Curse

Cartman83 · Jun 12, 2005, 08:05 PM // 20:05

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Hey everyone. I know there have been several other threads concerning this topic (which I have looked through) but unfortunately they have not helped my problem. I should note that I have posted this message on a couple of other boards.

Recently I purchased Guild Wars, and I found that it will randomly crash to the desktop (w/ error report), or freeze on me (which I have to press alt-F4 to get out of), usually within 15 mins to 30 mins of playing.

Here are my system specs:
-MSI 648 Max Series Motherboard w/ 533MHz Front Side Bus (Model: MS-6585 with the latest BIOS drivers)
-400 Watt power supply
-Pentium IV 2.4GHz Processor
-512MB PC333/2700 DDR-RAM (with CPU/DRAM frequency locked at 1:1 ratio of 133MHz in BIOS)
-40GB Hard Drive (Brand unknown)
-Integrated Sound Card (AC 97)
-Sapphire ATI Radeon 9500 Pro video card (with Catalyst 5.6 ATI Reference drivers)
-DVD-ROM Drive (I think it's an LG brand)
-HP DVD Writer (model dvd420i)
-Windows XP Professional (with Service Pack 2)

Here is what one of my crash reports have shown:
*--> Crash <--*
Exception: c0000005
Memory at address 006f3908 could not be written
App: Gw.exe
ProgramId: 1
Build: 10973
When: 6/11/2005 21:58:46
Flags: 0

Here's what I have tried so far that have not worked:
- Played with my sound card disabled
- Played with (advaced) graphics settings at their lowest (though I still kept the resolution at 1024x768)
- Played with my computer case open, and having a fan blowing air inside
- Upped my DRAM voltage from 2.5v to 2.8v (which is my max voltage)

On a side note, prior to getting Guild Wars I have been playing other games with nowhere near as many problems. In fact, I've recently played Counter-Strike: Source on my comp for hours on end with little to no problems at all. Any help concerning this problem would much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

silvertemplar · Jun 12, 2005, 09:41 PM // 21:41

Well i don't have a solution, but i must add that i get similar problems on my system. The only thing we have in common is the soundcard though. I've also looked at my dumps and same error.

What happens with me to be precise:

1. Sometimes in the middle of play the game would just freeze, only way out is to kill the game [note: does not crash to desktop itself].

2. Thing that happens most: Whenever i zone the game will freeze with the loading screen sitting at "100%".

In both instances i'm still CONNECTED, if i play in windowed mode i can see there's still data being send/received as if i'm standing in an area.

My system:

Aopen XCube SiS661FX Intel Motherboad
Sound : Realtec AC 97 Integrated
Graphics : Nvidia FX 5200 with latest drivers 71.89
Windows XP SP2
512 MB Ram

As for heating and such, i can play Farcry,Chronicles of Riddick, Vampire Bloodlines and Need for Speed : Underground II [all heavy graphical games] without any problems on the same system.

Irony is, Guildwars works fine on my Laptop using a graphics card that is not supported [Intel Extreme Integrated]...

corcesca · Jun 13, 2005, 07:44 PM // 19:44

I can't kill my process... I have to hard reboot my computer. GW hates us... wee.

Dirkiess · Jun 13, 2005, 09:11 PM // 21:11

Cartman83 & silvertemplar,

Ok. Without knowing everything you guys have done, do you get any other problems, even the slightest thing happen with any other games other than GW?

Also, Cartman, try going back to Cat 4.11 for your card and see if this has any impact on performance. Remember to use Driver Cleaner before you reinstall the drivers. Both can be obtained from www.guru3d.com.

Silver, try going back to an older version of the drivers, maybe the 61.78/98. Not sure which it is now, but you can also get those from the same place.

Another option worth trying, there are some GW.tmp files located in the Guildwars folder and the Windows/Prefetch folder.
Someone else on here, did a clean up and the program he used deleted these files. This seemed to resolve all his problems on that machine. I don't advise deleting these files, as I have no idea what they do or whether they are recreated. However, just copy them to another location and then delete them.

Gives these things a go and see what happens.

corcesca · Jun 14, 2005, 12:06 AM // 00:06

the tmp file recreates.... I had a cleaner that just wiped every .tmp file on my computer before... it comes back...

my problem still isn't fixed yet... who knows....

Cartman83 · Jun 15, 2005, 02:08 AM // 02:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirkiess

Cartman83 & silvertemplar,

Ok. Without knowing everything you guys have done, do you get any other problems, even the slightest thing happen with any other games other than GW?

Also, Cartman, try going back to Cat 4.11 for your card and see if this has any impact on performance. Remember to use Driver Cleaner before you reinstall the drivers. Both can be obtained from www.guru3d.com.

