Help! UT2003 crashing out with GPF...

[Goi]

Hi guys...
I have UT2003 with the latest patch, a P4 2.4B@3023MHz on a GA-8PE667 i845PE mobo, 1GB DDR400 memory, a Radeon 9700 Pro(NOT overclocked, 4XAGP, Fast Writes OFF), and the game routinely crashes out with a General Protection Fault.

Other than the overclocking, does anyone know why this might be the cause? The system is stable in everything else I throw at it - CPU burners, benchmarks(Sandra, SpecViewPerf, PCMark2002, PassMark, 3DMark2001SE, ), games(Quake3:Arena, RtCW), and I have it on 24/7 without it ever crashing/rebooting, only UT2003 is giving me problems, which is why I'm inclined to think that its not an overclocking instability problem...is there a problem with the latest patch? I've heard some issues about it...

 

[JRez]

Take the CPU and RAM down to stock speeds and see if it crashes with UT03. Before you do that, see if your system can run Prime95 for a few hours straight in its current config. My only guess would be the OC.

 

[sandorski]

Originally posted by: JRez
Take the CPU and RAM down to stock speeds and see if it crashes with UT03. Before you do that, see if your system can run Prime95 for a few hours straight in its current config. My only guess would be the OC.

Ditto. Unreal/UT has always been sensitive to overclocking.

 

[Goi]

Well that's definitely one of my suspicions...but the problem with that theory is that everything else works well 24/7...oh well I guess I'll try it the next time I reboot.

 

[JRez]

Originally posted by: Goi
Well that's definitely one of my suspicions...but the problem with that theory is that everything else works well 24/7...oh well I guess I'll try it the next time I reboot.

Goi,

Most of the benchmarks that you mentioned can show the weak links in the system, but it doesn't do much for stress testing an overclocked system... SuperPi, Prime95, and anything based on the Unreal engine is a great place to start with the "balls on" stability testing IMHO.

 

[Goi]

Thanks JRez and sandorski, turns out you guys are probably right. Prime95 didn't go too far with my previous configuration. I've now throttled the settings down to 2.97GHz@1.7V, 410MHz DDR memory and it ran Prim95 without any errors. Haven't tried UT2003 yet though. I intend to tweak the system a bit more before settling down with the speed.

Edit: Btw does "Delayed Transactions" in BIOS have any effect. I've read a couple of BIOS optimization guides, but they all mentioned that if I don't have any ISA slots, it should be inconsequential...I have it at disabled right now when before it was enabled...not sure if it has any effect on stability/performance?

 

[Goi]

OK, I think this is a UT2003 problem or some other problem not related to overclocking. It didn't work at any speed. I switched back to default CPU speed(2.4GHz), default Vcore(1.525V), default memory speeds(333MHz), default memory timings(by SPD), default memory/AGP voltages(Auto), everything is stock, and it still bombs out with a GPF at the same place every time I run the Antalus botmatch. Prime95 is running just fine but not UT2003...:frown:

WTF is going on? Is there a problem with the latest patch or something?

Edit: The program crashes out every time that bot with the green weapon reaches the top of the bridge structure.

Here's a dump of the "Critical Error" message:

UT2003 Build UT2003_Build_[2002-12-17_23.50]

OS: Windows 2000 5.0 (Build: 2195)
CPU: GenuineIntel Unknown processor @ 2414 MHz with 1023MB RAM
Video: RADEON 9700/9500 SERIES (6255)

General protection fault!

History: CMainLoopDtor <- MainLoop

 

[JRez]

Goi,

I see you've got the Cat 3.0's, so I'm assuming you've upgraded to DX9. The last suggestion I could possibly make if everything is stock and it's still rebooting/crashing would be to update to the Intel 1012 chipset drivers and turn HW acceleration down 1 notch in the control panel.... if that doesn't do it... last ditch effort would be to uninstall and reinstall UT2K3 and try it without the patch

 

[Goi]

Yup...I do have the Cat 3.0s and DX9. I've also already installed the 1012 drivers as well as IAA 2.3. I guess I'll try turning down HW acceleration, see if that works...

Edit: Just tried turning it down a notch, still bombs out at the exact same point...I'm almost positive it isn't an overclocking issue, since it happens at exactly the same point in the benchmark every single time, regardless of whether its a fresh reboot, or whether I've had the system up for a long time, and regardless of temperatures too.

 

[sandorski]

Hmm, that's weird. Does it happen at any other point when playing UT2k3? If not, then don't Benchmark.

 

[Goi]

Yes it does. Its not just the benchmarks. Its just that in the benchmark, I notice it happens at a specific point, but when I'm playing the game, it crashes out with the same GPF, just that I can't say where and when since every game's different.

 

[Goi]

*phew* I finally figured what was wrong, and solved it. Turns out my no-cd crack was for the wrong version, and that's the culprit for all the GPFs. I switched to one meant for a newer version, and now it works flawlessly