Random crashes

[Soulsmith]

PC specs are:

AMD Athlon 64 3200+
ATI Radeon X800XL 512mb (catalyst 7.9)
2GB ram
Dual monitors (not sure if this could be a problem)
Vista Ultimate with all windows updates

Ok so I did a complete install from the DVD before I tried to play but I can't get furthur than the start of the Cairo level before it crashes to desktop with no specific error, just the generic "Halo 2 for vista has stopped working etc.". I thought it might be a memory error so I disabled everything non-MS, even my AV's realtime protection and increased the pagefile to 3GB but it still crashes. Im busy defragging now as per the other posts advice.

Any help would be greatly appreciated

[Caboose O'Malley]

What about your Audio card? Tried updating the drivers for it? Or the -nosound parameter?
People tend to completely forget their Audio Cards and it's often the source of their problems.

[Con]

I've never heard of audio related things causing a game to crash, It's most likely something else. Make sure your CPU or GPU isn't overheating, I get the same thing when they get too hot. Games will crash in the exact same way as a way to reduce the load on the processors. Whenever I play a graphically-intense game, I just open up my case and the window or point a table-top fan into the open case.

[Caboose O'Malley]

Just trust me on this one, it may very likely be related to your Audio
what do you have to lose by trying out the -nosound parameter?

[Soulsmith]

Ok, I tried -novsync and -nosound and neither worked. The last time it crashed the "fault module" was given as xlive.dll, does this help? also, I can post a dxdiag if you think it'll help

*edit* also, when it plays that halo logo file the white light only ever gets to the left hand side of the 'a' of 'halo' and then stops while the sound carries on playing */edit*

[SnaFuBAR]

the hell are you talking about, caboose? the soundcard and it's drivers would not cause the computer to shut off randomly nor would it cause it to not stay on after multiple restarts. it's a saftey feature on the cpu that prevents it from melting. it won't stay on after multiple restarts because it's already hot.

lmao, soundcard.

[Vicky]

I get the same thing when they get too hot. Games will crash in the exact same way as a way to reduce the load on the processors. Whenever I play a graphically-intense game, I just open up my case and the window or point a table-top fan into the open case.

Ever heard of case-fans and a good cpu-cooler? :rolleyes:

[Soulsmith]

Maybe I should have made it clear, it crashes to desktop it is far from overheating

[Soulsmith]

New error: "Initialization failed. Either insufficient system resources were found to run the game, or game data is missing or damaged. etc."

I already tried reinstalling and it didn't fix it plus I can usually get into the game so I can only assume that it can't find the required resources but I wasn't doing anything else when I tried to run it and I had more than 1.5 gigs of ram free.

[Caboose O'Malley]

New error: "Initialization failed. Either insufficient system resources were found to run the game, or game data is missing or damaged. etc."

I already tried reinstalling and it didn't fix it plus I can usually get into the game so I can only assume that it can't find the required resources but I wasn't doing anything else when I tried to run it and I had more than 1.5 gigs of ram free.

Ok could you post a DxDiag?
(Next piece is not addressed to you Soulsmith)
And I've seen MANY cases where the sound card has caused crashes and/or graphical glitches - I was a long time over at the FEAR community forums (And also over at the Splinter Cell, and Far Cry, and The Cronicles of Riddick... the list goes on... I've been helping people out in the same way that I'm now helping here in the Halo 2 community for some time now) and I've witnessed it numerous times => I KNOW WHAT I'M TALKING ABOUT.
End of discussion, now let's get back on topic.

And FYI, crashes aren't the same as lockups or freezes or reboots...

[Soulsmith]

DxDiag here:
http://rapidshare.com/files/57016116/DxDiagVista.txt.html

[Caboose O'Malley]

You've got two X800? Or is the secondary monitor set to be the primary as well? in Crossfire mode or what?? Also, they both have different refresh rates which could cause problems... AND your sound drivers are WAY old - update them for improved performance. (http://www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/downloadsView.aspx?Langid=1&PNid=23&PFid=23&Level=4&Conn=3&DownTypeID=3&GetDown=false)
Plus you've got quite little free space.... Maybe you should try to see if there's anything useless in you HD that you can remove and then defrag.

