Check your CPU+MB+RAM!

[legacy-WARM3CH]

Hi,

I had this strange crashes in all modes of the game, yet with a very stable system outside UT2004. I could finally narrow down the problem to the memory module that I had recently installed.
How to check only CPU+MB+RAM?
Simple! Just download the prime95 client from http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm and run it. When you run it for the first time, select the "Just stress testing" and then in the menu, in options select the torture test and select the "Blend" test and run it for at least one hour.
If you have any problem with your RAM timinig, CPU or MB over heating or anything else, this test will give you an Error! This can happen even if all normal programs seem to run perfectly. In my case, I could run almost anything with no problem and thought that the crashes in UT2004 was either a driver probelm or a bug in the program. But my computer didn't pass the prime95 test and finally I found out one of my RAM modules was not that good. Replaced it with a good RAM (Kingston HyperX) and all problems magically were solved!

[legacy-MSNY]

Simple! Just download and run the prim95 client from http://www.mersenne.org/freesoft.htm and run it

Very good advice, as this rules things out and will point you towards a more stable system. I've built many new systems over the years and this is the FIRST thing I do even before installing an OS.

[legacy-Mahnkiman]

You can also run Memtest86 to narrow down memory issues.

[legacy-haydes]

My CPU+MB+RAM has all tested OK but UT2004 still crashes randomly. It could be that Atari needs to release a patch to correct this issue.

haydes

AMD Athlon 1600
Soyo Dragon Lite MB
1 gig pc 333 DDR Memory
GeForce 4 Ti 4200 128 MB DDR
80 GB Western Digital ATA 133
Gentoo Linux running Kernel 2.6.4

[legacy-WARM3CH]

You can also run Memtest86 to narrow down memory issues.

Memtest86 is indeed a very valid and usefull test; however, prime95 is a different test. There are two issues at hand: first, testing if every single bit of RAM is correct and the scecond one is to STRESS the RAM, memory bus, cooling system to see if they would FAIL under a very intensive load.
It is possible to have a system that passes the memtest but fails in prime95. If your system does not pass memtest, your RAM module is bad: it has some hardware problem that CAN NOT be fixed. However, your system may pass memtest but fail under high CPU/Memory access loads because it gets heated, noise level on the memory bus is too high, DRAM timing is too aggressive... These type of problems (that memtest does not check) are not strictly the same physical problems and sometimes you can fix them by using a better cooling soloution, better DRAM timing settings....
Most RAM modules are already tested and chances that your system successfully passes the memtest is very high (and if it fails it is a real bad news: your RAM module is useless no matter what you try with it) but not all stable, functioning systems can pass a 24 hours prime95 test. Your system maybe good for normal usage (browsing, word processing....) and you never have a problem but under very intensive and demanding loads, like number-crunching programs and SOME types of games, it may fail.
In my case, the system would run any program with no problem: photoshop, word, many different games, web browsing, ... but it failed in UT2004. It passed memtest86 but failed in prime95. The conclusion was while there is no broken parts in the system, yet it is not suitable for high load in extended periods of time and to solve it, I had to use a different RAM module. The old RAM is now used in a different system with a slower CPU and is doing just fine.

[legacy-DarkWolverine]

got a question , may b a stupid one , dunno.

but can this program hurt ur pc in any sorta way?? i mean coz i have a AMD athlon, so can it overheat it or burn it or wateva? coz dunno if my pc shuts down or the program shuts down when u reach a critical temp.


hope ya understand my question and hopefully the answer also

just wanna make sure that all.

[legacy-Mahnkiman]

Potentially, it can, but you should have sufficient cooling to being with. Just shut it off if it's getting too hot for your own comfort.

[legacy-wade627]

Just watch the temps everybody uses Motherboard Monitor 5 to check temps while under load.I have a little Temp. progarm that came with my Motherboard,i use both.And dont run above like 55c under load most people keep it under that.I was afraid at first to run those programs like Sisoft Sandra burn in and Prime but you need to know if you have a weak componant.

