Curse

Loner · May 14, 2005, 07:02 PM // 19:02

I've got the exact same error as these 2 guys. I found that alt-tabbing and lowering my graphics setting and sound volumes help me to last a little bit longer before the crash but not much.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Netspider

I get the exact same problem, ~ once a day
first the mousecursor gets inverted (with rectangle around it) and the SFX are lost
then I get random graphic errors with flickering walls on the screen
some minutes ago a refrigerator dropped (white rectangle) instead of a white scythe.

I can play for some more minutes, but as soon as I want to take a screenshot I get this bluescreen (no text, NUM_LOCK doesn't work anymore -> must reset)
I also got the bluescreen when targetting an enemy.

I got the problem once in town, pressing CTRL showed only black rectangles instead of player names, every other time I was out of town doing a quest or so.

My PC runs at 35°C in idle mode and passed several stability tests.
I have temperature controlled fans and they can really cool down the components.

But now to something I noticed when reading the quoted posting:
my computer specs are nearly the same as the other one:

AMD Athlon 64 Newcastle 3200+ (not OC'ed)
2*512MB DDR Twinmos PC3200 CL2.5
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro (Omega 2.6.12) - Powercolor

I installed the game using the webdownload and now I try the cd's

Cu, Netspider

Anduril · May 14, 2005, 07:03 PM // 19:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by Rememdium

I'm in the same boat. Random reboots within 10 minutes of playing usually. I've never seen a BSOD, it just goes black and makes me hard reboot or reboots itself.

I've done everything they've asked and everything that I've read on every GW forum. Nothing's helped.

Tech Support, while being very prompt, has been extremely frustrating because they insist it's a problem with my power supply. Granted, my computer doesn't have the greatest power supply in the world (200W, it's a small form-factor case by Shuttle), but I've never had any issues with any other games. They're trying to tell me that their menu screen draws more power than 200+ heroes in one place all with power effects going off in City of Heroes? If that's not something wrong with the code, I don't know what is.

The other reason I don't think it's a power problem is because when the game runs, it runs BEAUTIFULLY. I run 1280x1024, 4AA, everything on High except reflections and shadows (Default and Medium respectively) and it's silky smooth.

For the record:
Athlon 2400+
ATi Radeon 9800 Pro
1GB DDR (2 sticks of 512, one Crucial, one Centon)

I've also got a PCI slot fan and a TDK 880N DVD burner in the computer, but both are disconnected right now just in case it's a power issue. Considering disconnecting them has had no noticeable affect on the game, (yet again) I don't think it's a power issue.

What really pisses me off is their insistence that it's my problem and not theirs. I just asked them straight out in an email, "Are you really going to tell me that there isn't even the slightest, most remote chance that this could possibly be a problem with the game client?"

Let's see how they respond to that one.

That definately sounds like a PSU problem. I have a 350 Watt with a 9800 pro 128... and I can't run AA or AF. The 9800 pro requires a 350. I would get a new PSU... seriously.

LtMansson · May 16, 2005, 08:19 AM // 08:19

I've solved my problem now. It was not CPU temp, but board temp.
Happy happy, joy joy.

Still a few drop outs though, but that's probably something that will be remedied later on by ncsoft.

aeroclown · May 17, 2005, 02:51 AM // 02:51

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mojofilter

Read this thread:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s...2&page=1&pp=25

Its all of 12 pages long, and more than one person in this thread has reinstalled windows to no avail.

Reinstalling Windows painless?? Not for me. With the large capacity drives on the market people are installing more software than ever on a system. Reinstalling Windows means having to reinstall and update all of your software, along with the pleasant experience of getting all of the MS service packs and security updates, which can take hours. I tend to do a fresh install every 6 to 8 months depending on how much new hardware Ive bought, and my current install of Windows is only about 2 months old as I have just rebuilt my system with new Mobo, processor, memory, keyboard, mouse and monitor. Funny how one little 6800GT can make you "need" a whole new system.

lol

Just a suggestion.