Silver, try going back to an older version of the drivers, maybe the 61.78/98. Not sure which it is now, but you can also get those from the same place.

Another option worth trying, there are some GW.tmp files located in the Guildwars folder and the Windows/Prefetch folder.
Someone else on here, did a clean up and the program he used deleted these files. This seemed to resolve all his problems on that machine. I don't advise deleting these files, as I have no idea what they do or whether they are recreated. However, just copy them to another location and then delete them.

Gives these things a go and see what happens.

I will admit that crashing to my desktop does happen to a couple of my other games, but it is no where near as prevelant as in GW. I will give your solution a try. Thanks for the help

Shadowbok · Jun 16, 2005, 12:28 AM // 00:28

I'm glad I found this thread. The problems indicated in the first 2 posts are exactly what I have been experiencing. I've seen many posts about crashing issues, but a lot have experienced strange pixles followed by their computer crashing. Mine have only been the following (just like the first 2 posters):

-Crashing to desktop with a Guildwars Error message, allowing me to send an error report. This occurs at random places in the game, i.e. not in a specific zone, or while doing a specific action (most common problem by far...usually after about 15 minutes of play)
-The game freezing (at this point I see a Windows mouse cursor appear in place of the Guildwars cursor) and I have to alt-f4 to get out.
-The "Loading" screen freezing up. (this has only happened a couple of times)

Just about every bit of advice I've heard to fix the problem (to myself and others) is along the lines of "your RAM is probably different brands/you don't have enough RAM, you need a faster processor, you need a faster vid card, etc." I am having this problem on 2 different computers. They are an athlon 2400 with a radeon 9800 pro and an athlon 2600 with a radeon 9700 pro. They both have a gig of RAM (same brand on the sticks). They both are running most current drivers for vid card, sound card, etc. I don't have ANY problems running other games (including, but not limited to Doom 3, Everquest2, City of Heroes).

At the very least, it's nice to see that I'm not the only one with this specific issue. Hopefully someone will have a fix of some sort soon, as it is pretty frustrating trying to play.

Red Right Hand · Jun 16, 2005, 12:48 AM // 00:48

I too have been experiencing the crash /freeze problem since the June 8th update. It seems to only crash or freeze when I am in an instanced area with a group or henchmen, and not while I am in a town. Is it just a coincedence or has anyone else noticed that too?

I hope they get it squared away soon, because it is a really good game, but I cant play!

Shadowbok · Jun 16, 2005, 06:24 AM // 06:24

Quote:

Originally Posted by Red Right Hand

I too have been experiencing the crash /freeze problem since the June 8th update. It seems to only crash or freeze when I am in an instanced area with a group or henchmen, and not while I am in a town. Is it just a coincedence or has anyone else noticed that too?

I hope they get it squared away soon, because it is a really good game, but I cant play!

You know...now that you mention it, I left GW on while I was in a town for a good half hour or more today and it didn't crash at all. Most of the time when I go afk, it is in a town and I don't really remember coming back to my computer with GW having crashed. It does seem to be only when I'm in an instanced zone.

momo2oo2 · Jun 16, 2005, 07:15 AM // 07:15

I dont really know where the problem is, but can help to find it. If the game freezes when zoning at instanced areas the causes can be:

1. Some network problem: the game hangs when trying to update the server inventory, or when tries to get all the info about the players in the town. Please try to determine if the zoning hangs occur when between areas or between area to town.

2. Some soundcard problem: older AC97 integrated chips are known to be problematic. Note that behind the "AC97" brand are lots of chips, ranging from stereo to 7.1 sound. Please try to disable AC97 in BIOS and play for a while. When killing mobs the sound works a lot more than when in town, than can make the chip hang when instanced.

3. Some graphical problem: Drivers, drivers, drivers. I've seen lots of driver issues, and in the majority of times its the cause. Try with different versions (start from the newest to the oldest). Also the graphic card gets much more stress when instanced: sparkles, explosions, flares, etc.

When you have a problem with computers, sadly (I know by experience) the only way too many times is try and retry (modifiying only one of the factors) until you reach the solution.

If any have more info feel free to PM me, this thread is a bit mess with 5~6 people having their issues

Dirkiess · Jun 16, 2005, 09:56 AM // 09:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by momo2oo2

I dont really know where the problem is, but can help to find it. If the game freezes when zoning at instanced areas the causes can be:

1. Some network problem: the game hangs when trying to update the server inventory, or when tries to get all the info about the players in the town. Please try to determine if the zoning hangs occur when between areas or between area to town.

2. Some soundcard problem: older AC97 integrated chips are known to be problematic. Note that behind the "AC97" brand are lots of chips, ranging from stereo to 7.1 sound. Please try to disable AC97 in BIOS and play for a while. When killing mobs the sound works a lot more than when in town, than can make the chip hang when instanced.