[legacy-ether.real]

I used memtest and prime95 and my system passed with flying colors, however my system sometimes would crash UT2K4 within 5 minutes. Decided to totally wimp out my memory timings (8,3,3,3) on my a7n8x-deluxe motherboard, and i played for several hours without a hitch. I was running my DDR400 memory at 333 with my timings at 6,3,3,2 with a complete stable system and ran memtest for a full hour with no errors, but still UT would crash.

[legacy-DJMattB2421]

How long should you let Prime95 run for?

its been an hour, still doing tests... will it run infinately until stopped?

Currently on:

Test 2: 460000 Lucas-Lehmer iterations of M245759 using 12K FFT length.

[legacy-WARM3CH]

How long should you let Prime95 run for?

The recommendation is 6~24 hours for absolute stability test but for your purposes (running games) 1~2 hours should be enough. You can stop it after that and be sure at least your CPU cooling, DRAM settings, MotherBoard are stable and if you have a problem with your game, you should either check the drivers or other software settings.

[legacy-DJMattB2421]

lol maybe i should go ahead and upgrade from my P4 1.6Ghz, and PC133 RAM, eh?


although my radeon 9800 Pro 128Mb is helping.

[legacy-Zek]

ran it for 12 hours and no errors and no warnings. CPU is cool and computer is stable as a horsey. :up:

[legacy-vic7imizer]

Originally posted by haydes
My CPU+MB+RAM has all tested OK but UT2004 still crashes randomly. It could be that Atari needs to release a patch to correct this issue.

. . .

Gentoo Linux running Kernel 2.6.4

The crashes are being addressed. You can already get experimental binaries that are much more stable. See this thread for details.

http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums...hreadid=357447

[legacy-Resurrecter]

Amazing. A ton of people, myself included having tons of problems...terrible frame rates, install problems, general protection faults etc. etc. etc. and the mods choose to sticky a thread blaming your system. In all this not once have I seen Epic nor Atari publicly anounce a patch to fix and address these issues.

[legacy-Envy-]

[Thu Apr 08 23:48:24 2004]
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.
FATAL ERROR: Rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4
Hardware failure detected, consult stress.txt file.

i tried it twice and both times it stopped immediately. i have a gig of pc3200 and i know it has some errors in it, but what is the ideal efficiency of ram (other then 100% lol, what should be ok for ram). i used sisoftwares program and got a ~90% eff. ut2k4 and ut both crash on my.

[legacy-dcom67]

I finally tried out the prime95 blended test today and got exactly that in no time at all. Course this was after i had tweaked , prodded,probbed everything in sight for the last two weeks. Mine would just crash when ever it felt like it, while playing , other wise it worked fine .

Well i fooled with some of the memory settings and got it to pass the prime95 test for about an hour , ten mins into UT it crashed.
Still keeping the memory problem in mind , I looked at corsairs site (my memory is corsair) for some clues. And after rereading my mobos manual again . i tried raisng the memory voltages , no fix. Then it finally dawned on me I`m using Pc3200 ram and it says its running at 400mhz but the board only officially supports 333mhz tops. went into bios and dropped the memory speed down to 333mhz and it runs Ut like a charm now woot :up:

amd fx 51
asus sk8n ,1007 bios ,original mobo Nforce drivers
1 GB Corsair dual channel registered
ATI 9800Xt ,4.4 cats
audigy 2 zs plat
winxp

[legacy-Envy-]

how can i find out what speed my ram is running at? my mobo supports up to 400 i believe (asus a7n8x-x) and i have pc3200, but for some reason i think its running slower.

[legacy-Mahnkiman]

Originally posted by Envy-
how can i find out what speed my ram is running at? my mobo supports up to 400 i believe (asus a7n8x-x) and i have pc3200, but for some reason i think its running slower.

Go into your BIOS and see what your bus speed is set to. It should be set to whatever the rated bus speed for your processor is, so double check that. If you find that your processor's rated bus speed is lower than 200 MHz, you won't get the rated speed from your memory unless you overclock your CPU by cranking up the FSB of your motherboard.

[legacy-duvy]

UT2004 Build UT2004_Build_[2004-03-03_02.42]

OS: Windows XP 5.1 (Build: 2600)
CPU: GenuineIntel Unknown processor @ 2408 MHz with 511MB RAM
Video: NVIDIA GeForce4 Ti 4200 with AGP8X (5656)

General protection fault!

