Win XP pro & UT2004 v3323

[Kaspar.Hauser]

!help MyM
Hi @ all, especially @ MyM

unfortunately i have a prob running ut2k4 since i installed SP2 for Win XP. UT 2k4 crashes each time i try to play it, sometimes after while, sometimes directly after i start it. Screen freezes and Computer doesn't react on any input, including task manager.

Since I 1st noticed
- I tried the original .ini files
- I reinstalled UT
- I reinstalled patch 3323
- I reinstalled Win XP and SP2 and everything else
- I temporarily disabled the Windows Firewall

Results: No improvement.

After that i ran a MoBo health Monitor (ASUS A7V600-X) to log the temperatures. Nothing special was monitored. I ran a few hours Prime95 RAM Test (1GB DDR 266). No result. Everything seems perfect and the System (Athlon XP2400+; GeForce4 Ti4200 (128MB); 160/40 GB HDs; DVD & CD-RW; 5.1 Soundcard and TV Card) seems to run smooth, fast and reliable concerning other applications.

I am out of ideas and looking forward to all possible solutions, hints or further system checks.

 

[MeetYourMaker]

First guess would be psu, you could run UT2K4 and see how the voltages vary on the MB monitor (they shouldnt move) in particular 3.3v, 5v and 12v. what psu rating do u have?

next step would be to check gfx card temps, make sure nothing is bunged up in the fan/heatsink

then assuming u have latest drivers for motherboard and gfx card maybe flash mothrboard BIOS

then finally try taking out all non essential cards like sound, tv card and seeing if it runs stably then

 

[DK]

SP2 does that any UT games dosen't work. Uninstall it.

 

[MeetYourMaker]

SP2 does that any UT games dosen't work. Uninstall it.

you what?

There was a notice posted from MS about the builtin firewall causig problems with online games in that you couldnt connect to a server thereby game doesnt work. Nothing in sp2 stops games from working

 

[DK]

you what?

There was a notice posted from MS about the builtin firewall causig problems with online games in that you couldnt connect to a server thereby game doesnt work. Nothing in sp2 stops games from working

There was a list at microsoft.com which i can't find now, that listed all the games/applications that did'nt work with SP2, the UT games were on that list.

 

[MeetYourMaker]

This link

Unfortunately most people looked at that and saw the "these games dont work bit" but didnt actually read it, its a list of games and programs that may require you to open ports in the builtin firewall, sp2 install the firewall and enables it to maximum security settings by default, most firewalls will ask you if you want a port opened but the default setting in XP doesnt do this. As you would expect from a firewall this can block incoming connections and in online games this would stop the game from connecting, it will not however stop the game from working

 

[Kaspar.Hauser]

thx both for fast reply

@ DK: i already checked that list, it said that UT internet games are blocked by the Firewall; that's why i temporarily disabled it, even though i had already allowed it to open connections, which indeed worked when i tried and it ran long enough.

@ MyM: i don't know 'psu' but ASUSprobe log tells me that the voltage is nearly linear the whole day; btw. i forgot to mention that during troubleshooting i noticed i used a 320 W power supply and already changed to a stronger Tagan TG 480-UO1 - didn't make any difference - and of course i flashed the MoBo Bios and updated the VIA & Nvidia drivers.

My new main suspect is the GeForce Board - do u know any monitoring and stress-testing proggy for the GF4?
After that I'll remove the additional cards (which worked well with ut2k4 before).

 

[MeetYourMaker]

dont know any programs that stress test only the gfx card unfortunately, maybe passmark or looping 3dmark test 01 is usually better for this on older cards

other alternative is to put an old gfx card in the machine and see if it stops freezing

 

[Protocol]

DK - I have sp2 installed and UT has no problems running what so ever

 

[DK]

Aw, sorry my mistake. I guess i should read better next time then.

 

[Kaspar.Hauser]

After some hours of looping 3dmark2k3 and various codecreatures benchmark runs i can't complain about my GF4; no probs at all.

I'll try swapping cards later today and tomorrow. Since I seem to be the only 1 in the web with this prob i really wonder which little dirty detail causes the effect. Bloody digital world!

Thx for hints m8s

 

[Shinon`]

This link

Unfortunately most people looked at that and saw the "these games dont work bit" but didnt actually read it, its a list of games and programs that may require you to open ports in the builtin firewall, sp2 install the firewall and enables it to maximum security settings by default, most firewalls will ask you if you want a port opened but the default setting in XP doesnt do this. As you would expect from a firewall this can block incoming connections and in online games this would stop the game from connecting, it will not however stop the game from working

UT2k4 isn't shown there.. and i have a none goty... will it work then?

[edit] can't test it so that's why i ask [/edit]