As far as big system drives go *shrugs* I have a total of about half a terabyte on each computer nad IT IS painless. Then again I have been doing service and repair for a really long time to so I guess its just like walking and chewing bubble gum.

More or less this was just a suggestion though, I havn't read many threads about this problem, I just saw no mention of a reinstallation of windows. Understand this well though refreshing an installation of windows by reinstalling over the exsisting version of windows if distinctly different from wiping and installing windows, which is what you seem to have suggested. I am aware that many prefab systems do not offer the option to simply refresh your installation of windows however. They only send you along with restore disk that do eactly that wipe and restore. So my suggestion may be rather intensive for those who are unable to simple refresh the installation they have by performing a reinstallation of windows itself.

I still can't find a constant that suggest it to be the game client itself, its seems more likely to be an interaction of the client with something in the software system level of the computer. The real question is what piece of software is not interacting with the client in the intended manor if there are a relatively equal number of users who can run the game with out an error. It suggest that the error itself is related to some piece of core software on the system that interacts with hardware output. It may or may not be the fault of the client of course.

*shrugs*

Rememdium · May 17, 2005, 03:20 AM // 03:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by Anduril

That definately sounds like a PSU problem. I have a 350 Watt with a 9800 pro 128... and I can't run AA or AF. The 9800 pro requires a 350. I would get a new PSU... seriously.

Bullfeathers.

My comp has a 230W power supply and I'm running a 9800 Pro 128. It runs the game with 4AA and AF on at 1280x1024 beautifully.

Now if they could only fix my random reboot problem... and yes, before you say anything, I've tried a more powerful power supply. My problem was not fixed by a 400W power supply, further convincing me that the problem is in the client.

FuriousSam · May 17, 2005, 07:03 AM // 07:03

When I first installed the game I had random reboots as well. Then when I saw the BSOD with the error message 0x000000c5, I looked up on the MSN database and use vertifier to fix my problem from what they suggested. The program basically enabled Special Pool for my video driver. Ever since then I have had no random reboots whatsoever and the game experience is great. I am not suggesting that everybody will have no problem using vertifier, but it might be something that people should look into that has not mentioned in the forums.

Mysk · May 17, 2005, 08:52 AM // 08:52

FYI : I have had one error in Guild Wars which automatically launched a page on their website.

This page explained that Guild Wars deliberately does mathmatical calculations in the background. It says that Guild Wars does stress your hardware more than other games.

For more information about this page, go here:
http://www.guildwars.com/support/hardware-failure.html

These types of tests, in my opinion, make GW more unstable than other titles currently available. In no other game do I experience so many crashes, dumps to desktops or BSODs. At this point I have been unable to complete any of my character's missions because the game crashes or dumps me to a blue screen before I am able to.

If they got rid of these tests then they'd get rid of some of their stability problems. In my opinion, these tests are absurd.

Yes, I have some RAM issues. Yes, I occasionally have problems in other games. I was aware of this before I bought GW and I don't need software consistantly crashing to let me know about it. Guild Wars' system of running tests while you're playing, however, significantly exacerbates hardware issues. I'm REALLY tired of the crashes & BSODs.

This post is somewhat of a rant. I'm getting rather annoyed over this issue. I hope that the rantish tone doesn't distract from the info.

~Ak

Jedgar · May 17, 2005, 11:35 AM // 11:35

I am getting crash problems but none of them are BSOD's or restarts.

One of 2 things will happen - the game with suddenly lock up so you're looking at a static image, or it will dump to a black screen, remain that way for a few moments then the signal from the graphics card is lost. You can still hear the sound though. Both require switching off at the plug and typically happen after about 30 mins.

I don't think it's a heat issue as more intense games like HL 2 and Doom 3 can run for hours on end without the rig overheating. I'm waiting for ATI to release Catalyst 5.5 but I don't think that's going to help to be honest.

