Curse

Cartman83 · Jun 17, 2005, 03:29 PM // 15:29

I got this reply back from NC Soft tech support about the error I just posted:

I don't think the memory issue was solved. I think this is just a different error produced by the same problem.

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.

I think that is what you should do next. I am sorry the pagefile didn't fix it and I know this answer stinks but this is what we have for now.

Thank you.
The Guild Wars Support Team

I actually have only one RAM chip in my computer right now. I was able to borrow a stick of RAM from a friend and switch out the RAM that I own, but the game still crashes on me. I tested both RAM sticks with memtest86 for hours, and no errors popped up. But who knows, maybe there is the remote possibility that both RAM chips are faulty (though I really doubt it). I heard from other people that it's possible that my video card memory could be causing this problem. What do you guys think?

Dirkiess · Jun 17, 2005, 04:02 PM // 16:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cartman83

I got this reply back from NC Soft tech support about the error I just posted:

I don't think the memory issue was solved. I think this is just a different error produced by the same problem.

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.

I think that is what you should do next. I am sorry the pagefile didn't fix it and I know this answer stinks but this is what we have for now.

Thank you.
The Guild Wars Support Team

I actually have only one RAM chip in my computer right now. I was able to borrow a stick of RAM from a friend and switch out the RAM that I own, but the game still crashes on me. I tested both RAM sticks with memtest86 for hours, and no errors popped up. But who knows, maybe there is the remote possibility that both RAM chips are faulty (though I really doubt it). I heard from other people that it's possible that my video card memory could be causing this problem. What do you guys think?

Does your friend have a graphics card you can borrow? If so, swapping this out could be worth a try also.

Remember to uninstall the drivers before removing the card. Swap over the cards and once booted up, run the driver cleaner program to get rid of any driver files that may still be lurking on your machine.
Then install the drivers for your friends card.

Driver cleaner can be obtained from www.guru3d.com.

One other thing that is worth looking into is your BIOS settings. Do you overclock at all? If so, declock your hardware. If you don't then set your BIOS to it's safest defaults and test again.

The Third Seal · Jun 17, 2005, 10:35 PM // 22:35

I think I fixed mine.
New RAM didn't fix it, new power supply didn't fix it either.

Went into BIOS, changed a setting called
"DRAM CAS# Latency"
It was on auto I think, so I changed it to 2.5T (cause my stick of RAM said CL2.5 on it, go figure)
Then I changed "Timing setting mode" to "safe"
Since then it hasn't crashed, played about two hours with full everything on.

Cartman, its worth a try as we both have the MSI 648 Max Series Motherboard.

Its under adv. chipset features in the BIOS

The Third Seal · Jun 17, 2005, 10:41 PM // 22:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcharnle

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,

They told me to turn my graphics card to minimum. I did the rest myself with the help of web boards. Like this one.
The RAM and power supply are returnable.

I find your post kinda scarry actually.

wrightsoncollector · Jun 18, 2005, 09:38 PM // 21:38

My 2 cents. That error is a generic M.S. memory error. That usually means A:memory B:Memory location. A: could be bad memory, wrong settings in the Bios (voltage, latency etc..) B: is where drivers can come in. If they step on the wrong memory area, crash! The application crashing is probably GW.exe which is obvious.
Also look in event viewer to see if there is any info and computer management for any conflicts or issues.

Cartman83 · Jun 20, 2005, 12:58 AM // 00:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by The Third Seal

I think I fixed mine.
New RAM didn't fix it, new power supply didn't fix it either.

Went into BIOS, changed a setting called
"DRAM CAS# Latency"
It was on auto I think, so I changed it to 2.5T (cause my stick of RAM said CL2.5 on it, go figure)
Then I changed "Timing setting mode" to "safe"
Since then it hasn't crashed, played about two hours with full everything on.

Cartman, its worth a try as we both have the MSI 648 Max Series Motherboard.

Its under adv. chipset features in the BIOS

Hey Third Seal. I tried out that solution of yours (it was suggested to me also by someone else) but unfortunately my comp still crashed.

Also, thinking that my video card is the problem, I switched out my Radeon 9500 Pro with a friend's Radeon 9700 Pro. My friend also plays GW, and he has had no problems with the game. Well, about 20 mins into the game, the monitor turned off (but the comp was still on), and my comp stopped responding. I tried playing again, and the same thing happened a second time, also 20 mins into the game.

