Topic: Advice to make OP run on WinXP machine (Read 11889 times)

Cleaven · « **Reply #60 on:** September 15, 2003, 07:58:15 am »

Not quite the same problem but there was another person who solved a play problem by changing these sfc.ini settings:

[Mouse]
async=0
hwblit=1

Captain KoraH · « **Reply #61 on:** September 16, 2003, 10:45:10 am »

I can put this info to use some day!

Dogmatix! · « **Reply #62 on:** September 16, 2003, 12:20:29 pm »

Quote:

The situation...

My dad loves building computers so much that he builds them for his kids and shows up with one as a gift. Yay dad. This is what he put together for me...

-MSI K7N2 delta L mother board. rev 1.3
-Athlon 2700
-ATI 9600 pro
-DirectX 8.1
-1/2 Gig of the fastest Ram it will support
-Realtek ALC650 on board sound
-Zoom 3025c modem
-Maxtor 40 gig of some sort.
-Windows XP pro, service pack 1

The problem is SFC OP wont run. Crash and freeze with no response to keyboard. As the sound is really choppy I would think think DirectX would be the problem. No go. I'm trying to run it at 8.1 which is what this rev. of XP comes with. Tried everything I could with the onboard sound. Tried disabling the onboard sound and using a SoundBlaster PCI 64 card that works with my other computer. Checked all associated drivers with audio/video to find any potential problem. Tried Win98 compatability mode. I installed the ATI card in my old machine (Win98) and it plays fine... I don't believe updating to DX9.1 is going to be useful and roll back is near impossible without rebuilding the OS. I was going with the theory that if I made DirectX happy all would be well. The dialog and diagnostics seem to show that DX8.1 is in a happy place.

Any ideas?

Try the SFC.INI "fix" that Cleaven lists and let us know.

I'm curious to know why you're concerned about rolling back your DirectX version if you upgrade to the lastest version (which is clearly supported, if not preferred, by your graphics hardware and the drivers you likely should be using for it.

I have ATI graphics adaptors in both my laptop and my desktop. Both worked under DX8.1, both work using the latest drivers and the lastest version of DX. My laptop is an Intel model. My destop uses the same processor (XP 2700+) that you're using. I'm also using onboard sound on my desktop PC.

Incidentally, I've never had to swap back and forth between video drivers to get games to work properly and I've never had a problem running any software title, game or otherwise. Go figure.

My system specs are as follows:

Athlon XP 2700+ (Thermalright SLK-800/Vantec Tornado HSF, 12x195)
Asus A7N8X-Deluxe (1002A1 SATA "Uber" BIOS)
1024 MB (2x512 MB) Corsair XMS PC3200C2
Sapphire Radeon Atlantis 9700 Pro (Cat. 3.6)
ViewSonic VX900 19" LCD
80GB Maxtor (7200 RPM/ATA133)
Logitech MX-700 wireless mouse
Windows XP Pro (fully and completely updated including the lastest version of DX)

RingWraith 413 · « **Reply #63 on:** September 16, 2003, 06:46:03 pm »

Did your 9600 require you to install DX9 first? My 9800 Pro did, and also the ATI Cat. 3.7 drivers are out. I have WinXP Home and haven't had any problems playing EAW or OP, or using any of the Mods. Try loading DX9 first and then the Cat 3.7's. They are available as a complete file, which includes the Smartgart uninstaller, which you shouldn't have to use. Last thing, try installing the new Motherboard drivers, if available, before DX9 and Cat 3.7. Lastly, check your bios settings.

DIF_Wraith 413

Rogue · « **Reply #64 on:** September 16, 2003, 07:14:52 pm »

Well... I took another stab at it this evening. What did I get for the trouble? An unusable WidowsXP. The video completely fragged. Ya, I know, I did it... I didn't uninstal the right driver in the right order. Sooo... I'm gonna have to start from scratch again. Much anguish but a little amuzed.

I don't know why I bother with Backup. More often than not you can't get back to where you were. There goes the updates and now I must get Microsofts blessing and annointment again. Which I wont bother with till I get where I want to go this time. And, may I reitterate, sticks in my craw. I'm not pirating their software and I'm only using it on one box. I suppose I will have to appeal to Microstar if all remedies fail this time.

9/19/03 - Ya know what... It's the audio set up. Upon visiting the MSI user forum I've discovered everyone has some sort of issue with the audio drivers. This problem is rather infamous and has driven many half nuts. It remains to be seen if it can be solved. Even if I figured out the thing to do on my own it has been confirmed by other peoples experiences with this MB system. So, should I make my own T-shirt with the universal 'Sucker' logo on it? Subcaptioned 'I got bit by the MSI audio bug?

Thanks for all of the suggestions and I'll post no more till I bask in the warm glow of XP/OP goodness. Arghhh...

Captain Krenn · « **Reply #65 on:** September 18, 2003, 01:45:07 pm »

There is an audio bug with the K7N2 Delta L?

Well, thats disheartening since that is what I just got as a new motherboard.

<sigh>

Have any extras of that T-shirt hanging around?

Captain Krenn · « **Reply #67 on:** September 19, 2003, 09:49:27 am »

Thanks for the link Rogue.

I'll try this tonight as I noticed some sound glitches when playing Anarchy Online. At first I thought it was just bugs in the
game software.