History: UObject::UnhashObject <- UObject::~UObject <- DeleteObject <- (54765) <- DeleteGarbage <- (sg_Mech_ruggedframe2) <- UObject::PurgeGarbage <- UObject::CollectGarbage <- Cleanup <- UGameEngine::LoadMap <- LocalMapURL <- UGameEngine::Browse <- ClientTravel <- UGameEngine::Tick <- Level Convoy <- UpdateWorld <- MainLoop?????????????????????????????????PLEASE HELP

[legacy-ether.real]

Originally posted by Mahnkiman
Go into your BIOS and see what your bus speed is set to. It should be set to whatever the rated bus speed for your processor is, so double check that. If you find that your processor's rated bus speed is lower than 200 MHz, you won't get the rated speed from your memory unless you overclock your CPU by cranking up the FSB of your motherboard.

This information is incorrect for the A7N8X. You can clock your RAM's FSB independently of the CPU, however for the nForce2 chipset, the performance is best when the FSB is the same for both. So, if you are running a CPU with a 333 FSB, and you have DDR400 RAM, you will actually get better performance running your RAM at 333. In the Bios you need to go to Advcanced Chipset Features, and make sure CPURAM is set to 1:1. One advantage of running DDR400 at 333 is you can O/C the memory timings very easily. For example, at 400, my timings are 8,3,3,3 but at 333 i can run them at 6,3,3,2 nop problem. (except in UT)

[nfleming]

Originally posted by Resurrecter
Amazing. A ton of people, myself included having tons of problems...terrible frame rates, install problems, general protection faults etc. etc. etc. and the mods choose to sticky a thread blaming your system. In all this not once have I seen Epic nor Atari publicly anounce a patch to fix and address these issues.

From the threads I have read, and the people I have helped with issues, it usually boils down to a machine issue. This thread suggests a good starting point. Atari/Epic can't fix someones hardware/stability issue. As far as patches, I would expect that bugs found in the game would be patched in a 'reasonable' time. The install issues, yep that's a bummer. I seem to remember they pointed people to the company that 'provided' the copy protection, sorry don't remember the company:bulb:

Also peeps, turning off preload skins helps load times.
Defragging helps a heep for some as well.
Settings wise turning off Decals seemed to have an impact in Assault-Glacier.

[legacy-r473n]

I have ran the tests and....

My system is fine, I let Memtest86 run 10 passes on my system with no errors.

I let Prime95 run for 14 hours with no problems. My P4 2Ghz CPU runs at a consistent 35 deg C.

but the game still GPF's, as stated elsewhere on these forum's memory is not the only issue with this game. There are other issues.

[legacy-wade627]

Have you seen this link how to optimize for UT2k4?
http://www.tweakguides.com/UT2004_1.html

[legacy-killerbee83]

Hello People,

I had serious Problems with my A7N8X-X from Asus. Due to things on this Forum i've solved my problems but here for people with the same problems.

5 Days ago ive bought this mainbord and it hangs itself or resets. This problem was partly solved by setting my memory clock the same as my CPU clock in my case i have a AMD3000+ so i set my memory to 333Mhz. And manually set my cas latency to 3 (my memory default). (8-3-3-3)

But running UT2004 IT WOULD STILL HANG :S. Ive found out about the proggy PRIME95. And there came out: ERROR. (sometimes within seconds)

So I removed my gigabyte of Infinion Memory bought Kingston Chippies. And now my memory test came out possitive. Whee

Thanks Kingston

UT RULES

[legacy-mdhutson]

This is a good thread but sometimes there is no perfect solution.
I was going to run the prime95 program but figured I would start with MemTest86 first. Every time I get to test 8 with memtest I get loads of failed addresses. After a bunch of research, I found that Athlons are known to show problems sometimes in tests 5 and 8 and this is due to running the RAM at higher than normal speeds. Dont ask me how since the RAM is DDR333 and is running on a 333 setting. Now if I change it to 266 I dont get the errors, but my POS FIC motherboard wont let me run the RAM at 266 without running the FSB at 266 as well. This totally blows as I have no desire to see my 2800+ turned into a 2200+.

Grr @ FIC motherboards

guess I might try the thing about RAS CAS and such being set one notch higher than normal.

