Print Page - Extensive crash problem

Hello everybody! (in a Simpson mood...)

I've had crashing problems on and off for about a year, and I'm getting so sick of them. I don't know how many times I've uninstalled and reinstalled, emptied my downloads folder etc etc. For a while it seemed to be overheating of my graphics card, as it got better if I cleaned the fan and played the game with a "cold" computer (not having it turned on for hours before playing). I even bought a more powerful fan for it (the graphic card). I can deal with crashes now and then, but not when I can't even play 10 RL minutes without getting one. Especially since it doesn't matter if I currently have only the base game or any EPs installed, empty or full downloads folder, with ot without patches, am in build/buy/play mode or neighbourhood view, CAS or whatever. I cancelled my preorder of OFB a week ago, since I can't see any point wasting money on that when I can't play the game and EPs I already have. I have a fairly good computer with 1 GB of RAM, a 256 Radeon 9600, 200 GB storage, 3 GHz Pentium 4 CPU. And since nothing else is behaving strange except for sims, it shouldn't be my computer, I don't think. I know it's just a game, but it's my stress reliever, or at least it used to be, but now it's the main reson for causing stress instead. I'm really at the end of my rope here. ??? I've been looking for solutions for a year, but can't find anything that works for me (yes, I always search for answers before asking in a post ;)).

It'd be good karma to make any suggestions. ;)

Did you check the date that add/ remove programs has listed as last used date? I just went through the BFBVFS repeatedly in a weeks span and did the usual "remedies" and nothing worked! So after talking with EA Tech support on the phone repeatedly we discovered that the dat of last use for Uni and NL was 3/30/2069 some 63 years in the future :o it turned out that a scratch was on Uni and NL disks and it damaged the date stamp on the disk so the computer couldnt read it . the game wouldnt play or load correctly without crashing just minutes into play because of the damage to the disc's.my daughter bought brand new copies of Uni and NL .I installed them and the game has been humming along ever since.you might want to clean the discs and check them for scratches.as certain files onthe disc are crucial to gameplay .

Well, my game doesn't crash even if the PC gets a bit hot, lags a bit and complains until I give it a rest, but no crashing.

One thought occurs, how did you uninstall/reinstall? did you do it from the disk, or did you just uninstall from the control Panel? If you did that, and by some lucky chance were able to reinstall, the chances are you now have a double entry in your registry which could be the problem.

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ZephyrZodiac, I must confess I don't really get what you mean. How did you solve it and how did you find out that was the reason for your problems?

Oh, I wasn't the brains who solved that one, it was the guy who built my PC! And it had to be rebuilt with a new motherboard and new power unit etc.

Strange - I wrote a post in addition to what Bangelnuts said, but it's not showing... Anyway, my game dates are old, NL and uni dates to about 2 months ago (late December).

I actually don't remember how I uninstalled. But I've uninstalled and reinstalled many, many times due to TS2 crash problems. Is it in regedit I can see if I have double entries? I seem to have a EA GAMES folder and a Electronic Arts folder with the EA GAMES folder inside. Is that what you mean? If this is my problem, how do I solve it? Will another uninstallation via the CDs be enough?

Did your computer show any signs of the power/motherboard problem when not playing TS2?

Eventually I had problems loading windows at all, but it was spasmodic enough for me to be able to get into the PC and back most stuff up. Then, sometimes the game would load and run for a while, sometimes it crashed immediately I tried to load it. there was no real pattern.

Duplicate registry entries would be in regedit if you know where to look - I personally don't, but I did get a program called RegCleaner which finds these kind of files. As far as I remember, I have only one entry for the base game, each EP and Homecrafter. If you have any of them duplicated, it could cause crashing.

One thing you did not mention.... are you playing with the same neighbourhood in all of those scenarios you mentioned ?

If so you might try creating a new user on your computer ( I assume you have XP) and starting a game there. See if the problem re-occurs. If it doesn't reoccur then there is a problem with your game file.

If it does reoccur, then your program is either with your installation, (unlikely since you've reinstalled a gazillion time) or it's a PC/Driver issue.

Also please check your Sim log files (\Documents and Settings\name\My Documents\EA Games\The Sims 2\Logs). See if the AppErrors.log has anything that would shed some light on the situation.

