Random Reboots while Playing BF2

[Second Gunman]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

I played for about four hours last night without a single reboot!! I'm going to try again tonight, but it looks like I have found my problem!!

Now, I really miss having the front mic/headphone ports on the front of the case. I just don't like leaving my headset plugged in when I'm not using it. I now need something to put in a front bay that will let me move the mic/headphone inputs to the front of my case. If possible, I'd like something with adjustable levels also. It's much easier to turn a dial to change your mic level than it is to get to the desktop and adjust it in windows. Anybody have any suggestions?

[Second Gunman]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

NNNNNOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!

I crashed twice tonight in about three hours. This is really getting on my nerves! Removing my sound card helped a great deal, but it didn't fix the problem totally. I still have the zip drive uninstalled. I'm now using onboard AC97 audio. Still using cat5.6 video drivers. I'm still pretty much convinced that it's not the power supply. I think I'm going to try the RAM voltage next...... How do I find out what voltage my RAM is getting currently? The voltage is currently set to automatic. Should I set it to a specific value? Any input guys????

[bam23]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

What is your PSU?

It sounds like a PSU problem I once had. It should be at least 350-400 watt for a 9800.

[Second Gunman]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

OK........I went wandering around my BIOS and found a few things.

1) There is a setting called "Primary Video". The two options for it are PCI or AGP and it's set to PCI. WTH?? Shouldn't this be set to AGP? The other two settings that appear to be related to this are Aperture Size, which is set to 128MB, and AGP voltage, which is set to 1.5V.

2) There is a setting in the BIOS called "AGP Overclock in MHz" which is set to 66. Can someone explain this one to me? Google doesn't seem to be much help here.

3) My DDRRAM Voltage is set to "Auto". The other possible settings are 2.5, 2.6, and 2.7V. Should I leave this alone, or try setting this to a specific value?

4) There is a setting in BIOS called "Memory CLK" which is set to 200MHz. Is that right??

I'm sorry if it seems like I've hijacked this thread, and I'm sorry for all the questions........I'm just getting very frustrated with this nonsense, and in more than a little over my head. Thanks for the help!

[imported_Mutrino]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

What makes you convinced it cant be the supply? I am not saying it is but.....
If you want to know your ram voltage you will need to set it to manual and see what the available values are and what it defaults to.

[Second Gunman]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

I'm not convinced that it's not the PSU. I just think a 350W Antec should be able to run this system. I don't generally keep a spare PSU laying around (it's about the only part I don't have laying around here). If it comes down to it, I'll go get another one to try out. I'm just looking for any suggestions people might have.

[Second Gunman]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

I've also posted this in another forum hoping to find something. Someone there mentioned the Windows Event Viewer. I'd never heard of it until now.

I'm scrolling down the list, and see mostly "information", but there is the occaisional "warning" and "error". The "error" is always "The Iomega App Services service failed to start due to the following error: The system cannot find the specified path". I thought I had removed Iomega completely from my system. Guess I'll have to work on that some more. More importantly, this appears each time the computer starts......giving me a convenient marker to see where my pc rebooted last night. The entry immediately before each Iomega error is a warning: "SRB command failed - SRB_GET_DEVICE_PROPERTY". The source is "ait2mtag". Category WDM. Event 1049. This warning also appears a few other times in the log. I guess the system can handle it as long as BF2 isn't running.

I found another mention of ati2mtag [L=here]http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=5806[/L]. This guy mentions that his problem occurs less when he has the side panel open on his pc. Since removing my soundcard last week, I've had the side panel open. I've left the panel open before and didn't notice any change, so I had already dismissed that as a cause. I only mention it in case someone else thinks it might be relevant.

[broncobullfrog]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

Three things - I had similar problems and it turned out to be the drivers for my logitech mouse and keyboard, try removing your joystick and uninstalling wingman software.
Audigy soundcards are notoriuos for causing problems in BF2.
Your PSU. Antec is a good make, but 350W's just isn't enough. A minimum of 400, i've got a Tagan 420W, which is superb.
Hope you sort this, BF2 does seem to stress parts of your system that cope easily with everything you throw at them.

[Budwise]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

i too have had this issue. I found it to be ultimately a memory issue. Even though memory may be memtest stable, that doesnt mean at all that its game stable. I have memtested memory before that is perfectly stable in memtest but fails in Pime Blend test and/or SuperPi. If you can run SuperPi 32M, then id say you are relatively stable. If you learn how to pick through memory dumps, you can find that it comes up as "Memory Corruption". Adjust your memory timings or volts and see if this fixes the problem. This is not just a BF2 issue, ive had it happen in Black and White 2, so i went to the bios and loosened up some timings, and presto, no more screeching crashes.

