rec.autos.simulators

by **Ryan** » Wed, 03 Oct 2001 14:39:07

I'm sure this has been asked before, but N4 locks up badly on me everytime I
play, sometimes it only takes 10 minutes, sometimes an hour, but it always
locks up and the only way I can get out of it is to restart the computer.

Here are my specs:
Iwill KK266 plus mobo
Athlon 1.2 GHz 266 FSB
256 meg PC 133 Ram
Visiontek GeForce2MX 400 AGP 64 meg (stock clock speed)
Using onboard sound card
10/100 Ethernet card
Windows 2000 SP2
Logitech Wingman FF wheel USB Profiler 4.00

Doesn't matter if it is online or offline, it just locks up. Any ideas?? I
think I have an IRQ conflict since win2k has everything running on IRQ 11
(network card, video card, sound card). How do I go about chaning this? I
tried before, but couldn't get it to work. My system temp is always 78 F
and the CPU never goes over 109 F, so I don't think heat is an issue.

Thanks for any help you can offer!

Ryan

by **Dave Henri** » Wed, 03 Oct 2001 15:42:32

I have no clue about win2000 and how it handles IRQ's. But if it were
win98 I would definately think having all three of those items on the same
irq would be causing a conflict. The easiest way in win98 to change irq's
was in device manager, but if that wasn't possible, removing the cards and
placing them in different pci slots would often result in different irq's
being assigned. Good luck. I hope a NT guru can add more.
dave henrie

by **Biz** » Wed, 03 Oct 2001 15:55:20

Win2K and XP put everything on a single IRQ when using ACPI, it sucks for
***. Technically is it really even supported properly under Win2K? The
box says Win9X and nothing about any Nt based stuff, even though I know some
run it reasonably well...

--
Biz

"Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand
alloys and compositions and,......things with molecular structures,....and
the....." - Ash

by **Ryan** » Wed, 03 Oct 2001 16:26:51

No, I don't think it is supported properly under Win2K, but my machine has
not frozen even once running any other games not intended for Win2K either
(GPL, Viper, etc). N4 runs great 65-90 fps in 800x600 and 60-70 solid at
1024x768 on my computer, but it just locks up randomly. I thought it was a
problem when the game first shipped that was repaired by the 1.1 patch, but
it's not working on mine :-( Poop!! lol

Thanks,
Ryan

> Win2K and XP put everything on a single IRQ when using ACPI, it sucks for
> ***. Technically is it really even supported properly under Win2K?
The
> box says Win9X and nothing about any Nt based stuff, even though I know
some
> run it reasonably well...

> --
> Biz

> "Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand
> alloys and compositions and,......things with molecular structures,....and
> the....." - Ash

> > I'm sure this has been asked before, but N4 locks up badly on me
everytime
> I
> > play, sometimes it only takes 10 minutes, sometimes an hour, but it
always
> > locks up and the only way I can get out of it is to restart the
computer.

> > Here are my specs:
> > Iwill KK266 plus mobo
> > Athlon 1.2 GHz 266 FSB
> > 256 meg PC 133 Ram
> > Visiontek GeForce2MX 400 AGP 64 meg (stock clock speed)
> > Using onboard sound card
> > 10/100 Ethernet card
> > Windows 2000 SP2
> > Logitech Wingman FF wheel USB Profiler 4.00

> > Doesn't matter if it is online or offline, it just locks up. Any
ideas??
> I
> > think I have an IRQ conflict since win2k has everything running on IRQ
11
> > (network card, video card, sound card). How do I go about chaning this?
> I
> > tried before, but couldn't get it to work. My system temp is always 78
F
> > and the CPU never goes over 109 F, so I don't think heat is an issue.

> > Thanks for any help you can offer!

> > Ryan

by **SimRace** » Wed, 03 Oct 2001 23:48:03

Ryan, Visiontek says that their cards can only share IRQs with PCI Steering
Handler and nothing else and work properly. Their instructions said that
when I had their MX400 AGP card and again when I upgraded to their GF3 card
as well.

When it locks up. can you still hear the sound? If so it is definetly video
related. Short of trying to reassign the IRQ for it I would suggest adding a
fan to the card. My MX400 only had a heat sink and kept locking up, so I put
it into a work computer that doesn't do much graphics work and got a GF3,
huge fan already installed. No probs since. (I have an AMD *** system,
well ventilated and fanned, but without a fan itself the MX400 was heating
badly as I was pushing it very hard...)

> No, I don't think it is supported properly under Win2K, but my machine has
> not frozen even once running any other games not intended for Win2K either
> (GPL, Viper, etc). N4 runs great 65-90 fps in 800x600 and 60-70 solid at
> 1024x768 on my computer, but it just locks up randomly. I thought it was
a
> problem when the game first shipped that was repaired by the 1.1 patch,
but
> it's not working on mine :-( Poop!! lol

> Thanks,
> Ryan

> > Win2K and XP put everything on a single IRQ when using ACPI, it sucks
for
> > ***. Technically is it really even supported properly under Win2K?
> The
> > box says Win9X and nothing about any Nt based stuff, even though I know
> some
> > run it reasonably well...

> > --
> > Biz

> > "Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand
> > alloys and compositions and,......things with molecular
structures,....and
> > the....." - Ash

> > > I'm sure this has been asked before, but N4 locks up badly on me
> everytime
> > I
> > > play, sometimes it only takes 10 minutes, sometimes an hour, but it
> always
> > > locks up and the only way I can get out of it is to restart the
> computer.

