HELP computer problems

I need some serious help,my computer locks up wile playing MTS here are my system specs
Compaq,I know I know,my First modern computer
Win XP sp1 update
1.5 gig pent.4
256 ram
64mb radeon {installed last week} was 12mb nvidia vanta
40 gig HD not certain of manufacture
direct X 9the game runs FINE between 10 and 24 FPS in fairly open country,than suddenly BAM!! locks up for about 10 secondsI have tried all available drivers for the radeon,I have updated the BIOS on my computer,me and Microsoft have went round and round for about a month and now I am about to restore my PC to like new status,that is my final option, I have cacheman also,I am not a PC wizard but I have more than average knowledge of this unforsaken beast at my desk!! I got the readeon because of the freezingAny ideas??? R.I.P Norfolk and Western,at least I got to know ya
you MAY find me hanging out on the Pocahontas and Radford Div of NSAndy J

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RE: HELP computer problems, rpicardi1, Aug-14-03, 09:27 PM, (1) RE: HELP computer problems, sd70mac666, Aug-14-03, 10:29 PM, (2) RE: HELP computer problems, ajwtcb, Aug-15-03, 09:00 AM, (3) RE: HELP computer problems, OTTODAD, Aug-15-03, 09:16 AM, (4) RE: HELP computer problems, Andy J, Aug-15-03, 12:16 PM, (5) RE: HELP computer problems, OTTODAD, Aug-15-03, 01:50 PM, (6) RE: HELP computer problems, LARKIE, Aug-15-03, 03:02 PM, (7) RE: HELP computer problems, Bing, Aug-15-03, 10:14 PM, (8) RE: HELP computer problems, Andy J, Aug-17-03, 03:29 PM, (9) RE: HELP computer problems, OTTODAD, Aug-17-03, 03:57 PM, (10) RE: HELP computer problems, Andy J, Aug-17-03, 04:47 PM, (11) RE: HELP computer problems, OTTODAD, Aug-18-03, 07:08 AM, (12) RE: HELP computer problems, Andy J, Aug-20-03, 11:47 AM, (13)

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Kick the ram up to at least 512mb. XP will hog a good portion of the existing 256mb for itself leaving little room for a memory intensive simulator like MSTS. It is probably cashing to the hard drive during the 10 second freeze.Also, make sure that you system is not infected with the W32Blaster Worm. There will be a file called MSBlast.exe. It will cause problems as well. If you have it, see the thread on the General Forum on how to get rid of it.SRV Ron

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I don't have a problem with my computer even though it has 256MB of RAM in it. Yo umight want ot try sliding down the sliders until you get your desired effect. Thats what I had to do
Trial and error

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You have a rather average system - should be OK. What programs do you have running while you are playing Train Sim? If you are using a dial-up internet connection, try disabling your anti-virus and other programs that appear in your task bar (the area by the time display in the lower right corner). When you connect, be sure to re-enable the anti-virus software if you do indeed disable it. I usually close as much down there as possible in order to free as many resources as I can. More important for you because you have a limited amount of RAM (256 MB). Go to 512 MB if you can and it will help out.I notice a similar effect running NECv4, adjusting the sliders to reduce the detail level is really the only way to completely remove the slow frame rate problem.

Andy Whitcomb

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Shut down all Services in the Task Manager not required by MSTS. To find out more about them, goto http://www.blackviper.com/winxp/servicecfg.htmO t t o

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I have us MSCONFIG to shut everything down,and with the sliders set to the left,and I have incredible framerates but it will still completely locks up every few minuets,I also keep my system 100% free of spywear with spybot and lavasofts ad aware,I am at a complete loss as to the reason for total lock up's,I have noticed some other games locking up now,that used to runfine,this is aggravating,can part of windows be corrupted,all the problems occurred BEFORE I upgraded the video card. R.I.P Norfolk and Western,at least I got to know ya
you MAY find me hanging out on the Pocahontas and Radford Div of NSAndy J

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Andy, could it be the new video card and it's settings ? It's Fan is spinning and it is not overheating after being used intensively for a while, sometimes the cause of problems ? Some guys also seemed to have had similar experiences after installing DirectX-9.This card is an AGP 4x card sitting in an AGP 4x slot ? There is a usable voltage difference between them and older cards. Could also be that the card is just faulty, seeing that it screws up all programmes running after a while ?You say "all the problems occurred BEFORE you upgraded the Video Card" or did you mean AFTER ?First of all run the MSTS Troubleshooter and "Change Video Driver". Still no good ? Run Dxdiag and check the Drivers, testing the card's performance using the relevant tabs.Had a similar problem with an ATI-RADEON 8500 which I cured after one week of changing various of it's OpenGL and 3D settings. There just is no logical explanation for why things don't work sometimes and in many cases it is more sheer luck to make things work than knowing what needs to be done ! O t t o

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Have you got rid of all vestiges of your old card drivers?Try "search for files\folders",after uninstalling the old drivers,and after booting in safe mode(F8),by typing in the search box "OEM*.inf" ,but without the " ".This will show third party drivers on your machine.Double click each search result,and delete the one(s) that are related to your graphics card manufacturer,and any previous card installed.DON'T delete anything else!!!Do the same again by looking for "PMX*.*",and deleting the graphic card references.Empty the recycling bin,and reboot normally.You will be on Windows default graphics settings,and should be able to install your graphics drivers normally.