[Second Gunman]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

I was playing with memory dumps tonight. There were 2 from last night. Here's the main thrust of them.......

Unable to load image V46gc, Win32 error 2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for V46gc
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for V46gc
Probably caused by : V46gc ( V46gc+113a )

Unable to load image 9ZFY4UW, Win32 error 2
*** WARNING: Unable to verify timestamp for 9ZFY4UW
*** ERROR: Module load completed but symbols could not be loaded for 9ZFY4UW
Probably caused by : 9ZFY4UW ( 9ZFY4UW+113a )

Anybody recognize either of those??

I'll download SuperPi 32M tonight and try that.

[DakotaDoc64]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

I had this same problem and found out it was because of some Iomega zip drivers. There are some that cause problems with PB. Basicly PB asks if the hardware can provide information and the Iomega drivers say "yes" and when PB goes to get the information KABLOM. Blue screen.

The fix is out here in the forums.

Basicly you will see Iomega zip drivers along for the ride with your HD drivers. take a look in system/hardware/device manager. Do you see Iomega drivers when you look at the drivers for your HD.

You need to uninstall from Add/Remove. Then go into you Iomega folder for C:Program files. There is another un-install in there. All should work well after.

[Count Silvio]

Re: high pitched noise

Version 1.03

I just started getting this high pitched noise and crash problem today when I first joined a server. I can stay on the server for only a few seconds before the high pitched noise starts and the screen freezes and my computer locks up leaving me no other option than listening to it or hitting the reset button. Before this day I had no problems with the game except for the occasional crash to desktop. I updated my Audigy 2 drivers and video card drivers after it had crashed three times but the problem persists. I can still play this game in windowed mode without the screeching sound or lock ups and I don't have any problems with other games either. I've tried disabling EAX but it does not help. This is really quite frustrating.

System:
AMD Athlon XP 2400+
1.2 GB DDR
Radeon 9800 Pro
Audigy 2

[ben_winnipeg]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

I too am having reboots, it just started last night when i upgraded my video card, from 9800 pro all in wonder to x800 xl. I haven't done enough trouble shooting yet, but I am thinking it has to do with video drivers.

My system is:
Tyan tiger 2668 dual xeon 2.4 with HT
2 GB RAM
2 Raptor 74 GB on promise fastrak, RAID 0 (on mainboard)
2 WD 120 GB sata on Adaptec 1210SA, RAID 0
x800 xl (just upgraded from 9800 pro A-I-W)
ac97 sound (on mainboard)
460 w PSU
Last night after installing new card i was having issues, and it had been a while, so I did format re-install, and the problem is still there. I will do some more testing and if I come accross i will post. Please send suggestions

[Second Gunman]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

Throw it out the window and start over?????

Seriously, I've just about given up. Some nights I can play for three or four hours straight without a problem. Some nights I can't play for more than thirty seconds without crashing. I play almost exclusively on the same four or five servers, so it's not a problem with the server I'm on. I'll be fine one night, crash constantly the next night, and be fine again the next night......all without changing a bloody thing in my computer.

I ran SpyBot, Ad-Aware, Zone Alarm's anti-spyware, and Zone Alarm's anti-virus, then updated to cat 5.10 drivers, and have been ok for about a week now. Of course, now that I say that, my computer is going to literally explode tonight when I launch the game....

If I can get it to run for two weeks without crashing, I'm going to try putting my Audigy back in. The onboard sound is ok, but it's not great.

Good Luck with your problem, Ben.

[ben_winnipeg]

Re: Random Reboots while Playing BF2

Don't Throw it out just yet!!!

I have come upon a number of things that should be checked before you give up. I have spent a long time searching forums and talking to ATI support people.

1) the high end video cards use a lot of power when in game, check that your PSU can handle the load. I powered my 4 HDD's with another power supply, and the problem was still there. so I have ruled this one out for myself. (please be very careful doing this, as I don't want to hear stories of people f-ing it up)

2) make sure that you dont have catlyst & control pannel loaded at the same time. I checked and didn't but thought i would mention it.

3) try disabling HyperThreading, according to ATI Support, they have been having a lot of gaming issues with HyperThreading. I do a lot more than gaming on my PC, and i like HT enabled, but if it stops the problem then I am all for it.

4) make sure that you have 1.03 patch installed in BF 2. reading the first post in this thread he says that he reinstalled 1.02 patch. This was the patch that was delayed and replaced with 1.03 because it had memory leaks and some other problems.

I have not tried disabling the HT yet, I am at work, so I can't try it out. When I get home I will try that and if it works will let ya'll know.