Playonline Crashing

[Kamakazik]

My Playonline crashes often.
I'm playing FFXI and then it just freezes.
I can't CTRL + ALT + DEL or anything. I have to reboot my computer the wrong way.

Also, sometimes my computer just restarts on its own.


Anyone know?
Its a relatively new computer.
P4 2.6
512 DDR RAM
ATI Radeon 9700 All-In-Wonder

[magusfire25]

well on default XP will restart on a critical system error... most likely hardware cause or some driver issue... try defragging drive to be sure.. also go into admin services and make sure you have it set so windows logs errors from crashes and look in there.. might tell you what it crashed on

dunno what to tell you .. could be any number of things..do any other system intensive apps make it crash?


*edit .. also does it crash when loading zones.? .... mine did that and I defragged and it was fixed.... probably because FFXI had trouble accessing the data.. files to scattered on the drive..

you will just have to experiment . feel free to ask any questions, :thumbsup:

[Kamakazik]

Do you think its my graphics card?
Should I download the new drivers?

[magusfire25]

you can give it a try... if that doesnt work just reinstall the old ones..

[Kamakazik]

btw, how do I see "window log error messages" or whatever you said. =P

I never crash when I'm changing areas.
The weird thing is...I'm like almost positive that its my graphic card.

I almost never crash while partying (the area for fighting usually contains worse graphics)
I usually crash while in the cities. (because they have nice graphics)

People said that my graphic card overheats and I should do everything in my power to keep it cool.
Do you think I should like open the window?

[magusfire25]

yeah sounds like graphics card to me.. cause it is crashing in high graphics situations.. hmmm try opening the side of your computer case and play like that.. see if it changes anything

also if you have the warranty for your computer I would consider calling the company and asking for a new card, sounds like something might be wrong with it if it is overheating like that.

if it is overheating all windows would tell you is that some piece of hardware failed.. not even sure if it would say anything.

[hotlad]

make sure you have all the windows xp service packs and all the correct drivers

[Kamakazik]

I installed the latest drivers for my ATI RADEON 9700 AIW.

I'm pretty sure that its an over-heatings problem for my CPU.
Any suggestions?

I've heard of people doing the following things:
1) Opening the case
2) Opening the case and have a fan constantly blow on the parts (does this damage the parts???)
3) Installing water-cooling systems.

I'm probably not able to install a water-cooling system.


So do you think that opening the case and having a fan cool the parts down damages the parts??

[magusfire25]

nope it wont damage anything

:)

if it helps then yes you have overheating problems

[Ed-E]

Im having this exact same problem. Ill be doing nothing and all of a sudden i will crash to desktop. Even on Battlefield 1942 i crash. This started to happen when I installed my 9800 pro. I pretty sure its the crappy drivers, a number of other people have this same prob. I know nothing is overheating cause i installed a number of fans on it.

P.S. Even on the lowest graphic settings, it restarts or crashes.

P4 2.8
1gig DDR
9800 pro
XP Pro

[Kamakazik]

This is annoying me too.

You think its the ATI drivers?

[Kamakazik]

Umm anyone else having these problems?

[magusfire25]

I have a geforce 2 card and besides a bit of graphics lag.. (fixed by turning off weather effects) I have no problems

[LinkinFate]

Just try new drivers, and change some settings around, like Anti-aliasing, etc maybe those are causing problems. If the newer drivers are causing, you can still try out the older drivers, maybe they don't cause too much problem with the game.

[Kamakazik]

I have the latest drivers.


Its not an overheating problem.
I doubt its a power problem.


I pretty much think its a RAM failure or something with the hard drive.