SWG crashing... all the time....

[Paladyr]

I don't know what's up. A week or two ago I was playing planetside just fine. I installed SWG's, and shortly there after I started having problems with crashing. I have tried:

1. Setting ram to 7-3-3-3 (2x256 crucial, 1x512 kingston hyperX)
2. Using only the Kingston HyperX ram (haven't tried the crucial alone yet but I doubt this is the problem.
3. Tried moving from Cat 3.5s to Cat 3.4s. I seem to crash a LOT more with 3.5s than 3.4s, not sure why.
4. Reinstalling the game on my maxtor and not my POS IBM 60GXP.

I am at my wit's end here. The only things left are these:

1. Power supply (i have an antec smart power 400W). I have 1 HD, 9700np, CD-Rom, network card, 4 case fans, floppy. How could a 400W antec not be enough?? I know it isn't as good as the true power but c'mon!

2. Perhaps the HyperX is bad. This is my next step I think... but why could I play Planetside just fine not too long ago? That certainly was using most of my gig of ram.

3. Heat. I think it has gotten much hotter the last few weeks here in cincinnati, OH so perhaps it is heat? My CPU seems to stay under 45C and the memory on my 9700np does not feel very hot. I don't feel much heat coming off the core either.

Now to describe the type of lockups I have. Basically I can play the game for a very long time if I am just out hunting... when there isn't much around. Once i go into town, it seems the likelihood that I will crash increases. When I crash... the music sometimes stops, but sometimes just keeps playing. Either way, the screen will freeze and I am unable to ctrl+alt+del or do anything else. I am forced to reboot. A lot of times when I reboot, my motherboard will start making that alarm noise where it goes wee oh wee oh wee oh wee oh (that was a great impersonation wasn't it?). I have to turn it off to get rid of that. Then I turn it back on and it is fine.

Does anyone have any ideas on what I could try???? Does the fact that my motherboard (epox 8rda) makes that alarm noise after a reboot from a crash mean it is definitely a hardware problem?

[Paladyr]

Just thought of something else. I think i have my CPU warning or shut down (can't remember which) temp at something like 60C. What happens when it reaches that temp?? Could that be what is causing the lockups??? The temp of 45C I gave earlier is the temp I see after a reboot.

Does anyone know how the shut down temp works??? Please reply!

[SpringDog]

How does your system run with other games? Have you tried running 3DMark 2001/2003? That would be a good indicator as you could then determine if it was the game, or the system that was crashing. After all, the game itself might just be buggy and crash-prone. You also might want to check out the SWG forums and see if anyone else is having the same problems.

Check out SWG Forums here

[PriMaTe]

Does your processor stay under 45 degrees when you are idle or when you haveit under full load, check to make sure your temps are under the reboot temp of 60 C when your processor is under full load.

[Paladyr]

Guess what... i decided to download rage3d tweak and DOWNCLOCK my video card. Wallah, problems are now gone. I even formatted and reinstalled everything from scratch and still had crashing. Only downclocking my card managed to fix it. I'm going to see if I can RMA my card.

Actually, this brings up a good question. Who do I RMA my card to? Is it sapphire??? Better yet, should I just add some custom cooling to this thing?

[PriMaTe]

I'd try RMAing it to the store or website you bought it from.