3. Some graphical problem: Drivers, drivers, drivers. I've seen lots of driver issues, and in the majority of times its the cause. Try with different versions (start from the newest to the oldest). Also the graphic card gets much more stress when instanced: sparkles, explosions, flares, etc.

When you have a problem with computers, sadly (I know by experience) the only way too many times is try and retry (modifiying only one of the factors) until you reach the solution.

If any have more info feel free to PM me, this thread is a bit mess with 5~6 people having their issues

That is some good advice there, and a lot of people do need to keep retrying, especially with driver's. With the ATI 9xxx series cards, I always recommend trying the Cat 4.11 drivers as they seem to be more compatible with those cards, and help to find it there is an issue with the latest drivers causing problems with the latest games.
I say the same thing with the older Nvidia cards. Earlier Geforce Drivers can sometimes get things working in GW even if other games appear to be working properly.
Not sure why this happens. The only conclusion I can come to, is GW has some feature in it, that is affecting something else on the machine and causes a few issues for the older cards.
Remember to use the Driver Cleaner inbetween the uninstall and reinstall. This will help clean out any files that are not needed.

Both files can be obtained from www.guru3d.com

With regards to PM'ing you personally, that is not the idea of these threads. If you look at a lot of threads, there are lots of people posting in them. It's down to people to read the threads and sort out the info for themselves.
Any IT Techie should be able to keep up with this sort of style, as most IT deskside support areas i know off, have more than one persons info in one support case.
Bear in mind though, we are not paid and don't work for ANet. THis is a free service by gamers for gamers.

The whole idea is to keep the information flowing in these threads whether there is more than one person in it or not. If they keep pm'ing you, then the rest of us that try and help are wasting our time and theres in trying to help them.

So people, keep posting here with anything you have tried and any other issues you may have found or possible solutions. This will help us and will help those who come across this thread.

The Third Seal · Jun 16, 2005, 03:20 PM // 15:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cartman83

Hey everyone. I know there have been several other threads concerning this topic (which I have looked through) but unfortunately they have not helped my problem. I should note that I have posted this message on a couple of other boards.

Recently I purchased Guild Wars, and I found that it will randomly crash to the desktop (w/ error report), or freeze on me (which I have to press alt-F4 to get out of), usually within 15 mins to 30 mins of playing.

Here are my system specs:
-MSI 648 Max Series Motherboard w/ 533MHz Front Side Bus (Model: MS-6585 with the latest BIOS drivers)
-400 Watt power supply
-Pentium IV 2.4GHz Processor
-512MB PC333/2700 DDR-RAM (with CPU/DRAM frequency locked at 1:1 ratio of 133MHz in BIOS)
-40GB Hard Drive (Brand unknown)
-Integrated Sound Card (AC 97)
-Sapphire ATI Radeon 9500 Pro video card (with Catalyst 5.6 ATI Reference drivers)
-DVD-ROM Drive (I think it's an LG brand)
-HP DVD Writer (model dvd420i)
-Windows XP Professional (with Service Pack 2)

Here is what one of my crash reports have shown:
*--> Crash <--*
Exception: c0000005
Memory at address 006f3908 could not be written
App: Gw.exe
ProgramId: 1
Build: 10973
When: 6/11/2005 21:58:46
Flags: 0

Here's what I have tried so far that have not worked:
- Played with my sound card disabled
- Played with (advaced) graphics settings at their lowest (though I still kept the resolution at 1024x768)
- Played with my computer case open, and having a fan blowing air inside
- Upped my DRAM voltage from 2.5v to 2.8v (which is my max voltage)

On a side note, prior to getting Guild Wars I have been playing other games with nowhere near as many problems. In fact, I've recently played Counter-Strike: Source on my comp for hours on end with little to no problems at all. Any help concerning this problem would much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

OK I have basically the same system and the exact same problems you have.
The difference in our systems is I have a Geforce 4 Ti 4800 SE, and don't use the built in sound card.
One time I got a different error that said my system hardware was failing. That was exciting.

I've tried:
- Reinstalling windows (got all updates)
- Running graphics at minimum everything
- Takeing off the side of the case
- cleaned out the case (yay)
- Used multiple older versions of the NVidia drivers.
- Used new NVidia drivers.
- Used Omega drivers.
I really don't think its the drivers, although one set made some people appear as big white boxes, and that was fun.
- Ran Memtest for three or four hours (maybe it wasn't long enough, I didn't let the program actually come to a stop, cause it looked like it was looping)
- sighed heavily
- Used msconfig to turn off all startup programs, and turn off all services that were not microsoft.

Things that I think are a problem
- Ran Prime95's torture test, the Max heat, Max Power consumption test:
Sadness... Crashes within or just above 1 minute
- Ran MBM5 to watch motherboard while above test ran.
the -12.00V number became larger that the +12.00V number.. that can't be good right?