Try me test. It's important to determine if the problem is with your current neighbourhood or not

I don't understand what you mean by saying that you haven't had any real problems since you updated your video drivers - you're still getting frequent crashes, correct? If it is the driver crashing it has absolutely nothing to do with game performance otherwise.

What I want to know is precisely what happens when you get a crash. It sounds like you get an error message - what is it, exactly? What also happens when the error message pops up - does the game lock up, does the music stop or keep going, does the game terminate and go back to the desktop but the computer is otherwise fine, or does it change your screen resolution? Also, it would be helpful to know at what point these crashes started happening to you - soon after you got the game or after playing it for days/weeks/months.

Try Angelyne's suggestion first, though. That's and easy one to do and easy to get out of the way if it turns out not to help.

I guess you've already thought of most of this and I admire the quality of the help you're getting. I'm posting some simple stuff you've probably already thought of - mainly in sympathy.

Sims2 doesn't like other programs running in the background and it likes to have plenty of disk space to save into as well. I know people who have to close down their firewall as well as their virus checker msn and the kitchen sink to play. Mine dumps me to desktop occasionally if I leave the viruschecker running. Before I upgraded the PC it used to crash. I also came across a couple of people who'd filled up the HD and were having problems.

I wouldn't bother setting up a new user account. I tend to move the whole sims2 folder to desktop. A whole new set of game files regenerates when you start the game.

another stupid question - does it ever crash when you are doing something else?

Quote from: Lythdan on 2006 February 23, 11:15:52

Eurgh, sorry to barge in here, but what exactly causes a driver to go into a 'infinite loop'? Is this what may be causing my VPU recovers? And I've beem having problems taking photos for a while, it takes about 3 minutes each time because it kinda clicks, clicks, clicks, clicks, clicks, clicks...then eventually FLASH.

I think it might be related to VPU recover, but when I had a crashing problem turning it off didn't do a thing - in either case I was getting a full system lockup or a crash to the desktop with an error message related to one of the drivers in the set and my resolution changed to 640x480. That's bad. I found out it was going into an infinite loop by looking in the system error logs, because the onscreen error message wasn't very verbose about it. VPU recover, when it works, prevents everything going tits up like that.

As for the direct cause of the infinite loops, I could only make wild guesses. It's something to do with how the game (and a few other newer games) communicates with the video drivers, as I have scads of other games that don't do this, but what it might be I have no idea.

Well, Radeon cards aren't really "mini-barneques" like NVidia cards, especially older ones such as the 9600 you're using. I have the same card, 256MB Pro version by Gigabyte, and it runs overclocked by 50 MHz (both core and memory) with only a heatsink to take up the heat, and I haven't had any problems. It used to run on ever higher frequencies, but I got "polygon spikes" when I was playing The Movies, so I lowered them frequencies a bit and it's running smooth again. Well, only an occasional crash now and then but hey, what else would you expect from Windoze?

Sorry for the late reply. My whole computer decided it didn't want anything to do with me anymore. Everything except TS2 has worked fine for me, but now it suddenly seems it's the harddrive that is fried, since nothing is working properly since the day before yesterday, not even after reformatting it and doing a clean install of XP. Can't install anything, and it crashes all the time. So I hope these frequent crashes I've had lately is due to that too (I might be able to afford a new drive...). When I got the game, I didn't have any problems with it until about a month after I got uni. At first it was the money trees, too many going kaching at once would terminate the game, but once I knew that was it I worked around it, and the patch solved it completely. Then there was the overheating, which got better when cleaning the video card fan. These resent crashes, that happens all the time, is different. Before I only got crashes in play mode. Never in CAS, neighbourhood view, build mode, while saving etc. And certainly not this often. What happens is that I get an error message saying the game will terminate., I click ok (or whatever it says) and it throws me back at the desktop immidiately. The music goes on as usual and nothing seems to happen to the game until I click ok on the error message. Yes, I've had crashes ever since last spring, but I still don't think it's the video card drivers since I should've got these problems sooner after updating them if that was the case. Too much time has passed since then, imo. But that said, I'm so very far from being a computer expert that I can't be sure of anything. ;)

I discovered something odd yesterday though. When running dxdiag (which tells me nothing is wrong...), it says "Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00 GHz (2 CPUs)" I went to look at System in my control panel, and it looks as if I really do have two CPUs (I have two identical entries under the CPU tab). It's a shame I didn't see this before the reformatting, as I don't know if this was the case before too. Does this means my computer thinks I really have two CPUs? Could this possibly be the seed of my problem, os is it simply a symptom of my harddrive losing it?