And specs wise:

P4 3.4Ghz /w Hyper-threading
1G DDR400 RAM
80G Samsung 7200
ATI X800 XT PE
Antec TruBlue 480w PSU

Svenn · May 17, 2005, 02:50 PM // 14:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mysk

For more information about this page, go here:
http://www.guildwars.com/support/hardware-failure.html
....
If they got rid of these tests then they'd get rid of some of their stability problems. In my opinion, these tests are absurd.

<rant>

Assuming the GW statement is entirely true, I do not have an issue with the concept of the testing itself. However, I am curious as to why these unique testing algorithms would be build into the game at considerable effort and then this web page not start showing up until weeks after the game went live (there have only been posts re it for the last couple of days). Why would you not have plain-english error messages built into the game (i.e. "You have experienced a hardware error. Please visit the GW Support site section X.") or else have this simple web page call ready to go during beta? Yes, sometimes hardware errors cause a reboot, but there are still ways to log the error and get a message to the user. Hard to believe that they intentionally coded the game to freeze up and go splat with no conventional error handling whatsoever. Not to mention all the people that say that they played fine during beta and then started having "hardware errors" after the game was put into production.

Secondly, the marketing of this product irritates me. The minimum and recommended specs are a joke. The game is sitting on the shelf, accessible to anyone, in over 3000 Wal-Marts nationwide and nowhere does it say on the box: "This game will stress your system like no other." "Your one-fan, slim-line Dell system is going to melt down when you play." "Your top-rated video card will need extra cooling." "Doom 3? Hardware childs' play..." "You'll need to make a substantial investment in hardware to have fun playing this game unless you bought your system in the last 180 days." "Laptop? Heh."

After Kotor II [talk about a horribly buggy game release], I was planning to rebuild my system anyway. Nonetheless, I feel bad for all the kids with minimal or no income that use their allowance to pick up this game and play with their friends...and then can't even play for five minutes without major problems and can't complete a mission in a human party, even though they have broadband and their systems meet the published specs. The reasonably prudent person doesn't expect to play at the highest settings if you don't have a cutting edge system, but you DO expect to be able to play. Yes, yes, hardcore gamers and knowledgeable IT folks know that software specs are optimistic at best, but this game is being marketed to and has already been sold to hundreds of thousands of people who don't fit in that category. So, all this "it's your system" finger-pointing rubs me the wrong way, even if it is true.

</rant>

Loviatar · May 17, 2005, 05:29 PM // 17:29

NOTE TO EVERYBODY using Sandra

if you check an independant temperature monitoring utility such as your bios temps or the utility that came with the motherboard you will find in many cases the readings for the cpu and motherboard are inverted

as the person who reported his cpu was only 34 degrees but his motherboard was higher for example

my own log is showing only 1-2 degrees rise in the motherboard and 4-6 degrees rise in cpu temp

my utilities are showing my cpu at 48 C and the motherboard is showing 36 C

Sandra is showing 36 C for the cpu and 48 C for the motherboard

at least the numbers agree

to the person who watched his motherboard temp go up it was most likely this switch that happened and your cpu was shooting up not your motherboard temps

edit

for the last half hour my temps have been flat at 36 and 48
and the cpu has been at 100 percent the whole time

Lestaticon · May 17, 2005, 05:45 PM // 17:45

After doing a ton of research on this myself, rather than resorting to rumor, hearsay, or pseudo-science, I found and used a few bits of interesting information which has stopped the "infinite loop" blue screens which would, even though very rarely, happen while playing guild wars for any long length of time.

For reference, my motherboard uses a VIA chipset and I'm using a nvidia 6800GT video board. From what I've read, though, the info I found apparently affects all modern video cards and chipsets. So I feel it's worth a try.

If you do a search on google for Rx55, or Register 55, you will come up with a lot of info, resulting in learning that this has been an ongoing issue for years.

