TOCA3 pc locking up?

Hmmm, just installed TOCA Race Driver 3 about a week ago and now my pc locks up whenever I play the sim? I'd appreciate any ideas on how to cure the problem.... Appears to happen at random, I can play TRD3 for five minutes and it happens, or I can play TRD3 for two hours then it happens. The pc just locks up, the screen goes black, but I can still hear the game sounds, but nothing happens, the controls (wheel, joystick, keyboard, mouse) do not respond, and I have to do a hard reset to get the pc working again. NB: This is NOT heat related as I run pc probe and there are no sudden increases in heat when the lockups occur. I presume this may be due to the starforce drivers and/or McAfee anti-virus, as I previously had a similar problem with TOCA Race Driver 2, but the problem was cured by disabling McAfee before playing TRD2. However, turning off McAfee does NOT seem to cure the problem with TRD3? For info the pc is as follows: Asus Asus A7N8X Deluxe m/b based PC (in Antec case) with 400w psu and AMD Barton 2500 cpu using 1Gb Crucial DDR ram, with a 128Mb Radeon 9600 Pro graphics card. Two 120Gb SATA hard drives, FDD, Pioneer CD-RW and Creative Labs DVD player (& 5.1 speakers). Hitachi 19" CRT monitor unit. Using Win XP (SP2). Using latest drivers for all hardware. Thanx

><[email hidden]> wrote > Hmmm, just installed TOCA Race Driver 3 about a week ago and now my > pc locks up whenever I play the sim? Your PC is doing the right thing for you. -- -- Fran�ois M�nard <ymenard> -- This announcement is brought to you by the Shimago-Dominguez Corporation - helping America into the New World...

Dun surf spyware infested sites without protection. ymenard wrote:

Quoted text (14 lines)

>> <[email hidden]> wrote >> Hmmm, just installed TOCA Race Driver 3 about a week ago and now my >> pc locks up whenever I play the sim? > > > Your PC is doing the right thing for you. > > > > > > > >

<[email hidden]> wrote in message news:[email hidden]...

Quoted text (30 lines)

> Hmmm, just installed TOCA Race Driver 3 about a week ago and now my > pc locks up whenever I play the sim? I'd appreciate any ideas on how > to cure the problem.... > > Appears to happen at random, I can play TRD3 for five minutes and it > happens, or I can play TRD3 for two hours then it happens. The pc > just locks up, the screen goes black, but I can still hear the game > sounds, but nothing happens, the controls (wheel, joystick, > keyboard, mouse) do not respond, and I have to do a hard reset to > get the pc working again. > > NB: This is NOT heat related as I run pc probe and there are no > sudden increases in heat when the lockups occur. > > I presume this may be due to the starforce drivers and/or McAfee > anti-virus, as I previously had a similar problem with TOCA Race > Driver 2, but the problem was cured by disabling McAfee before > playing TRD2. However, turning off McAfee does NOT seem to cure the > problem with TRD3? > > For info the pc is as follows: > > Asus Asus A7N8X Deluxe m/b based PC (in Antec case) with 400w psu > and AMD Barton 2500 cpu using 1Gb Crucial DDR ram, with a 128Mb > Radeon 9600 Pro graphics card. Two 120Gb SATA hard drives, FDD, > Pioneer CD-RW and Creative Labs DVD player (& 5.1 speakers). Hitachi > 19" CRT monitor unit. Using Win XP (SP2). Using latest drivers for > all hardware. > > Thanx

What game controller are you using ? If you have force feedback enables, try turning that off and see if it helps. Also, could be a PSU issue. Do any other games do this ?

Quoted text (9 lines)

> > Hmmm, just installed TOCA Race Driver 3 about a week ago and > > now my > > pc locks up whenever I play the sim? I'd appreciate any ideas > > on how > > to cure the problem.... > What game controller are you using ? If you have force feedback > enables, try turning that off and see if it helps. > Also, could be a PSU issue. Do any other games do this ?

Thanx for the info, No, none of my other games do this. (eg: GPL, GTR, GTL, TRD2, MS FS2004, etc). As I said Toca Race Driver 2 did lock up initially, but that was caused by McAfee, and turning OFF McAfee cured the lockups, but that doesn't cure it in this case. I'm not using a FF controller, I'm using a Ballracing (BRD) wheel and pedals. Maybe its about time I upgraded my pc anyway.... 8-) *Peter* - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/petergagg/

[email hidden] wrote: > Hmmm, just installed TOCA Race Driver 3 about a week ago and now my > pc locks up whenever I play the sim? I'd appreciate any ideas on how > to cure the problem.... > <snip> > > For info the pc is as follows: > > Asus Asus A7N8X Deluxe m/b based PC (in Antec case) with 400w psu > and AMD Barton 2500 cpu using 1Gb Crucial DDR ram, with a 128Mb <snip> This is a bit of a long shot as it doesn't quite fit in with all your info, but if your RAM is in the form of 2x512Mb sticks then it might be worth considering. I have the Asus A7N8X Deluxe (revision 2.0) mobo, and I also have 1Gb RAM (in 2x512Mb sticks). This model of mobo seems to be extremely fussy about which 512Mb sticks it will work with when running in *dual-channel* memory mode. Take a look at your screen as your PC is booting up, you should see a message stating how much RAM you have, and whether it is operating in single-channel or dual-channel mode. If it says "dual-channel", then your problem may be memory-related. How to verify the problem? Two ways: (1) Download a utility called Memtest86 v3.2 from www.memtest86.com. This will create a boot floppy containing a very comprehensive (but easy-to-use) memory testing utility. Boot up using this floppy, leave it running for a while, and it should show up any problems. This is the only utility I found which confirmed my problems, and oddly enough the problem only showed up in *one* of the tests - test number 5, called "block moves". (2) Open up your PC and move one of your 512Mb sticks into a different slot. AFAIK dual-channel mode only works with the sticks in one specific combination of slots, so moving one of them will effectively turn off the dual-channel mode. (There is no simple BIOS option to turn it off, unfortunately.) Reboot, observe the bootup message to confirm it says "single-channel", and then run TuRD 3. If you can run for an extended period without a crash, then you've probably fixed it. Unfortunately, running your RAM in single-channel mode is slower than dual-channel mode, but in human terms the difference may not be noticeable. In my case, as I haven't got the time or money to experiment with high-quality RAM, I've left my machine (with an XP 3200+ chip) running in single-channel mode, and I'm quite happy with its performance. Why do I doubt this is the problem? Usually, RAM problems will affect any software which can properly utilize 1Gb of RAM. You mentioned a number of demanding games, so I would have expected them to be affected too. However, sometimes it can depend on *how* the game accesses RAM, not just how much. Good luck with finding a solution.