> > > Here are my specs:
> > > Iwill KK266 plus mobo
> > > Athlon 1.2 GHz 266 FSB
> > > 256 meg PC 133 Ram
> > > Visiontek GeForce2MX 400 AGP 64 meg (stock clock speed)
> > > Using onboard sound card
> > > 10/100 Ethernet card
> > > Windows 2000 SP2
> > > Logitech Wingman FF wheel USB Profiler 4.00

> > > Doesn't matter if it is online or offline, it just locks up. Any
> ideas??
> > I
> > > think I have an IRQ conflict since win2k has everything running on IRQ
> 11
> > > (network card, video card, sound card). How do I go about chaning
this?
> > I
> > > tried before, but couldn't get it to work. My system temp is always
78
> F
> > > and the CPU never goes over 109 F, so I don't think heat is an issue.

> > > Thanks for any help you can offer!

> > > Ryan

by **Ryan** » Thu, 04 Oct 2001 02:49:41

Yes that is exactly my problem!!! I think I will go today to get a fan for
the video card!!!
Thank you!

Ryan

> Ryan, Visiontek says that their cards can only share IRQs with PCI
Steering
> Handler and nothing else and work properly. Their instructions said that
> when I had their MX400 AGP card and again when I upgraded to their GF3
card
> as well.

> When it locks up. can you still hear the sound? If so it is definetly
video
> related. Short of trying to reassign the IRQ for it I would suggest adding
a
> fan to the card. My MX400 only had a heat sink and kept locking up, so I
put
> it into a work computer that doesn't do much graphics work and got a GF3,
> huge fan already installed. No probs since. (I have an AMD *** system,
> well ventilated and fanned, but without a fan itself the MX400 was heating
> badly as I was pushing it very hard...)

> > No, I don't think it is supported properly under Win2K, but my machine
has
> > not frozen even once running any other games not intended for Win2K
either
> > (GPL, Viper, etc). N4 runs great 65-90 fps in 800x600 and 60-70 solid
at
> > 1024x768 on my computer, but it just locks up randomly. I thought it
was
> a
> > problem when the game first shipped that was repaired by the 1.1 patch,
> but
> > it's not working on mine :-( Poop!! lol

> > Thanks,
> > Ryan

> > > Win2K and XP put everything on a single IRQ when using ACPI, it sucks
> for
> > > ***. Technically is it really even supported properly under Win2K?
> > The
> > > box says Win9X and nothing about any Nt based stuff, even though I
know
> > some
> > > run it reasonably well...

> > > --
> > > Biz

> > > "Don't touch that please, your primitive intellect wouldn't understand
> > > alloys and compositions and,......things with molecular
> structures,....and
> > > the....." - Ash

> > > > I'm sure this has been asked before, but N4 locks up badly on me
> > everytime
> > > I
> > > > play, sometimes it only takes 10 minutes, sometimes an hour, but it
> > always
> > > > locks up and the only way I can get out of it is to restart the
> > computer.

> > > > Here are my specs:
> > > > Iwill KK266 plus mobo
> > > > Athlon 1.2 GHz 266 FSB
> > > > 256 meg PC 133 Ram
> > > > Visiontek GeForce2MX 400 AGP 64 meg (stock clock speed)
> > > > Using onboard sound card
> > > > 10/100 Ethernet card
> > > > Windows 2000 SP2
> > > > Logitech Wingman FF wheel USB Profiler 4.00

> > > > Doesn't matter if it is online or offline, it just locks up. Any
> > ideas??
> > > I
> > > > think I have an IRQ conflict since win2k has everything running on
IRQ
> > 11
> > > > (network card, video card, sound card). How do I go about chaning
> this?
> > > I
> > > > tried before, but couldn't get it to work. My system temp is always
> 78
> > F
> > > > and the CPU never goes over 109 F, so I don't think heat is an
issue.

> > > > Thanks for any help you can offer!

> > > > Ryan

by **Norman Blac** » Thu, 04 Oct 2001 12:27:21

Go to AMDs website and read about the AGP registry patch for Win2k and the
Athlon processor. This stopped the occasional lockups for me. I run in
1280x906x32 mode with my 64Mb Geforce 2 Pro.

I assume your really did mean to indicate Farenheight temperature
measurements. I ask since I have always seen Celsius quoted from most
hardware monitors.

Don't worry about all IRQs on a single hardware interrupt. This is harmless
unless you have ***drivers, but then that is problem in and of itself. If
the drivers came off the Win2k CD, no worries about IRQ sharing. Otherwise
is the driver rated for ACPI and Win2k. Shared IRQs indicate an ACPI system
(all cases I have seen). If you absolutely do not want to share IRQs you can
disable ACPI in the BIOS if this option is available.

Sharing the hardware IRQ line is actually a trivial matter. The real IRQ
issue is interrupt handler latency. A bad/stupid interrupt handler will take
too long with interrupts disabled. This is where separate IRQs can come in
handy since hardware IRQs have priority levels. Putting a crappy
hardware/driver on a low priority IRQ can help (not solve) a systems issues.
That is patchwork as the real problem is the latency of the crappy interrupt
handler. NT/2k are completely designed to have a device interrupt handler do
next to no work and defer the major work to an APC.

Norman

by **Ryan** » Thu, 04 Oct 2001 15:55:48

I have since done two things:
1: Improve the cooling around my video card
2: Applied the AMD patch for Win2000

I just finished running two races online with 30+ opponents and I ran about
20 laps at Daytona against the AI without any problems and 60+ FPS the whole
time at 1024x768. I love N4!!

Thanks all for your help!
Ryan

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