Anyway, VIA released a beta mini driver which closes the register 55.
You can download it from the via website:
http://downloads.viaarena.com/driver...st_driver1.zip

Before I post the contents of the readme in just a moment, I will say that this little driver actually stopped the rare blue screen errors I was getting. However, make sure you understand, this can't patch up an already weak/faulty system. You need to correct outstanding problems before relying on this patch. (heat, poor voltage, insufficient voltage, memory timing, faulty hardware, etc)

The contents of the "readme" file present in the download above:

Quote:

This is a BETA patch only - NOT an official release. If you downloaded this patch anywhere apart from the VIA Arena forums, please visit http://forums.viaarena.com/ for more information.

VIA Technologies, Inc. takes no responsibility for the use of this patch.

Hi All,

I have an update for you. Thanks for being so patient. Here is a beta patch. I must stress very strongly the word BETA here. This patch has to go through more testing in Taiwan from several departments before it is released officially and in fact will probably end up being a silent install patch in the next version of the 4in1 drivers – that is if further rigorous testing proves that it is in fact a fix to this issue. If you choose to install this patch on your computer, you do so at your own risk and full responsibility yourself. Speaking frankly, normally new fixes, patchs, drivers and the like are never released beta to the public. We do not like to use end users as guinea pig testers so to speak. However, many people in these forums have asked for the details and you have all been very patient and helpful in giving me information so out of respect for you I am making it available as a beta fix. To install it, unzip the file and run the setup.exe Do not run the setup from the compressed folder.

So what does it do? It closes the RX55 memory register in BIOS. The RX55 register's official name and function is Memory Write Queue (MWQ) timer. The MWQ timer is actually a timing device included in the memory host controller to prevent write data being held in the memory queue too long. After the data has been in the queue too long it times out. This timed out data is then given a higher write request priority. Now that might sound nice – a bit of extra performance BUT the procedure fails when overloaded. 3D games and Win XP put too much load on the memory queuing timer procedure. The nVidia new driver exaggerates the problem even more as the driver enables nVidia cards to use even more memory than previous driver versions.

So in a nutshell it’s a memory timing problem that only happens when the RX55 register is opened. Some motherboard manufacturers have already released new BIOS that have the register closed. In other instances, this patch is needed.

One thing I have noticed is that I think some people in this thread are confusing one issue with the issue that I am referring to here. Symptoms I am talking about are the infinite loop error, dropping to desktop in 3D games or spontaneous reboot in 3D games. What I strongly suggest is that you try these trouble shooting suggestions before trying the patch:

- Load optimized defaults in your BIOS and do not modify memory settings
- set your memory settings in the BIOS less aggressively and test
- make sure you have an adequate power supply
- update your BIOS and test
- disable or enable AGP fast write and test (this has worked for some people)

The reason that I make these suggestions is that I think some people are confusing general instability because their systems are being pushed to the max, with this error. For example, if you have a 250watt power supply, 128mb RAM and have all your memory settings at max then you may be asking for trouble – the symptoms may be similar to this issue but it’s not the same. If you still get the issue after gong through these suggestions then try the beta patch (if you want to – remember it is BETA).

This thread I think has broken a new record in these forums. I am going to lock it but also keep it at the top of the category so that it’s easily available to people as there’s quite a lot of useful information in it. I’ll also start a new thread with this announcement so that no one misses it.

From: http://forums.viaarena.com/messagevi...&threadid=3759

Mysk · May 17, 2005, 08:37 PM // 20:37

What it does, Svenn, is the game simply closes with no warning and suddenly your web browser is on screen. It was quite a confusing moment for me.

It wouldn't be quite as bad if your character would remain in its location for about 5 minutes so you could log back in and continue your progress. Restarting at the last outpost/city is a pain in the arse. :|

I done the VIA patch some time ago.

I DO plan on buying some new RAM but until then the last thing that I need is some program deliberately kicking the wound, you know? :-/ Again, as with others, these problems are not at all anywhere near as bad in other games. DOOM 3, Half-Life 2, even MMORPGs rarely dumped/BSOD/locked on me. In GW it's a guarantee.

/sigh
'nuff ranting I suppose. Just have to wait until they stop these silly background stress tests and/or do whatever else to fix the problem. At least I'm not paying monthly for it.

edit: I should mention again that the web page was displayed to me only once during its many crashes.