I was thinking to do this either at the end of July or August, but now I am for sure going to do it. I think the only way to solve my comp's problem is to just gut it and replace most of its parts.

Thanks to everyone for their suggestions, but I think that there's just something completely screwed up with my comp that only a complete overhaul can fix.

Edge Martinez · Jun 20, 2005, 03:02 AM // 03:02

For folks with ATI cards, try using the generic drivers that came with the installation CD. ATI even says not to upgrade to the latest drivers unless you are having problems. I run my 9250 with the drivers straight from the box with zero problems.

Cartman83 · Jun 22, 2005, 02:44 AM // 02:44

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edge Martinez

For folks with ATI cards, try using the generic drivers that came with the installation CD. ATI even says not to upgrade to the latest drivers unless you are having problems. I run my 9250 with the drivers straight from the box with zero problems.

I tried the drivers on the installation CD that came with my computer, but the game still crashed unfortunately. I personally don't think it is a software problem in my comp that is causing these crashes (though I could be wrong). I have a feeling that there could be a conflict with some hardware on my comp (perhaps with my mobo and my video card).

MaglorD · Jun 22, 2005, 06:02 AM // 06:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcharnle

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,

Please don't sue Anet. We don't need a parasitic lawyer inflating the price of future expansions. Take your business elsewhere.

Shadowbok · Jun 22, 2005, 04:26 PM // 16:26

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edge Martinez

For folks with ATI cards, try using the generic drivers that came with the installation CD. ATI even says not to upgrade to the latest drivers unless you are having problems. I run my 9250 with the drivers straight from the box with zero problems.

I'll give that a try tonight. That seems to be the most consistant information for a fix. Also, it would make sense, since this problem is happening on 2 of my computers. The only big similarity between the two is that I'm running the latest 5.6 Catalyst drivers.

Mr. Buttons! · Jun 22, 2005, 09:58 PM // 21:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Edge Martinez

For folks with ATI cards, try using the generic drivers that came with the installation CD. ATI even says not to upgrade to the latest drivers unless you are having problems. I run my 9250 with the drivers straight from the box with zero problems.

I haven't tired that yet. I will give it a shot.

Shadowbok · Jun 23, 2005, 04:11 PM // 16:11

Update:

So I uninstalled my Cat 5.6 ATI drivers last night and then installed the 4.11's. I played GW for a good 3 hours or so and it didn't crash to desktop once. I don't want to get too excited about it just yet, but it would appear that the vid drivers could have been the problem. However, as I feared the "Catalyst Control Center" is giving me an error when Windows starts up (a problem that installing the 5.6 drivers fixed). But oh well, I'd rather have a little error box when I start up the computer than not be able to play games.

Dirkiess · Jun 23, 2005, 09:00 PM // 21:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadowbok

Update:

So I uninstalled my Cat 5.6 ATI drivers last night and then installed the 4.11's. I played GW for a good 3 hours or so and it didn't crash to desktop once. I don't want to get too excited about it just yet, but it would appear that the vid drivers could have been the problem. However, as I feared the "Catalyst Control Center" is giving me an error when Windows starts up (a problem that installing the 5.6 drivers fixed). But oh well, I'd rather have a little error box when I start up the computer than not be able to play games.

Did you run the driver cleaner before reinstalling the older Cat 4.11 drivers. THis will completely uninstall all the drivers and the Control Center software. This should help fix this problem.

Mr. Buttons! · Jun 23, 2005, 10:01 PM // 22:01

I did driver cleaner, got rid of my newest Cat drivers, and installed the 4.11 drivers. I started up GW, and noticed that it was running a bit faster (like a 10...15 FPS boost) and the maps were loading a bit faster. I get into the game and then after 10 minutes, I get the BSOD.

I'm still open to other solutions.

Cartman83 · Jun 23, 2005, 10:05 PM // 22:05

Well, those NC Soft tech support guys told me to download a memory testing program at this website http://hcidesign.com/memtest/. After running the test, it apparently found errors in my RAM, which memtest86 did not. And so I went out today and got a new stick of RAM, installed it, and tried playing GW with it (note: only the new RAM was inside my comp). Within 10 minutes the game crashed to the desktop on me.

