*CRASH* The memory could not be 'read' error, for HL2 and CS:S

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I am new to the forum, I've read the majority of the solutions on this thread. Bopught the collectors edition of the game.
Like everyone else I had the same memory problem.
I kept getting stuck at the teleporting section of the game.
With trying the following it actually never gave me error again.
I added this command in the commandline of the Halflife 2 shortcut icon :

-applaunch 220 -heapsize 384000 -zone 16000 -dxlevel 80

After this the game went without any crash.
I think this game has a problem with the current Direct X 9.0 for some reason.
With this line the game started up in 1024 x 768 instead of my regular 1280 x 1024. I put it back to 1280 x 1024 and uit worked for me. It did not fix the soundstutter though. This only happens after autosave and when loading a new level/section in the game.

This might seem like some posts earlier but I thought I'd give my thoughts about it. I hope that Valve comes with a patch soon.
I hope it will work for others here.
I'll keep checking back.
Good luck to you all.
 
i managed to finally get half life 2 to work, i deleted everything from valve and reinstalled half life 2 again. Updated my graphics drivers on board soundcard drivers. Now it works.
 
misterbelgic said:
what does the -zone 16000 command do??
Click to expand...

I have no clue actually. I've got that from an earlier post (can't remember what page exactly,somewhere between page 10-25). I just tried it with this and it worked. Sorry to hear it doesn't work for you guys. So it might not be the DirectX 9 then. :rolling: If I find anything out, I'll let you know
 
I have both posted and have been following the thread.

Nothing has worked for me thus far.

Futhermore, I have given up on the game and moved on. Playing in 10 minute incriments has only frustrated me more.

I am waiting for a patch or some kind of fix.

If I stumble across some kind of solution I will be sure to post.

Have fun gaming.....for those that are able to.
 
I to am now left with a product which has cost me £40 which is basically unplayable :(

Tried all the fixes patches etc etc I have managed to get to Klieners Lab but now the game crashes within 10 seconds with the memory error... guess I have to wait for VALVe to sort it and issue a patch.. its a real pity as all the game pre hype had me really looking forward to playing this game .. now however even once I do get to play it most of the pre buzz factor will be gone :( ah well... next time I will SERIOUSLY think before splashing out on another game from VALVe.

If I have any luck I'll be sure to post here good luck to all left waiting!
 
I read somewhere that a guy opened his pc ,
opened up the side of his PC case and put a big fan on it.

well ,i have this question to steam :

should i put my pc inside a fridge to make hl2 works without crashing at desktop and no memory message ?

comon send us a patch , we need the patch guys . :eek:
 
Hi Guys

I *seem* to have solved my problem. Was getting these 'memory could not be read' crashes after playing for about 2 minutes, every time just before the sand driving stage.

After reading this thread and tried most things it suggested, I tried moving my memory card to a different slot, as suggested in the steam forum. This seems to have solved the problem (for now!). No crashes so far. Hope this helps someone!

Edit: I will post this on the steam forum too as soon as they activate my account!
 
can some one post a link about how to update the bios or flash the bios ?

hopefully this will burn my pc and throw it out the window ,thanx
 
man am i getting more and more pissed off about this error... before the thanksgiving "patch", i was sometimes able to play for 30-45minutes before the memory error came up, now with the patch, i cant play the game for more than 2-3 minutes. i get the same error in cs: s and its pissing me off big time. why cant valve give us a update? or at least some news about their progress with the patch? well, i guess theres nothing more to do than wait.. AAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHH
 
Let me ask you this...

Hello everyone - another victim of this error here. I have reinstalled the software twice (which is why I have the time to yak on these forums - it takes quite some time to reload this!) When I first installed the game, it worked VERY well - never hung or crashed. After playing the game on one computer, I tried to bring my saved game files to another and load them. None of the installations have worked since then. Now, six hours and two reinstalls later confidence is high as I get to disk three. As long as I have time to rant, let me ask if anyone else has experienced the following problems...

The first several times I tried to install this, I opted not to install Counter Strike Source. The installation would get to disk four and then hang. It took a while (many hours of restarting the installation, but I'm a pro now :E ) to figure out that I had to install Counter Strike Source to get the entire installation to work. Lame. Anyone else see this?

The sound only works in the front two speakers and I have a 5.1 setup. Here's my system:

Pentium 4 @ 3.4 GHz w/ HT
Intel D925XCV motherboard (on-board 7.1 sound)
36GB SCSI HD @15k RPM
512 MB DDR2 RAM
nVidia Geforce 6800 GT
All the drivers have been updated as of yesterday.

