Virtual Skipper

sunshine-daydream · mousse Joined: 17 Dec 2011 Posts: 21

Hi all, I'm officially stumped.

The game freezes up randomly when I play online. Sometimes it's pretty immediate (i.e. within 2 minute) sometimes it takes 5-10 minutes to freeze, occasionally it's been fine for hours, then just freezes up.

I originally thought the problem was that my GPU was overheating. I was able to force it to crash by maxing out the graphics settings on my ATI Radeon card, and it seemed to happen less if I dialed the graphics back.

So I bought a new GPU... EVGA 1 GB GT440... the problem still occured. I tried all the tips as far as disabling firewalls, running in admin mode, and shutting down any background programs, and none of that seemed to make much of a difference.

Then I re-installed the program on a different hard drive (i.e. not the one my OS is on) and the problem seemed to be fixed. Was stable for a few days everytime I played, but then the problem got progressively worse again... eventually crashing within about 5 minutes each time.

So I did the reinstall trick again... If I removed it, then reinstalled it to the same directory, the problem was immediately there again, however, if I changed the reinstall directory (to VSK-reinstall or the like), then the program was stable for a few days again, only to then get progressively worse.

I found a setting in my router (SLP-ALG) that I thought might help by disabling, but it too seems to have no effect.

I'm now at a complete loss for what's causing the problem. It's bizarre that it seems to get progressively worse after being reinstalled.

Running the registered version, but problem occured on the free version too. I was hoping the full version would solve the problem, then I was hoping the GPU was the problem... now I just don't know.

Love the game, even though I'm late to the party, but the frustration is starting to wear me down.

System specs: Intel Core2Duo CPU 2.66 GHZ, running Vista Ultimate, EVGA GT440 GPU, 4 GB Ram, and two seperate SATA hardrives. Connected to cable internet running through a netgear WGR614 router. All my drivers have been updated.

Camster · Posted: 21 Dec 2011 11:07 Post subject:

Have you played other graphics-intensive games to see if the problem is with your PC or not?

I'm thinking overheating CPU or memory dysfunction ?
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Sandy

sunshine-daydream · mousse Joined: 17 Dec 2011 Posts: 21

I'm not much of a gamer, but have blown all the dust off the inside, and tried with the case open to see if heat is an issue. I've run the CPU hard before with other applications (video processing) with no problems before...

I've got 2 - 2 Gig ram chips... tried with only one, and the problem was still there with the same frequency. Guess I haven't tried using just the other one... that's worth a shot next time I see the problem reoccur.

My thought is though, if it was RAM, why would the problem go away when I reinstalled the software. I would think that would be random from the get go. Unless the .exe file is being rewritten or uses a data file to reference or something, in which case, I guess bad ram might eventually contaminate it or something. I guess when the problem happens again, I'll try that to eliminate that from the fault tree. It just seems like the program itself is slowly corrupting or something.

I've heard the thermal paste on the CPU can wear down over time, but like I said, I don't think heat is an issue.

sunshine-daydream · mousse Joined: 17 Dec 2011 Posts: 21

I'm not much of a gamer, but have blown all the dust off the inside, and tried with the case open to see if heat is an issue. I've run the CPU hard before with other applications (video processing) with no problems before...

I've got 2 - 2 Gig ram chips... tried with only one, and the problem was still there with the same frequency. Guess I haven't tried using just the other one... that's worth a shot next time I see the problem reoccur.

My thought is though, if it was RAM, why would the problem go away when I reinstalled the software. I would think that would be random from the get go. Unless the .exe file is being rewritten or uses a data file to reference or something, in which case, I guess bad ram might eventually contaminate it or something. I guess when the problem happens again, I'll try that to eliminate that from the fault tree. It just seems like the program itself is slowly corrupting or something.

I've heard the thermal paste on the CPU can wear down over time, but like I said, I don't think heat is an issue.

Camster · Posted: 22 Dec 2011 13:20 Post subject:

I ran a search here with the word 'freezes' and you might like to do that & check the results. Some things thast have been suggested are ...

Certain virus scanners (Kapersky and F Secure - so try disabling your anti-virus for a short time & see if that does the trick.

Updating Sound drivers

Updating the Video Drivers

Running DxDiag from the Run command and looking for problems in the output.
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Sandy

sunshine-daydream · mousse Joined: 17 Dec 2011 Posts: 21

I've updated all the drivers, and done it with AV diasbled with no changes. DxDiag says "no problems found".

