Curse

buddhakl · Jun 16, 2008, 05:29 AM // 05:29

So, since I got this computer last year, I haven't had any problems running Guild Wars or any other program, and when this problem started I hadn't done anything different with my computer (no new programs or system changes or anything). Then starting a couple of weeks ago, whenever I play Guild Wars in fullscreen mode (doesn't matter what resolution, it does it with them all) the game runs for a dozen seconds or so and then my entire computer locks up. The sound keeps right on playing, but I can't do anything with my computer except hard power-off (no alt-tab, no windows button, no ctrl-alt-del). The thing is though, all other games/programs run just fine and if I play Guild Wars in windowed mode everything is great for as long as I wanna play, with the exception that I hate playing windowed. I read through some of the suggestions posted through the forums, and I defragged my hard drive including my gw.dat file and it solved my problem for almost a week, then it came back again. I've defragged my dat file again, deleted the dat file and re-downloaded with -image, re-downloaded the game client, uninstalled and reinstalled the game, uninstalled and reinstalled the latest vid card drivers, virus scanned with updated McAfee Total Protection (please no brand loyal fanboys with useless comments, I couldn't care less what your most favoritest uberleet virus program is), and spyware checked with updated Ad-Aware, SpybotS&D, and Windows Defender. Everything has come up clean and nothing so far has helped solve it, and I'm at my wits' end. If anyone has any suggestions, I'm all ears.

Basic computer specs:
Gateway desktop w/Windows 32-bit Vista Ultimate, SP1 with all updates
4 gigs RAM, Intel Core2 Extreme QX6700 CPU
Pair of ATI Radeon X1950's in Crossfire w/Catalyst 8.5 Suite (latest drivers as of this post)

bcelmo · Jun 16, 2008, 09:28 AM // 09:28

Something similar happened to me on Friday. After playing GW for 2-3 hours, in fullscreen, of course, the game exited to windows by itself, while the sound was still playing. It did not freeze the whole computer though, i could end the process from the ctrl+alt+del menu.
Thing is this never happened before to me. Since i started playing guild wars 3 years ago i changed 2 different motherboards+cpu and 3 different graphics cards, all of them ATI. I was playing on a computer with an X1950. I think they introduced an incompatibilty with X1950 with one of the updates, because after that i played on a HD3870 for 10 hours with no problem. As you have x1950 i think the problem is from there.
I suggest you use an old set of drivers ... maybe Catalyst 8.2, because the problem could be from Ati itself

uzumaki · Jun 16, 2008, 12:15 PM // 12:15

This happened to me too, i swaped gfx card and the problem dissapeared. Try a different card if u have one. What does it says in event veiwer after you crash? I have a feeling it might be an ati driver error. There is a known problem with newer ATI drivers which can cause frequent errors, try rolling back to version 7.6 (these are the latest drivers which dont have the problem). Make sure to do a clean install, uninstall catalyst and ati display driver from add/remove programs, reboot into safe mode, driver clean, reboot then install.

hope this helps ~~

buddhakl · Jun 17, 2008, 11:59 PM // 23:59

Well now it's doing it to any game I run in fullscreen, including sometimes when the screensaver runs. Fantastic.

Lord Sojar · Jun 18, 2008, 12:15 AM // 00:15

Sounds like a Vista issue. The OS has a weird functionality I am having an issue with. It can play itself in different tones, and comes in a variety of issues. Your best bet is to update your motherboard BIOS and drivers. This will force Vista to reload your hardware listings. This should fix the issue. If it persists after this, let us know.

Snograt · Jun 18, 2008, 01:20 AM // 01:20

Another thought - are you running short of hard drive space? That could explain why defragging the .dat worked once.

Also - disable the screensaver while you're gaming. Not the cause of the problem, but always a good idea.

I tell you what gets my goat - playing in fullscreen and the virus checker decides to tell you it's updated its definitions. Makes my GW flicker like hell while the pop-up pops up and pops back down. Odd behaviour.