Annoying problem

[Ice_Cube]

I was playing emperor today and it froze three times, in that the game stopped and a seconds worth of sound repeated over and over (this has never happened before). It was once in a skirmish and twice in a LAN game. There seems to be no patteren to the freezing. I couldn't do anything but restart the PC (e.g. the old tricks didn't work; Ctrl, alt + del, enter, escape, alt + F4, etc... I have installed no new software/hardware and this has never happened before. Please help.

[Nyarlathotep]

Any back ground programs running ? If so, try closing them down. Also, check if it happens in online multiplayer, or single player.

[Apollyon]

Defragment your harddrive and run scandisk (in reverse order, lol).

[Duneguy]

what graphics card do you have?

[Vanguard3000]

Was it paused? ;)

Anyway, if you're not getting an error or anything, it could be your machine overheating. Do other things mess up too? A while back, my fan broke, and everything kept locking up and erroring up on me.

[Ice_Cube]

ok, there are a few programs rnning (but very few). I have a GeForce 4 but I don't think that is the problem as it never happenned before. I don't play online games from that computer, only LAN and skirmish and it has happenned in oth of those. I doubt it is over heating as I have got loads of fans in there.

BTW: It wasn't paused, lol.

I'll get back to you when I have done thoses....

[anklbter8]

This happens to me if I sit in the lobby too long. I'll join a game and then freeze in the game room or when the game is loading. I used to reinstall the game and it took care of the problem for awhile. I got a new graphics card now (Radeon 9000 pro) and it happens way less so I don't worry about reinstalling. Quite annoying though because the only way out of it is to reboot the comp. I always run MSN messenger in the background and sometimes Howies screen capture but nothing else. If there's an answer for it I'd like to know too. Like Ice_Cube said it is random and you can't just end it with the task manager.

[Nyarlathotep]

I still would advise to NOT run MSN in the background for a while and see if it still happens. MSN receives a lot of info and who's to say it isn't a new e-mail arriving when the game freezes...

[anklbter8]

I have already done that and there is no difference so I leave it up now. Plus I hardly ever receive e-mail under that account.

[Ice_Cube]

My problem ins't internet related as I don't have an internet connection o that computer. But I am starting to think that the problem is more widespread than emperor, windows now locks up at random points and especially at the loading. I have ran a standard scan disk and fixed too many errors to list here, I can't run a thourough scan as it keeps restarting and a defrag does not work as it just freezes after a while. System restore does not work due to a faulty windows update (thank you VERY much microsoft.com). I am running out of ideas any thought of something to try?

BTW: I think that closing the programs in the background might solve it but I am not sure., I haven't really tested it yet.

[Nyarlathotep]

Well, closing background programs won't stop windows freezing at startup. What I also find troubling is the fact that scandisk needed to fix to many errors to list here. That definately isn't good.

Were they bad sectors on the drive ? If you look at the C drive, have files appeared with 001, 002, or something similar ? If so, I'd advise to format and re-install. Once those files start to appear (they are created by scandisk and are files which were, or were believed to be corrupt), there's almost no possibility to fix those.

The above also might explain the problem you're having with EBFD.

anklbter8, did the problem you have with EBFD always come up from the beginning, or did it start to happen after a while ?

[Ice_Cube]

When I ran the scan disk there were all sorts of errors, bad clusters, cross linked files, etc...

I'll go check if I have any files with 001 or 002.......

nope, I looked in the C: directory, C:WINDOWS directory and the C:Program files directory but the only files I could find that remotley matched the description were:

A bak file in the windows directory that was like 000000-000000-233220-04550-00000 or something like that and a simmilar one that was a channel file.

Formating? Would you recommend this considering all the hassle (re-installing everything, files, etc...)?

[Nyarlathotep]

I've already stated it sevaral times, it isn't a bad thing to format and re-install everything once a year. It may sound like a lot of work, but you'll keep your pc as clean as it can be.