Really bizarre. Guess I'll run that again next time the program is 'not responding' and see if anything changes....

sunshine-daydream · mousse Joined: 17 Dec 2011 Posts: 21

I checked the bios on my motherboard, and there were updates available... So I'm updating all of that. Hopeful that this might be the solution.

Camster · Posted: 23 Dec 2011 19:54 Post subject:

I admit I am stuck and dont have the knowledge to work this out. You seem to have covered all the usual suspects!
Hopefully someone else might have an idea - it must be very frustrating.
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Sandy

sunshine-daydream · mousse Joined: 17 Dec 2011 Posts: 21

To say the least... I'm not much of a gamer, but this game is like crack for me... been trying for years to learn tactics on the water, but the game makes it much easier and quicker. I've got the rest of our crew, and skipper hooked up, so we're all gettting a chance to play each other.

I get everything dialed in to host, and it always seems like once I get a good party going, it crashes on me.

I'm hopeful with the bios update... can't believe I overlooked that. I still had the original version, and it had been updated several times since with the release notes referencing things that, at least with my limited knowledge, seem like they could be the cause. Had all the drivers updated, but if the bios is old, that could explain it.

Weird thing was, with my old GPU, I could force the crash by cranking up the settings... I can't do that with my new GPU, so my quess is that there might be something on the motherboard... memory, hard drive control, or PCIe bus... it's all a black box at a certain point.

Time will tell I guess. I'll update again in a few days, or when I know more. Here's hoping.

CANKnot · Moderator Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 1319

It really sounds like a hardware problem, most likely heat or memory.

If the bios update does fix the problem try a memory stress test

If that doesn't find any problems run the game with the cover off your case and a fan of some sort blowing over the motherboard. If that fixes the problem you KNOW the crashes are heat related.
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In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is.

sunshine-daydream · mousse Joined: 17 Dec 2011 Posts: 21

Ran for a few days great, then started freezing again randomly.

I reinstalled again, and it's stable now.

Checked the RAM using the windows RAM checker utility and no errors were found.

I'm really stumped, why would it work fine for days, only to start crashing randomly.

Aquabat · Capitaine Joined: 06 Oct 2005 Posts: 291

Did you try the "memory stress test" detailed above. It the test clears your memory as ok .. then I would remove memory as an issue as the tool is a very good diagnostic utility.

1) What tool are you using for monitoring the temps of the CPU / CPU / Mother board etc.. there are several from complicated to more simple. SpeedFan is a good starting point

2) Did you build the PC yourself and or make any changes to the config ?

3) Do you have an old graphics card to put back in ... might help eliminate the card

4) What type of graphics card do you have and what type of power supply. It might be that the power supply is not sufficient to provide power at full demand. Saying that Video processing does make a big demand on system resources ...but worth checking .. try http://extreme.outervision.com/psucalculatorlite.jsp

Rob
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Rob

sunshine-daydream · mousse Joined: 17 Dec 2011 Posts: 21

To answer your questions;

0) I did the ram check that was available in windows Vista... haven't done the other version, but it's worth a shot since it's probably better than what I've got. I'll try that soon.

1) a tool from the board manufacturer "Intel Desktop Utilities".

2) Yup built myself. Have been having the problem since I originally installed VSK 5 despite a new GPU, upgrading drivers, and bios

3) I've tried both my ATI card, and my new EVGA GT440 card. With the ATI card, I could make the problem worse by cranking up the graphics settings. If I maxed everything out it would crash quickly, whereas minimizing everything, it stayed stable longer. With the EVGA card, I can't force the crash... it's a much better card than what I had, so not surprising there.

4) I've got a 500W power supply.. seems like if that was it, it would crash more frequently.

Aquabat · Capitaine Joined: 06 Oct 2005 Posts: 291

If you are happy that you have installed all the lastest patches / firmwear etc ...then I wonder if its worth a complete reinstall of Vista .. a pain I know ..

Sounds like you have been overclocking the GPU .. have you overclocked anything else ?

Its really is worth running the memory diag tool above ...its very very extensive and help me solve problems in the past.

Rob
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Rob

CANKnot · Moderator Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 1319

When you say the "game freezes up" is it just the game that crashes/freezes or does your whole computer freeze requiring a reboot? If your computer locks up (not just the game) I would still tend to think heat and/or the PSU. The newer nVidia card likely runs cooler and uses less power than the ATI card, which would explain why the problem is harder to reproduce but not fixed either.

If it is just the game that locks up then it is almost definitely software/driver related. Have you checked the Windows System event logs to see if any errors are reported by Windows? If the problem is software related the error logs might indicate what is causing the problem.
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In theory there is no difference between theory and practice, but in practice there is.