System Crashes in Battlefield 2 and America's Army

[Bigg]

I have this problem. I double click the Battlefield 2 icon, and the game starts fine. I login fine. I browse the server browser fine. I connect to a server fine.

When on the server, I will be moving around scanning the area when the game will freeze. I cannot move at all. I also hear a looping audio sound. My screen will stay frozen for about 10 seconds, then a bunch of garbled wavy lines will show on my screen and I will get a loud and high-pitched screeching sound from my headphones. I cannot alt-tab out or anything. The screen will alternate between the wavy garbled lines and a blank screen. The only thing I can do is hit Reset.

Last night, while the screen was frozen, but hadn't yet displayed the garbled wavy lines, I hit ESC and managed to get into the menu, even though the screen was frozen at what I last saw, I could hear the menu music. I managed to Alt-Tab out and close BF2 using Task Manager. I didn't have to reboot the system, I was lucky. However, I tried to start BF 2 again right away, without rebooting, and instead of the normal splash screens "EA Games logo" etc, it got some weird squiggly lines on screen and nothing else, although I could hear the splash screens and Dice logo sound effects etc. Just the visual part was screwy. I was able to Alt-Tab out again. In order for the game to run correctly, I had to reboot. But then I crashed the same way as before once I was in-game on a server.

The weird part about this is that I don't get any messages from either Windows XP or ATI Smartgart. Usually, after such a serious error requiring a reboot, Windows will either prompt me to boot in Safe Mode or give me a message upon reboot into XP that my computer suffered a "serious error" and do I want to report this to Microsoft bla bla bla. Or, Smartgart would usually tell me my GPU suffered a serious error and do I want to report it to ATI. I get none of that, which I find odd. The PC reboots as if nothing odd happened. But then the crashes & freezes in BF2 continue without explanation. What's weird is that I played a couple nights ago for 3 hours with the same settings, and no problems or crashes. My case is very cool and it's in an air-conditioned room.

Is anyone else experiencing a problem very similar to this, with any game, including BF2? I realize people have all sorts of lag and stuttering and crash to desktop problems. But my crashes are actually "freezes" usually require a hard reset.

Here is my system (all components are new except the Audigy):

AMD 64 3500 Venice Core
Soltek SL-K8TPRO-939 Mobo with 1000MHz FSB
1GB PC3200 Dual CHannel Corsair Ram
ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB
Audigy Gamer
Thermaltake 480W Power Supply
Thermaltake Tsunami case
Dell 2005FPW LCD Monitor

All my drivers are the latest since I just did an entire reformat when I built the system. I recently switched to the latest Omega drivers for the 9800 PRO since I was having the same problem with the Catalyst 5.6 drivers. Obviously, the Omega drivers have not helped at all.

I'm leaning towards believing there is a problem with my system and not the game (BF2) itself. I had a similar crash in America's Army. What could cause something like this. Could the CPU be too hot? Air flow problem etc? I am baffled. Any suggestions?

 

[Tu13erhead]

Try this, it's worked for other stuttering problems:

Start > Control Panel > Display > Settings tab > Advanced > Troubleshooting tab > Disable Write Combining. Then reboot and see if that helps.

 

[haelduksf]

The same thing happened to me for a while with a Sapphire 8500: there was something wrong with the graphics card. Try popping it out of the AGP slot and back in, or swapping it out for a freind's card.

 

[dbuttcheek69]

dude your video card is the problem.

You CANNOT run the game with a 128 mb video card. it will crash every time. I have a Radeon x800 SE and mine is still pretty choppy and i cant run it on high settings. Check out Gamespots hardware page Here. This was very helpfull to me in finding out what i needed to upgrade in order to play the game.
my final comment: the game is programmed and coded VERY poorly, and its a resource hog, even the best video cards on the market struggle to run it.

the bottom line is, you cant play it with the card you got, and the question you need to ask yourself is, is it worth it to buy a new one just for one game?

good luck man

 

[CrispyFried]

Are those the only 2 games that have probs? Other games and graphic benchmarks are all OK?

Both those games use PunkBuster anticheat software and some peeps have had issues with lockups. You can check this by running the games without PB (rename the PB folder and join a non pb server).

