Can someone please help and tell me why my system lockups in games? :(

[WyteWatt]

Ok i have my system that lockups in games like GTA3, Spiderman the movie, etc. Every time i may have fixed it i really don't because it does a hard lockup or freeze in the game again. Have not tried quake 3 arena or RTCW long enough to see if it would freeze. But i know so far it does it in two games. So far it seems i could have the GTA3 game fixed without locking up or freezing maybe. Big maybe. I am not holding my breath because this is one crazy problem. Ok the way i think i fixed maybe GTA3 is change the processor from athlon xp 1800+ to user define which gives it 1533 mhz instead of the athlon xp 1800+ when my computer boots up.

Ok i upgraded my new video card and amd processor when this all started to happen. Here are my system specs.


Abit KT7A raid mobo (revision 1.0 has the latest bios i believe its 7N. Don't tell me i can't get my athlon xp 1800+ to work on this mobo because if you do then why do other people get it to work on theirs you know. It works, it bootups i am just having these hard lockup or freezing problems in 3d games)

Duron 800mhz which is upgraded to a retail athlon xp 1800+ and have in my system right now.

Voodoo 3 2000 pci video card which is upgraded to a Retail Leadtek GF4 ti 4400 my vivo edition video card which is in my system right now.

A deer 300 watt power supply that came with my case i had in it but i upgraded it to a Antec 330 watt truepower series power supply which i thought would fix my issue.

256 mb of pc 133 of crucial sdram

Maxtor 45 gig HD at ATA 100 with 7200 rpm and three 15 gig platters. Seek time < 8.7 ms

Plextor 24x 10x 40x cd-rw

HP 8x 4x 4x cd-rw

floppy drive

Santa cruz retail sound card

Dlink DFE 530 TX + ethernet card

3 suson case fans one at the bottom front of the case blowing air in and two on the back top of my case blowing hot air out. Plus my Antec 330 watt truepower series power supply has 2 fans to get the hot air out.


Any help is very appreicated. I have done everything from changing the agp driving control to FF, to all kind of stuff.
Seems like in the spiderman the movie game when i like just swing around the city a lot in the first board it does fine at first for like 1 to 2 mins then i see it slow down a little more the game then it slows down where it just about stops then it just freezes.
I looked for the patch for spiderman the movie but it said nothing about fixing a freezing problem in the game. I have windows 2000 SP2 btw with the fix for athlon processors freezing in 3d games so its not like i do not have that. I have the via drivers too i installed. I do not have agp 4x enabled. Is this the infinite loop problem by nvidia video cards i don't know what else to do.

 

[wfbberzerker]

make sure you have the latest drivers for EVERYTHING in your system (motherboard, video card, sound card, etc)
make sure you have latest patches for games

ill think of more stuff but im tired as heck so thats it for now.

 

[corkyg]

Focus on your video card and drivers. That is usually the culprit in such cases.

 

[WyteWatt]

corky-g ok well i did do another kind of test. I took my santa cruz sound card out and uninstalled the drivers then went into spiderman the movie game and ran it for about 1 hour and 30 mins to 3 hours and so far no hard lockups or freezes in the game. I may test it out longer tonight right before i go to sleep to see for sure if without the sound card it works fine. If my santa cruz sound card is the thing causing the hard lockups or freezes someway with conflicting maybe with my video card what can i do to fix this? I have my latest sound card drivers for my santa cruz and the latest 29.42 nvidia video card drivers. I did NOT put the sound card in pci 1 which shares with the video card btw so not sure why the sound card would be causing any problems when its in. It never did with my voodoo 3 2000 pci video card or duron 800mhz processor.

Remember i do not know 110% sure that its my sound card yet is causing the
problem because i do not think i tested it out long enough. It seems like it
could be as of now. I am not holding my breath that it is but i am thinking
it could be. I just want to know what to do in advance what to do if it is
my santa cruz sound card causing me these hard lock ups in games.

Thanks.

 

[WyteWatt]

bump.

 

[microAmp]

Test out the sound card more, if it seems as though it may be it, when putting it back in try a different PCI slot.

 

[WyteWatt]

Well i left Spiderman the movie game running for about 6 to 9 hours straight without my sound card in my computer and it never locked up once during that time. Where before when the santa cruz sound card was in my computer it would lockup in at least 2 hours or less. Strange. I tried a different pci slot btw. I tried pci 4 which did not help then i tried pci 6 again. Believe i even tired pci 2 or 3 with my sound card also but not positive which had the same lockup problem. I don't know what else to do i am running out of ideas. Inless i should test it out without my sound card this game for 24 hours.

crosscourt i don't believe the santa cruz has acpi issues either. I think its my Leadtek GF4 ti 4400 video card thats having problems sharing with my sound card but i don't have it in a pci slot that shares with the video card. PCI 1 is the slow on my mobo that shares with the agp slot and i never put anything in that now. So there must be some kind of conflict in my opinion with my video card and sound card.
I mean is there anyway to give my video car d its own IRQ ? Only way i know is to turn off ACPI.

 

[wfbberzerker]

try assigning a different irq to your sound card so it is different than the video card (you can do that, right?)

 

[WyteWatt]

wfbberzerker ok well i did that by turning off ACPI and the video card has irq 5 and the sound card has irq 9. It still froze in spiderman the movie game!!! It never froze once without the santa cruz sound card in my system. I have the santa cruz sound card in pci 3 which does not share with the video card in any way i do not think. Only pci 1 is shared with the agp slot but i have nothing in there. I don't know what the problem is.

