Strange lockups in UT - is this a hardware problem??

[Spoon]

Been having this problem for a while now, when playing UT after a while my character will get a mind of its own and continue on straight until it runs into a wall. I have no control at all, the game completely locks me out. Hitting escape, moving the mouse, nothing works but I can continue to get shot at and listen to the game going on around me. I have to hit reset on the tower to get out of the game.

My system is as follows

msi-6309
600E/800 (does it at default also)
Herc GF2 64meg (also did it with a TNT2)
256 megs Crucial PC133
blah, blah, blah

I've tried all the recent Det. drivers, I'm beginning to think that its a problem with the Via chipset. I had the same TNT2 on a BH6 and never had this problem until after I upgraded.

Any ideas??

 

[Wingznut]

This intrests me greatly, because the exact same thing happens to me when I play SiN... but only when I play on HEAT.net. I don't play UT on HEAT.net, so I can't say if it's the same issue. For me, it doesn't necessarily always go forward. Just seems to be whatever key I'm pressing when it locks up. But I too, have to reset the PC to get anything working again.

A couple of questions for you, to see if we have anything in common:

Is this using the UT browser to connect to servers, or on a "gaming site", such as HEAT.net?

I have a USB keyboard... You?

 

[Ben_Tech]

Try setting your FSB back to default and see if it goes away. It could be something to do with the ambient temperature rise in your case while a 3D application is running. Try opening your case during use.

 

[OneEng]

I have the same issue.

K6-3 450
V3 2000
128mb corsair PC133 running at 100
SBLive Value!

I think it occurs only when sounds are being played. I have tried everything I could think of. Does anyone know a cure?

Incidentally, I either get a pseudo lock up (cant move, keys unresponsive, but all network messages are OK and I can observe the gameplay until someone kills me), or what you described where a key seems stuck. I believe that both are the same issue, only in one, the server last reported you holding the key down and one you didn't have the key down.

I have an ISA Eithernet card (3com) for a cable modem connection. Does anyone else know what is going on?

Some kind of interrupt conflict?

I am really guessing since I have no clue.

 

[tom3]

I have similar problems playing UT too.

system spec:

-Intel WS440BX mobo with AC97 sound
-Cel366/550
-128mb ram
-3dfx Velocity 100 8mb
-Netgear PCI NIC

I never used to get any type of lockups at all. Just recently after about 20 minutes into a game.. the whole screen would just freeze. while the sound keeps on going.. and i still see the receive/transfer lights on my cable modem going. Strange thing is, a couple of times after leaving it for a few minutes, i die then return to game again, playable.

I thought it may have something to do with my enabling the second TMU. so i disabled it in the registry. didnt make any difference.. i'm sure it's not heat related either cus i added fans and thermal grease.. got an alpha on that cel too.

the last thing i tried was bumping the voltage up to 2.20 from 2.10v.. not sure if that did the trick since i have not played enough to find out.

could it be possible for someone in the game to activate some kind of a "bug" that disables your computer over the internet?? big consipiracy....

 

[Spoon]

Wingznut PEZ - I mainly only play onlineand use Unreals browser to connect, negative on the USB Keyboard.


Ben_Tech - Tried resetting the FSB already and that did nothing, hanev't tried with the case off.


OneEng - I couldn't have described the problem better myself, thats EXACTLY what happens to me. LAso what chipset are you running (BX or VIA)

This just pissed me off today, I was at a LAN party and it locked on me every 10 minutes.

 

[Wingznut]

Damn, I was hoping we'd have something in common, other than our Via chipset.

As I said, this has never happened to me in UT (and I play UT most every day). Only in SiN, and only when I play on HEAT.net.


Ok... a couple more pertinent questions:

Anybody have this happen in single player? Or, only online?

And what version of UT are you patched to?

 

[Spoon]

I'm really beginning to think that it is heat related, I'll take my case apart tomorrow and play for a few hours and let everyone know.

 

[Spoon]

I haven't played it yet in single player to see and I've tried it with all the UT patches and it still locks.

what about side-banding??

Anyone with a BX chipset have this problem??

 

[Wingznut]

Looks like Tom3 (^^^) has a BX board.

 

[OneEng]

I have a VIA MVP3 chipset on a FIC VA503+ motherboard.

Tom3,
Interesting. I have never had the patients or forethought to let it sit for any length of time after it "locks up" to see if it would recover....hmmm.

What kind of network cards do you guys have and what form factor (PCI/ISA)?

Can anyone get it to happen when playing local? I downloaded the latest SBLive drivers and VIA 4in1 drivers yesturday and played for about 2 hrs without a lockup, but my lockups have been infrequent as of late so it doesn't mean my troubles are now over.

I had a time when it was locking up within 20min every time I played. I moved my sound card from one PCI slot to another and it got me to my current state (much better) of only an occasional (but still incredibly annoying) lockup. Some of the slots share an interrupt line. I suspect that if one of your cards (sound/modem/ethernet/video card) share an interrupt line, it makes the problem worse. This is not to say that it is THE problem, only that it complicates it and makes matters worse.