[legacy-alizerothree]

Memtest didn't work good for me. Sometimes it just doesn't show the bad memory module. I finally found out I have a bad RAM stick with Prime95. Very awesome Program. You can see my huge massive post and experience here

http://www.ataricommunity.com/forums...hreadid=371326

I took a stick of ram out, rebooted and ran prime. It passed memtest but failed prime within 50 seconds. I swapped sticks and passed memtest and passed prime for over 7 hours!! I ran unreal and did not get 1 crash yet! I have sent back my bad ram stick to newegg.

Conslusion, Prime95 is the best for checking.

[legacy-cadaverescu]

so.. i have played ut
i got erors
1) my sistem used to take a few brakes now and then for like 30-60 seconds
2) i even got the blue screen in win xp!
so i tried to see what the problem is, i reduced the quality, i played more stiles, i tried everythhing, including changing my directx to 9.0 and my nvidia detonator. nothing works because the guys from atary did a bad job and there are some erors inside the game. the blue screen i got because of overloading the video board with some grafic errors or something. the freeze time is also because of some erors, but those could be corrected without crashing my sistem.

that is expected out of a game that size to have a few bugs but i am positive that it is not a hardware problem. at this sistem i do not have hardware problems, and i never run out of ram unless it is an error. What i don`t understand is why those guys are not fixing it.

[legacy-JabbitBoo]

Damn after a month of gaming i never had a problem with UT2004. But since last week the problems started, i didn't change anything on my pc, didn't install new programs what so ever. But since a week i can play for about 15 to 20 minutes and then , kaboom

General Protection Fault :cry: :bulb:

and my system boots, i've tried new drivers old drivers even a new installation of windows XP but still no result.

last but not least i tried something i've read somewhere else on this forum. My soundblaster.
I have a Audigy Live and never had any troubles with any game but people where saying that it good B the problem, so to test this i pulled out my audigy put on my onboard soundcard (wich sounds pretty nice, never knew this ) And YESSSSSSS i can play again . i've played for about 4 hours straight with no problems at all. I also had the game running all day long for about 6 hours after that. Notthing !!!, so i hope there will b a fix soon for the audigy card, this can be from Atari or creative i don't care but i want to use my Audigy.

_______________
My specs

P4t533
Pentium 2,53 Ghz
512 Rimm 4200 Samsung memory
Ati Radeon 9700 Pro
2 x 120 maxtor in a raid
1 x 80 maxtor
Audigy Live

[legacy-wade627]

I did a "Install in Place" of my 98se and didnt lose any settings or preferences this is the easiest way.My Ut wouldnt even copy the files to install untl i did this.I did notice changing from 3 D sound to 3d+ Eax i got this high pitch screatch that hurt my ears if volume is up but it seems to still work.Doesnt seem right to get that awful sound and i have the Audgy gamer sound card hmm.
But only when i first turn on this option and you dont hear it in game.

[legacy-Mac182]

Was getting GPF errors, 5 to 30 mins into a game.

Took off case side panel, and removed heatsink fan from cpu (was covered in grey fluff) and hoovered out me pc .

Errors are gone, never had one since.

2 weeks ago bought a new thermaltake case with 7 case fans . Runs sweet, case temp 25 Degrees, CPU temp 39/40 (underload).

I will leave the moral of the stroy up to u guys

Rough specs were:
2400XP
512 DDR 2700
MSI K7N2
9800 NP
SB LIVE 5.1! (oem)

[legacy-Dagreth]

I would like to also say that prime 95 is a nice program for checking your memory and cpu. I had problems off and on with ut 2004, and I was trying everything under the sun to fix it. Some days I would run just great, and others I would keep crashing and computer going into forced reboot. I finally found the problem and it is often overlooked. My problem ended up being my power supply not supplying anough voltage to my motherboard/cpu. The problem would only surface during unreal at first, I blamed the video card, memory, the mother board, epic, I was at my wits end. Its ironic when you buy the best video card you can afford, and pleanty of memory, a good cpu, and good cooling to boot, you overlook the power supply. And be careful when you buy a power supply, that you buy from a reputable company. There is a lot of snake oil companies out there, and just because it says 400 watts, it dosen't mean you are getting that. I did some research and decided on antec, but also seen good reviews on emerax and thermaltake. My system is rock solid now. Ut never crashes, and maybe its in my head but seems to play better. If you are having problems, and have a no name power supply, I strongly suggest you try getting a better one. What do you have to lose, and if ut still dosn't play right, you at least have quality power supply, I read on some posts, I believe it was in aantech, that poor supplies were the number one culprit in memory sticks going bad. Hope this helps some of the people out there having problems, I know how fustrating it can be.

