The online racing simulator
PC freeze problem
(80 posts, started )
Quote from george_tsiros :uh... not all cables have all the connectors. are you sure they fell off?

I think the connectors got stuck in the monitor or even in the graphics card. The cable is a bit old and is actually subjected to bend because of the tight space between the wall and both the monitor and the cpu.
Well i've just logged in to LFS forum and after reading an insulting PM from george_tsiros, i was actually going to suggest my process of elimination that so called mr wonderful george_tsiros never mentioned. After reading all your posts Senninha25, especially after the post you said your monitor was resetting, i came to the conclusion that your problem was graphics orientated, plus the fact you can successfully boot into safe mode told me it was not OS specific. When booting into safe mode windows only loads essential devices and drivers, it does NOT load graphics card drivers.
Therefore to outrule either graphics card being faulty, graphics card drivers being corrupt, graphics card slot being faulty and also monitor being faulty, you should follow these steps to eliminate each of the above problems.
1. Check all cables from graphics card to monitor are secure and fitting properly, to outrule faulty cables use working replacement cables. or if you know what you are doing you can test the cables with a multimeter, the way a proper PC engineer would.
2. to outrule the monitor, try a different working monitor to see if it sorts problem. if it does not fix problem then we move on to eliminating problems with graphics card, drivers or graphics slot.
3. boot into safe mode with no networking, click on: Start/control panel/system/hardware/device manager click + sign at display adapter to show graphics card, right click and choose uninstall, when graphics card is uninstalled reboot comp into normal windows xp, see if the freezing problem is still there. This will show if the problem is driver related but could also show faulty graphics card, if freezing has stopped and you can access windows normally then reinstall graphics card drivers, then reboot into normal windows, if freezing comes back then we need to outrule graphics card fault by replacing graphics card with one known to work and installing the replacement cards drivers. If the replacement card when installed still freezes your comp then it could be the graphics slot breaking down, which is not repairable, so you would need to buy a new motherboard.
So the process of finding the fault would be to:
1. outrule monitor, by replacing it with a known working one.
2. outrule graphics card, drivers and graphics slot, by the steps i gave above.

If the freezing was in fact caused by a fault in windows, when you uninstall the graphics card and boot into normal windows the freezing should still happen.

Try these elimination procedures and post your findings.


Nighthawk.
Well, success! not really...I mean, there's no more freezing but also there's no controller for the graphics either. I had the latest updates for my graphics card, that's what probably made the freezing problem, since there were no problems with the card when it had no updated drivers. does anyone have the installer for the Nvidia GeForce 4 MX440 card? I'll now proceed to the reinstall and check for the freezing again. And quick please, this frequency is messing up my sight.
The installation failed, I think. The system is still using the predefined graphics and no game will work yet.
Hi Nick, download driver sweeper from here: http://driver-sweeper.en.softonic.com/

open driver sweeper and tick NVIDIA display(not Nvidia chipset) in the right hand window, then click on Analyse and clean on the left hand window.....do this a few times to make sure drivers are cleaned.....then try installing graphics card drivers again. Also after uninstalling any drivers do a registry clean and reboot before installing any drivers again.
installed the older version, it worked. but still using the original graphics setting!
I think I uninstalled the wrong app.
ok Nick....so what's happening now......are freezes gone.....what app you talking about..???
there are no freezes, but I can't use the graphics properly because the system is using the default controller instead of the nvidia driver...I think I messed up on uninstalling nvidia or sth. I need a card installer before installing the drivers I guess.
has your motherboard got onboard graphics.....if it has it might need disabled in the BIOS. Also go back into device manager under display adapter make sure your card is showing.....also right click and choose properties and under device usage make sure it's enabled. Also you might need the nvidia software that goes with your card. Also try uninstalling the card again.....no need to do this in safe mode.....just uninstall the drivers......run driversweeper....clean registry....turn of PC.....open side of comp, take out the graphics card, reboot pc without graphics card in it, turn comp off again, put graphics card back in, reboot and install graphics card drivers again........sometimes graphics cards and sound cards on the odd occassion need to be taken out of slot and put back in for reinstallation of drivers to succeed, i had this problem with my audigy 2ZS sound card, i updated drivers and new ones made my settings go all wonky.....but to uninstall and reinstall it properly i had to take card out reboot, put card back in, reboot, install old drivers and all was ok. seems sometimes if traces of the drivers are still on comp after uninstalling them can cause reinstalling drivers not to install properly, so removing card after uninstalling drivers, rebooting without card in comp, then putting card back in then installing drivers seems to solve the problem.