If this doesn't work, I guess I'll just have to invest in a SoundBlaster.

Rogue · « **Reply #68 on:** September 19, 2003, 03:57:38 pm »

Yer welcome. But... hold off on the soundblaster. I am experiencing some oddities in the IRQ assignment which I havn't nailed down yet. If you already have an appropriate sound card try that first before you spend money. If I figure the 'what to do' out I will let you know.

RingWraith 413 · « **Reply #69 on:** September 19, 2003, 10:42:37 pm »

Do you have the bios assigning your IRQ's or WinXP? Try letting the bios assign IRQ's and see if that helps you.

DIF_Wraith 413

Rogue · « **Reply #70 on:** September 20, 2003, 07:12:42 am »

Ringwraith, That's a great trick that my dad tipped me off to. I decided it was in my best interest to pull the sound card and use the onboard resources for audio. Thus far all is well. Except for how to tame the XP pagefile... which I know little about on this operating system. There has got to be a better way than unloading programs. Or, is the simple truth the fact I am going to have to up the RAM from 1/2 gig to a more friendly 1 gig?

RingWraith 413 · « **Reply #71 on:** September 21, 2003, 07:01:28 am »

512 of RAM should be plenty. I would run MSConfig and Services.MSC and use these to programs to keep non-essential programs from starting up. Especially "messenger", the MS built-in program, not MSN messenger. Those pop-up's will kill your online gaming experience. Try going to some of the computer websites for info on setting the pagefile.

DIF_Wraith 413

Rogue · « **Reply #72 on:** September 21, 2003, 09:12:20 am »

Hmmm, I'll look into that. MSconfig I knew about but the services is something I'll have to spend some time understanding.

I have been able to get the game to run without hanging the system but the sound is jitter ridden. I really shouldn't be as the on board sound system (ACL650) is designed to be easy on resources and bandwidth. I have to lay the fault sqarely on MSI's doorstep. One should be able to count on the board drivers to be properly tested which certainly wasn't the case here. I still can't make up my mind whether to reject this mother board or let the drivers evolve into something that works up to expectations. This has not been a lot of fun.

RazalYllib · « **Reply #73 on:** September 21, 2003, 09:40:21 am »

another tip..

make pagefile min and max values the same.
also pagefile size should be 1.5 x the amount of ram u have

Rogue · « **Reply #75 on:** September 21, 2003, 05:02:02 pm »

Na, it is an OEM disc for XP pro with service pack1 included. I don't have the diagnostic skills or software to know what the root cause is but can make an educated guess. The K7N2 delta L is infamous for the experience of being supplied with chipset drivers that were not really tested. What would you think of a DirectX9.0b dialog that tells you that you don't have hardware buffers for sound? And then you instal the sound system drivers from the chipset makers site (Realtek) and they then become enabled?

This computer was a gift from my father and will be treated with the due respect it deserves. But it has been a total headache. The specifications for the motherboard system looks so nice and is based on the NVIDEA nforce2 system. Which totaly outclasses what I have. Between the supplied drivers and perhaps the way the components integrate has insured some pretty odd behavior. If I can get the sound system to behave then all will be well. And, get this, disabling the sound chipset and installing a seperate sound card is marginaly worse... ah nuts... Not to mention the time invested.

RingWraith 413 · « **Reply #76 on:** September 22, 2003, 12:20:20 am »

Rogue, here's a site I found concerning tweaking WinXP. Some good info here.
http://www.tweaktown.com/document.php?dType=review&dId=324

DIF_Wraith 413

Captain Krenn · « **Reply #77 on:** September 22, 2003, 02:14:43 pm »

After visiting the alternate download page listed in the forum link my sound card is working find.

No stutters and the static crackling noise have dissapeared.

Rogue · « **Reply #78 on:** September 22, 2003, 05:46:50 pm »

Really? That's useful to know. You say you went with a sound card or did you enable the sound chipset? What graphics card are you using? Memory? I've read that the K7N2 is really picky about the RAM. The Realtek drivers havn't solved it for me. I wonder if I disabled DMA and forgot about it...

Captain Krenn · « **Reply #79 on:** September 23, 2003, 08:35:49 am »

I am using the sound card built onto the motherboard(chipset)

My video card is a Nvidia 5600 with 256 meg

memory is 2100 ddr 512 meg - 1 256 card and 2 128 cards

Is that any help?

I was having stuttering sound and music while playing Anarchy Online. Also occasionally would get lots
of static sounds. Almost like a radio that was slightly off station.

I added the new drivers and these problems stopped occuring.

I intend to keep an eye(or at the very least an ear) on it. But for now the
problem seems to be solved.

I am a man with little patience though, if it resurfaces, I'll go get an SB Audiology(? spelling)
and disable the on board sound card.

News:

Topic: Advice to make OP run on WinXP machine (Read 11889 times) var addthis_config = {"data_track_clickback":true};

Cleaven

Captain KoraH

Dogmatix!

RingWraith 413

Rogue

Captain Krenn

Rogue

Captain Krenn

Rogue

RingWraith 413

Rogue

RingWraith 413

Rogue

RazalYllib

Toasty0

Rogue

RingWraith 413

Captain Krenn

Rogue

Captain Krenn

Topic: Advice to make OP run on WinXP machine (Read 11889 times)