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Don't install VIAAGP403e.exe - even with WinME
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Posted by:
That new VIA AGP driver for ME is bad news, at least on my system. 4.03d seems to work fine, but after installing 4.03e (and I did uninstall and install them properly, before you ask) and doing the obligatory restart, I decided to see if Diablo 2 would finally be completely stable. Wrong...
The 2 Blizzard logo movies (which do not use D3D) ran fine, but the game select screen is completely corrupted. The music was running fine, but I had to restart because I couldn't exit the menus that I couldn't see. So, I put 4.03d back on, and everything's fine again.
Moral of the story: I strongly recommend against anyone installing 4.03e, even if they are running Windows ME.
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
Thanks for the tip. The 4.03E AGP update is for people who already were having problems with 4.03D. If you're having Diablo 2 problems, something eelse might be the cause.
Post back with your system specs and types of problems you been having and maybe we can track down a fix for you.
Of worthy note is if you are using an older SB Live card.(Pre-5.1 era). Windows ME doesn't work well with the older drivers. Creative has the new Windows ME for SB Live drivers on their website. You can grab them here.. //www.soundblaster.com/liveware/
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©2000 Ionic Computer Services.
Posted by:
I suppose I might as well mention my problem with D2, but nobody had an answer on helper.net, so I'm not hopeful. My problem is that after some time, D2 hard freezes, forcing a reset of my system. I've tried many things, but nothing seems to fix it. Here's my system specs:
K6-2 350 on Tyan Trinity 100AT mobo (MVP3 chipset; latest BIOS and VIA 4in1 4.24a)
Hercules 3D Prophet 2 MX (Nvidia 6.31; installed fan on heatsink; no overclocking on video or CPU)
Diamond Monster Sound 300 MX (Aureal 2048)
128 MB PC100 RAM
Maxtor 14 Gig 7200 rpm hd
Shuttle (Spacewalker) 44x CDROM
56k ISA hardware modem
WinME
200 MB swapfile (also tried 300)
no IRQ conflicts
Trust me; if a quick idea pops into your head, I've likely already tried it http://64.33.101.143/forums/frown.gif
Oh yeah-I'm using D3D, because DirectDraw locks up much faster (usually within 10 min.).
One thing I have noticed; my main character's a necro, and the lockups seem to be most frequent in tight corridors (Maggot Lair, Arcane Sanctuary). Minion pathfinding problems, maybe?
If you have any ideas or need any more info (hey, I'll even give you all of my BIOS settings if you have that much tolerance for boredom), let me know. Thanks in advance.
Posted by: Canis Lupus
I had a similar problem with Diablo II back when I was using my 3D Prophet DDR-DVI. My game would occassionally freeze (but the music continues uninterrupted). I had to reboot my system everytime.
I was using DirectDraw on most of the freeze-ups (because I always got white, slanted lines flickering across the screen when I enable Direct3D, and it would also freeze after about 30 minutes of play). I thought it was the video drivers, but no matter what video driver I use, it was always the same. I thought about flashing my BIOS, but I was thinking it may make no difference anyway.
So what I did was I bought a cheap Diamond Viper II Savage 2000 video card, replaced the GeForce, and played the game again. It solved all the problems I had with freeze-ups, and Direct3D worked properly.
I still have my GeForce in storage somewhere, for use with the computer I am building, but taking it out and using a different video card was what solved it for me.
That was just in my case though. Just wanted to let you know of some possibilities http://64.33.101.143/forums/smile.gif
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
Ok I dug up the older posts from the helpers site and looked them over.- It could be the sound card causing the problem. Try disabling 3D sound in the game and see if it helps any. Also, you might turn the music off as well.
- The CD-ROM may be the culprit. Diablo 2 CD's have been a headache for many users. What might help is to do a full install and Try copying the D2CHAR.MPQ and the D2MUSIC.MPQ files from the Diablo II Play Disk into your Diablo II directory on your hard drive. This should help lower CD access and read time and also might help keep the lockup from being triggered.
- You said the heatsink is cold to the touch for the processor. What is the processor temperature read in your CMOS after you crash? I know some places fail to put cooling paste on the processor before applying the heatsink. The paste helps a lot in helping the heatsink conduct heat from the processor. Also, other things can overheat besides processors and video cards. Try running with the case lid off for a while and see if that helps.
Post back and tell us how you're doing. We can investigate other causes if nothing here helps. Diablo 2 isn't very friendly with NVidia products it seems but we'll do what we can to try and get it playable.
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©2000 Ionic Computer Services.
Posted by:
Let's see:
I don't run 3D sound and I know I've tried the music off before, but I'll try it again to see if that helps along with any other changes I've made since then.
Putting the mpqs on the hard drive was one of the first things I did. My CDROM is definately junk, but at least it will read the copy protection on the first try. And as many reinstalls as I've done, I would think at least 1 wasn't corrupt (hopefully the one on here now).