 

[wfbberzerker]

you have the latest drivers for your sound card installed, correct? you can get them here.

 

[wfbberzerker]

i think i just found your problem!


download the via 4-in-1 drivers, and this SHOULD solve the problems. get em here

 

[WyteWatt]

wfbberzerker yes. I tried acpi without reinstalling windows 2000 pro because i have stuff i don't feel like backing up right now so i really did not want to format and reinstall windows 2000 pro but if i have too just to see i guess i will. I just don't understand why the game spiderman the movie does fine for 6 to 9 hours straight without any freezing at all without the santa cruz sound card in my computer but then with it in my computer it makes it freeze up or lockup. This is crazy. Its like my video card or sound card does not like one another.

 

[wfbberzerker]

im almost positive its the 4-in-1's

i know sblive has always had conflicts with via chipsets, causing games to crash.

 

[WyteWatt]

wfbberzerker i have them already installed. The VIA 4 in 1 4.40 which are the latest.

 

[WyteWatt]

wfbberzerker i do remember installing via 4.37 4 in 1 drivers too which did not fix the problem but if you want to me to try those instead i will. Inless you want me to try the beta 4.39 4 in 1 drivers instead.

 

[wfbberzerker]

well, i would try the betas, and if that doesnt work, you could also try uninstalling the 4in1's altogether. sometimes if nothing is wrong when they arent installed, they can cause problems when you do install them.

 

[WyteWatt]

wfbberzerker ok i installed the beta 4 in 1 4.39 ones but i still got the lockup problem. The sound like repeated right when it froze secs after i was playing the game spiderman the movie. How do i uninstall the via 4 in 1 drivers btw so i can make sure? But i remember getting freezing problems without the via 4 in 1 drivers i believe but i will try again just to make sure.

 

[WyteWatt]

wfbberzerker ok i may have found a fix that was recommended to me by someone else in a different forum. Remember this is only a maybe because i have to test it out for a while to make sure. I went into sound and put my hardware acceleration to none instead of all the way up like it was. I tried it one notch down but it still froze in games. I didn't try the 2nd to last one after that but i just went to none and kept it that way. I went into spiderman the movie game and for about 1 min to 2 mins it did not freeze but i think i should still test it for about 2 to 6 hours + to make sure it worked 110%. I am not holding my breath but we will see. I havn't uninstalled the via 4 in 1 drivers btw. So we will see. I will let you know soon. I guess i will try to test it out for a long while to make sure it fixed it cause i hate when i thought the fixed it then it comes right back. Do you know if it effects like sound quality of my santa cruz sound card with hardware acceleration to none? I mean i guess if it get at least sound in my games with it being stable heck i will just to have to keep it like that even if it does lower sound quality alittle. Ok i am going to go test it cya soon.

 

[WyteWatt]

I went into spiderman the movie game and tested it out for about 3 to 4 hours + and so far no freeze or lockup but it was when hardware acceleration for sound was on none. I notice something bad with the hardware acceleration for my sound on none. The sound like skipped and came in and out. I just changed it to basic acceleration which seemed to fix the sound problem of skipping but i have not tested it out with the hardware acceleration for sound like this. I am going to have to run it again for another 3 to 4 hours + to see if it has no freezes or lockups. Plus to make sure the sound does not ever start to skip after a while. I don't know what to think about this problem. It sure is strange.

 

[clarkmo]

pci slot 2 shares with 3, if I recall correctly. So what's in 3. Your nic?
4 shares with 6/isa and usb.
5 shares with highpoint

 

[clarkmo]

KT7 Faq

 

[toadstool]

It's strange that you are having a problem with the Santa Cruz card. I had the same motherboard, and replaced another sound card WITH the Santa Cruz, because it was the OTHER sound card that gave me problems too. ( an Aureal MX300)

I went to "VIA Hardware.com", and read a FAQ and went thru the forums, and the Santa Cruz was a HIGHLY recommended card for this board. As soon as i bought it , and replaced the Aureal card, my problems went away.

Strange that your situation is the opposite. Most people with the KT7A-raid , if they had problems at all , had it with the Sound blaster cards.

I think you should keep tinkering wiith your setup.

I know it's a pain, but you may even want to start over installing Windows from scratch , and just install with video card, memory only. Then install direct X, divers, Via 4in 1's ,etc..... Then install each remaining cmponent one-by-one.


Other than that, I'm not sure what else you can do.

 

[wfbberzerker]

hmm... maybe its your nic causing problems...

i know that network cards have been known to cause problems... might want to try taking it out and testing again.

 

[WyteWatt]

I think i fixed my problem which was recommended by someone on another forum which i really never thought of but i sorta remember this being a problem on certain games on the santa cruz a long while ago i think. Ok the person on the other forum recommended me to turn down my hardware acceleration for my sound. I lowered my hardware acceleration for my sound to basic acceleration which is like the 2nd to last one. So far it seems the sound is still good and no lockups for about 6 to 8 hours sense i tested spiderman the movie game. Remember i am not 110% sure yet that it fixed my problem for sure but i am about 80% sure sense i tested it for a while and it did not freeze up.

Thank you everyone for all your help it was well appreicated.