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View Full Version : Max Payne random crash


Guest
10-15-2001, 06:56 PM
Hey all, there was a bug and i've been waiting a week to get access to this BBS, so i've monitored it enough that i don't think this is a duplicate problem. let me lay down my system specs:

Windows ME 4.90.3000
AMD Athlon Socket A 1400mhz
DFI AK-76SN Motherboard
256MB RAM
screen res 1280*1024*32-bit
MSI / nvidia Geforce 3 with Detonator 21.85 XP Drivers
Event / Echo Layla Soundcard + interface (not very common)
TDK veloCD 16*10*40x
Matshita dvd-rom SR-8583
one hard drive partitioned as C, E, F, total 40gb, 7200rpm ATA-66
another hard drive partitioned as D, 5000 rpm tops, not exactly sure
DSL through a LNE100TX Fast Ethernet Adapter
Intel Anypoint Wireless 1.6mpbs network installed, USB

THE PROBLEM: Max payne randomly crashes, either straight up dropping me to the desktop, or reseting the computer, with or without freezing for a few seconds and looping sounds first. sometimes the computer doesn't reboot and i have to do do it manually, if there IS a freeze with looping sounds. dxdiag checks everything out fine, but just to be sure, i turned off/down hardware acceleration on both my video card (it's a geforce3, it should be able to handle it), and my sound card (an event layla, a 8 input multitrack recording card. very fast sound processing, directx compatible, on my last computer i used it for games all the time.)

the game runs longer when i scale down graphics options, as if there's some pre-determined amount of processing power that i can use up before it crashes. crashes are not entirely random based on this, but sometimes i can play for half an hour in 1024*768 with all options on, perfectly smooth, and sometimes i can't play for 2 minutes on 640*480, all options off. mostof the time though, i can play 640*480 for 20+ minutes, and 1024*786 for 2-5 minutes.

THE WORST PART: max payne was one of, although not the first, games on this new computer that i jjust put together. i already had half-life installed, which worked in very high graphics modes without crashing for long sessions. now, since max payne started crashing like this, ALL of my accelerated games are crashing like this. i bet i've just got a setting wrong, but i've been all over every site i could think of, updated motehrboard/video card/sound drivers, looked through the troubleshooting sites of all my hardware and this, even sites for a few games that i figured it WOULD crash on if i had them. please help me!

Pepe
10-16-2001, 09:36 AM
Turn all hardware accel. back on especialy the 3d accel. Try a lower version drivers for you graphics card, as the new det's are giving a lot of people trouble. Hell, my manufacturer doesn't even recommend them.

Guest
10-17-2001, 12:55 AM
Like I said, I've already turned off hardware acceleration on my soundcard and my video card, that hasn't affected anything. I've also tried various drivers including the original MSI drivers for my video card. Not so simple, it seems...

biXen
10-17-2001, 04:57 AM
Well, you DO have a weird motherboard. Don't know much about that, but I recommend as he said some very old detonators. Also you could try one of those programs that put's pressure on the computer for a long time, if it doesn't crash it isn't the motherboard - cpu - ram that's unstable at least. Also, if you have overclocked ANYTHING, put it right back to defaults. Seems like it could be the graphics card though, so older drivers is my best bet. The motherboard - graphics card combo might not be good, and it seems like you had a weird sound card too. Check for sharing IRQ's, make sure the graphics card doesn't share with anyone, move some PCI cards if necessary... or simply try to remove all of them that you are not using, running only with graphics card and such... will help you pinpoint the problem... hope that helps images/icons/smile.gif

Guest
10-17-2001, 03:57 PM
well i've tried old drivers before... could anyone recommend a specific stable build of the detonator drivers that wouldn't lose me that much performance?

what do you mean by programs that put pressure on the computer? i run 3dmark2001 on it, which i suppose is a high pressure app, and it always crashes... i haven't even completed enough tests to get a rating.

nothing's overclocked, for the record, in fact my geforce3 is running a few mhz below the default, and my 1.4ghz athlon is running at 1.36ghz.

i'll try removing various PCI cards, although there doesn't seem to be any irq sharing going on, that was actually the first thing i checked for, because the layla soundcard has a history of screwing up.