The sound works fine in other games and I test it right before I load Half Life 2. Alas, no cool sound effects for me. Your thoughts? There isn't much my system doesn't handle well in the way of games, and my spider sense tells me HL2 needs a patch.
 
...this just in

After reading this rather extensive thread, I have discovered two things. One, it makes me feel better that I'm not the only person experiencing this. Thanks to those of you who have taken this to Steam/Valve in hopes of getting a fix. Now I played the game last night on one computer and it worked fine. This morning was spent getting it working all over again on another computer. Now it doesn't work on the original one. The only difference, and I think many of you are in the same boat, is that the Steam client has been updated. I didn't touch the original computer since I finished playing it last night (drivers, software, hardware, nothing). Why would this updated Steam choke the game? Who knows. Can we use an old version of Steam? Probably not because Steam, needing to be online to do its thing, will automatically update itself. Is something far more sinister afoot? Are we in for a bumpy ride as Steam/Valve throw patches at us? Probably. Is the Steam client in fact the problem? The real question is what I will do for the rest of the weekend that I set aside to play this game.
 
I would imagine this is valves highest priority bug.

So I reckon they will be working on it all next week and will possibly have a patch out next week aswell.
 
I used to get the "memory could not be read error 0x241f8977 reference mem @ 0x01b75c0" at start up. It would crash during the blury screen that said loading or at the main menu. I never got to play the game not even for a second. I have a p2.4 with an fx5800 video card and 1 gig of ram. Two days ago i took out 1 stick of ram (514 meg) out........ :) :) bingooo the game works with out a flaw. I had bought that extra ram stick 6 months ago, never put one and one together until 2 days ago...ever since i had that extra ram my internet explorer used to reboot randomly the computer about twice a week. Funny that i was able to play doom3 and farcry with that defect ram (was however getting the occasional crash..especially in far cry..)...Hope this helps someone :cool:
 
Donitsi said:
man am i getting more and more pissed off about this error... before the thanksgiving "patch", i was sometimes able to play for 30-45minutes before the memory error came up, now with the patch, i cant play the game for more than 2-3 minutes. i get the same error in cs: s and its pissing me off big time. why cant valve give us a update? or at least some news about their progress with the patch? well, i guess theres nothing more to do than wait.. AAAAAAAAAARRRRRGHHH
Click to expand...

Where is this patch that some ppl are talkin about? Are they talking about the steam validate HL2?
 
nvm.....that it was perhaps a dif patch

but they were referring to the stuttering sound...not mem error msg
 
Adabiviak said:
After reading this rather extensive thread, I have discovered two things. One, it makes me feel better that I'm not the only person experiencing this. Thanks to those of you who have taken this to Steam/Valve in hopes of getting a fix. Now I played the game last night on one computer and it worked fine. This morning was spent getting it working all over again on another computer. Now it doesn't work on the original one. The only difference, and I think many of you are in the same boat, is that the Steam client has been updated. I didn't touch the original computer since I finished playing it last night (drivers, software, hardware, nothing). Why would this updated Steam choke the game? Who knows. Can we use an old version of Steam? Probably not because Steam, needing to be online to do its thing, will automatically update itself. Is something far more sinister afoot? Are we in for a bumpy ride as Steam/Valve throw patches at us? Probably. Is the Steam client in fact the problem? The real question is what I will do for the rest of the weekend that I set aside to play this game.
Click to expand...

The same thing happened to me the first time I had fixed the memory problem.Since I first installed the game I had the error memory could not be read problem. So I tried a suggestion which said to move all of the Valve files into the bin which worked as I had played error free for almost 3hrs, no stuttering or anything else.Bty i had all high settings and 2x AA. But the next morning I tried playing and at first I got the stuttering every couple of seconds and then I got memory could not be read error. Now Im not an expert but I believe that Steam is the issue and the best hope for us is to wait for the patch.
 
Do we even know that another patch is coming? While the last patch helped with some people's stuttering problems it seems to have made the memory problem worse. At least in my case anyway.

I've emailed Valve asking about their progress but no reply.
 
initially when the "so called" patch came out i was amazed that I could actually play cs source. It didnt crash at all and the other players commented on how much better the game ran....then a couple of days later it went back to normal...crashing all the time!

Its one thing when it crashes back to desktop, but when it reboots your pc it kinda takes the p and doesnt do my comp any good at all!
 
hi all,

this's my first post so watch out! :p

regarding the mem error i only get it when entering the load screen. Starting a new game or loading and episode doesn't give any trouble.