[Soulsmith]

Only one X800 unfourtunately, one 19" CRT and one 19" LCD (primary). Thanks for the sound driver link, I got the latest Nvidia nForce 4 ultra drivers but when i installed them I got a bsod on startup (before login) something trying to edit royal.sys which apparently is in read-only memory so I had to do a sys restore to just before I installed them. 8/20 gigs free is little for a 20 gig OS only partition?

[Caboose O'Malley]

Well there's still something fishy about your graphics card (btw I had the ATI Radeon X800 XL too, only 256 MB at one point, and I was still using XP)
You should really check your internal settings if anything is messed up by any chance...
I've never seen a case like that where there's a "clone" of the graphics card... And I thought I'd seen them all...

OH! D'OH! Man I'm so blind.....
You DID mention having dual monitors..... Try switching to only one.
I should really get my eyes checked out...

[Soulsmith]

About the clone thing, I had a 9600 Pro previously and it did the exact same thing in XP, the second one had "(Default)" after it's name though.

Tried switching to one monitor and got a couple of steps (literally) furthur before it crashed to desktop. Also, when I first tried playing I had everything on highest and in the short time I played there was no lag at all, I switched it to medium and with both monitors it was still fine and I managed to get a little furthur before crashing but when I switched to one monitor and left the settings on medium it was jerky and slow in firefights all of a sudden.

[Caboose O'Malley]

... Maybe you should consider reinstalling the whole card, it shouldn't be doing that "cloning" thing....
And try doing a Selective Startup (see sticky)
And If it gets "jerky" in firefights then that's usually the CPU, but I have the same CPU as you and I can run it fine so you'll need to see if there's anything that's hogging its resources - so again, I suggest doing that Selective Startup.

[Pooky]

I've never heard of audio related things causing a game to crash

How long have you been gaming? :raise:

[Con]

As long as I can remember.

[Pooky]

Well, in old games sound was a lot bigger performance concern... most games now don't even come with sound quality options because integrated sound cards that can handle games are pretty much standard now.

[Patrickssj6]

Caboose, come down you are jumping quickly to conclusions resulting in people to buy expensive equipment like in the other case...which don't cause the problem in the first place.

It doesn't have to be a hardware error...

Alright let's see:

New error: "Initialization failed. Either insufficient system resources were found to run the game, or game data is missing or damaged. etc."


"fault module" was given as xlive.dll

Try to run the game without anything in the background that might access those files or have an effect on the game e.g shut down all programs that are not vital to run windows and it's components and run the game.

Also if you said that you get further with one monitor....try that always. No need for 2 monitors unless you work intensively on your computer. Not really necessary for gaming.

[Caboose O'Malley]

Caboose, come down you are jumping quickly to conclusions resulting in people to buy expensive equipment like in the other case...which don't cause the problem in the first place.

It doesn't have to be a hardware error...

Alright let's see:




Try to run the game without anything in the background that might access those files or have an effect on the game e.g shut down all programs that are not vital to run windows and it's components and run the game.

Also if you said that you get further with one monitor....try that always. No need for 2 monitors unless you work intensively on your computer. Not really necessary for gaming.

LOL I said that he should try running a Selective Startup = Making sure that nothing extra is running in the background....
I never said that he should a buy new hardware....
You're basically just repeating what I said.
And I said that he should REINSTALL it, not get a new one - it's a perfectly fine card and I'm speaking from experience.
And it doesn't cost you anything to send the faulty card back for them to see what was wrong with it and then they send you a replacement which doesn't cost you anything as well, it's called insurance.

[Patrickssj6]

LOL I said that he should try running a Selective Startup = Making sure that nothing extra is running in the background....
I never said that he should a buy new hardware....
You're basically just repeating what I said.
And I said that he should REINSTALL it, not get a new one - it's a perfectly fine card and I'm speaking from experience.
And it doesn't cost you anything to send the faulty card back for them to see what was wrong with it and then they send you a replacement which doesn't cost you anything as well, it's called insurance.
Actually it's called Warranty and not Insurance.

