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

[michaelsil1]

hi all
yep this problem is realy ****ing me off aswell i love mapping in hammer just wish i could do it without the memory prob well here is wot im doing for he time being.

like steam forums it defo helps if u close the sdk/playgames launcher windows once u got hammer up and running wot i am doing at moment is when hammer is up on screen i get windows task maniger up and wak it onto performance that way i can kep an eye on memery wow u should see it shoot on up and up and up . in fact if you start w.t.m b4 hammer u can watch all yer ram going into it,ha ha ha
no seriously if u get w.t.m up u have a warning system so u can save map and close hammer b4 it crashes,just start it up again and load your map again and u are ready to go again btw while monitering the ram it went from 320 to 470-490 and stayed there the whole time put as soon as i started adding textures to things it krept up and up so is to do with textures as memery didn,t realy move when doing the building of the map
hope this is handy for all as it is for me lets hope valve sort this out soon as its not good

How much Page File space have you allocated?

 

[PCBuster]

Problem solved!

I had this problem for a long time. the game crashing\frezzing every few minutes.

I've changed my DDR latency from 2-2-2-5 back to the defult of 2.5-4-4-8.

I've played the game for the last 5 hours without a crash\freeze.

I hope that will be help for someone.

Rig:

AMD Athlon64 FX-53
Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939
PQI Turbo Memory 512MB x2
Powercolor Radeon X800XT PE
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum pro
Western Digital Raptor 36 x2 on RAID 0
Windows XP Home SP2
Catalyst 4.12

 

[michaelsil1]

I had this problem for a long time. the game crashing\frezzing every few minutes.

I've changed my DDR latency from 2-2-2-5 back to the defult of 2.5-4-4-8.

I've played the game for the last 5 hours without a crash\freeze.

I hope that will be help for someone.

Rig:

AMD Athlon64 FX-53
Gigabyte K8NSNXP-939
PQI Turbo Memory 512MB x2
Powercolor Radeon X800XT PE
Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum pro
Western Digital Raptor 36 x2 on RAID 0
Windows XP Home SP2
Catalyst 4.12

You really pushed those Memory Timings I'm surprised you didn't have problems before playing hl2. That says a lot for the AMD 64bit platform. By the way nice system! :cheers:

 

[PCBuster]

My DDR can handle those timing

You really pushed those Memory Timings I'm surprised you didn't have problems before playing hl2

those timing is recomended by the manufacturer. I've never had any problem with anything befor HL2. it's definitely a softwere bug.

and thanx :thumbs: i worked hard to built that machine :bounce:

 

[michaelsil1]

those timing is recomended by the manufacturer. I've never had any problem with anything befor HL2. it's definitely a softwere bug.

and thanx :thumbs: i worked hard to built that machine :bounce:

I was talking about 2,2,2,5 instead of the Default 2.5-4-4-8.

 

[janii]

13 minutes

13 minutes, thats how long i was able to play this time. It's better now though, when in windowed mode. In fullscreen it takes about a minute to crash.
I can't remenber a game that was this unstable, mayby the original half-life? Those guys have really srew this thing up sooo bad. How long a time was it since i had to unplug peripherals to get the games working. I'll answer it myself, when i had freaking DOS6.2 or what was that bleeding OS?. Thats f***ing ten years ago!!! I'm done, i restored all settings for my BIOS, startup, services and display drivers. F##k, and all that for one game....
I want my money back!!! But where can i get it? Is this game broken? If it was anything else but a game it would be.

Thumbs down, half-life2 is the worst game ever...

 

[michaelsil1]

those timing is recomended by the manufacturer. I've never had any problem with anything befor HL2. it's definitely a softwere bug.

and thanx :thumbs: i worked hard to built that machine :bounce:

The recommended timings were for one stick or two? Or do you have only one stick?

 

[Zeldaster]

Here is a solution from fireflaie that worked for me when absolutly NOTHING else did!

Hi all
Here is the translation of a solution to have the game working !!

Part 1 :
--------------
Go in the directory :
E:\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\STEAM_ACCOUNT_NAME\half-life 2
there is a directory named "bin" that contains many .dll etc

Part 2 :
--------------
Enter the "bin" directory and copy all the files (ctrl+A, ctrl+C)

go back at E:\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\STEAM_ACCOUNT_NAME\half-life 2
then paste the files here (Ctrl+V)

Part 3 :
--------------
Select all the files and directorys (EXCEPT THE "BIN" DIRECTORY) in

E:\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\STEAM_ACCOUNT_NAME\half-life 2

Copy it !!!

