Topic: Device failure in windows xp home

[USSDelta]

when i try to play after a while in the campiagn and skermish modes i get an error from windows saying theres a device failure though it don't say which device

my pc specs are as followed

• win xp home
• amd athlon XP 1900+
• S3 graphics Pro savage
• direct x 9(though i got the patch)
• 500+mb SDR RAM
  

please help me

[BuckStrider]

I don't understand...Does the game just crash and you end up back at your desktop?...Do you play for a bit,then it crashes?

My game crashes as well in single player (says that I have an EAX problem...I REALLY dont think I have a  problem)

Sometimes I crash fast..Other times it takes an hour or so.

In any event..Who knows?...Well...I do know 1 group of people that know

[Pestalence]

Quote:
I don't understand...Does the game just crash and you end up back at your desktop?...Do you play for a bit,then it crashes?

My game crashes as well in single player (says that I have an EAX problem...I REALLY dont think I have a  problem)

Sometimes I crash fast..Other times it takes an hour or so.

In any event..Who knows?...Well...I do know 1 group of people that know  

Buck,
Are you using any soundblaster equipment on your system? If so, then check out the Soundblaster EAX page.. they may have a solution to your problem...

http://www.soundblaster.com/eax/

 

[USSDelta]

i'm fine in the menus when you set up the skirmish or are choosing the mission you want in the campign, it's just in the game while in a skirmish or playing a mission it crashes to the desktop and windows pops up that message

[USSDelta]

doesn't anyone know how to fix this

[Dash Jones]

No clue.  Are your drivers up to date?

[ksfung]

Go into the event handler and see what the device error is.

Control Panel -> Admin -> Event Manager

look at the hardeare and application logs  

[[RS]Cincinnatus]

From the Event Handler:

Event Type:   Error
Event Source:   ati2mtag
Event Category:   None
Event ID:   108
Date:      2/7/2003
Time:      12:22:55 PM
User:      N/A
Computer:   [removed by me for privacy]
Description:
The driver ati2dvag for the display device \Device\Video0 got stuck in an infinite loop. This usually indicates a problem with the device itself or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly. Please check with your hardware device vendor for any driver updates.

For more information, see Help and Support Center at http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/events.asp.
Data:
0000: 00000000 00520003 00000000 c004006c
0010: 00000000 00000000 00000000 00000000
0020: 00000000 00000000
//==========================================
So what's going on?? We have pretty dissimilar systems, yet get the same error. BTW does your desktop switch to 640x480 resolution and 4 colors when this error occurs? Mine does. And this error occurs not only SFC3 but in any application at all where video card demands are high: Warcraft 3, web browsing certain pages, Asheron's Call 2, Jedi Knight 2, the list goes on...
This problem has been bugging me for over a month. I can't seem to resolve it after MANY different driver tweaks. The ONLY thing I can see from here that I have in common with USSDelta is we both have DX9 and XP Home. We have a totally different vid card/sound setup. I swear, if this is a DX9 problem I'll never forgive Microsoft.... DX 9.0 clearly states it is not a beta, it is the runtime for home users... if it can't properly interface with WHQL certified ATI Catalyst 3.0 drivers posted on 12/18/2002 then I see no reason for DirectX to exist as a software library at all - they can't even keep up with their own Windows Hardware Quality Labs!

XP Professional
Directx 9*
P4 2.5 ghz
Soyo P4X400 motherboard (latest VIA Pentium 4 chipset)
SB Audigy Gamer*
PowerColor brand generic R300 chipset (100% Radeon 9700 compatible)*
Maxtor 98196H8 80.0 gb hard disk
2 (Two) case-mounted USB 2.0 controller boards, 4 sockets each
450w ATX power supply
500 mb DDRAM

Possible problematic BIOS Settings
Fast Write combining for AGP: ENABLED*
Video BIOS Shadow: DISABLED*
DBI Output for AGP 3.0: ENABLED
System BIOS Cacheable: ENABLED
* = Possible problem?

If anyone sees a glaring mistake here - be it incompatability or a known bug - let me know!  

[USSDelta]

yeah, mine does goto a 600x480 screen with 4 colours, and the only way i can sort it out is to restart my pc

and my drivers should be upto date

[Laflin]

I've been running EAW on XP Pro and DX9 with no problems...  

[zaniwhoop2]

Try sytem restore to pre DX9 (if possible)
Uninstall drivers
Reboot
Install DX9
Reboot
Install Drivers

That might work. I have had device failures on my video card before (never the Radeon 9700 though, only the Kyro 2), but only with UT2K3. Whenever I got a device failure, it was after I had to restart the computer after it locked up. I don't have SFC3, but SFC2 works just fine.  