And yes he returned his graphic card to get a new one. I guess the effort is worth it, especially if the error lies in the software in the first place.

[Caboose O'Malley]

Actually it's called Warranty and not Insurance.

And yes he returned his graphic card to get a new one. I guess the effort is worth it, especially if the error lies in the software in the first place.

Warranty, insurance whatever.
And how do you exactly know that it's in the software? Did you read my last reply over there? If he or his mate who built the computer chose a too weak PSU for it then that may just be the problem.

And I have also stated many times that Halo 2 Vista isn't really optimized for many different computer hardware nor tested ND he wasn't the first one I've ran into who hasn't been able to run it with a 8600 (actually, Iv'e seen many people having problems running Halo 2 with a 8600 gfx card)

Let's just forget this and get back on topic.

[beele]

Warranty, insurance whatever.
And how do you exactly know that it's in the software? Did you read my last reply over there? If he or his mate who built the computer chose a too weak PSU for it then that may just be the problem.

And I have also stated many times that Halo 2 Vista isn't really optimized for many different computer hardware nor tested ND he wasn't the first one I've ran into who hasn't been able to run it with a 8600 (actually, Iv'e seen many people having problems running Halo 2 with a 8600 gfx card)

Let's just forget this and get back on topic.

Strange halo 2 runs on high with 2xAA on 1280*720 on my lappy which has a 8600M GT, and this without any problems.

[Caboose O'Malley]

Do I really need to go through this again?
What the hell happened to the ability to READ?
I said MANY - meaning most of the cases where someone has had trouble with Halo 2 have had a laptop, or a 8000-series gfx card.
READ THE WHOLE THING BEFORE POSTING YOUR USELESS CRAP.
End of discussion.

[beele]

Do I really need to go through this again?
What the hell happened to the ability to READ?
I said MANY - meaning most of the cases where someone has had trouble with Halo 2 have had a laptop, or a 8000-series gfx card.
READ THE WHOLE THING BEFORE POSTING YOUR USELESS CRAP.
End of discussion.

First I read everything before I posted. I said this, not to get attention or so, or to get you angry :embarrassed:. I said this to tell that is works with me, if it didn't worked with me , then I would have posted to, but differently, I hope you understand this.

On-Topic:

Where did you install the game, the default directory?

If nothing would help to get the problem away, a last resort is always a format and a clean install of windows. Then install just your drivers and then install the game. if after that the problem is away, it lies in one of you programs you had previously installed.

[Caboose O'Malley]

First I read everything before I posted. I said this, not to get attention or so, or to get you angry :embarrassed:. I said this to tell that is works with me, if it didn't worked with me , then I would have posted to, but differently, I hope you understand this.

Okay, I'm calm now, Thanks for explaining that...
End of discussion?

BTW I think that the Selective Startup that I suggested helped because he hasn't reported back...
- Or, he got sick of trying to fix it and left it at that :/

[beele]

Okay, I'm calm now, Thanks for explaining that...
End of discussion?

BTW I think that the Selective Startup that I suggested helped because he hasn't reported back...
- Or, he got sick of trying to fix it and left it at that :/

Yes end of discussion ;).

On Topic:

Selective startup is indeed a great thing, It's the first I do with my lappy, is to disable all uneeded progs to save me ram and boot time, and to get rid of unwanted problems.

[Vicky]

I always remove any unwanted programs starting at startup from the registry or for some programs just from the startup folder. Way to many programs want to have some sort of agent or scheduler running :P

[Soulsmith]

Ok, Im not an idiot, I have a 500 watt psu and there is nothing wrong with the card, all my other games play just fine.

I do not exclusively game on my PC, I mostly do uni work so I do need my dual monitors. Also, it seems like you guys think that all I want to do is play halo 2, I am not going to reinstall windows for one game and I have tried running it with NO other programs running, even turned my AV off and it didn't help.

I would like to get the game running but Im not going to cripple/reinstall my PC just for halo.