The thrill is gone, and so is my PC...
by Gonzo T. Clown · in Torque Game Engine Advanced · 06/17/2004 (2:17 pm) · 10 replies
Ok, I've had this PC built since Nov of 2003. I had not experienced a single problem with it at all. It was a standard install of WinXP pro with all the patches and updates EXCEPT for Direct X 9. I never trusted it, never needed it, so I never loaded it. It was not uncommon for my PC to run for 30-40 days at a time between reboots.
Then along comes TSE. TSE needs directX 9 and all the newest drivers to work properly. Even after purchasing TSE I still did not want to load DX9 on my wonderfully working PC. But, alas, you can't see all of TSE's effects without the latest and the greatest. So I loaded them.
Now I have a fully updated, state of the art OS ready to run TSE, and guess what?.... I can't run TSE. Well, not for very long anyway. Now, everything I do beyond surf crashes my PC completely.
Run a benchmark, Crash...
Run TSE, Crash...
Run a video, crash...
Run tribes 2, crash....
Photoshop 7? CRASH......
Crash... crash.... crash....
What was once a reboot every two months PC is now a reboot whenever you launch anything besides web and mail PC.
Most common error...
"unable to complete a drawing operation"
Gotta love it. I guess I'll be reloading my OS and coming back to TSE when whomever is at fault.. (Microsoft, Nvidia, each blames the other) get's their shit figured out and fixes it.
EDIT: Not blaming GG for this, just hoping that someone has a solution. I just got so stressed about it that I forgot to ask my question, lol.
Then along comes TSE. TSE needs directX 9 and all the newest drivers to work properly. Even after purchasing TSE I still did not want to load DX9 on my wonderfully working PC. But, alas, you can't see all of TSE's effects without the latest and the greatest. So I loaded them.
Now I have a fully updated, state of the art OS ready to run TSE, and guess what?.... I can't run TSE. Well, not for very long anyway. Now, everything I do beyond surf crashes my PC completely.
Run a benchmark, Crash...
Run TSE, Crash...
Run a video, crash...
Run tribes 2, crash....
Photoshop 7? CRASH......
Crash... crash.... crash....
What was once a reboot every two months PC is now a reboot whenever you launch anything besides web and mail PC.
Most common error...
"unable to complete a drawing operation"
Gotta love it. I guess I'll be reloading my OS and coming back to TSE when whomever is at fault.. (Microsoft, Nvidia, each blames the other) get's their shit figured out and fixes it.
EDIT: Not blaming GG for this, just hoping that someone has a solution. I just got so stressed about it that I forgot to ask my question, lol.
About the author
#2
06/17/2004 (5:26 pm)
I got that "unable to complete a GDI drawing operation" error. I opened my case, and my video card looked liked this. Needless to say, after cleaning off the dust from the fan shields, it worked a LOT better.
#3
I too opened my case and blew some dust out and even checked the seating of the card. No luck.
I was running the 56.55 drivers until I upgraded to TSE, never had the problem. I have since tried the 53.03's, 56.55's, and the 56.72's and I still get the same crash and reboot. It's a hard crash, everything is fine until it just hangs. Nothing responds at all and then about 15-20 seconds later the PC reboots.
I have checked all my temp monitors and my temperatures are fine. The CPU is running right at 90 degrees F and GPU temp is 120 F.
EDIT:
Just to add some more info....
I have fully scanned my entire PC twice for viri and trojans with updated Software. I'm extremely carefull about such matters anyway. I've also disabled my AV to test as some forums had suggested, no change, still crashing. Tried completely uninstalling all my video drivers and the unit itself and starting over. No change. Tried reinstalling DX9 just in case. No change. DxDiag says there are no problems, and I can get through the tests without a crash using the 56.72 drivers but still crash on TSE and TGE and everything else.
Registry Medic says the registry is fine, I can surf fine and watch videos and such, check my email. But when I utilize anything that would set off DX9's power, it turns to a crash. The only consistant variable I can come up with is the DX9 install. The drivers dont change anything, it affects most of my power apps, never happened before the DX9 install, happens plenty since. So I guess a reinstall may be my only choice.
06/17/2004 (5:58 pm)
Geforce FX5900 w 128MBI too opened my case and blew some dust out and even checked the seating of the card. No luck.