I've managed to work around it by first entering the new game menu exit back to main, select window mode and finally load a savegame. Sometimes I have to switch to fullscreen and then back to window, but it's rare. it's really weird but this is the only way i'm able to play. :rolling:

Before I found this I tried all the fixes I found in the forum, like disabling sound, reducing sound accel., etc., but none worked.

As for the sound stutters i only got those in the 'buggy' part. Before and after the game's completely smooth.
Also, i've noticed that running the game (and any game for that matter) with firefox opened gives a lot more stutters...

Finally, for those of you that have a 'Memory turbo' mode in the BIOS, I suggest you disable it. I used to have it on until I realized that is caused a lot of BSODs in UT2004 and other games.

Anyway, I hope this helps. I've read almost all threads and didn't noticed this workaround.
Let's hope Valve sends a patch quickly so everyone can enjoy this terrific game!


Here's my specs:
GeForce 4 TI4400 (with 66.93 drivers)
Audigy 2 with latest patches
Asus P4PE (Bios 1007)
P4 2.4
1Gb Ram
 
lol Lame ;-)
now HL2 doesnt even start, before i could at least play it nicely without saves.

this is uncool...
-----
regarding the mem error i only get it when entering the load screen. Starting a new game or loading and episode doesn't give any trouble.
Click to expand...
ooh or maybe i'm like that
-----
hm CS runs fine
maybe my woes are at an end?
 
what i was trying to say was that entering the new game menu and starting from there, it works ok.
 
i had 512 memory ram ,i just upgraded to 768 memory ram ,and still no hl2 ,and now i gong to the store to get a videocard ati 9800 pro ,if the game does not stat after that , i will ask for a refund .
i ll keep you posted .
i tried memtest ,everything is working fine ,i can play CSS ,it s only hl2 that crash at start i don t get to the hl2 start menu and never seen it . :flame:
 
Has everyone who still has this problem tried moving their RAM to a different slot?

That's what instantly solved the problem for me, as I've said above.
 
Memory Read Problem

I have received the following explanation of the Memory read problem froom VUGAMES:

Thank you for contacting Vivendi Universal Games Technical Support.

I note that this system has an Intel 82865 Graphics Controller video card. This video card does not support Hardware T&L (Transform and Lighting) which is required for Halflife2

As you may have noticed that box also mentions that the game requires a 32 MB hardware Transformation and Lighting enabled video card. Please understand that Transformation and Lighting is a basic requirement to run the game

The system requirements mentioned in the box are the minimum that the game requires. Understandably, we cannot guarantee optimal performance with a card that doesn't support the minimum requirements for the game.

If you would like the game to run on your computer, you will need to upgrade your video card.
Please feel free to contact us if you need further assistance. You may access the technical support knowledge base at: http://support.vugames.com

Regards,

Karthik
Vivendi Universal Games Technical Support

No Where on the Box I Purchased did it mention that a 32MB card is required or even that the card had to support T&L.

This looks like a clear case of false and misleading advertising to me. Shall we take this to the Attorney General?
 
If you expected to play it on a POS PC like that then you where fooling yourself.

But if it dosent say on the box 32MB and up graphics card required(which i find doubtfull) Then contact whoever you want.

Actually wait, you can play the game but it's going to run like crap. SO you can't take it to anyone.
 
UnhappyOne said:
I have received the following explanation
I note that this system has an Intel 82865 Graphics Controller video card. This video card does not support Hardware T&L (Transform and Lighting) which is required for Halflife2

This looks like a clear case of false and misleading advertising to me. Shall we take this to the Attorney General?
Click to expand...

Okay so those of us who have a good PC (just bought mine in June) but standard video cards will NOT be able to play, WTF?

This isn't on the box. This is the same video card I have. I can't afford another one.

This is WAY out of line for them as a company, and no way to treat a customer.

Amy
 
^Ben said:
If you expected to play it on a POS PC like that then you where fooling yourself.

But if it dosent say on the box 32MB and up graphics card required(which i find doubtfull) Then contact whoever you want.

Actually wait, you can play the game but it's going to run like crap. SO you can't take it to anyone.
Click to expand...

I hate to say it but I have the same card- I can't afford to upgrade it right now. I just bought my computer in June its a nice fast machine used for video editing and home theater, intel P4 HT processor chip, 512 MB RAM, huge hard drive (can't check the size not at home)... a nice machine. Just cause the graphics may be a bit sub-standard than what *you* are used to doesn't make it a POS.

Amy
 
What is ur graphic's memory?

I have 256MB of Graphic memory, and it runs HL2, CS:S, with everything set to the highest as possible. It runs smooth.

Plz tell me what is ur graphic card memory, RAM is a different thing, its works directly with CPU and Harddrive. Graphic card works with Graphic memory then it goes through cpu then to RAM.
 
