours!
Usually the issues you refer to are caused by any number of factors:
1. Have you done a complete removal/reinstall?
2. Do other games work ok?
3. Have you installed any MODS to the game?
4. What version of DirectX is on your machine?
5. Have you done a complete removal of drivers before installing new ones?
6. Have you done a 'System Restore' to a known 'good' date?
7. Anything 'unusual' added lately?
8. Is you anti-virus up to date?
The above might help....
Post your replies
Kaptan Tommy
10-31-05, 06:10 PM
Joe, I'm not sure. I didn't get blackouts. I got the "Blue Screen of Death" bunches and bunches of times. And it was never the same problem (as listed in the Blue Screen) two times in a row (although I did get a few of them several times - just not one after another).
As it turned out, the last 'tech support' guy said it had to incompatible RAM with my motherboard. Now how he determined that is beyond me. But I took it out and life has been flawless since.
The computer recognized the RAM right off, but I guess that doesn't matter. So now I've got two 512mb RAM chips in a sandwich bag waiting to be dug up by some archaeologist in 5000 years. I took the stuff back to Best Buy but it was months later so there was no hope for getting any money back. But I did ask if they could test the chips to see if either (or both) were no good. Nope. So there's a couple hundred bucks down the proverbial drain.
None of this helps you though, but it's my story - and I'm sticking to it... :damn:
kiwi_2005
10-31-05, 06:54 PM
Does the screen blackouts/lockups happen in a pattern? like every 20-30min. If so turn off Windows System Restore. System restore updates every 20-30min when it did this while playing SH3 my sound card never like it and i would get a DURRRRR sound then a lockup where a restart was the only way out. I found turning off System restore before i played SH3, my lockups never came back.
VON_CAPO
10-31-05, 08:52 PM
I was running a single player mission and all of a sudden the screen went blank and I got a message:" out of range H:34.3khz
V:42.2hz"
What does it mean and can it be fixed? The computer locked up and I had to reboot . Thanks,Joe S
Do you get this message yet?
Because that message is saying you that the problem is related to your monitor. ;)
joe,
how long did you run sh3 before this problem started? do you have problems in other apps or just sh3.
Gizzmoe
11-01-05, 12:04 AM
The computer recognized the RAM right off, but I guess that doesn't matter. So now I've got two 512mb RAM chips in a sandwich bag waiting to be dug up by some archaeologist in 5000 years.
What you could try is to remove the old 512MB chip and only use the two new ones. Some boards don´t like to have mixed RAM chips.
Another reason could be that manual RAM timings are set in the BIOS. Look for "RAM Timings" in "Advanced chipset options". Set it to "By SPD" if it´s set to "Manual". "By SPD" means that the RAM informs the system which timings it uses. It could be that your old RAM is faster than the new one and that it simply didn´t like the faster timings of the old chip.
JScones
11-01-05, 12:39 AM
Hehe...I might win the award for having the oldest display adapter - a GeForce3 Ti 200, running 56.72 drivers (I've been told that these are the best match, but if anyone here has other experiences, please tell). It may be old, but I can tell you it has never baulked at running SH3 effortlessly and NVidia issues have never been a concern! :lol:
Thanks everyone for your help. The only mods I installed right before the problem started were FADMIRAL's custom missions. I did not think that could cause a problem. Other mods include gramophone and some setkey changes and some modified speech files, all of which, except for the custom missions. I have been running for a long time without problems. I just upgraded to DirectX9.0c and turned off the refresh. Will try to test tonight. Joe S
kanderstag
11-01-05, 12:34 PM
Also make sure you have a decent power supply. A lot of these Dell/HP/mooMachines have podunk 250w power supplies. Bump it up to 400w or so and get one with active PFC while you're at it. Hopefully you have a case that fits regular PSUs and no stooopid proprietary PSU wire (grrr).
Hartmann
11-01-05, 03:00 PM
Be sure that you motherboard don´t have any bulged capacitor, i had to replace my MB for this :nope: . it was doing blue screens of death randomly or in heavy disk load.
check also yours memory sticks, try replacing one or more ,and see if is doing the same. is a frecuent cause of BSD :dead:
Also if you want to replace your graphic card, you might need a power supply of 400 w.
I have a 6600 gt with 512 ram, 550 w ps . and runs very well despite his load times and little slowndown in ports.
but could be better a 1024 memory ( i plan put more memory)
Kaptan Tommy
11-10-05, 06:41 AM
Good info, Gizzmoe.
I had tried using just the new RAM by itself but that didn't fix the problems. I also noticed that even though both chips came from the same packaging, one was made in Taiwan, the other in China. They even looked different, but the Best Buy 'guru' said that didn't matter. Well, something mattered, because they just wouldn't work. So when I finally left the 'new' RAM completely out of the equation, life got good. The new video card has worked flawlessly, and I can play the game. :up:
I'm just going to leave it the way it is. Next year I plan to get a new machine, and I'll make sure I pack it with as much RAM as it'll take (and I can afford). Dual core processor, etc. $$$ :doh:
Herr Karl
11-10-05, 09:03 AM
Sounds like the new RAM module isn`t compatible to me...
Crucial has a tool online that can help determine if there is a conflict...it is very easy to use...
http://www.crucial.com/
best fish
11-10-05, 11:21 AM
I have a GT6600 256mb with 1024 ram,660W ps.
Kaptan Tommy
11-11-05, 06:12 PM
It was two new modules, and I agree. This is also what the Best Buy guru said, but it was too late to make any exchanges, refunds, or rebates.
I've been to "Crucial" and their 'tester' doesn't work on my machine. I'don't know if it's an issue with my router, firewall, or what.
But like I think I said earlier, I'm just going to get a whole new machine sometime next year and forget this episode of "Computers, Love'em and Hate'em"...
Now watch, SH3 won't work with the new "Vista" operating system. :doh:
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