Computer crashing/ hanging at bootup

C

computermaineack

New Member
I recently got the...urge...to play Rise of Nations, so I installed it (I hadn't moved it over from my old computer yet), and started playing. Just about every game I played, anywhere from five to 45 minutes into the game, the game would lock up and I would get a message "Gathering Exception Data." That window would go away in about 45 seconds, then RoN would go "Not Responding", and I'd close RoN through the task manager. However, even though it wasn't running (in the applications list or in the processes list), my primary monitor (the one which I use to play RoN) would still only show the screen of RoN, when it froze. However, the computer would think it wasn't there, because I could still click on icons, etc, even though I couldn't see them. The only way I was able to use my computer was to open task manager, and move it over to my secondary monitor (using a shortcut I have setup through UltraMon), then open programs through "Run." I read over Microsoft's guide for this, and so I reinstalled RoN, and updated my video driver...this seems to have made things worse. When I restarted my computer after updating the driver, my monitors had been reset..my secondary monitor was my primary, and vice versa...no problem, I fixed that. RoN works better now, it doesn't freeze every game, but sometimes it just randomly closes...doesn't lock up, doesn't say anything, it just closes. Also, during one of my games, I got a BSOD:


Also, today, I got home from school, and turned on my computer to find another BSOD. I'm not sure why I got this one...I know the computer was still on at about 7am, so it must have happened during the day, when there is nothing using the computer (besides F@H):


In addition, the computer will not boot normally. If I try to restart or boot it up, it hangs on the WinXP loading screen, the scrolling bar. The only way I can get it to boot is to restart while it is loading, and then press "Use Last Known Good Configuration." When it restarts using that setting, it goes back to my secondary monitor set as my primary, etc.

Note: the pics are BIG, so they might take a minute to load
 
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What are you using for sound there? onboard or expansion? Also look at what else is running in the background like antivirus, firewall, MS auto updates, or anything else that comes up on a schedule. Sound drivers themselves are noted for seeing game crashes more frequently. Those like to hang and force you to use the last known option when booting.
 
Thanks for the reply, PC eye.

I'm using onboard sound, I'll try updating those drivers. I'm also going to try updating the video drivers again, maybe something went wrong while it was installing the first time.

There are no processes running that haven't been for a while (nothing new installed recently), so I'm pretty sure that that's not a problem.

I ran a virus scan a few days ago, it came up with some stuff, but didn't fix the problem.
 
Just updated my sound and video drivers, and it seems to have fixed the problem. It booted up fine, and the monitors were correct. When I logged in, I got the "Windows has Recovered from a Serios Error". I sent the error report, and it confirmed that a driver problem:
You received this message because a device driver installed on your computer caused the Windows operating system to stop unexpectedly. This type of error is referred to as a "stop error." A stop error requires you to restart your computer.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your help, PC eye.
 
I've run smack into this problem a number of times where either sound or videos drivers have to be redone. With games it's often sound. With video cards like the older Radeon models the latest catalysts will cause problems too since they are written for the newer and latest models. The 9xxx series cards run best upto the 5.14 version for gaming and upto 6.5 for 9550 and newer for average.
 
Well, today I was running Flight Simulator X, and bam, another BSOD. I'm not sure if it is related to the same issue, but the BSOD quoted a driver issue. When I restarted, I did not get the "Windows has Recovered From a Fatal Error", so there's no diagnosis from Microsoft (not that I value their opinion much, anyway :P):
 
The "nv4_dspl.dll" error is a problem with a video driver there. The first image you posted also suggests something tagging a system file there as well. The most bios setting that is seen on the recommended disabled list is write combining. You can try disabling that there and in the game and display settings to see if that helps. The "ntfs.sys" seen in the first screen you posted there suggests possible damage to the system file itself or some registry value needed for it was removed maybe with a recent software change.
 
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