[legacy-VirusPhoenix]

Hi all

------------------------
pc
265 mb ram > it wil be 512mbram around the week of the 26-4-04
videocard:GeForce fx 5200
2.8Ghz pentium 4
I don't know wath my ddr is and where you can see it
------------------------

Problem's.
>if I Join a game i always have a kind of a start lag how do i fix that ?
>is my videocard strong enough to set all the graphic's on hig ?
>and what is your loading time for a map like ONS AND TMD ?


Hans.boeren@pandora.be

Thx

[legacy-spacebox]

Hi all,

here some additional/general hints for troubleshooting:

I have been working as admin for several years now. From my experience@work I can tell that most crashes are caused by bad drivers. Good (=stable AND fast) driver development is a very expensive task!
I already had some rock solid beta BIOSes and drivers and some very buggy 'stable' releases. But even 'bad' drivers can be solid enough if tuned (not tweaked!) correctly - read forums and try it yourself. The latest release isn't always the best one... take a close look at the fixlist!
My UT2003 never crashed until one patch, but the problem was a mixup with the asus/nvidia driver... READ THE README, follow the instructions, uninstall old drivers, reboot (even if not required!), then install the new driver, test it a few days before applying other patches/upgrades. This sounds like a sissy, but this really is a time saver if a driver has a bug! Hidden bugs are a pain in the a..

The 2nd most reason for probs is a misconfiguration of the system esp. power supply: eg. your 400W power supp provides most of its power on the 5/12V track but the MoBo consumes most power on the 3.3V track... (read manuf specs, stress tests!)
A few years ago we had prepared a setup for presentations at the CeBIT: enclosed in a tight box w/o air flow, 3*Voodoo3 (multi-monitoring), 1 GB, SCSI HDD, can't remember CPU but powered by 200W(!) running rock solid 24/24 for 5 days. People said you'd need at least 300W and good cooling for a Voodoo3... just pick the right componets!

I also had an AMD system which resetted from time to time whenever the case was closed. I changed RAM, HDD, VGA, BIOS, drivers, reinstalled Windows, cooling... but I couldn't get it stable until I loosened/retighted the screws of the MoBo. Voila! There were some tensions on the case/MoBo when I closed the cheap (flexy) case... Yes, that's true, even a solid case can improve your system!

My last year's private config gave me a bad headache, too: Intel D875PBZ, P4 2.8, 2*Kingston HyperX KHX3200A/512, ASUS V8420 Deluxe, Enermax 365, Thermaltake Xaser II, Win XP+SP1/Patches (only retail parts, no bulk). Rock solid on Windows/Office and all apps, but never completed 3Dmark 2001 and crashed on UT2003 after 20-90 mins.
Driver probs?No. Cooling? No. Power? No. RAM? Yes/No:
I tried other brands (Samsung, Infineon, Corsair), in Single/Dual Channel mode but only officially approved RAMs worked fine in Dual Channel mode. All other modules only worked in Single Channel mode. After many (many!) tests I found out that the Intel MoBo was faulty. Proving that the board has a problem, not my RAM was a tough task but in the end I got a new one:-)
Now I'm running on 2*512MB Kingston ECC RAM, just to be sure.

So 1st of all check the Windows HCL, MoBo/RAM manuf specs and related forums before buying new hardware (or next time you do upgrades)!

If you did your best with the hw/os/sw config and the problem still remains then it's a bug in the app. The software developers can't test all possible configs, but look out for patches an mail them your bug report if possible.
They probably won't answer your specific mail, but it could help to make a patch. They will provide help if spammed with bug reports from their own software! Even if it's a driver/config problem.

Sorry for making you read all this,

hth

spaceBox

[legacy-ving]

do you get the feeling that none of us should really have to go to all this trouble just to run a game?