It's a sad fact that many pre-built PCs available in stores (certainly here in the UK) skimp very badly on certain components. The fastest processor available wouldn't help unless the graphics architecture is up to scratch. Unfortunately with an Intel graphics chip you are unlikely to be able to play modern 3D games (e.g. Doom 3/Halo 2/HL2). People really need to beware of large chain PCs, since the salesman there aren't always that reliable when you ask if it's a PC suitable for gaming.

I sympahise if the minimum requirements were unclear, but as previously stated even if it did run it would probably be unplayable.
 
You could have the fastest processor in the world, but belive me an intel intergrated is a piece of shit. It's not just substandard, its stone age.

Sadly graphics cards are 1 of the more expensive items on the list so most companies like dell etc skimp on them aswell as the quality of the ram.

Heres a tip for graphics cards: You don't have to get the most amazing graphics card avaiable. Most of the graphics cards available here (stay away from SE) would give you an enjoyable experience with games.

http://www.overclockers.co.uk/acatalog/9500_to_9600_Series.html

P.S. If you are doing serious video editing I would seriously look into getting 1GB of ram.
 
My Tuppence-worth

Hi,

I have been watching this thread with interest for a while now.

When I first purchased HL2, I played it all the way to about 1/2 way through water hazard, and it worked fine. Then came the crashing. more and more, to the point where I could barely load the game without it crashing.

Well, unbeknown to me, my PC had developed a hardware fault with its hard disks (both!), and in the course of finding this out, I got a new motherboard, PSU and hard disk.

But it is STILL crashing. Even changing from a VIA KT400-based board to an NForce2-based board, and swapping the old disk for a brand new Maxtor DiamondMAX plus 9 didn't make a squats worth of difference.
----------------------------
For reference, my specs are:
Athlon XP 2400+
PowerColor Radeon 9600 Pro (256MB) (WHI Drivers)
Gigabyte 7NF-RZ Nforce2 motherboard
1024MB Crucial PC2100 RAM
 
Whoa! Are you completely sure both HDs had failed? What timings are you running the RAM at (might be worth trying looser timings)? I had a friend who was struggling away with dodgy RAM chips for about a year (he had occasional lockups), until I finally persuaded him to replace his RAM. His problems have now gone :)
 
I was having crashes like crazy.

I under clocked my memory from 220 fsb 2-2-2-11 to 200 fsb at 2-2-2-11 and now i havent had a crash since

I would blame the blue screen reset crashes on your system memory (unstable) - crash to desktop should have been fixed with the patch, but im not sure

lets put it this way - at 220 fsb i passed memtest86 ALL NIGHT, but using RAM intensive Prime95 test i got errors after 14 minutes

so i safely clocked down to 200 fsb (400 ddr) and havent had a prob since... ill keep you posted
 
Glad to hear you are having possible success g911turbo. To anyone else having memory problems a Prime95 test is definitely worth doing - as it will highlight any instabiltity with your system RAM (which is more likely to be seen with an CPU intensive game like HL2).

With all this talk of changing timings/moving RAM chips around (or removing them) definitely implies that some people have general RAM instability issues. I'm not trying to say aren't possible bugs in HL2 however, which may cause the problem for some people.

What brand of memory do you have g911turbo?
 
g911turbo said:
I was having crashes like crazy.

I under clocked my memory from 220 fsb 2-2-2-11 to 200 fsb at 2-2-2-11 and now i havent had a crash since

I would blame the blue screen reset crashes on your system memory (unstable) - crash to desktop should have been fixed with the patch, but im not sure

lets put it this way - at 220 fsb i passed memtest86 ALL NIGHT, but using RAM intensive Prime95 test i got errors after 14 minutes

so i safely clocked down to 200 fsb (400 ddr) and havent had a prob since... ill keep you posted
Click to expand...

hey could someone tell me how to set up Prime95 to do a valid test, my ram settings are in the attatchment
and i have a p4 3.4 GHZ
and then maybe if anyone can tell me what setting they suggest i change my ram to in the bios that would be helpful :thumbs:
 
^Ben said:
If you expected to play it on a POS PC like that then you where fooling yourself.

But if it dosent say on the box 32MB and up graphics card required(which i find doubtfull) Then contact whoever you want.

Actually wait, you can play the game but it's going to run like crap. SO you can't take it to anyone.
Click to expand...

Man, are you a demeaning ass. You just seem to get off on insulting people.

The box states absolutely nothing about the video card needing 32MB of memory and any of these people can talk to anyone they want to about legal recourse. Your states Attorney General would be one place to start,
 
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