Quote from: Qosmic on 2006 February 24, 09:51:11

I discovered something odd yesterday though. When running dxdiag (which tells me nothing is wrong...), it says "Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 3.00 GHz (2 CPUs)" I went to look at System in my control panel, and it looks as if I really do have two CPUs (I have two identical entries under the CPU tab). It's a shame I didn't see this before the reformatting, as I don't know if this was the case before too. Does this means my computer thinks I really have two CPUs? Could this possibly be the seed of my problem, os is it simply a symptom of my harddrive losing it?

Nah, that's just the hyperthreading technology that most P4 processors utilize, and that entry is perfectly normal. Regarding your hard drive, does it sound at all funny? Can you perform a scandisk to check for bad sectors? Oh, and how powerful is your power supply unit? If it's old and/or low quality maybe these crashes are a sign that your PSU is kicking the bucket.

I'm not sure what you mean by sound funny, DrBeast. My computer has always been very loud, but I'm guessing that isn't the harddrive. Before my dad's harddrive got fried, he said it made strange chopping noises. Is that what you mean? The scandisk doesn't come up with anything. That's a bit strange if it's the harddrive, huh? My power supply unit is a year old. I bought all parts of the computer except for the CD ROM drives and the graphic card fan a year ago, so it's fairly new. Didn't put it together myself, it was a guy at the computer store where I bought it that did that. I'm not sure how powerful the power supply unit it is. Where can I find out?

Qosmic: yep, strange = grating, clicking, chopping sounds. To find out how powerful your PSU is, open the computer case (you've already done it before I assume, as you mentioned you cleaned the GPU fan, right?) and look for a tag on the PSU where it states brand, watt output, and possibly some voltage/amperage outputs as well. The tag is either on the side or on top of the PSU, so you might have to remove both and/or the top case pieces to view it.

ZZ: why on earth would a new PSU mean a new CPU and m/b?! Unless you decided to get the new CPU since you had the juice and the m/b because your old one didn't support the CPU...

Yeah... I'm afraid of that. It's never fun to have to spend a lot of money on something that 's not working, but in my case, I really don't have it. I can afford one or perhaps two new components if I only eat pasta this month (and I will, if I have to), but more than that is just impossible. I have nothing else than food to cut back on right now. Especially since I bought this one only a year ago only to be able to play TS2. I had just got my parent's old one, that was better than mine, and although it worked like a charm for everything else it made playing TS2 a pain in the butt, so I convinced my folks to loan me the money for a new one. And I haven't completely paid them back yet either... I was so careful when deciding where to buy it and what to put in it, did a lot of research and asked around in every single store in my town. But since I have very limited knowledge about hardware, I had to trust the sales people what they said I should get and how things should be, and sometimes too little knowledge means you don't know what questions to ask. I was all caught up in video cards, CPUs and RAM as that was what made the game so hard to play on the other one. And I was on a very strict budget, which was why I had to keep everything possible from the old one, like network card, CD drives, floppy and everything external like screen, keyboard, speakers etc.

Quote from: ZephyrZodiac on 2006 February 24, 11:23:02

When I first installled Sims2 I had very similar problems, even though I apparently had enough memory. In the end I had to have the whole system completely rebuilt (but luckily it only cost me the price of the parts as my friend's partner did it for me.) But I had to have a new Power Unit, which meant a new and more powerful CPU, which meant a new Motherboard! But in the process I also gained a second hard drive - less RAM, but otherwise functioning adequately for Sims2 without EPs.

Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 February 24, 11:40:19

No strange noises, no. I've checked the PSU, and although I was a little confused about all the text on it, I wrote down what seemed to be what you meant. It says it's a Macron MPT-550. Under Input it says 230V-4.5A 50 Hz and under Outut it says 550 W MAX. I'm Swedish and we usually have 230V 50 Hz sockets here, if that makes any difference.

