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Thread ID: 52254	2004-12-15 23:03:00	Wierd things happening with NFS:U	Lizard (2409)	Press F1

Post ID	Timestamp	Content	User
303053	2004-12-15 23:03:00	Hi all, Having built my new computer recently, and with help from Godfather sorted a driver issue that was resetting the computer (it was an old version of ZoneAlarm - would you believe it!), I now have a problem with Need for Speed: Underground. For starters, it jumps. You're speeding along at 250km/h, and the car will occasionally freeze for about half a second, and then carry on. It's kind of like a lag when you're playing online, but this is just in single player mode. (I'll give you the specs in a second) Secondly, it's taken to shutting down the machine - it just quits to a blue screen (not a BSOD - no text or message), and I can hear something stop spinning, though I'm not sure if its the HDD, DVD-drive, or CPU or Video card fans (I hope not - but it's probably not, as they probably would have fried without cooling). The machine is still powered, but it's completely useless. I have to do a hard reset, at which point XP prepares an error report for M$. It doesn't do this every time, and it doesn't seem to correlate to time spent on the machine, or in the game, or with a particular point in the game. Does anyone have any thoughts on this? The specs are as follows: AMD 64 2800+ MSI K8N Neo Platinum 512 MB DDR 400 GeCube ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB (latest Catalyst drivers - DirectX 9.0C) In the background, I have AVG Free 7 running, and the latest ZoneAlarm (this version works - the last one crashed my computer every time it booted into Windows), Propel Accelerator (from Ihug). Other problems I'm having, which may be related or may not be, is that when I do a search in the Help centre of XP, and click on the link for one of the results, it crashes Help. Every time. And when I plug a network cable in, the icon in the system tray pops up a balloon that says there is no cable plugged in, and the balloon flashes on and off. Finally, I've installed Unreal II, which worked fine, but crashed after playing for about 10 minutes, and won't restart. Things seem to point to the Graphics card (I'm hoping not, though), but I can't think of anything to diagnose it with, as I don't have another computer with a suitable AGP slot. Is there a software solution? Cheers Lizard	Lizard (2409)
303054	2004-12-15 23:08:00	Tried disabling DEP? It's caused a large amount of problems for me. (same motherboard, Athlon 64 3200+, and a Geforce 6800GT.) To disable DEP, go start, run, type msconfig, click boot.ini, and find "NoExecute" under operating systems. Change it to "NoExecute=AlwaysOff" This is assuming you have SP2 installed. If not, I'm not sure if XP pre SP2 had DEP.	Zygar (29)
303055	2004-12-15 23:11:00	Hmm... I did have the same problem but really can't remember how I fixed it :) I know exactly what you are talking about and it does seem exactly like lag - ie sort of freezes then fastforwards and you end up crashed... not nice. As I mentioned I can't remember how I fixed it BUT there are patches available for NFSU and you can also update your graphics drivers to the latest version. If that doesn't work you could also fiddle with the video settings for the game - try a lower res and see if turning VSync ON or OFF makes any difference - also AA and/or AF settings could be the cause...	HadO (796)
303056	2004-12-15 23:17:00	Perhaps the constant crashing caused by zonealarm caused damage to the system files. First thing i would suggest is to get into the bios and select fail safe defaults (even if this underclocks your system,we are only doing it for troubleshooting purposes) and then run the game and see if its still doing the same old,same old....	Metla (12)
303057	2004-12-15 23:20:00	Hmm... I did have the same problem but really can't remember how I fixed it :) Hey this is in relation just to the NFSU problem - the shutting down issues seem pretty big time but still could be related to the video card.	HadO (796)
303058	2004-12-15 23:52:00	Shortly after I built my system, I ran 3DMark03 to becnhmark the grafx. I think it scored around 5000 (or 3000 - whichever is more realistic) - but now the two copies I have of 3DMark on coverdisks won't install (corrupted files) so I can't recheck it. Anyways, how does that mark measure up for a 9800 Pro 128MB?	Lizard (2409)
303059	2004-12-16 09:29:00	Could it be that NFSU isnt 64bit compatible... Other than that I'm pointing my finger straight at XP. It's either blown a fuse or spat a bolt. Reinstall the bastard.... :D	hamstar (4)
303060	2004-12-16 09:34:00	It wont have anything to do with the Athlon64 as it can do 32bit and 64bit. If you've exhausted all options with the video card I would reinstall your OS so it's nice and clean - also check your cpu and case temps!	HadO (796)
303061	2004-12-16 09:35:00	By the way, the thing you're hearing spin down, is probly your hard drive... this could lead to all those other probs. I've seen it happen before, try changing the molex connector for a different one and see if it still does it...	hamstar (4)
303062	2004-12-16 09:41:00	have you tried another set of drivers? omega drivers (http://www.omegadrivers.net) perhaps? these are enhance drivers that automaticly configure to your gfx card, worth a shot	Prescott (11)
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