 

[Bigg]

I just ran Norton Systemwork's Windows Utility and fixed 33 Registry problems. I also defragged both hard disks. I am also going to reseat the 9800 PRO. Let's see what this does. I will also try disabling PB and hopping on a server w/out PB... scary thought...lol.

As far as the Radeon 9800 Pro not having sufficient RAM for BF2, generally I'd agree but not only is the car listed as a supported card, their are scores of others using the card without a problem. So the 128MB of RAM is fine for them. Plus, I am hesitant to drop $250 on a new card because it's no guarantee it will work, given the fact that so many x800 and 6800GT owners are having problems as well. I ran 3DMark03 and my score was 6045. I didn't notice any artifacting in the various tests. Could the GPU get a decent score like this and still be bad?

Recognizing that the 128MB might be a problem , I set textures to Low and turned off dynamic shadows and lighting. Texture filtering is also set to low. Audio is set to Software and Low with EAX DISABLED. Everything else ss medium. My screen res is 1260x1024 I think (or something close) with refresh rate at 60 MHz. Is that normal for an LCD such as the 2005FPW?


I'll try these remedies and even tyry reinstalling the Audigy drivers, or perhaps switching to onboard sound, which I currently have disabled in the BIOS. My board has 7.1 surround built in. I'll post back.

 

[Gerdoa Kenobi]

Hi Bigg, I did have the same problem until I was changing the sound option in the main menu of BF2. There is a compatibility list of supported soundcards in the readme.txt file. I am using a soundblaster live! soundcard and all the time I switched on the "Hardware" mode in the "Soundmod" menu point (EAX activated), BF2 freezes or crashed after playing the game for a while. After switching back to "Software" mode everything works fine. No choppy sounds, freezes or crashes.

Maybe, this helps

 

[Bigg]

Nope. I have set sound to Low/Software/EAX OFF and still freezes my system.

 

[FlasHBurN]

Do you have another (non Creative) sound card you can try? There are a large number of people with nForce3 and 4 motherboards on the Creative Labs forums bitching about this exact same problem.

 

[ShortyG]

Originally posted by: dbuttcheek69
dude your video card is the problem.

You CANNOT run the game with a 128 mb video card. it will crash every time. I have a Radeon x800 SE and mine is still pretty choppy and i cant run it on high settings. Check out Gamespots hardware page Here. This was very helpfull to me in finding out what i needed to upgrade in order to play the game.
my final comment: the game is programmed and coded VERY poorly, and its a resource hog, even the best video cards on the market struggle to run it.

the bottom line is, you cant play it with the card you got, and the question you need to ask yourself is, is it worth it to buy a new one just for one game?

good luck man

No, no, no. While important, video memory is not the only thing that makes a video card. The video card's processor clock speed makes a MUCH bigger difference. I went from a radeon 9600 to a 9800 pro, both with 128 MB memory, and my performance more than doubled in 3dMark03. However, he problem lies within the game's programming. I can run BF2 at almost highest settings and it will run beautifully for a while, but freeze for no reason. Such as every once in a while when i press tab for status screen. VPU recover always keeps my card from locking the entire system when it hangs though.

 

[DaiShan]

It could be heat related, what are your ambient temps? How about CPU? Are there any cards in the first pci slot closest to your video card? If so move them. Additionally, try running dxdiag start -> run -> dxdiag and run the tests in there.

 

[Maximus7770]

Yes, I have the EXACT same problem with both games, but sometime my computer reboots itself also. Sometimes i also get a device driver error. I have a HIS ATI RADEON 9800 PRO also and cannot find the correct driver for it. I have used the HIS driver, ATI's driver, and OMEGA drivers...get the same error. I have called ATI and HIS and i get a wrong number. I emailed them and no reply, so i guess im totally screwed, lol. Im thinking our video cards dont support something Battlefield 2 and AA needs. Just thought I'd let you know your not alone...

 

[Kaspian]

Go to the bios and disable fast writes. I had a similar problem and that was the only thing that took care of it.

