Curse

Kaliuga · Jan 20, 2008, 04:08 AM // 04:08

I use to play WoW and it would crash randomly every 2-3 hours, or within 30 minutes of playing. I didnt mind it much, but then i installed Guild Wars and now when i start it up, my resolution for the game is mess up, and theres a black cross dividing my screen, where i see quarter of the games login screen in for parts of the screen. and when im at the login, my computer will stop responding, and everything stops, and im forced to shut my comp down after 3 seconds of being at the login screen. I cleaned out the inside of the comp and i thought overheating was the problem, but it still crashes. I dont know what to think of now. Heres my comp specs

Intel Pentium 4 Processor 3.0E GHz w Hyper Threading
Windows XP Home Ed. w SP2
Nvidia GeForce 7800 GS 256MB
512 Ram
148 GB Free Space
Directx 9

Songbringer · Jan 20, 2008, 04:21 AM // 04:21

it sounds to me like ur vid card but i looked at minimum and reccomended specs on back of factions box....looks like u meet them as far as i can tell. srry i couldnt b more help. i would call up gw's tech support might just be a setting on ur comp

Nanood · Jan 20, 2008, 09:07 AM // 09:07

I would be guessing ram. I had exactly the same problem. Machine would run without a hitch but load up GW and i was lucky to get logged in before a hard lockup and restart.

Swift Thief · Jan 20, 2008, 02:38 PM // 14:38

Your video card is fine. It's probably the RAM.

Kaliuga · Jan 21, 2008, 12:58 AM // 00:58

Ok, so how what should i do from here? just get a new ram stick and just replace the one i have? or is there a way i can save my RAM and fix it?

Roderick Bravehart · Jan 21, 2008, 01:20 AM // 01:20

All you need to do is go out to your nearest electronics store. You probably have two slots for ram, so just put the new one right next to the old one, it'll just click right in. There's no need to 'save' the ram either, since it's only used when your computer is turned on anyways. It's a fairly easy process.

Kaliuga · Jan 21, 2008, 02:12 AM // 02:12

I know, but if the RAM i have is causing problems, shouldnt i get rid of it if its causing my comp to crash?

Ekelon · Jan 21, 2008, 02:51 AM // 02:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaliuga

I know, but if the RAM i have is causing problems, shouldnt i get rid of it if its causing my comp to crash?

Well, we don't know whether it's your memory stick problem or whether it's not enough RAM. I would say try buying a new RAM, replacing it. If that doesn't work, try combining the two.

hurdlebeast · Jan 21, 2008, 02:51 AM // 02:51

buy another stick, and put both them in. if you are still having problems, put the new stick in place of the old stick, and see if it works. if it does, the old stick is bad. if not, you just upgraded your comp

btw, make sure if you are only using one stick of ram that it is in the "bank 0" slot, should be marked on your mobo.

Freke · Jan 21, 2008, 02:53 AM // 02:53

Buy another ram stick, make it run on a single core, or clean out your computer

last two i've seen in the past

Kaliuga · Jan 26, 2008, 12:08 AM // 00:08

I bought a 1gb ram stick, took out the 512mb ram, still crash after 3 seconds of opening it up.

lordpwn · Jan 26, 2008, 01:19 AM // 01:19

Did you check if all the coolers in the comp were properly attached? If one of them is a bit loose the part could still stay cool enough in desktop use to remain stable, but running a game tends to warm your computer quite a bit.

Pentium 4 CPUs have a thermal throttling feature that should prevent it from failing due to gradual overheating - it would just slow down a LOT - so I'd check the video card first.

There's also the possibility the video card's crashing for some other reason - either a bizarre driver bug (you _did_ try updating them or using older drivers, right?) or the card's faulty in some way that causes it to fail, and with its failure the video card driver crashes, freezing the comp.

Kaliuga · Jan 26, 2008, 01:34 AM // 01:34

"You received this message because a device driver installed on your computer caused the Windows operating system to stop unexpectedly. This type of error is referred to as a "stop error." A stop error requires you to restart your computer."

That showed up when my comp stop and i was forced to restart.

" You may receive one of the following Stop error messages in Windows XP:
STOP 0x000000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER

STOP: 0x100000EA THREAD_STUCK_IN_DEVICE_DRIVER_M"

"CAUSE
This issue might occur if the graphics adapter is caught in an infinite loop while it waits for the video hardware to become idle. This issue typically indicates a problem with the video hardware or that the graphics adapter cannot program the hardware correctly."

Showtime · Jan 26, 2008, 01:44 AM // 01:44

A few points to consider.

HEAT: If your coolers/fans are covered with dust or even if they are clean, you might have a heat problem. That would explain your lockups after 3 hours of wow. Clean all your coolers and make sure enough cool air is getting into your case.

RAM: You might have bad ram. Mem test it.
You should also be running 1 gig of it for xp or better yet 2 gigs if possible. You don't need any more than 2 gigs for xp.

Drivers: Your drivers may be corrupted or old. This mainly applies to your video card and/or motherboard. Update your video drivers, but 1st completely remove the video card (not physically) and their drivers or you might get mixed drivers.

Google is your friend if you need help with any of this.

Snograt · Jan 26, 2008, 01:47 AM // 01:47

Hum.

1 - try updating drivers for your 7800GS.

2 - buy new graphics card.

The extra RAM was a good investment anyway, more is nearly always better.

Kaliuga · Jan 26, 2008, 01:53 AM // 01:53

Air dusted my comp, Updated Graphics Card, bought 1gb of ram, replaced the 512mb i had, still crashes, dont know about the drives or what drivers for that matter.

So if im still crashing after putting in just the 1gb stick, i can put the 512mb back in for more ram?

Snograt · Jan 26, 2008, 02:20 AM // 02:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaliuga

Air dusted my comp, Updated Graphics Card, bought 1gb of ram, replaced the 512mb i had, still crashes, dont know about the drives or what drivers for that matter.

Sticky at the top of this very forum, but for your card, go here - http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

Quote:

Originally Posted by Kaliuga

So if im still crashing after putting in just the 1gb stick, i can put the 512mb back in for more ram?

Yes, but with some provisos. If the 512 stick is a slower speed than the gig, the whole lot will run at the slower speed. Ideally you would go for 2 identical 1GB sticks, but that depends on your motherboard as to whether it would really benefit you.