[BuckStrider]

Quote:

Quote:
I don't understand...Does the game just crash and you end up back at your desktop?...Do you play for a bit,then it crashes?

My game crashes as well in single player (says that I have an EAX problem...I REALLY dont think I have a  problem)

Sometimes I crash fast..Other times it takes an hour or so.

In any event..Who knows?...Well...I do know 1 group of people that know  

Buck,
Are you using any soundblaster equipment on your system? If so, then check out the Soundblaster EAX page.. they may have a solution to your problem...

http://www.soundblaster.com/eax/

 

Ummm...SB Audigy is NOT the prob bud...

[Dash Jones]

Quote:
yeah, mine does goto a 600x480 screen with 4 colours, and the only way i can sort it out is to restart my pc

and my drivers should be upto date  

It sounds almost as if you are being forced inot running some sort of safe mode...

Are you using an LCD monitor by any chance.  I've heard of a similar problem on some of those but no solutions yet.  I don't know what's causing it.

Also, if you aren't getting any correlation between the catalyst 3.0 drivers, and the computer games and devices, that could definately be a serious problem, but in that case I'd expect games like JK2 (which require OpenGL) to cease completely.  Perhaps a glitch in someway that they are being handled?  Check the various forums for ATI to see if there are any others wh mya have similar problems as you.

[USSDelta]

i have got an LCD moniter, but i can run SFC 2 Orion Pirates, i have got another pc that it works on but i'd rather play it on this one

[Dash Jones]

Quote:
i have got an LCD moniter, but i can run SFC 2 Orion Pirates, i have got another pc that it works on but i'd rather play it on this one  

Now that is funny.  Yes, there is a bug with certain actions with LCD monitors that cause something akin to what you are talking about.  Don't know if that's what is causing your problem or not.  You'll be happy to know I have no clue what the solution is.  Sorry bout that if that truly is the cause.

PS:  Thought I should add, not funny as in humorous, more of the ironic sort, as I was just reading about this type of bug recently, which is why I asked about the LCD monitor thing.  Can't recall the exact context, but it had some relation to SFC3 if I recall in chancewise of what it could be.  Very very ironic.  Once again, sorry, didn't do enough research and reading into it to find out if anyone had found a solution or workaround for it yet.  I don't have one if you were unfortunate to actually have that as what you are experiencing.  You could verify if it's your monitor or something else perhaps by trying a different monitor and/or drivers.

[Pestalence]

Quote:
yeah, mine does goto a 600x480 screen with 4 colours, and the only way i can sort it out is to restart my pc

and my drivers should be upto date  

Try downgrading your catalist drivers to see if that may be the problem.
 

[USSDelta]

the other pc i can play it on has an lcd to, but that has no prblems, it does sometime freeze but thats just the pc being stupid

and i dunno how to downgrade them drivers

[Dash Jones]

Quote:
the other pc i can play it on has an lcd to, but that has no prblems, it does sometime freeze but thats just the pc being stupid

and i dunno how to downgrade them drivers  

Sorry about the LCD, glad it works on one of them at least.

As far as the drivers, do not downgrade the S3 drivers, I would highly advise against that.

I would suggest, that You may want to pick up a Nvidia Geforce or ATI radeon card (more emphasis on Nvidia...because I favor them...however, ATI seems overall to have less problems prepatched for the SFC series).  I'm not certain if that would help with the graphics problem (as I stated, I don't know the solution for the LCD problems if that truly is it), however, it would get you a new and more powerful card!  

I have the catalyst 3.0 drivers however, and I also have 1 machine (and only 1, the rest either are 98, ME, or XPPRo) which is WinXP Home.  There have been no problems like what is described...yet, so I imagine it is not XPHome or the catalyst 3.0 drivers.  There may be something else with the combination of whatever else it is and those two that is causing certain problems however.

[APEXNETHOR]

Quote:
when i try to play after a while in the campiagn and skermish modes i get an error from windows saying theres a device failure though it don't say which device

my pc specs are as followed

• win xp home
  
• amd athlon XP 1900+
  
• S3 graphics Pro savage
  
• direct x 9(though i got the patch)
  
• 500+mb SDR RAM
  

please help me  

The best thing to do is to run a DirectX Diagnostic report save it as an MS notepad file and post it up in here so we can see what may be giving you your DirectX 9 issues that cause you to crash bud.  

[USSDelta]

ah, i done the direct x diagnostic thing, and tried direct3d test, and it came up that the display driver isn't compatable with direct3d 9

that could be the problem

also, how do i attach a file on here, i'v no experince with ubb