 

[daines1]

Having the same problems myself. Here's my specs:

ASUS A8V Deluxe Motherboard (VIA Chipset)
AMD 64 3500+
Kingston 4x 512MB 400MHz DDR PC3200 DIMM CL3
Generic 350W Powersupply
Sony CDRW/DVD Combo Drive
Sapphire 256 X800 XT Video Card AGP
Soundblaster Audigy 2
Maxtor IDE 7200 60gig (with OS WINXP PRO)
Maxtor IDE 7200 250gig (with most of the games)
Logitech MX1000 Laser Mouse (USB)
Microsoft Natural Keyboard (PS2)
Dell 17" CRT
(Did I miss anything?)

Here is a list of games that I have played without a single problem:

Doom 3
Far Cry
World of Warcraft
Everquest 1 and 2
UT2004
and every other game I have on my HDD

I have had this system since January and it's been pretty stable. I started playing HL2 in Feburary and would have the occasional lock up and have to hard reboot the system. Since I've purchased BF2, I've had nothing but problems. Here's what happens when it locks up: (Randomly in HL2 and Constantly in BF2)

The system's video will freeze.
The sound will freeze usually giving a really high pitched squeal.
I am unable to Ctl-Alt-Delete.
I am unable to Alt-Tab.
The only way I am able to resolve the problem is to hard reboot it.

Once I reboot the system, it will either:

A) Come up perfectly
B) Get stuck while going through POST (Hard rebooting it will usually cause it to work)
C) Computer will Power up but I will not get any video at all (Sometimes hard rebooting it will not fix the problem. I will leave it off for a few seconds and then retry. Usually works after doing this.)

Here are the steps I have taken to fix the problem:

1) Replaced the stock Heatsink of my x800 XT with Arctic Silencer 4.
2) Removed the Heatsink on the 3500+ and applied Arctic Silver 5 (quite a lot).
3) Reinstalled BF2 on primary HDD and repatched.
4) Installed new Catalyst 5.7 drivers.
5) Undated VIA 4in1 drivers.
6) Upgraded Bios to latest version.
7) Changed AGP speed to 4x.
8) Turned Fast Write of in Bios.
9) Changed HT 1000 to HT800.
10) Continually monitored CPU temp (Max 50s C) and GPU temp (Max 60s C)
11) Ran Memtest and passed 7x on all 4 sticks of ram.

Here's what I have been unable to do to Troubleshoot:

1) Replaced 350W Generic PS. (I am getting a 550W Antec PS this weekend)
2) Replaced the Video Card. (I can and may do this, but want to wait on PS first.)
3) RMA'd the ASUS Mobo. (I want to do this after testing PS.)
4) Replaced HDDs.
5) Reimaged Whole system. (EGADS! After PS... not looking forward to this one.)
6) Purchased and tested a new MOBO. (I'm REALLY thinking about getting the MSI Neo4 Platinum board)

Any other ideas as to what I can do? Any other ideas as to what is wrong with this system? MAN this is really getting to me. I wish I could figure this out.

Thanks for the help,

Daines1

 

[Maximus7770]

Fastwrites didnt help, i think its making my source crash now, is it true BF2 isnt compatible with SP2, if it isnt that could be the reason. I have windows home edition w/ SP2 . I dont know how to delete it or install windows without it.(Its not in add/remove programs)

 

[Spineshank]

1) 9800 Pro can handle the game fine. I ran it at 1280x1024 at medium everything and it was smooth no problems
2) i run XP Pro SP2 and it runs fine
3) i noticed that the people having this problem all have Via chipsets. Not saying thats the problem but it could be something there.

 

[daines1]

Originally posted by: FlasHBurN
Do you have another (non Creative) sound card you can try? There are a large number of people with nForce3 and 4 motherboards on the Creative Labs forums bitching about this exact same problem.

Originally posted by: Gnrslash4life
1) 9800 Pro can handle the game fine. I ran it at 1280x1024 at medium everything and it was smooth no problems
2) i run XP Pro SP2 and it runs fine
3) i noticed that the people having this problem all have Via chipsets. Not saying thats the problem but it could be something there.