Lets keep the info comming in on this one. I would really like to get to the bottom of this.

BTW, I am running the latest patch of UT (4.20? I think is the number).

 

[tom3]

I'm running version 420 as well. and Yes i did get it to lock up playing just the single player mode. As of right now I have no idea the cause of this lockup yet. All I know is it never used to happen, and I havent done anything to fix it yet.

It was rare for the game to "come back alive" after it locks up though. only happened to me twice in the twenty some odd times it locked up on me.

 

[Becks]

Well this isn't the exact same, but a few times while playing all of a sudden my guy will just stop and keyboard and mouse don't do anything, ctrl-alt-delete don't do anything but the game still goes on. Cause of this is the cpu gettting too hot. Then the wierd part, ctrl alt delete would do nothing the keyboard had no effect. But when I would hit the power button UT would crash and windows would pop up with a "there is a internet connection open, would you like to close it before going into standby" and my keyboard and mouse would work. Oh ya I know its cause or heat.

 

[Spoon]

What heatsink are all of you using, the idea of the Chip heating up makes sense, I have a Gorb on mine.

Someone has said in the past that the have a very uneven surface.

 

[SuperFreaky]

What do you guys have running in the background??? ICQ?? AIM???

 

[Spook]

I've had that problem... Were the last key i hit it keeps going....


I have found my problem though... and that is that they game doesn't like you hitting the 'Num Lock' Key... The way to fix it in a game is to hit the 'Num lock' key again, and the key it is stuck in....

Something like that, I'm not at home to test it.... but basically UT is not NUM LOCK friendly.....

 

[Spoon]

When I was at the lan party yesterday I was running nothing in the backround, at home just Zonealarm, NAV, and ICQ.

 

[Spoon]

Ok Guys and Girls. I think I found my problem, I had my agp apature set to 64megs, I took it down to 32megs and haven't had a crash yet.

 

[OneEng]

Spoon,
How would that cause it? I don't mean to argue the point because emperical evidence can't really be argued with, but I don't understand the solution (yes, it is always necessary for an engineer to understand why something worked).

I have been lucky today and not had any lockups. Could someone who gets them frequently test this idea out???

 

[Spoon]

Actually it didn't fix my problem, it was short lived, one thing that I noticed is if you go through safe mode you can turn off the optimizers for P3's and 3dnow. trying that now.

 

[OneEng]

Well, since my modifications:

1. Moved sound card to a different PCI slot
2. Upgraded memory to very good stuff
3. loaded latest FIC bios for my MVP3 board
4. loaded latest VIA 4in1 windows drivers
5. loaded latest video card drivers for Voodoo 3
6. loaded Win98SE with fresh format of hard drive
   1. 
      
      Their appears to be absolutely no lockups!!!
      
      The last things I tried must have fixed it (loading the new VIA 4in1 windows drivers and loading the new SBLive! drivers). I used to have strange stutters when certian sounds were present. These seem to have either been greatly diminished, or have dissappeared altogether. At any rate, I have not had any lockups in around 10 hrs of game play.
      
      Anyone else have any luck?

 

[Spoon]

No I'm still screwed, I'm going to do a fresh install tomorrow, If I wait until the end of the match at hand(after I lock up) UT will exit on its own and I'll get a GPF.

I've unclocked everything, running at absolute default, moved around cards, taken cards out to see if the Geforce was pulling to much juice, taken the case apart to get more air on the MOBO, and still I get errors.

UT rocks but this is pissing me off.

OneEng - did you install Liveware or just the SBLive drivers??



One

 

[dennilfloss]

A similar thing happens to me in Might & Magic 8, after a couple of hours playing, the sound starts to stutter and then, a few minutes later, all freezes except the sound. I have to reboot. Does not happen in 6 or 7, so I suspect bug or incompatibility between Liveware 2 and that game (the only one that does it). Running Direct X 7.0a BTW.

 

[JGDRN]

I'm having the same problem....My screen will freeze while playing UT....but I can hear that everthing is still going on in the bachround..

 

[novice]

FWIW, I have encountered similar problems with UT. Suddenly my player freezes, yet the other bots continue to move "and frag the heck out of my guy", all the while the sound continues. It only happens on my MSI-6309 and PIII 600E. I am running a Voodoo 3 3000 PCI card and 128 MB of Mushkin siemens-Infineon ram and a Diamond MX300 sound card. I too, thought that heat may have something to do with it, since it seems to happen sooner when I overclock my processor to 744 MHz. I have since added a 3Dfxcool slot fan to my Enlight case and set the fsb to 110 down from 124 and it seems better. It is erratic, in that sometimes I can play for 40 minutes or longer, and sometimes it locks up in as little as 10 minutes. Other than that, I love the motherboard/processor combo and UT is still my favorite game. I think I am too slow to play online, though.
Chuck