I was running the 56.55 drivers until I upgraded to TSE, never had the problem. I have since tried the 53.03's, 56.55's, and the 56.72's and I still get the same crash and reboot. It's a hard crash, everything is fine until it just hangs. Nothing responds at all and then about 15-20 seconds later the PC reboots.
I have checked all my temp monitors and my temperatures are fine. The CPU is running right at 90 degrees F and GPU temp is 120 F.
EDIT:
Just to add some more info....
I have fully scanned my entire PC twice for viri and trojans with updated Software. I'm extremely carefull about such matters anyway. I've also disabled my AV to test as some forums had suggested, no change, still crashing. Tried completely uninstalling all my video drivers and the unit itself and starting over. No change. Tried reinstalling DX9 just in case. No change. DxDiag says there are no problems, and I can get through the tests without a crash using the 56.72 drivers but still crash on TSE and TGE and everything else.
Registry Medic says the registry is fine, I can surf fine and watch videos and such, check my email. But when I utilize anything that would set off DX9's power, it turns to a crash. The only consistant variable I can come up with is the DX9 install. The drivers dont change anything, it affects most of my power apps, never happened before the DX9 install, happens plenty since. So I guess a reinstall may be my only choice.
#4
06/17/2004 (8:17 pm)
Have you checked to make sure your memory hasn't gone bad? That's what it sounds like. I have unfortunately lots of personal experience with bad memory.
#6
I've had similar problems like this, usually from bad driver installs though, not bad hardware. In my experience, DirectX really doesn't like to play nice if installed after video or audio drivers. I'd get lockups in DX games until I un-installed audio, video, directx and my AGP drivers. Then reinstalling them all again in this order - AGP driver, DirectX, then Audio & Video drivers.
Uninstalling some things can be tricky and the uninstallers are notorious for doing sloppy cleanup. Might want to look for 'Driver Cleaner' on the net, it's pretty handy.
06/17/2004 (10:52 pm)
Did you un-install your old drivers before you installed Directx? I've had similar problems like this, usually from bad driver installs though, not bad hardware. In my experience, DirectX really doesn't like to play nice if installed after video or audio drivers. I'd get lockups in DX games until I un-installed audio, video, directx and my AGP drivers. Then reinstalling them all again in this order - AGP driver, DirectX, then Audio & Video drivers.
Uninstalling some things can be tricky and the uninstallers are notorious for doing sloppy cleanup. Might want to look for 'Driver Cleaner' on the net, it's pretty handy.
#7
LOL as a matter of fact after a while of googling I picked that exact memory test to try it out. Memory is fine. I went ahead and did a full format and reinstall of the OS, went straight to Windows update and got all my criticals, then installed the DX SDK, and tested TSE, everything seems to work fine now. I'll fill in more as I get my other stuff reinstalled.
06/18/2004 (12:35 am)
@ DavidLOL as a matter of fact after a while of googling I picked that exact memory test to try it out. Memory is fine. I went ahead and did a full format and reinstall of the OS, went straight to Windows update and got all my criticals, then installed the DX SDK, and tested TSE, everything seems to work fine now. I'll fill in more as I get my other stuff reinstalled.
#8
06/18/2004 (1:09 am)
Glad to hear your system is behaving... at least for the moment. ;) 
#9
06/18/2004 (5:07 am)
Heh, formatting/reinstalling is a long process, i use a program called "ghost" instead, once i have the computer formated and all my programs installed witch takes 3-4 hours and is about 2gig, ghost can make an image of the os (4.5gig)hd in 10-15 minutes and that image gets saved on drive d,e,f,or g. Ghost will give you your clean os back in 10-15 minutes, and lrt you feel free to try any update goodie out there. 
#10
Wierdly enough graphics card drivers are one of the few things in win-xp that can take down an entire machine. Any other program crash will simply let you carry on going.
06/18/2004 (10:37 am)
This sounds like it was due to corrupted DX9 install. I've had this before and when you get it, anything that tries to access the drivers of the card causes a crash out. I fixed mine by uninstalling DX9 (going to a previous system restore point), updating my graphics drivers and re-installing dx9.Wierdly enough graphics card drivers are one of the few things in win-xp that can take down an entire machine. Any other program crash will simply let you carry on going.
Associate Kyle Carter