stumped: asus nforce2 issue

S

sackowitz

Limp Gawd
Joined
Mar 26, 2002
Messages
328
im just going to get to the point:

replaced nforce1 mobo w/ nforce2 due to crappy hdd performance. everything else used to work flawlessly.

on new mobo, same psu, cpu, cd, hdd, vidcard, etc, i can play games on single player mode (local) w/ no problems whatsoever.

on only QUAKE3 based games (incl wolf, sof2, call of duty, medal of honor, etc.), i can play single player fine, but multiplayer makes the comp freez after playing for ~30 seconds, forcing a reboot.

the obvious first place to look was at the nic card / drivers (the main difference b/t multi and single player). i was using onboard when i noticed the freez. i then disabled onboard in bios and installed a netgear 10/100 w/ cd drivers. same problem in games occurs.

seeing that the sound was looping when the crashes would occur, i disabled onboard sound (which i was currently using) and installed a creative pci512. comp would still freez.

i've since updated the bios, the nforce drivers in windows, tried playing with agp aperature (currently set to 128 for a gf3 w/ 64m), agp fast writes, and pretty much everything else i could think would cause this, and have found no solutions. i even backed off the fsb to a stock 133, still getting crashes.

i am asking for some help.... has anyone heard of anything of this sort? where should i look next?

asus a7n8x
xp 1600
512 corsair 2100 (2 x 256)
gainward ti200 64mb
wd 7200 80gb 8mb
antec 300w psu
 
The nForce2 boards suck quite a bit more voltage then the older ones. In addition Asus doesn't have the P4 ATX power connector like many do to provide the extra juice and rely strictly on the 20 pin connector. I believe the Antec 300watt is a bit underpowered for this set-up IMHO, I've seen this occur quite often as a lot of Antecs lower priced cases come with this PSU.

Regards, Szandor
 
thanks for the input szandor, in order to o/c any further i need a bigger & better psu to hit higher fsb - the antec's 12v is very unstable. actually, i'm posting again to show you all how stupid i am.

thinking the freezing thing was a hardware issue was instinct. but because of how well the system runs on every single player game i have, it didnt make sense.

as it turns out, it was the anti-cheat software punkbuster that is in all mp versions of q3 and its mods. pb is what caused this, and by changing one cvar "pb_sleep" to 250, problem solved.

so quick i was to think it was the hardware and my configuration. bleh. needless to say i am extremely upset that these people would code anti-cheat software that you're pretty much forced to use, and can cause your whole system to halt / cause damage to your hdd. sigh.
 
Update:

The problem is the Nvidia 52.xx drivers & Punkbuster. They don't like each other.

Just in case anyone having this problem finds this thread, roll back your Nvidia Drivers to a 45.32 driver to correct the problem.

I sent an email to punkbuster (evenbalance) so maybe they will update their faq. It seems they no longer have forums.
 
I have actually been recieving similar problems with my computer.

I would play about 15 minutes into need for speed udnerground and forced to restart.
My computer suggested that the SiS video card drivers are causing the problem.
Unfortunatly, a roll back (or two) did not fix it.
 
sorry to hear that....

i am not familiar with that game or what engine it uses.... so i probably won't be much help there.

here are the questions you should ask yourself:

is the video card you are using recognized by the game developers as supported?
-if not, well... stop right here and get a new card.

do you have similar problems with any other games?
-if yes, you may be overheating some of your hardware causing things to get messed up. check your temperatures and replace heatsinks & fans if neccesary, or even add another case fan. also you may not have correct pagefile settings / enough physical ram to play the game. refer to the developer reccomendations to make sure your hardware is adequate.
-if not, look on the forums for that game as it may be a known issue with your hardware or drivers (vid card possibly).

directX
-got the latest one?

have you checked all your bios settings to ensure they are right?
-agp aperature, fast writes, etc.

windows settings on your card
-try turning off vsync, af, aa, etc., (if you havent already) and see if it helps.

try using a different vid card
-i know the game is new so a really old card probably wont do... but maybe borrow a card from a friend for an hour or 2, see if the problem persists.
-if the problem goes away, and there's nothing on the forums for that game, then i'd look alot deeper into drivers for your video card.

good luck
 
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