Quote from: Qosmic on 2006 February 24, 12:00:48

Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 February 24, 11:40:19

Late reply, I was on a lunch break, sorry!
Well, even if your PSU was complete crap, I still think it'd be able to support your system with that kind of max output. Oh, and if you tried to plug in a 220V appliance to a power line with another voltage, it would either a) not work at all, b) get fried instantly, or c) the other two options combined! :P
OK, I'm out of ideas as to what to blame right now. Maybe a technician should take over from here.
Lycka till! 8)

Just in case anyone's interested (and because I feel like it ;)) : I went into town today and talked to some people in different computer stores. About 5 or 6 different places, I think. They all said that they suspect it's a bad RAM stick. Right now I'm debating with myself whether or not to pay $ 49 to get a technician to determine if that's what's wrong for sure, or to take a chance and buy a new stick myself. I'm leaning towards the first, although it probably means I won't have money for the stick itself for another month. I have two 512 sticks though, so even if it's the RAM, hopefully one of them is ok. As for the game, I do need a new disc. I feel awful about it, but I think I might do it anyway. It's a lot of money for a game I already have, but on the other hand, if I can't play, then the money I've already paid (for NL and uni too) is a waste, not to mention the subscription/donation downloads I've given in to over the past year. I've bookmarked a used copy on an online auction that I might bid on. The seller claims she's only installed it once so it's practically new. She's got good feedback, so perhaps this is an ok alternative. We'll see.

Hmm...you know, if it's a defect RAM stick you can find it out pretty easy. Here's what to do:
Turn off the computer and open the case. Remove one of the sticks carefully (try not to touch the area that connects to the motherboard). Prior to touching the RAM, touch a grounded metallic object (such as the radiator in your room for example) to remove any static electricity you might mave on you. Now, boot up your PC and let it run for a while (start up the game too for better results). Play around for some time. Shut down the PC. Remove static from self, switch the RAM stick with the one you removed previously, repeat process. If it's a defect stick you'll see crashes etc again. If not, 500 kronor to the technician, hehe.

I took out one of the RAM sticks, and oddly enough, the computer works faster now, with only half the RAM... But... It still crashes. Or rather, it restarts. Not as often as before, but it happens. I also get error messages saying things have been restored after a critical error. I did before too, I think I forgot to mention that. :-[ I'm gonna switch sticks tomorrow, and see if things are different then.

DrBeast - I'm connected to the internet with the same computer that crashes, yes.

angelyne - I haven't got the papers from when I bought the computer, unfortunately. I've moved to new cities two times since then, and I can't go back to the store I originally bought the parts from (and that put everything together for me). The papers got lost in the first move, I think. I was in a hospital and going through surgery at the time, so I had people helping me with packing and stuff.

You know what's weird? I'm working on exactly that problem. A laptop was brought to me with all the symptoms of defective ram. Computer was rebooting randomly among other things. Ran some tests which confirmed it. I sent for some replacement ram (both sticks) and replaced them. And the computer is still acting funky, refusing to load the user's profile, recovering from critical errors, etc. Finally swapped out the user's drive and put in a different laptop so the poor guy could get some work done. Still need to figure out what's wrong though. Might be the motherboard.

Might be the motherboard in your case as well. I hope not, because that's not simple or cheap to fix.

Couple more things to consider. Since you removed the memory stick, and you have a free slot, try using the same stick in a different slot. Also which of your slot is empty now? Some motherboard number them, zero, 1, 2 etc. Try using slot zero first. Also while you crack your hood open check to see if you have the 2 exact same model of memory.

Another thing to try is reboot into the bios (system configuration) and see if you have a reset to factory default option. Try that. Shouldn't hurt, unless you've customized your bios extensively (or it was done for you)..

Also go to the manufacturer of your motherboard and check to see if a bios update is available for your model. You can install it and pray your computer doesn't decide to reboot in the middle. If so you are royally screwed.

Edit: Found this for you. I was pretty much on target... check it out though. http://www.kingston.com/tools/umg/umg08.asp

Edit: Somehow, after trying to install for the 101th time, I managed to complete the process, so now TS2 is running again. I haven't played much yet, but I'm gonna spend a few hours doing so today, and hopefully it won't crash anymore.

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First of all, I wanna say thank you to everyone who's come with suggestions and taken the time to do their best to help me out with this.

