problem with games freezing

Hi All. I just left the HJT/infections forum for y'all to try to diagnose my problem. LDTate thought you could help. I have been having trouble the last 3 weeks with my world winner game swap it. It either freezes mid game, or finishes, and then cannot close. When its working correctly, the game pops up in its own screen to play, you play, and then a window pops up in that that says " please wait while game closes". But when I play, the game does not refresh to close, instead, another window pops up that says "your internet connection has been disrupted please press x to close". this happens 95 % of the time. I have tried everything they said might help, and everything I could think of, and of course Mr. Tate's expertise, but alas, nothing has corrected the problem. Do you have any ideas? Do I need to reinstall Windows XP? I am also not able to reboot in safe mode for some reason. The screen of files sticks, so I cannot get to the login. related?? My isp has watched my log, and says nothing is going wrong. WW says its my system having a problem with their site. Thanks in advance. I know you will figure me out.

You say you have tried everything - it might help us if you tell us what everything is. Something about the computer would help too. Is this a laptop, desktop, or what? CPU, RAM, motherboard? Have you tested RAM? Tried a new PSU? What are your temperatures?

I must have forgotten to mention to you that I am a newbie. We tried disableing pop up blocker, disableing 3rd party browser extentions, disableing all other add ons, uninstalling and restarting, then reinstalling world winner games. i reset my IE7, I checked for all updates (which I do automatically). I ran HJT and had a professional look at it, I tried system restore(which failed at every date I tried), I uninstalled Norton ,and opted for zone alarm, AVG(found and quarantined 2 trojan viruses), registry mechanic, and spybot. I used ATF to clean , I ran a combo fix , I went thru and deleted numerous programs that were not being used. I shut down everything that had been running in task bar, for no reason. The computer is windows xp w/ sp2 . gateway, intel pentium 4 cpu 1.8 GHz, 256 MB of RAM. The hard drive has 127GB total with 116 GB free (RAM) Dont know how to test RAM? (PSU) Whats a PSU and (mytemps?)… I do feel a little warm (please smile). I dont understand what you mean by temps either , sorry……..thats why i am here.

No problem - everyone was a newbie at one time or another.

256Mb of total RAM is barely enough for XP to run, let alone other programs too. And if your graphics is on-board and not a separate graphics card, then that makes things even worse since on-board (built on to the motherboard) graphics steals some system RAM (at least 32Mb, often 64Mb and more) for graphics processing. That along could be a big part of your problem as XP is being forced to reach out to the page file on your hard drive for extra memory space to work in.

To test your RAM, you can use MemTest86+ or Windows Memory Diagnostic is also effective and probably a little easier.

PSU = power supply unit. If it is becoming unstable, it can sure wreck havoc on your system. They can be tested at a shop, or often it is just easier to swap in a known good one.

Heat can cause all kinds of problems. You need to make sure the vents and insides are clean of heat trapping dust and dirt and all your fans are turning freely. You can check the CPU and system temperature in the BIOS or with hardware monitoring programs such as the hardware monitoring program that came on your motherboard utility disk, or downloaded from the motherboard maker's site. If not available, use either Motherboard Monitor or Speedfan.

Okay, I upgraded my memory to 1GB, the PSU is working as it should , and speed fan says my temps are right on 36C. It shows that the fans are at 0 rpm. I am not sure why that would be. Maybe it isnt warm enough to kick on ? What do you think would be best to do now ? Willing to learn, I am I am.

Not all fans give the correct speed. That can be disabled. Make sure it is spinning.

You can also use Everest to verify your temperatures. Look under Computer > Sensor, then wait a couple seconds for the readings to appear. Then use the figures to ensure Speedfan is monitoring and reporting the correct sensor.

That Everest is Amazing !! Yes it concurrs with speed fan that temps are 34C -motherboard, 35C- CPU, and 38 Maxtor 6L200PO Fans are running. What else can I try to answer? ps…thanks for helping me. Do you believe in psycho-kinesis? Raise my hand !

What else can I try to answer?

What more do you want to know? I would not be too concerned that your fan reads 0 RPM as long as it is turning, your temps can be monitored, and your temps are fine. Perhaps it is not plugged into a monitored power header.

I guess I was hoping that you could tell me what to do about my game freezing . If there was something I could install or upgrade, or something to disable…..or enable. Just going back to my original question to JDTate, and then on to y'all on this forum.

I already mentioned testing your RAM. You should also inspect the motherboard for leaky capacitors. Leaky capacitors are a common cause of sudden system lock ups and reboots. Look for white to dark brown dried foam leaking from the tops or bottoms of the capacitors. The capacitors look like tall soda cans, many of which surround the CPU socket. Bulging capacitors are a sign leakage is about to occur. A motherboard with leaky capacitors can be repaired, but often it is more cost effective to replace the motherboard.

Hope you don't mind me tossing my oar in here. but I was wondering, is it only when running the game that you have connectivity problems or does this happen occasionally when doing other things on the internet? When this happens, is the system completely frozen or do you just lose the internet connection? If the latter, is the internet connection completely dead or just dead to the game (can you view a web site with your browser after this problem happens)?

It only seems to affect the popup window that the game is playing in. Once it freezes up, I can go right to the main page (just under the popup), and click on anything, and the internet works fine. I was actually so frustrated this weekend that I reinstalled my windows xp. But even that didnt help!!! It wouldnt be so bad if it would just let me finish before it said " blah blah blah", but that only happens a few times out of 20. Usually it is the last level. I just dont know what in the world else to try. I wish someone would get on my PC with me and watch and say oh yeah I know what to do…., just do …………………….. I also upgraded my network driver no change when I did that either. PS …its not my capacitors.

Well we can't sit in front of your machine, but we can get a pretty good look at its actual performance via a PCPitstop Full Test.

Please Run the PCPitstop Full Tests, here:
http://www.pcpitstop.com
Register and create a password
Accept the ActiveX component to allow your machine to run the Full Tests
Registering and accepting the ActiveX are both SAFE and FREE.
Full Tests is the first item in the left hand column of that page.

The Full Tests take less than 5 minutes for most machines.
Once you have your Results, please post the TechExpress Link back here into this thread for review.
TechExpress is the last item on the list in the yellow box in upper right area of any Results page.
Post the entire URL link information back here into this Forum thread.

Caution: During the testing of Video Adapter, a variety of patterns, shapes, colors and text are “flashed” onto the users monitor screen. In the many thousands of daily uses of the PCPitstop Full Tests over several years, two individuals who suffer epilepsy experienced discomfort and temporary dizziness when viewing the flashing patterns.
If you know that you are susceptible to photo driven seizure, look away from your screen during the Video Adapter testing sequence.

With that information, we may be able to provide some additional recommendations.

And when you Re-Installed XP…
Was that a Format and Reinstall?
or a Repair Install?
If Format and Reinstall, did you follow up with installing your machine's Chipset Drivers and DirectX 9.0c?

We'll watch for your TechExpress Link to get a better look.
Doug

http://www.pcpitstop.com/techexpress.asp?id=XLEMHWPXMRVSK8KV

I think it was the format and reinstall. The cd's are from 2002 and I cant even remember it asking about a repair. I did have to start with driver cd, then os cd, then back to driver, then os, then apps cd. I can run a HJT if it would help you help me , but this pcpitstop scan might tell you more.
Thanks so much for giving this new life….and hope.

The pcpitstop asked me a question I didnt have an answer for. It asked which way I connected to internet, but didnt give broadband as an option. I use broadband, and just upgraded from 1 to 2 M. speed test is 1058 kbps d/l, and 485kbps u/l.