Part 4 :
--------------
No Go back in the "bin" directory then Paste the files and dir you've just copy
if windows tell you that there is files that have the same name so just overwrite it, as you want that's not seams to be a problem if you don't

Part 5 :
--------------
Quit Steam
=> Reload Steam, right click : Games, right click on Half-Life 2 and Launch the game
Enjoy if that works , sorry if that don't

 

[PCBuster]

The recommended timings were for one stick or two? Or do you have only one stick?

it's a dual channel kit(512MBx2). the timing recomended by the manufacturer is 2.2.2.5
it was set in those timing from the day i bought it.

 

[philage]

I just posted in another thread about this problem, but anyway, the only thing that has stopped the memory error for me, was to lower the fsb of my system. If you know how to do it, and your motherboard will allow it, anyone with the problem should try it.

 

[amadpig]

You can put the other stick of RAM back, but you have to relax the memory Timings when using multiple sticks of RAM. This is necessary unless you are using example: 400 MHz rated Memory at 333 MHz then you can use the advanced Memory Timings otherwise expect a crash.

Thanks michaelsil1, I realise I have to adjust the timing with the full gig in the machine, it's just that I don't know how to do it. Thats why I'll be dropping it off to the local computer store to fix it for me. The last thing I want to do is stuff up my RAM or mobo.

In the mean time, I'm happy to plug along with 512 & be able to play CSS hassle free.

Cheers :cheers:

 

[michaelsil1]

Thanks michaelsil1, I realise I have to adjust the timing with the full gig in the machine, it's just that I don't know how to do it. Thats why I'll be dropping it off to the local computer store to fix it for me. The last thing I want to do is stuff up my RAM or mobo.

In the mean time, I'm happy to plug along with 512 & be able to play CSS hassle free.

Cheers :cheers:

It's not hard just read your Motherboard Manual (Computer store costs money). It's easier than removing a stick of RAM.

 

[fooldall]

Have you guys tweaked your game settings at all, IE- did you change anything from the game console like heap sizes, etc... because Windows sees this error when it calls for something out of memory that the program is allowing, but is out of the Windows allowed buffer range for the application.

Another few things to try would be:

Swapping DIMM positions.
Delete and recreate Pagefile to larger size, or default size.
roll back driver to eliminate a possible driver incompatibility.

Other than that..... *shrugs*

 

[Cheif_Large_Tree]

After five minutes of playing half life 2 the games freezes and the sound loops and I get the message 'The Instruction at 0x####### referenced memory at 0x#######. The memory could not be 'read'. I have gone to steampowered.com and looked at their answers (I guess it is a common problem) and I have done almost all of them. I talked to a man at EB games and he told me that it has to do with steam and the new windows service 2 package which I have recently downloaded. He told me there is a patch or something out there, but I haven’t found it. If you know of any solutions to this problem, please help. I’m very desperate.

 

[michaelsil1]

I have SP2 no problems; someone’s lying. :frown:

 

[Troika]

SP2 - there was a theory that lockups are caused by DEP service that was added in SP2. Disabling DEP was supposed to cure lockups. There were a few people who claimed it helped...You may try it...just google "disable DEP SP2" or something like that

 

[amadpig]

After five minutes of playing half life 2 the games freezes and the sound loops and I get the message 'The Instruction at 0x####### referenced memory at 0x#######. The memory could not be 'read'. I have gone to steampowered.com and looked at their answers (I guess it is a common problem) and I have done almost all of them. I talked to a man at EB games and he told me that it has to do with steam and the new windows service 2 package which I have recently downloaded. He told me there is a patch or something out there, but I haven’t found it. If you know of any solutions to this problem, please help. I’m very desperate.

Yup, know how you feel matey. SP2 has nothing to do with it though, I have SP2 installed & I WAS having the same problem.

Like you, I tried just about everything to fix it. But I did fix it by reducing my RAM to just 1 stick (I had 2 sticks of 512). I couldn't see your machine specs, but if you've got 2 RAM modules in, I suggest ripping 1 out to see if it helps. If it does, you just need to relax your RAM timing, I'm told it's easy, but I have no idea what I'm doing there, so that's why my machine is going to the shop soon, so I can still run a gig but be error free with CSS.

I hope this helps, since removing my RAM I haven't had a single problem....thank bloody god, it's extremely frustrating I know :angry: .