Seems that Creative could be the common factor. Thinking that was the issue, I removed the creative PCI card and used onboard sound. I didn't think to remove the creative drivers, but maybe I should have. When using the onboard sound, I had the same problem as I mentioned before.

As for the VIA chipset, even people on the VIA forums are pretty ticked off about the whole deal. Here I am thinking I have a lemon of a Mobo and it may not be the case. I just know I'm going to exshaust all other possibilities.

As of lunch today, I got the game working. I went into the options and sound section. I made sure sound was on software and it was on low. I then unchecked EAX. I then fired up the game and it worked. Looked ugly, but I could at least play for about 30 minutes or so. No lock ups.

So here's the settings that I have:

BIOS Settings

- Turned Fast Write Off
- Turned AGP to 4x

BF2 Settings

- Turned Video on LOW setting
- Turned Sound to LOW setting
- Turned EAX OFF

Think that's about it. I'll keep on trying to figure out the problem. Here's what I'm thinking:

1) Power supply isn't enough to run card to it's full potential.
2) Mobo issues via the VIA chip.
3) Possible Overheating issue.

Keep up the hard work all. We'll figure this one out. I'll keep searching the net for more hints and fixes. Thanks for the help again,

Daines1

 

[Maximus7770]

mines definently not an overheating issue. But i can run battlefield 2 on HIGH quality graphics perfectly if my ping is low with my radeon 9800 pro iceQ.


specs:
AMD64 2.4 GHz
Abit KV8 PRO
Radeon 9800 PRO IceQ
MGE 500W PSU(lol, i know)
Corsair 512MB XMS

 

[daines1]

Here's a link that may help. It's really long, but may help. I'm getting ready to try some of them.

http://www.forumplanet.com/planetbattlefield/topic.asp

Daines1

 

[Maximus7770]

well i turned off punkbuster, restarted BF2 and joined a BF2 non-punkbuster server. It didnt crash but ofcourse it might have later on. Somebody with my problem try doing this and see if it crashes. Remember to restart BF2 after you turn of PB and then join a PB server.

 

[Openwarsim]

I have the exact same problem with Falcon 4.0 Allied Force. So it isnt Punkbuster, nor is it BF2 related. I am beginning to believe it has to do with the AMD 64 chip and the graphics drivers.

My HW:
AMD 64 3400+
Radeon 9600 SE
2GB RAM
Gigabyte GA-K8NS MoBo
Onboard sound/network

If you figure this out, I would really appreciate an email, Maximus. I've bookmarked the thread, and will do the same by posting here if I find the solution.

 

[llzackll]

I have the same problem. While playing BF2, usually between 5-20 minutes into the game, the screen image will freeze, the sound continue normal for about 2 seconds, then go into a loop. Cannot exit out of game. I can tell the keyboard does not respond either because the NumLock key doesn't change the light status. I have to do a hard reset on the computer.

I'm running a 6800GT card, with Gigabyte K8NS Ultra-939 motherboard which uses the Nforce3 chipset. Also running Windows x64, but have the same problem with 32bit windows.

I have same problem with World of Warcraft, but it is rare. Sometimes it takes 6 hours for it to happen in World of Warcraft.

 

[anandtechrocks]

Happens to me too when playing AAO and BF2. System:

AMD 3200+ (Vience) @ 2.6 Ghz
BFG 6800 GT
1 Gb Corsair XMS
MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum NF3


Does not happen on my other computer though. 2nd System:

AMD 3700+ (San Diego) @ 2.6 Ghz
eVGA 6600 GT
1 Gb OCZ VX
DFI NF4 Ultra-D

 

[llzackll]

Hmm, I disabled Fast Writes in BIOS, and it may have fixed the problem. I played for about an hour with no lockups. I also did not notice any decrease in performance. I always thought disabling this would cause significant decrease in performance, but it doesn't seem to have.

 

[CrispyFried]

Originally posted by: llzackll
Hmm, I disabled Fast Writes in BIOS, and it may have fixed the problem. I played for about an hour with no lockups. I also did not notice any decrease in performance. I always thought disabling this would cause significant decrease in performance, but it doesn't seem to have.

ATI doesnt use fastwrite, so youre not losing anything.