Finally, after a week without a working computer, I have it back up and running again. Turned out to be hardware related, as I suspected. It gave up all together last Sunday, and I couldn't even start it anymore. Completely dead. I managed to borrow some money from my parents (partly borrowed, partly got an advance on my heritage... :-[ ), and took it to a computer repair place. Turned out to be the motherboard, so I had to buy a new one that they installed for me. According to their tests, everything else was working. My harddrive, RAM sticks, CPU etc. But after the motherboard took it's last deep breath, there was a burnt smell, and they told me they couldn't figure out why. If I understood them correctly, only thing that could cause that was the PSU, but when they tested it, it was fine. I decided to go for a new one just in case anyway, as I didn't want to risk having to turn it back in if it happened again and pay yet another repair and installation fee, on top of the cost for the PSU itself. So I've got a brand new one now. I also got a DVD burner (sick and tired of having tons of CD ROMs with all my downloads) and a new copy of TS2 (the scratch on my disc1 transformed into a crack), but this time on DVD. The computer seems to be working ok now, although I haven't done much yet, other than formatting the harddrive, installing XP and making sure all the needed drivers are in place.

But... I can't install TS2. I've tried 10-15 times already, but it seems impossible at this point. Two times I got as far as 98 % done. What happens is that the installation process freezes, and the computer stops responding. I can't do anything when that happens, except turn it off. Not even ctrl+alt+delete works. I've made sure to follow the steps of manual uninstallation exactly (deleting registry entries from regedit etc) after each try, before installing again. I've tried to install from the harddrive, but wasn't able to. I've cleaned the disc and I've cleaned the DVD burner. Since both are brand new, I don't know which one's causing this. I wish I knew, so I could go back to the store where I bought it (whether it's the game or the DVD burner) and get a new one.

If anyone has any ideas how to solve this, I'd very much appreciate if you shared it. ;)

Quote from: Qosmic on 2006 March 04, 01:58:21

I managed to borrow some money from my parents (partly borrowed, partly got an advance on my heritage... :-[ ), and took it to a computer repair place.

You swedes never cease to amaze me in this parents-children relationship when it comes to money. If I had that kind of problem, my folks would rather stay hungry so I could fix my computer, and that's pretty much the norm here in Greece! Yep, our parents really spoil us down here!

I certainly wouldn't let my parents go hungry so that I could play a game :)

It's certainly bizarre that you couldn't install the game. Shouldn't take 100 tries to get it. Keep your eye on your computer. Unfortunately, if it was indeed the PS that fried your motherboard (literally), it could have also messed up other components.

I hope not, because you certainly have had worse luck than anyone deserves with that computer of yours.

That's why it's sometimes better to go with a brand name computer like Dell. If something happens to it they fix it. If a faulty power supply fries half the components then they will replace them. If that happens on a system you built yourself, that's less likely to happen.

Oh...when you do install TS2 make sure you shut off everything that's running, including the anti-virus. Might be a program that is interfering.

Have you tried copying all the files onto the hard disk and installing from there? That's an EA suggestion and it sometimes works. Another easy thing to try is replacing install shield. This is my standard post on install fails at x% - you've tried the first bits I know. I hope it works for you soon!

' Here's the summary of what to do and a link to the full tech help page that spells it all out in detail:
1. first thing to do is to check the disk for scratches etc. It's possible you have a bad disk - if it is obviously damaged, take it back.
2. second thing is to close down everything else you have running including the virus checker, msn, quicktime etc. etc.
3. rename the install shield folder in program files\common files to installshieldold. That lets the Sims2 put the latest version onto your PC. - I've never heard anyone say that's what fixed their problem, but it's easy to do.
Then try an install. If that works, you're home free. If not try this
4. Copy the disk onto your hard drive - you need 6GB space! If it won't copy, you have a bad disk - take it back. If it copies OK, install from your harddrive llike EA tell you.

Here's a link to the EA help file.'
http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_faqid=7840&p_created=1095204523&p_sid=3mzYpWQh&p_lva=&p_sp=cF9zcmNoPTEmcF9zb3J0X2J5PSZwX2dyaWRzb3J0PSZwX3Jvd19jbnQ9NSZwX3Byb2RzPTcsNzAwLDAmcF9jYXRzPTAmcF9wdj0yLjcwMDszLnUwJnBfY3Y9JnBfc2VhcmNoX3R5cGU9YW5zd2Vycy5zZWFyY2hfbmwmcF9wYWdlPTEmcF9zZWFyY2hfdGV4dD1pbnN0YWxsIGVycm9yIHRyYW5zZmVy&p_li=&p_topview=1

Oh, don't get me wrong, my parents really wanted me to get a working computer, no matter what, but they're both on disability pension and my stepdad has been ill for many years now, so most of their savings have been spent on medicine and whatnot. I've always been short of money, while my siblings are not, so some of them see it as very unfair that I've gotten more than my share, so to speak.

