HL2 dies (and CS:S)

Doorman · August 10, 2005, 08:37:59 AM

I've done everything I can think of but still HL2 comes to a grinding halt with a blue screen accompanied by a looping 'tick' noise, or a phantom restart of the pc. This is what I've tried so far.
1: Completely uninstalled Steam and all who sail in her.
2: Reinstalled Steam, HL2 and CS:S
3: Checked the memory (shows as OK) 2ghz of Crucial PC3200 DDR
4: Updated the BIOS
5: Updated soundcard drivers
6: Tried several ATI drivers, 5.5, 5.6, 5.7.
7: Tried running the game(s) with various programmes NOT running, i.e. Messenger, Wingman profiler, TrackIR.
8: Screamed at it.
9: Thrown ALL my toys out of my pram.
10: Trawled the Valve forums.
I get no trouble with any other game. Why me? I'm not really a bad person. I know I can be a bit grumpy sometimes, but hey!

Copiuos amounts of beer to anyone that can solve this doozie

Armitage · August 10, 2005, 08:54:07 AM

do you get problems with what ever res and graphics setting you use

Anonymous · August 10, 2005, 09:04:08 AM

Did these crashes start after you added the new soundcard or before?

Might be worth pulling the card or trying it in another slot?

Doorman · August 10, 2005, 09:10:48 AM

Arm: Resolutions have been tried on default 1024x768 and all stations through to 1600x1200. Same results.
BB: Could be worth a try. Had to get a card to resolve BF2 voicecomms problem. So it's a possibility. I'll give it a go this afternoon.

DuVeL · August 10, 2005, 09:53:10 AM

Weird thing is...I used to get a blue screen of death alot when starting it aswell but after a while...it just left.
No idea what ever happend but it was just gone after a few times :dummy: .

Rabbi Bob · August 10, 2005, 10:44:56 PM

I cannot explain this, and I usually can: Last week I fired up BF2 demo again, played, exited, started playing Steam games and about 5 minutes into it the PC would loop on a sound and lock.

Uninstalled/Reinstalled ATI drivers, nothing worked.

Installed the Omega drivers for ATI and I've been playing with no issue since.

Doorman · August 10, 2005, 11:41:05 PM

I been having a right ole game! Changed sound card slot to no effect except it didn't want to be moved! Too bored to describe the shennanigans. Long and short of it is: Logitech x1000 mouse stopped squeeking, replaced with good ole Intellimouse Explorer 3. Played HL2 for 20 minutes before a pc reboot and played an hour of CS:S with no troubles! :blink: Sorry Gordon, you'll have to carry on without me. I shall endeavour to play Source off 'n' on, but it's BF2 and LFS for me. Life's too short.

EDIT: Crappy spelling

Rabbi Bob · August 11, 2005, 11:17:02 AM

How are your system temperatures doing?

Doorman · August 11, 2005, 01:01:45 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by Rabbi Bob@Aug 11 2005, 11:17 AM
How are your system temperatures doing?
[post=91335]Quoted post[/post]
[/b]

Graphics card runs at 46-7ish
CPU @......well I'm not sure but the BIOS alarm is set at 64 but I've never heard it go off.

Rabbi Bob · August 12, 2005, 11:10:34 AM

It was a wild guess, I had been remiss since we moved into the new house about blowing out the inside and it started rebooting/locking when the warm weather started. Ended up having a build up of dust throughout the CPU cooling system.

Hope whatever it is works itself out

Doorman · August 12, 2005, 05:31:43 PM

It seems that CS:S is now behaving itself. Nothing I've done I'm sure. I a bit wary of firing up HL2 though. Perhaps I will when I feel a little braver.

Anonymous · August 12, 2005, 05:37:52 PM

QuoteOriginally posted by Doorman@Aug 12 2005, 04:31 PM
It seems that CS:S is now behaving itself. Nothing I've done I'm sure. I a bit wary of firing up HL2 though. Perhaps I will when I feel a little braver.
[post=91521]Quoted post[/post]
[/b]

Possibly removing and reseating the sound card has fixed things. One of the great rules of fixing hardware problems is to remove everything from the case and then put it all back where it came from carefully. usually works wonders