[Help] - System Crash

[Zxian]

You ran chkdsk as well? It came back with no errors? Your post seems like you just did a spyware/virus scan.

[rssfed23]

I know a person who had a similar problem, he disabled lots of devices in his system, that did not fix the problem. He then converted to NTFS, and bingo, it now works perfectly.

Il see if i can get him to join here and post more info on his exact system specs and what games

But if your drive supports it, it cant do any harm to convert to NTFS anyway (if im wrong in this case: correct me, i thought NTFS was better for systems that can support it)

[Zxian]

But if your drive supports it, it cant do any harm to convert to NTFS anyway (if im wrong in this case: correct me, i thought NTFS was better for systems that can support it)

I was going to recommend converting the drive to NTFS, but only after he's checked to make sure that the drive has no errors on it. If it does, either the conversion will fail, and/or he runs the risk of loosing data.

And yes, NTFS is better than FAT32 for Windows based systems.

[foothill]

You ran chkdsk as well? It came back with no errors? Your post seems like you just did a spyware/virus scan.

Yes I ran chkdsk. no errors were reported

[Zxian]

Ok... if no errors came up in chkdsk, then I'd recommend converting the drive to NTFS. There's really no reason to stay with FAT32 if you're only using Windows.

To perform the conversion, open a command Window (Start->Run->cmd->Ok) and type in the following command:

convert %systemdrive% /FS:NTFS

Once its converted your drive, you should reboot. Hopefully that will help solve some problems.

You also never answered my question... are you playing Disney Games while this is happening?

[foothill]

one is disney, & two are EA game.

Converted to NTFS, But the programs are still locking up

I found somthing in the Microstar FAQ about games restarting the computer. they suggest upgrading to the:

SiS video driver vresion 6.13.10.2079

But, the one I have now is 6.14.10.3611 is the one I have newer

and The only driver I can find with the is:

Aopen SIS driver 6.13.10.2079 W9X/me

[Zxian]

Are the games just locking up, or are you still getting bluescreens?

As for the video driver, go to your manufacturer's website and download/install the latest drivers for all your hardware.

You might also want to have a look at the temperatures within your system while the games are running. If the computer is overheating, that could cause bluescreens and lockups as well.

[foothill]

as of right now just locking up or shuting down,

I updates all the drivers.

how do I check the temps while a game is running?

[Zxian]

You actually don't need to be running the game to test your temperatures.

Download and install Speedfan - Link

Download and install Prime95 - Link

When you run SpeedFan, it will find all the temperature sensors that are available on your motherboard. Now run Prime95 and go to Options->Torture Test. Select Small FFTs and then click OK. Let that run for a while and monitor the temperatures in SpeedFan. There should be one that will jump up a bit while Prime95 is running - this is your CPU.

Let us know what the temperatures are after running Prime95 for a few minutes. If it crashes here, then we're one step closer to finding the solution.

[cluberti]

One way to be sure it's a hardware problem (albeit somewhat involved, it is right 100% of the time) is to set the /debug option (and the requisite /debugport and /baud options) in the boot.ini file on the machine in question, then attach a null modem cable to another machine running Windbg (part of the debugging tools for Windows). When the first machine hangs, break in from the second machine (ctrl+break) - if you get a prompt, the hardware is fine (and you can .crash the box to get a memory dump to analyze); if you are unable to break in, it's always a hardware problem.

Just a little something for all you hard-core support guys out there - carry around a null modem cable and a laptop with the debugging tools installed, and you'll always be able to tell if an NT-based system has bad hardware .

[Zxian]

Regarding that Null Modem cable... it's probably easiest and most universal to have a 25M to 25M cable, right? I don't see too many computers sold nowadays with 9-pin serial ports, while the 25-pin parallel ports are still fairly common.

[foothill]

I have not checked the temps yet.

But I have some good news anyway, I decided to put a different video card in to see what would happen. I tested Alice and it worked. YEAH!

So I tested Lilo & Sticth, It did not work (bummer!) So, I uninstalled the game a reinstalled it. as it reinstalled I noticed that it failed to copy one file. So I copied the file from the disk to the computer and it worked. YEAH!

Two down one to go.

I am still having problems with Sim Theme Park. It goes much further now and there is no blue screen but there is a lot of drag and then it will close the program.

Going to check the temps now.

[foothill]

Temp 01: 32 C

Temp 02: 46 C

HDO: 22 C

Temp 01: 21 C

These are the temp after about 15 minutes testing

Edited December 19, 2005 by foothill

[cluberti]

Zxian: A Com port is a Com port . As long as it isn't a blade server, you should be fine (blades rarely have NMI ports without pluggable expansion cards - that don't ship with the units ).

[Zxian]

@cluberti - Thanks for the info.

@foothill - What video card did you have before and which one do you have now? The temperatures listed seem alright (46C is probably your CPU) - nothing out of the norm there.

Also... Sims Theme Park seems to be a Windows 95 and 98 only game. If there are dependencies on DOS, then you're going to have some trouble getting them to work in XP. You might want to look through the game manual for more information on this.