I really wish I had a friend with a computer I could borrow to test things at times like this, but I've moved to a new city and don't know anyone here yet. Well, I sort of do, but no one I've spoken to for a number of years, and it seems a bit rude to call them up after such a long time just to take advantage of them like that. ;D

Since I've been able to install it, and the game runs fine now, I'll keep my fingers crossed and hope this was just a one time thing. I've put the receits in a safe place just in case though, to have them handy if it happens again. If it does, I will go to the store and tell them to dra åt helvete. ;D

Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 March 04, 15:07:57

Try installing the game at a friend's computer. If it installs there, something's wrong with your computer...again! If it doesn't, go get yourself a new copy (and tell them shopowners to dra åt helvete for the inconvenience they caused you!).

You swedes never cease to amaze me in this parents-children relationship when it comes to money. If I had that kind of problem, my folks would rather stay hungry so I could fix my computer, and that's pretty much the norm here in Greece! Yep, our parents really spoil us down here!

I hear you. Moving to a new place sucks. Done that a couple of times in my life. One such move involved a country jump (when I moved from Sweden to Greece, now you can stop wondering how come a greek knows swedish expressions, hehe!), and at the age of 12 it wasn't funny! But from my 12-year-long experience in Sweden, I've noticed that the general norm used to be "you're 18, now get yourself your own income and stop buggin us!". At least that was the norm in Stockholm suburbia back in the '80s. Completely opposite to the norm in Greece (and mediterranean countries in general, AFAIK). Anyway, hope things will work out for you! Being away from a favorite game is a real bitch, I know! I had to stay at my (computer-less) home during the weekend as my g/f's mom and sister decided to drop by, and I really can't wait till tomorrow when they'll go home! Oh well, at least I had the chance to read The Hitch-hiker's Guide to the Galaxy again. It's been AGES since I last read that trilogy!

Sorry for the late response. Since I got the game to work, I've been pretty much simming non stop. I'm gonna start study again in a short while (it's been years since last time), so I better seize the opportunity while I have some time on my hands. :)

;D I did wonder about the expressions. My theory was that you'd learned some because so many Swedish tourists come to Greece. So, you're born in Sweden/Stockholm by Greece parents, yeah? Stockholm is the city where I'm currently living, also in the suburb (Blackeberg/Bromma). I've almost moved to Ireland twice, but changed plans the last minute both times. As for Greece, all of my family except me has been there. I'm sure I will go some day too. I love to travel, when my starved wallet allows me. :)

That triology is on my "to read" list. I'm almost ashamed I haven't read it yet. I used to be a real bookworm. My younger sister always talk about it. But I have some severe issues with "should'ves", it can cause me to procrastinate everything, even fun stuff. I probably should see a therapist about it, but obviously I never do. :D

Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 March 05, 16:18:15

Quote from: Qosmic on 2006 March 12, 16:24:59

Studying? What's that? Ah yes, vaguely remember! I'm done studying since 2001! Now I'm researching, which is basically studying too but hey, it sounds WAY cooler doesn't it?!

Quote from: Qosmic on 2006 March 12, 16:24:59

;D I did wonder about the expressions. My theory was that you'd learned some because so many Swedish tourists come to Greece. So, you're born in Sweden/Stockholm by Greece parents, yeah? Stockholm is the city where I'm currently living, also in the suburb (Blackeberg/Bromma). I've almost moved to Ireland twice, but changed plans the last minute both times. As for Greece, all of my family except me has been there. I'm sure I will go some day too. I love to travel, when my starved wallet allows me. :)

Yup, my folks immigrated to Sweden in 1966. We lived in Helenelund, Sollentuna. My older brother still lives there, and a cousin lives in Haninge. I visit them every couple of years or so. Sweden IS a wonderful place to visit, but I'd never contemplate actually LIVING there again. Nah, Greece ain't such a bad place to live in you know! You really should come, you'll love it!

Quote from: Qosmic on 2006 March 12, 16:24:59

That trilogy is on my "to read" list. I'm almost ashamed I haven't read it yet. I used to be a real bookworm. My younger sister always talk about it. But I have some severe issues with "should'ves", it can cause me to procrastinate everything, even fun stuff. I probably should see a therapist about it, but obviously I never do. :D

Yah, you really should read those books. The last one, the fifth ("Mostly Harmless"), is pretty "meh", but the first three will give you laughing cramps!
Therapist eh? When I'm done with Windy_moon's session, maybe you should pay me a visit! ;D But it can take a while, she's a VERY serious case! Can't get her off the smokes and the Wild Turkey!