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Check the Guru3D forums for info on Radeon and nVidia drivers, as well as hardware issues: http://www.guru3d.com/ Don't worry about signing up for the fourms, they do funny stuff or anything like that. You can also pick up RivaTuner at the site, it is freeware, it is a utility which if missing I seriously would not turn on my computer. RivaTuner was the first app installed on my newest system. You also ought to be able to track video card chipset temperatures; if you didn't get such a utility with the card, check out the Guru3D download section.Finally, make sure you don't have pieces of old drivers in Windows\System32 - for that NFR (Nasty FIle Remover) is essential, as Detponator Destroyer does not work in WinXP. I think NFR works with the Radeon, you can check it out. But it really does sound like you have a high temps situation.Believe it or not, some cards ship with the fan plug not connected. Yoiu never know. Check it out.Bing

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I have done all ya'll have suggested AND MORE,I installed more memory to 768 mb of RAM,AND re installed windows,still no luck,I even installed MTS,BEFORE I installed nortans,and nearly every other programs,Frame rates have exploded, between 55 and 65 on the default marias pass,out in the boonies,but alas she still locks up,though now when it happens the frame rates drop to 1 for about 7 to 10 seconds,and IF a listen to mp3's it locks up all together,even with all that ram I still have the problems.I also have noticed that it is NOT reading of the hard drive during the lock-ups ,the indicator light is not lit during the lock up
Any more ideas??It locks up every 2 or 3 minuets,sometimes more,
R.I.P Norfolk and Western,at least I got to know ya
you MAY find me hanging out on the Pocahontas and Radford Div of NSAndy J

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Andy,when you run MSTS there should be nothing else running on your machine other than. No CDs or DVDs in their drives, no Internet, no Virus Checkers, ZILCH !!!Check your Task Manager Ctrl-Alt-Del and close down all not required by MSTS. Are other Games / Sims running O.K. ?Have you checked that your Graphics Card is not overheating ?O t t o

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I think it may be overheating, it is HOT in the house,and wife had to have this MASSIVE computer case,and the CPU is nearly fully enclosed,I am leaving on vacation tonight,but I will return on Wednesday and reconfigure,the set up in the computer desk,{I may even run the computer with the case open} BTW, I am gona be traveling US 52 from Bluefield to Williamson WVA in just a few hours!! GONA SEE SOME TRAINS!!!!I think all my problems are coming from heat now since i have dramaticly upgraded hardware account of the problemBTW i USED to be able with the old 256 RAM and 12 mg card,listen to some tunes and still have "acceptable preformance"that is WITH EVERYTHING ELSE shut down,worked good!!! just noticed a tiny bit of stutter during song changes! NO I did not have this problem until I installed Combat Flight Sim 2,i have not re installed the flightsim yet, but it locks up too!it did work properly for a long while{before the big RAM upgrade} i really don't play any other games much any more
R.I.P Norfolk and Western,at least I got to know ya
you MAY find me hanging out on the Pocahontas and Radford Div of NSAndy J

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Andy,Frank Carver, "EmuFarmer" from Australia just E-Mailed, saying that he had similar problems with a new machine he is building.Was not until he moved the RAM Modules around into different slots on the Motherboard that the problems disappeared.Worth a try when you get back ? O t t o

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well I fixed my problem, I am posting the solution here so ya'll will know something to watch for, it was...................................HEATWife's fancy new computer case that nearly completely enclosed the CPU, was the culprit, when I got back from my trip I opened the cabinet up as much as I could,and it worked 100% better,thanks for all the help ya'll offered,I still made some major upgrades,and it shows in the games performance and FPS, I never thought I would see 60 FPS !!! But I have!!they last time I was gamming heavily, the computer was on an old writing desk and the CPU was sitting on the floor,completely open,you can thank Austin Yoder's East River, for re hooking me,I MUST say as a local to the area, it is OUTSTANDING, I am am willing to darn near KILL for the Pocahontas div,if it is done to the same level of detail as the east river, it WILL become one of them most popular routs in the game,with its many tunnels,small towns,trestles,steep grades,and plethora of mine branches,it is an awesome place to chase trains too!!
R.I.P Norfolk and Western,at least I got to know ya
you MAY find me hanging out on the Pocahontas and Radford Div of NSAndy J

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