you can get the nvidia software from here: http://www.nvidia.com/object/ntune_5.05.54.00.html

If your graphics card is not showing under display adapters in device manager, and in device manager you see a VGA controller with a yellow exclamation mark next to it....then that tells me the graphics card drivers are not installed correctly. If you uninstalled the graphics card correctly, after you reboot the windows add hardware wizard should pop up to tell you windows has detected a new hardware device, if this happens you can close the wizard and install the drivers you downloaded.
#61 - SamH
{CA}Nighthawk, what goes on in PMs is between you and whoever you PM with, not for the wider forum. If you receive an abusive PM, click the "Report Private Message" button on the PM itself and the moderators will deal with the matter directly. Either put up or shut up. Rumour and innuendo have no place, and are not welcome, on this forum.
the device manager can't detect the graphics card.
not to mention that the software installation failed.
sorry for double-posting again
update: I managed to install other drivers, but now I'm getting BSOD's everytime I start a normal session. The only way I could revert that was by choosing Last Correct Config on the F8 menu.
Now I'm trying to reinstall the Nvidia card by choosing Recover last controller on the graphics card properties.
Hi Nick, as i said, if you still cannot install graphics card, please run driver sweeper again to make sure all nvidia display drivers have been deleted from system.....then turn off comp and take graphics card out, reboot comp, then turn off again.....put graphics card back into comp reboot and try to install drivers.
Also by any chance is this comp bought from a manufacturer like Dell, Hewlett packard..etc and was not built by yourself. Reason i'm asking is most of the time these comps that are built by manufacturers have problems when trying to install drivers....if comp came with windows pre-installed you should have a recovery drive when you click on "my computer" it should show "Local Disk (C:\)" and "Recovery Disk (D:\)"
If your comp does in fact have a recovery drive....you can access this by pressing Ctrl+F11 on Dell comps, and F8 for HP comps during bootup, then select recovery from the list. This will restore comp to the state it was in when first bought.
But i would run driver sweeper a few times again, and remove graphics card and put it back in, as detailed above.....as from what you say windows is not recognising the card.
Quote from {CA}Nighthawk :Hi Nick, as i said, if you still cannot install graphics card, please run driver sweeper again to make sure all nvidia display drivers have been deleted from system.....then turn off comp and take graphics card out, reboot comp, then turn off again.....put graphics card back into comp reboot and try to install drivers.
Also by any chance is this comp bought from a manufacturer like Dell, Hewlett packard..etc and was not built by yourself. Reason i'm asking is most of the time these comps that are built by manufacturers have problems when trying to install drivers....if comp came with windows pre-installed you should have a recovery drive when you click on "my computer" it should show "Local Disk (C:\)" and "Recovery Disk (D:\)"
If your comp does in fact have a recovery drive....you can access this by pressing Ctrl+F11 on Dell comps, and F8 for HP comps during bootup, then select recovery from the list. This will restore comp to the state it was in when first bought.
But i would run driver sweeper a few times again, and remove graphics card and put it back in, as detailed above.....as from what you say windows is not recognising the card.

This PC actually came from my father, because after he made an internal makeover (changing all his pc parts to newer and better ones), he had nowhere to store them and I was running a 90's computer (I had a HD with 9GB total space and another one with 4GB, and that was it), so he gave me those parts to fit in the pc, replacing the older battered ones I had.
I'll try that out soon, but if it doesn't work, I have no choice but to fit back in my ATi graphics card (which sucks a lot of RAM and I only have 1GB, plus it only enhances LFS gameplay, worsening all the other games' performances).
It doesn't recognise the card because I think I screwed up with uninstalling the drivers. I uninstalled the card instead. And now all I get is BSOD's after installing it.

Sorry for the (over)detailed post.

HUGE UPDATE: Problem is solved for now. I fitted the ATi Card back again and things are working nice, no freezing. Still, I'll need another GB worth of RAM or a faster one for DDR, which is unlikely.
I'll try it out in LFS and FS2004. It's unlikely to run LFS because the last time I had it fitted, LFS didn't run (it's posted in another thread, dunno what the name is).

Another update: FS2004 had an awful framerate, and LFS didn't even work. It said it was a possible error in the graphics driver of the ATI card. So I put the Nvidia card back on, and it's still not recognised by the PC.
Hi Nick, if comp recognises the ATI card, but not the nvidia one, then it could well be that the problem all along was in fact your nvidia card causing the freezes, and now has decided to die on you.....only way to tell if nvidia card is dead is to try it in another comp.....monitor is working, graphics slot is ok or ATI card wouldn't work, system recognises ATI card but not nvidia card. Ok i've thought of a couple of things before i come to the conclusion that the nvidia card is dead.