Let me put it differently, if I look at some of the problems that are reported here, I would have formatted and re-installed my stuff, instead of trying to solve things via other programs (to clean out the registry for example). I always format and re-install once a year => Maybe that's why I do not encounter any "harsh" problems ;)

[anklbter8]

anklbter8, did the problem you have with EBFD always come up from the beginning, or did it start to happen after a while ?

When I first had EBFD It ran fine. Then about a month later I experienced a intermittent problem of the system crashing (blue screen of death or minidump :O ) during gameplay. I reinstalled the game a couple of times and it would be good for a couple of weeks then happen again. Then I bought a new graphics card Radeon 9000 pro. it stopped dumping out but now occasionally freezes. This also happens to a friend of mine. He doesn't play anymore but his problem was the same. Just seemed that if you stay in the lobby too long you would freeze. Or during the game loading. Problem is totally random and reinstalling the game works for a couple weeks then its back again. It also seemed that if I had any campaign saves it got way worse but if I cleared my saves it wouldn't happen as often.

[Nyarlathotep]

Do you have any copy programs (like Nero) ? What virus scanner are you using ? Do you have any programs like Kazaa ?

Do you notice any cdrom access when it freezes?

[anklbter8]

Do you have any copy programs (like Nero) ? What virus scanner are you using ? Do you have any programs like Kazaa ?

Do you notice any cdrom access when it freezes?

I do have a trial B's gold that came with my Sony CRX185A1. It has long epired and I actually may have already gotten rid of it. I'll have to check. I have Norton 2002 is my virus scanner. I do have Kazaa but I run my ad-aware to get of most of the advertising things. I always turn Kazaa off when playing online. I do not allow people to upload from me. I am also picky about what I download.

As for when it freezes it just stops where it is on the screen and the music repeats it self only plying a second or 2 of the music then repeating the same few seconds. It seems if the cd is reading normally. I had only a cd reader before I bouhgt my burner and the problem happened then too. I have had it freeze when I do a skirmish gane but that is very rare. I play generals all the time and have no problems with any freezing.

[Nyarlathotep]

The reason I ask is because we already have a few issues with EBFD and 3rd party software, hence why I asked.

What you could try is the zip file that's posted in the "EBFD and Norton" thread. Who knows it might aid you.

[anklbter8]

I'll check it out. Thanks. :)

[Ice_Cube]

Nyar, I have decided to go along with the format but do I have to do all the partitioning again (like a new hard drive) or just skip all that and go to the 'format C:' part?

[Nyarlathotep]

Just the format part. There's no need to partition your harddrive again.

Make sure you back up data you want to keep.

[Ice_Cube]

thanks, I went ahead and just formatted it and it is all working now. It was especially easy to back files up as I could just transfer them over a network, and when I had finished I could transfer them back, simple. ;)

All I need to do is just install emp. and see if it works :-

[Nyarlathotep]

Make sure you keep a close eye on what you install. This would be benificial in case windows starts freezing again (glad that's solved though).

[Ice_Cube]

I have only installed basic drivers at the mo and other essential things. I am just going to make some rules:

No demos!

If it looks dodgy, don't open it!

No shareware! (I think that might of been the culpret).

One more question, would the software for a cordless and ball-less mouse cause any problems? (logitech)

[Nyarlathotep]

One more question, would the software for a cordless and ball-less mouse cause any problems? (logitech)

Could be, I've had an issue with drivers for a multimedia keyboard, which caused my windows to freeze (non logitec)..

[Ice_Cube]

hm, so my cordless mouse might cause problems? I installed the drivers for it a bit before the problems started to occur. Damn, it was quite expensive, taking it back is not an option so what would you reccommend, Nyar, with regards to a potentially system-dammaging mouse?

As an off-topic idea, I think you should make a sticky topic explaing how to re-format and why you should do it. My computer has never ran this fast! (except during the first week of its creation)