Going to do:
- Disable sound card in bios
- run game with motherboard monitor on to see if the -12 voltage spike hits in the high/low section after the game crashes

So... yep.. thats what I've done. The crashing is and always remains very random, sometimes I can play for an hour or two and not crash at all (thats about as long as I ever play). Then other times it crashes within five minutes.
So I'm thinking new power supply, but wanted other advice.
Insert Advice.

Dirkiess · Jun 16, 2005, 03:28 PM // 15:28

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Third Seal

the -12.00V number became larger that the +12.00V number.. that can't be good right?

So... yep.. thats what I've done. The crashing is and always remains very random, sometimes I can play for an hour or two and not crash at all (thats about as long as I ever play). Then other times it crashes within five minutes.
So I'm thinking new power supply, but wanted other advice.
Insert Advice.

I have no idea with regards to power supplies and consumptions. I'm not an electrician. Although, I do have several PSU's lying around that are good and will be testing these out on my friends PC who is also having various crash issues.

With regards to drivers and stuff. Not always but on some occasions it can and is driver issues that are casuing problems. When you have just a conflict or corrupt file, then a clean reinstall of XP can solve most problems.

However, as you have shown, you have tried a lot, so I would go with a hardware issue. It may even be memory that is your problem.
You haven't said anything about trying BIOS settings or changing them. Could be a Bios config setting is incorrect for you type of hardware. Another thing I will be trying out with my friends PC if the PSU doesn't resolve anything.

Just some ideas.

Algren Cole · Jun 16, 2005, 03:32 PM // 15:32

The Third Seal....You have a 400w power supply and your system crashes within a minute running Prime95's torture test?

Shadowbok · Jun 16, 2005, 03:41 PM // 15:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadowbok

You know...now that you mention it, I left GW on while I was in a town for a good half hour or more today and it didn't crash at all. Most of the time when I go afk, it is in a town and I don't really remember coming back to my computer with GW having crashed. It does seem to be only when I'm in an instanced zone.

Just wanted to make a correction to my previous statement...I do remember one time that I was in town, talking to a quest npc, and the game crashed. Though it definately does it more in instanced zones, I guess it's not only in them.

Dirkiess · Jun 16, 2005, 03:42 PM // 15:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by Algren Cole

The Third Seal....You have a 400w power supply and your system crashes within a minute running Prime95's torture test?

Was this meant to be a cryptic question or comment?

Algren Cole · Jun 16, 2005, 03:45 PM // 15:45

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirkiess

Was this meant to be a cryptic question or comment?

lol

he quoted the stats of the person above him and said "i have the same thing" so I was hoping he overlooked the 400w power supply....and actually has a 300w psu or something. If his computer is crashing minutes into a prime 95 tortue test....his psu is fuxed.

The Third Seal · Jun 16, 2005, 09:14 PM // 21:14

Old power supply was 380 I think.
New power supply installed (450)
Still crashes.
RAM will be replaced next.

tcharnle · Jun 17, 2005, 01:50 AM // 01:50

If you feel that Guild Wars support is telling you to buy new hardware and you do and it is not helping please send an email to me: [email protected]

If you are getting the run around. If your game is not working please email me.

Thanks,

Cartman83 · Jun 17, 2005, 05:00 AM // 05:00

I recently sent an email about my problem to NC Soft tech support, and I got this response from them:

The error message you are getting mentions "Exception: c0000005." This code is normally associated with a memory problem. Because of this I would suggest you try the following two steps.
1) Your page file may be set too small.
Go to your START > Control Panel > System > Advanced > Performance Settings > Advanced > Virtual memory > Change. Then select "Custom size" and then set your Initial size to 2048 and your Max to 4096. Hit the SET button and then just OK > Apply > OK > Apply > OK and re-boot your system.
2) You may have a bad stick of RAM. I would suggest you remove one and see if that resolves the issue. If not then swap them. You will need to replace the one causing the error.

If this does not resolve your issue please let us know.
Thank you.
The Guild Wars Support Team

I tried increasing my page file to 2048MB-4096MB, and the game still crashed about 35 minutes in, but it gave me this error:

*--> Crash <--*
Assertion: accessKey (0x67726d64) != rec->accessKey (0x67706d64), recObject (0x15f274f8)
Handle.cpp(228)
App: Gw.exe
ProgramId: 1
Build: 11069
When: 6/17/2005 00:45:14
Flags: 0

I noticed that this error does not have "Memory at address ... could not be written" in it, unlike all my previous errors. Perhaps my memory problem is solved...although the fact that my game still crashed means something else is wrong

. I'll send those tech support guys another email and see what they say about this new error.