1. check in Add or Remove programs scroll down list and remove/ uninstall anything to do with NVIDIA.
next step we will check registry for any nvidia keys and remove them.
2. click start/Run, type in box regedit click ok. This will bring up registry editor. In left hand window click the + sign next to HKEY_CURRENT_USER, now scroll down and click + sign next to SOFTWARE, scroll down and find folder "NVIDIA Corporation", right click on this folder and choose delete. Now click - sign on SOFTWARE and HKEY_CURRENT_USER to close these subtrees.
Now click + sign on HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE, now scroll down and click + sign next to SOFTWARE, scroll down and find folder "NVIDIA Corporation", right click on this folder and choose delete. Now click - sign on SOFTWARE and HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE to close these subtrees. Now close regedit.

Don't worry about deleting nvidia from the registry, that's what we want....to clear comp of all nvidia entries, then once done reboot, then turn off comp put nvidia card back in, reboot and try again to install drivers.
If this don't work then i strongly suspect a dead nvidia card.....unless you can test it on another comp, we will not be 100% sure, but i'm 99% sure if this last thing don't work then you do have a dead card......also remember to uninstall the ATI card and drivers before you try to install the nvidia card again.
Well, now I declare this problem finally solved. All I had to do was installing the drivers of the ATI card. I will still need to be careful not to get them infected because that's what originated the whole freezing problem. LFS is running better than ever (even though I get lag with 5 people all together) and so is FS2004. I still hope for every other game to run better.

But before saying thanks, there's still another problem in which I will need your help, Nighthawk. Somehow I had to uninstall Windows Installer because it wasn't working well, but when I tried reinstalling it, and it failed, time after time.
Hi Nick, what error message are you getting when trying to install windows installer...??
Also you can try this version of windows installer: http://www.microsoft.com/downl ... D4138C&displaylang=en

Also i found some info that could fix windows installer, as you mentioned you suspect your comp got badly infected by a virus, malware, trojan or alot of nasty shit. These nasties can do loads of unwanted things to your comp, what they do depends on what infections your comp got, every malicious code (that's what viruses,trojans and malware are, code made by hackers that change things on your comp, to get your PC's defences down so they can use their hacking tools to get information, bank details and other important stuff) act and compromise comps in different ways, some disable your security of your comp, some corrupt files...etc,etc.
Maybe the infection you got has corrupted windows installer files or has changed security settings disabling your comp to get latest windows updates and preventing the installation of windows installer......so here is a link with instructions that will enable you to set windows security back to default, and hopefully enable you to install windows installer:http://support.microsoft.com/d ... aspx?scid=kb;en-us;313222
you can either choose the "fix this problem" option, or do it manually (it worked with someone with similar problem with windows installer:http://forums.windrivers.com/showthread.php?t=76444)
(download windows installer from the link i posted above.)
the installer version you posted doesn't work. I'm using SP3, and when installing it, it says that there's no need to install it.
Hi Nick, you could try uninstalling service pack 3 then reinstall SP3 see if that fixes windows installer problems.
Good replacement for MX440 would be 9400GT, most low-end card of 9-series.
Quote from Shadowww :Good replacement for MX440 would be 9400GT, most low-end card of 9-series.

I already have the ATI HD 2600 Radeon fitted back in the PC, and it's working much better than I expected!

OT: Dude, what the hell happened to your avatar?

Quote from {CA}Nighthawk :Hi Nick, you could try uninstalling service pack 3 then reinstall SP3 see if that fixes windows installer problems.

If I'd uninstall SP3, I'd never reinstall it again because when I had SP2, this kind of things like Windows Installer and WLM not working didn't become as serious as these problems. How can I uninstall SP3?
Hi Nick.....go to add/remove programs, at top tick box that says "show updates".....scroll down and see if there is "windows service pack 3", click on it and see if you can remove/uninstall it........if not then download SP3 and run it to reinstall it....that might fix windows installer.....if that don't help then i'm afraid you may have to format and reinstall windows xp from scratch.
Quote from Senninha25 :OT: Dude, what the hell happened to your avatar?

I accidentally stole s0beit's avatar from TGS.
well, I tried to install SP3. The installation stopped saying access was denied.
Windows Reinstall?

PC freeze problem
(80 posts, started )
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