[legacy-WARM3CH]

do you get the feeling that none of us should really have to go to all this trouble just to run a game?

You cant blame the game if your machine has a problem. What memtest or prime95 shows is a problem in your machine and both has been present long before UT2004 was ever written. If your machine fails in prime95 like tests it only means that ANY program that needs a high load on CPU and Memory subsystem would fail, including many CAD applications, engineering and simulation programs AND demanding games. So this bascially has nothing to do with UT2004.
Isn't it the first and most logical requirement of a state of the art game to ask you for stable hardware?

[legacy-wade627]

Yea both of those though dont stress your vid card only ram/cpu.Im thinking as to reading one of the threads that since mine will crash after 2 or 3 hours it could be heat or power supply.I have an old drive that i hooked up for backup and thinking if i unistall it it will free up watts for my power supply which is not a well known brand.Get a good brand like Antec to make sure the volt lines are getting what they need.
Oh yea if you have a descent ps its suppose to cut off if over voltage or short of voltage as not to fry your componants which is what i get after a few hours of play

[legacy-hav-x]

Hi, I read your thread & I have a problem with Unreal engine crashing ut2k4 & splinter cell crash after a really stressed 32 bots test and benchmark.

I checked my ram on memtest86 for 24 hours no error. Now I’m checking it with that prim95 prog.
It used to freeze due to some DDR voltage/AGP Voltage but I fixed that. Now I only get Unreal Engine crashes. Other games and benchmarks don’t.


system specs:
Amd A64 3200
Abit KV8-MAX3 v1.1
2X Corsair 512MB CMX3200-C2PL
XFX Geforce FX 5700 256MB
2x WD SATA raptors 74gb
psu 480w Thermaltake butterfly

I get the crash messages bellow:

UT2004 Build UT2004_Patch_[2004-05-10_17.18]

OS: Windows XP 5.1 (Build: 2600)
CPU: AuthenticAMD Unknown processor @ 2007 MHz with 1023MB RAM
Video: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 (5672)

General protection fault!

History: AActor::ProcessState <- Object xEmitter CTF-Face3.xEmitter88, Old State None, New State None <- AActor::Tick <- AxEmitter::Tick <- TickAllActors <- ULevel::Tick <- (NetMode=0) <- TickLevel <- UGameEngine::Tick <- Level Facing Worlds 3 <- UpdateWorld <- MainLoop <- FMallocWindows::Free <- FMallocWindows::Realloc <- 676F4C57 0 FArray <- FArray::Realloc <- 0*2 <- FMallocWindows::Free



UT2004 Build UT2004_Patch_[2004-05-10_17.18]

OS: Windows XP 5.1 (Build: 2600)
CPU: AuthenticAMD Unknown processor @ 2007 MHz with 1023MB RAM
Video: NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 (5672)

General protection fault!

History: APawn:roces****Wall <- APawn:hysFalling <- APawn:erformPhysics <- AActor::Tick <- TickAllActors <- ULevel::Tick <- (NetMode=0) <- TickLevel <- UGameEngine::Tick <- Level Facing Worlds 3 <- UpdateWorld <- MainLoop <- FMallocWindows::Free <- FMallocWindows::Realloc <- 676F4C57 0 FArray <- FArray::Realloc <- 0*2 <- FMallocWindows::Free

Are those crashes related to the engine not reading the CPU clock correctly? it reads 2007MHZ while its 2004 on cpuid.

thank you

[legacy-C.Caveman]

Seriously! This has been a point of major frustration for me...

I can run Prime95 for 8 hours straight without error (I just want to use my computer at some point).

I can run other games and benchmarks fine.

WHY CANT UT2K4 RUN FOR MORE THAN 10-15 min before crashing!?

This is my question, and I have failed to find the answer here, or elseware...

This is why I blame EPIC@!

If anyone could shed some light on this, I would MUCH appreciate it.

-Caveman

[legacy-Herr PuffNStuff]

What is your definition of "Crash".
While playing UT2004, My computer (randomly) just shuts off and reboots with no warning.

My whole system is very stable. I have a VERY high-end system.
All background services are stopped.
Any suggestions?

Thanks.
Me