Game is choking and dying. Wah!
vecki:
* vecki takes deep breath, this could take a while to explain. Consider yourselves warned
For what seems like forever my game has suffered from the NVIDIA blue screen then crash (well I assume it crashes, the screen goes blank, the monitor's power light blinks on and off, and nothing can be done except to use the magic button to turn the computer off then on).
I updated my video card from the FX5200 128MB to the 7300GT 512MB (heh, thinking back, shoulda gone for ATI instead of another NVIDIA). Still suffered from blue screen then crash (to add insult to injury, for the 45 seconds I was able to look into a lot, bits were missing from sims). The animation was much smoother though, I noticed.
I finally found what Assoid Sam had referred to as the 'last known good NVIDIA driver' (he'd made it tough by making a typo. Grr). So loaded up the game again and visited the Brokes in my vanilla account. The missing bits of the sims were now filled in... hurrah! And there was no blue screen.... No siree. My computer decided to skip that little inconvenience after the usual 45 seconds and go straight to the crashing.
When I start up the computer NVIDIA does warn me that the card is not getting enough power and will reduce performance to prevent damaging the computer (from what I recall it needs about a 350W PSU and my measly Acer T300 only came with a 200W PSU), but I don't know whether to point at that as being the cause of the crash at this stage.
Thoughts? I'm all out, thought I'd borrow some of yours.
Lord Darcy:
Quote from: vecki on 2008 June 01, 07:14:24
When I start up the computer NVIDIA does warn me that the card is not getting enough power and will reduce performance to prevent damaging the computer (from what I recall it needs about a 350W PSU and my measly Acer T300 only came with a 200W PSU), but I don't know whether to point at that as being the cause of the crash at this stage.
That's the culprit, you lack the power to support your newfangled video card. 200W PSU can't support most of graphic cards on the current market. Changing driver versions can't solve your problem. Buy a new power supply NOW. From my experience, most of pre-built computers come with crappy PSUs to lower the cost, which are barely able to support newer graphic cards.
I use Sea Sonic 430W for my ATI HD 3800 and am quite satisfied with it. It's stable, and the noise level is relatively low.
ETA: Oh, I forgot my own experience with early crashing. Make sure if CPU cooler is securely attached to the CPU. Overheat of CPU/video card can make the game crash.
Before I upgraded my computer, I got constant hanging with a sandglass after 30 or 40 minutes of playing time. After the upgrade I no longer had hanging, instead the game crashed straight to the desktop without any error message. Turned out that the CPU cooler was not properly attached to the CPU, causing overheat. After I reapplied heat sink and attached the cooler properly, the crash was gone instantly. Lucky I caught the culprit right away, otherwise my CPU would have been fried to death. (Never again will I let anyone else assemble my own desktop.)
J. M. Pescado:
You needs MOAR POWER!
vecki:
Heh. Suddenly it all comes together for me. Pescado is Hordak.
We're gonna try plugging in the boyfriend's power supply this weekend, but I'm not sure its gonna be enough (I think it's a 300W supply). Maybe I'll at least see if the game lasts a little longer, which might give me an idea of if the power supply really is to blame.
J. M. Pescado:
It's OBVIOUS the power supply is to blame. Didn't the computer flat out WARN you that the power supply is to blame? This is your computer right now:
And a 300 isn't any better. You want at least a 450 for any modern computer, preferrably more. Otherwise the powersupply is overworked and may catch FIRE.
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