Fortunately the store I bought it from will allow me to return the RAM for a full refund, but I am still completely confused as to what could be causing my errors. Anyone have any ideas?

Krakn3Dfx · Jun 23, 2005, 10:50 PM // 22:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by tcharnle

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,

Heh, that's great. One post, and it's about some lawsuit against NCSoft over some random problems that could be related to a thousand different problems. For every player that's crashing out for no known reason, there are probably 100 or more who have zero problems with the game. Instead of trying to instigate some lawsuit, you could try to read the posts and offer assistance to the people who have issues.

Shadowbok · Jun 24, 2005, 12:00 AM // 00:00

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dirkiess

Did you run the driver cleaner before reinstalling the older Cat 4.11 drivers. THis will completely uninstall all the drivers and the Control Center software. This should help fix this problem.

Thanks for the help. I did run driver cleaner after uninstalling the 5.6 drivers. After about 30 seconds or so, it gave me the "finished" message. *shrug*

Dirkiess · Jun 24, 2005, 01:23 AM // 01:23

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shadowbok

Thanks for the help. I did run driver cleaner after uninstalling the 5.6 drivers. After about 30 seconds or so, it gave me the "finished" message. *shrug*

Sounds about right. As long as you chose the right settings for your card whether it's ATI or Nvidia, it doesn't take long for it to clean out all the files.

I remember having this problem myself as I also run ATI cards. Why it should cause errors I don't know, but the only thing I can remember is something to do with an incompatible driver in the Control Center that isn't working with the drivers you installed.
The only way I remember getting rid of it, was to uninstall the drivers, do a complete clean up of my PC, defrag, clean out all the temp files etc and a check disk and then rerun the install. I had tried it several times, but eventually I got it working.
The only thing I can really think that is causing the problem, is something in the registry and quite possibly the uninstall and reinstall several times fixed it.

As for your situation, trial and error and see how you get on with it.

As far as the control center goes, it's not really necessary to get the card working, only if you require to setup certain DirectX or OpenGL features.

Dirkiess · Jun 24, 2005, 11:16 AM // 11:16

Ok, just to update my previous post regarding the ATI Catalyst Control center.

Something strange has happened lately on my machine and I keep getting errors regarding the Microsoft .Net software. It keeps giving off an error message when I shut down that it can't shut this service down, so I have to cancel it to shutdown.

The only things I have done recently is to update the ATI Drivers, Reinstall the Zone Labs software due to some error with the software starting and Guild Wars Updates. I haven't changed anything else on my machine.

It doesn't cause me any problems in the game, but I was wondering, that as a lot of people are running XP and ATI I know for sure uses this software for there Control Center software, this is what i was thinking.

Uninstall the .Net Framework software, reboot your machine and then try and run Guild Wars and see if you hit any problems with the game then.
If you do, then uninstall the ATI drivers, run the Driver cleaner software and then reinstall your ATI drivers and see if this changes anything.
You may get an error when you boot up that the ATI control center is not working, but don't worry, this won't affect your ability to use the Graphics Drivers, it just doesn't let you access certain aspects of the card due to the way the ATI control center works.

Another option would be to uninstall both pieces of software and just run the Windows Based ATI drivers and see how the game performs or even if any errors occur.

If not of this helps, then I suggest installing the .Net Framework Software and then the update before you install the ATI drivers just in case if affects anything in the Registry on how it performs with the .Net software.

As for Nvidia users, I have no idea if the Forceware uses the .Net Framework software in the same manner as ATI, but it could still be a good idea to uinstall this piece of software to see if it affects anything in game at all.

I know it's possible none of this will work, but it's worth a shot as it's the only other thing I know of other than the OS that is on a lot of machines that are having some sort of Graphics Crash or Machine Lock Up problem.

Lets hope this helps to fix some peoples problems.

I'll be reinstalling my .Net Framework software to see if this stops my errors from occuring on shutdown.

Mr. Buttons! · Jun 24, 2005, 05:51 PM // 17:51

*UPDATE*

The Techies at NCSoft told me that I should install VIA chipset drivers and see if it would solve the problem.

I installed them, restarted my computer, and then attempted to play Guild Wars. I noticed about a 10 - 15 FPS boost, and then after 15 minutes of play, I got the BSOD.