Windows XP and Starcraft

[mrchan]

I am running Windows XP with all the windows updates installed and
the latest video drivers I can find. Randomly during games,
Starcraft/Broodwar will crash. This used to happen in Windows 2000
but checkind the DMA options for the IDE controllers fixed that,
the same thing doesn't work for XP. Is there another fix for this?

System Specs:
Duron 1000
ECS K75SA
On Board Sound (AC 97 codec)
Geforce 2 GTS
256 MB SDRAM 40 Gig HD
24x CDRW

any help is appricated. thanks in advance.

 

[Mavrick007]

I'd like to know too cause my friend's machine crashed last night while playing a game in XP Pro.
It isn't patched, it's an Athlon Tbird 1.4 and it's doing it often.

 

[Anubis]

check blizzards support site, they might have a clue

 

[jcwagers]

Just of of curiosity, do you have the latest patches for Starcraft and Brood War? If not, you might try that. If you do, well......check around on other Starcraft sites and see if you can find someone who has a similar problem. If it's happening to you, then it's bound to have happened to someone else and maybe they've discovered a fix.

Planet Starcraft

jcwagers

 

[mrchan]

yeah i've got all the updates, i'll try and poke around other SC sites. thanks.

 

[AKA]

I've never had a problem with starcraft or broodwar on Xp.

Its more likely its a video or sound driver issue.

 

[MournSanity]

I used to have that problem. I have a VIA chipset so I updated the drivers for it and then it worked perfectly. Get the 4-in-1 drivers at Via Arena.

 

[MournSanity]

Um...That's if your board has a VIA chipset. If it doesn't upgrade the drivers of that certain chipset.

 

[ojai00]

I used to have that problem also in Windows 2000. I formatted and installed XP and it hasn't happened to me since. It might have been a bad copy of Windows 2000 for me (if you know what I mean ). Could it be a bad copy for you as well?

 

[mrchan]

which chipset does the ECS k7s5A use?

 

[Mavrick007]

Originally posted by: mrchan
which chipset does the ECS k7s5A use?

That would be the Sis 735 chipset on the ECS K7S5A.

My friend has an Abit KG7-raid board and it's using the AMD761 chipset so I don't think that's the problem with his machine. What else could it be if it's not XP?

 

[mrchan]

here is what blizzard suggested. has worked so far

Please try the following the steps:

1. Make sure the latest video drivers you are using are compatible with the latest version of DirectX or you could experience video problems. Contact your video card manufacturer to ensure compatibility if you cannot find the information on the page you downloaded your video drivers from. Make sure you have the latest version of DirectX from http://www.microsoft.com/directx/homeuser/downloads/default.asp.

2. Make sure you have the latest drivers for your Video and Sound cards. You'll want to check with your computer manufacturer or the Video/Sound card manufacturer's website for the current drivers that match the model of card you have in your system. A list of manufacturers with contact information can be found at http://www.blizzard.com/support/?id=msi0369p.

3. Download and install the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard. Check the motherboard manufacturer's website for updated chipset drivers, first. If you can't find updated drivers at the manufacturer's website, the next two most common locations for chipset drivers are http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2 and http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/

4. Before starting the game, make sure there are no other programs running in the background except for Explorer & Systray. Press CTRL+ALT+DEL to see a list of programs running in the background.

5. It's also a good idea to run ScanDisk and Disk Defragmenter to ensure that your hard drive is operating at optimal performance. You will probably find it helpful to disable your screen saver and power management features before you scandisk or defrag. Sometimes Windows will restart the defragmentation and/or scandisk if your screen saver or power management kicks in.

(Windows 95/98/Me)
-Click on the Start button and go to Run.
-Type in "scandisk" (without quotes) and click the OK button.
-Follow the prompts and select "Thorough" scandisk and let it run.
-This will tell you if there are any problems on the hard disk.

-Click on the Start button and go to Run
-Type in "defrag" (without quotes) and click the OK button.
-Follow the prompts to defrag your hard drive.
-This will make the available space more usable by your programs.

(Windows 2000/XP)
-Open My Computer, and select the local disk you want to check.
-On the File menu, click Properties.
-Click the Tools tab.
-Under Error-checking, click Check Now.
-Under Check disk options, select the Scan for and attempt recovery of bad sectors check box and the automatically fix file system errors box.
-Select yes to schedule after restart if a dialog box comes up prompting you to do so.
-Restart your computer

-Open My Computer, and select the local disk you want to check.
-On the File menu, click Properties.
-Click the Tools tab.
-Under Defragmentation, click Defragment now.
-Select volume to Defragment.
-Click Defragment.


6. Delete the bncache.dat file(s) if one or more exist on your hard drive.

7. Our games run in 640 x 480 with 256 colors. Try setting your desktop to this resolution before starting the game.

8. Make sure all Power Management settings are disabled or turned off. If you have a screensaver, set it to "None" before playing the game.

9. Run the System File Checker to scan for damaged or missing files in Windows by clicking on Start, go to Run and type "sfc" without the quotes. Follow the prompts to check the integrity of your files.

10. Make sure your version of Windows has all the latest updates by checking http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com.