The case has been off for a while. I would love to know my CPU temp, but the info seems to be missing from my CMOS. The motherboard manual shows where it should appear, but it's not there. Any ideas on how to enable this? I'll check about the cooling paste.
Thanks for the ideas. At least it's something else to try instead of giving up and living with lockups.
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
I hate giving up on hardware problems but unfortunately, not everything can be fixed. I think the game is the problem in this case. Which hopefully the upcoming 1.04 patch will address. I'm still not ready to give up until you are however. http://www.opentechsupport.net/forums/smile.gif Here's some things to try..- Go here and try this memory tester. If there is ANY type of memory problem or compatability issue, this program will pick it up. Some memory problems are hard to detect and even most PC applications aren't affected. Diablo 2 seems sensitive to everything however.
- What is your power supply rated at in wattage? I noticed you have an AT motherboard. An AT power supply with low wattage may be the problem. Especially with a power hungry GeForce card. Diablo2 may be just enough of a system stress tester to trigger this problem. Also, some older motherboards (Especially early Super 7 boards) don't supply enough voltage to the AGP port. The MX cards don't draw as much power as their bigger cousins but still can cause problems. Especially when more than 16 megs is on the card.
- Do any of your other games or applications lockup? If so, there could be a hardware compatability issue. If your VIA chipset is revision D (Should be on the VIA chip on the motherboard), then there will be compatability issues. Revision E fixed a lot of problems. D will have problems with any card operating at X2 AGP. VooDoo 2,3 cards seem exempt from a lot of these problems since they don't use AGP capabilities to full extent.
- You may want to check here and your motherboard manual for possible settings that may improve compatability. Also, have you tried the VIA AGP driver in normal mode?
I hope you track the problem down and it isn't serious. Most likely the problem is Blizzard's fault and may be addressed in the next patch. Good luck friend.
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©2000 Ionic Computer Services.
Posted by:
Sorry for not responding, but my life away from my computer was demanding attention. So, where were we?
Goldmemory found no problems with my memory when I left it running all night, so that's that.
I have a 250 watt AT power supply, and I've talked to people running more power-hungry hardware than mine on that with no problems. Also, according to the Tyan techies, the AGP slot should have enough power to run a non-MX GeForce2 on my mobo.
It looks like the board's revision E, but it's a bit hard to tell. This is on the chips: VT82C598MVP 9845CE VT82C586B S7-SB. I'm guessing the E in 9845CE is the version, but hopefully you don't have to guess http://www.opentechsupport.net/forums/smile.gif
I did find out one thing, though: my CPU heat sink was put on dry. I find it amazing that D2 would be the only app I have (including Unreal Tournament and WoT) that would cause heat related problems, but my stability has shown some improvement since putting silicone grease between the CPU and heatsink. I'm still locking up some (just on D2, like always), but at least by not using skeletons or the automap and taking a direct route, I can get through the !@#$%^ Arcane Sanctuary. I still think something may be up with minion pathfinding, since the somewhat open wilderness areas seem to cause much fewer problems, even with my full complement of 10 skeletons and mages (total, not each) along.
So things are a bit better, but I'm still eagerly awaiting 1.04, while its release seems to be dragging out longer than this election mess. Just think: if this happened in another country, we'd probably have a peacekeeping force headed there right now http://www.opentechsupport.net/forums/tongue.gif Enough rambling; have a good night.
Posted by: Ion Silverbolt
I hate it when vendors forget the Thermal Paste. That stuff usually drops a good 15 or more degrees off CPU temperature.
I tried it myself with an Alpha heatsink and it was about 18 degrees cooler with thermal paste. http://www.opentechsupport.net/forums/smile.gif
There's a couple of things you can try that might make the game 100% stable but neither is a fun idea.
1. Underclock your CPU. A lot of users seem to get rid of D2 problems by underclocking their CPU. Don't ask me why, it just seems to work in some cases. It seems to target K6-2 processors more than the rest of the bunch as well. Try the 3.0 multiplier to set your clock at 300Mhz.
2. Try slower memory timings in your CMOS. If you already tried that, try the 66Mhz Bus Speed. (66 x 4.5). Or even 66 x 5.0 if you have this jumper.
One of those steps may get you running stable. If anything, the problem is probably either a driver issue between D2 and NVidia. If so, the above steps may still help even though your hardware is not faulty.
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©2000 Ionic Computer Services.
Posted by:
Maybe I should leave well enough alone, or at least save those lovely options until I hit another area that the instability is especially severe in. With the "wonderful" FPU in the K6-2, I figure I'm fairly close to minimum specs as it is, so if I underclock...
I guess I'm going to have to deal with some problems until I get the time to do my planned upgrade to a T-Bird, whenever that will actually happen. Anyway, let me say a huge thank you for your help, which seems to have done enough to let me progress through the game, which is the important thing. If anything else comes up, I'll keep in touch. Enjoy the holiday.
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