In article <[email hidden]>, [email hidden] says...

Quoted text (11 lines)

> Hmmm, just installed TOCA Race Driver 3 about a week ago and now my > pc locks up whenever I play the sim? I'd appreciate any ideas on how > to cure the problem.... > > Appears to happen at random, I can play TRD3 for five minutes and it > happens, or I can play TRD3 for two hours then it happens. The pc > just locks up, the screen goes black, but I can still hear the game > sounds, but nothing happens, the controls (wheel, joystick, > keyboard, mouse) do not respond, and I have to do a hard reset to > get the pc working again. >

The only time I had an issue like this was a few years back and it was graphics card related. Can't even remember the game that caused it. It may have required some kind of driver or game update (sorry, can't recall), but if I were you, that's where I would begin looking. Sorry I can't be more specific. Have you tried, changing the game settings for graphics to see if the problem goes away? -- Pete Ives Remove All_stRESS before sending me an email

Thanx for the info. I do have two 512Mb ram chips, and they are running in dual channel mode. As you say its a long shot (cos it does not seem to affect any other program/game) but I will give it a try to see what happens (turning off dual channel mode). BTW, I did use memtest when I first installed these mem chips (about a year ago) after upgrading from two 256Mb chips and the test went fine with no probs. I only ever use high quality mem chips (they are manufactured by "Crucial" in this case) as I feel using cheap memory is a false economy. Thanx again for the info....

Quoted text (47 lines)

> This is a bit of a long shot as it doesn't quite fit in with > all your info, but if your RAM is in the form of 2x512Mb sticks > then it might be worth considering. > > I have the Asus A7N8X Deluxe (revision 2.0) mobo, and I also > have 1Gb RAM (in 2x512Mb sticks). This model of mobo seems to > be extremely fussy about which 512Mb sticks it will work with > when running in *dual-channel* memory mode. Take a look at your > screen as your PC is booting up, you should see a message > stating how much RAM you have, and whether it is operating in > single-channel or dual-channel mode. If it says "dual-channel", > then your problem may be memory-related. > > How to verify the problem? Two ways: > > (1) Download a utility called Memtest86 v3.2 from > www.memtest86.com. This will create a boot floppy containing a > very comprehensive (but easy-to-use) memory testing utility. > Boot up using this floppy, leave it running for a while, and it > should show up any problems. This is the only utility I found > which confirmed my problems, and oddly enough the problem only > showed up in *one* of the tests - test number 5, called "block > moves". > > (2) Open up your PC and move one of your 512Mb sticks into a > different slot. AFAIK dual-channel mode only works with the > sticks in one specific combination of slots, so moving one of > them will effectively turn off the dual-channel mode. (There is > no simple BIOS option to turn it off, unfortunately.) Reboot, > observe the bootup message to confirm it says "single-channel", > and then run TuRD 3. If you can run for an extended period > without a crash, then you've probably fixed it. > > Unfortunately, running your RAM in single-channel mode is > slower than dual-channel mode, but in human terms the > difference may not be noticeable. In my case, as I haven't got > the time or money to experiment with high-quality RAM, I've > left my machine (with an XP 3200+ chip) running in > single-channel mode, and I'm quite happy with its performance. > > Why do I doubt this is the problem? Usually, RAM problems will > affect any software which can properly utilize 1Gb of RAM. You > mentioned a number of demanding games, so I would have expected > them to be affected too. However, sometimes it can depend on > *how* the game accesses RAM, not just how much. > > Good luck with finding a solution.

*Peter* - http://homepage.ntlworld.com/petergagg/

> Have you tried, changing the game settings for graphics to see > if the problem goes away? I'll turn them all right down and give it a try to see what happens. Although, I do have a few other "demanding" programs and games which, if the problem were with the graphics card, I would expect to also be affected? but they are not, so I'm not convinced this is the problem. But as I say I'll give it a go and thanxfor the info. 8-)

On Sun, 16 Apr 2006 19:48:04 -0500, [email hidden] wrote: >Hmmm, just installed TOCA Race Driver 3 about a week ago and now my >pc locks up whenever I play the sim? I'd appreciate any ideas on how >to cure the problem.... Hmm, Toca2 locks up on me everytime I try to set my steering wheel axis. Won't be buying Toca3, that's for sure.

Toca 3 = suxs. LFS is even better. Enos Nivek wrote:

Quoted text (8 lines)

> On Sun, 16 Apr 2006 19:48:04 -0500, [email hidden] wrote: > >> Hmmm, just installed TOCA Race Driver 3 about a week ago and now my >> pc locks up whenever I play the sim? I'd appreciate any ideas on how >> to cure the problem.... > > Hmm, Toca2 locks up on me everytime I try to set my steering wheel > axis. Won't be buying Toca3, that's for sure.