Anyway, glad you got your problems sorted out! It was a defect motherbard then, right?

Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 March 12, 16:46:54

Studying? What's that? Ah yes, vaguely remember! I'm done studying since 2001! Now I'm researching, which is basically studying too but hey, it sounds WAY cooler doesn't it?!

Last time for me was back in 2000. Yep, researching sounds cooler, I agree. ;)

Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 March 12, 16:46:54

I'm sure I would. Or will, since I DO plan to come over. ;D

Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 March 12, 16:46:54

There's 5? I thought there were three. *trying to remember what sister said*
You take patients? How many simoleons per hour do you charge? ;)

Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 March 12, 16:46:54

Anyway, glad you got your problems sorted out! It was a defect motherbard then, right?

Motherboard and PSU, yes. Being without a computer proved to me once and for all my life isn't worth living without it. :D

Quote from: J. M. Pescado on 2006 February 23, 11:49:08

If VPU recover goes into an endless loop, it's because whatever was causing the video card to fail is still causing it to fail immediately after being reset. The most likely culprit would be overheating, if the card runs fine for awhile, but then freaks out until you give up on it, then runs fine again..

EDIT: Oh, problem solved. :D Disregard.

In my case, the voltage regulator for the AGP power supply died. My card would reset, reset again and then finally, blue screen.

If you're having video reset problems, it could be the board, the power supply or the card.

If your machine came with monitoring software (ie. for voltage, fan speed and temperature - many ASUS boards come with this software) you may wish to try running that and keeping an eye on the meters. Mind you, don't run the game since you'll likely crash and never be able to see the info. Watch for spikes or drops in voltage, fan speed and temperature.

There are many, many variables that can cause the machine to crash and they're probably beyond the scope of forums. The best thing you can do is take the machine to a shop and have them test it out for you. If you have a warranty, save your data to a CD and take it in for repairs.

Quote from: Qosmic on 2006 March 12, 21:05:38

Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 March 12, 16:46:54

There's 5? I thought there were three. *trying to remember what sister said*
You take patients? How many simoleons per hour do you charge? ;)

I sure do. As long as they have four legs and bark or meow! Windy was a bipedal exception, hehe!
Oh and The Hitch-hiker's Guide is a trilogy consisting of five books. Confused? Blame the writer, though you'll have to overcome the slight obstacle of him being dead...

Quote from: Qosmic on 2006 March 12, 21:05:38

Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 March 12, 16:46:54

Anyway, glad you got your problems sorted out! It was a defect motherbard then, right?

Motherboard and PSU, yes. Being without a computer proved to me once and for all my life isn't worth living without it. :D

Heh, welcome to the club of Computer Junkies!

Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 March 13, 13:22:28

I do neither, and all my cats are perfectly sane, according to themselves anyway, so I guess we don't need your services after all. ;D

Quote from: DrBeast on 2006 March 12, 16:46:54

Heh, welcome to the club of Computer Junkies!

Thanks! But I've been a members for years already. Sad enough. ;)

I don't know if this has been suggested yet but hears my advice.
This sound more like of a hardware problem then software, however I could be wrong. You said your video card was getting hot and you put in a better fan to keep it cool, that's great. But Some times when you upgrade a hardware component it requires more voltage you maybe sucking up the power of you power supple and it might not have enough voltage left to run all you hardware and software or the power supple could be overheating .You shouldn't run a p4 under anything less than 450 power supple and that's a minimum, and more hardware you add the more voltage you need even if it just a case fan.
Overheating is a killer in a computer if you could I would have your motherboard, cpu, video card and memory check to make sure you didn't burn out any of this hardware oh and the power supple.

Quote from: Chanco on 2006 March 17, 16:10:10

The amount of current drawn by a small PC fan isn't enough to seriously stress a machine. A faulty card can be as it can stress voltage regulators, run hot and suck excess power or just plain short circuit.

A 450 watt power supply on the other hand is a fine idea, in fact you'll be hard pressed to find anything smaller these days. Since in general more heat=more current draw.

More Awesome Than You!

TS2: Burnination => The Podium => Topic started by: Qosmic on 2006 February 22, 17:14:37