:thumbs:

 

[gomorrha]

i know this has been posted before, just to remind you (quite simple fix that worked for me):

call hl2 with the "-dxlevel 70" parameter.

you should especially try this if you are the proud owner of a nvidia gpu (had nothing but trouble with my 6600gt so far
seems to be some weird dx9-geforce-hl2-interaction. you won't get shader effects and other fancy stuff with directx 7, but if you only get crashes while loading certain maps (like me) it's actually an ok workaround - you can reset everything to dx9 for the unproblematic parts of the game. and hopefully, the issue will be resolved with a patch or new forceware drivers...

 

[madcat75]

hahahah oh god this thread is still going and no permanent fix

 

[janii]

i got it working when lowering memory frequency from 200mhz to 166 mzh. Memory test were showing ok with 200mhz, but go figure?

 

[michaelsil1]

Yup, know how you feel matey. SP2 has nothing to do with it though, I have SP2 installed & I WAS having the same problem.

Like you, I tried just about everything to fix it. But I did fix it by reducing my RAM to just 1 stick (I had 2 sticks of 512). I couldn't see your machine specs, but if you've got 2 RAM modules in, I suggest ripping 1 out to see if it helps. If it does, you just need to relax your RAM timing, I'm told it's easy, but I have no idea what I'm doing there, so that's why my machine is going to the shop soon, so I can still run a gig but be error free with CSS.

I hope this helps, since removing my RAM I haven't had a single problem....thank bloody god, it's extremely frustrating I know :angry: .

:thumbs:

Memory and Memory Timings (especially when trying to run with multiple sticks of RAM) have been an issue for quite some time (not only with Gaming). If you think this is frustrating think how others felt after laying out a lot of money only to find that there System would crash.

Now that Gamers have discovered that running with the AMD 64 CPU's gives a definite Gaming boost, however some haven’t taken into consideration that this new Technology eliminated the North Bridge.

So yes it is necessary to adjust Memory Timings in order for the Game to work properly.

I got around many a problem by buying memory that was rated to run much faster than I intended so I'm able to use very aggressive Memory Timings without taxing my Memory. Example:
I have 400MHZ Memory recommended Timings for one stick: 2.5,3,3,6 two sticks and I would have to increase the numbers. I run two 512MB Sticks at: 333MHz 2,2,2,5 with no problems. It is also very important to note where each stick is placed on the Motherboard otherwise problems will occur.

 

[PILMAN]

I have the same damn problem, I was playing through the game normally and about 2 hours into the game it crashes at a certain part, it says something about a driver problem then the memory problem. The game worked fine last time I beat it I dont understand.

 

[gomorrha]

oh well, just to add to the confusion:

i just found out that the "-dxlevel 70" parameter only works in some cases (that is, at least for me, on certain maps). here's a breakdown of my experiences so far:

a) some maps (d1_eli_02, d2_coast_05) only work with "-dxlevel 70". nothing else needed.
b) other maps (d2_coast_08) only work with "-zone 16000" (mind you, directx 9 is NOT a problem on this map)
c) haven't encountered this yet, but bet i will: still other maps probably require -"dxlevel 70" as well as "-zone 16000".

well, i think it's just awesome to pay full price for a game just to find out that it's actually the biggest open beta test in history ((
i'd be really mad if hl2 as such wasn't as immersive as it is (once you
get it to work, that is), but still...

 

[steelslay]

This Is Not On

i posted about the strange system run out of resources problem a few times,ive had a well strange problem now i went to go into hammer and decided to 1st stop of at the sdk release noted ect....i was reading all ablut how to do this and that in hammer must of been for an hour +then all of a sudden i look down at my task bar to find the same problem i have wen mapping is hapaning now yet ive not even STARTED TO DAM MAP :flame: what went wrong is exactly same [modem status reports modem not plugged in and all my icons conot be drawn and a error msg saying about no resources left as of now i am scratching my head with all sorts of paraniod thoughts even ones that make me think that hammer is a ploy to get peeps to buy more hardware wich is not normal of me as i do LOVE valve this as hit me like a bomb as i like hammer real bad and i even try to mapp more than play jee is this how people feel when they divorse

 

[Kirkburn]

What lovely engrish. Ever heard of grammar? This may be an internet forum, but you're gonna get few friends if that's how u present ur problem

 

[madcat75]

This sucks, I have to reboot my computer to get it to work right.

 

[steelslay]

trojanguard

trojanguard/trojanhunter was causeing problems with my steam/sdk, when i turn off t.guard steam goes back to normal,
it has to be unloaded in the taskbar aswell,
ive been useing hammer all day and [touchwood] no problems so far memery has stayed stable too

 

[cskoko4lyf]

hey Janii or any of u guys if u can plz tell me me how u lowered ur mhz from 166 mhz to 200 mhz thatll help

 

[hboy]

if someone encountered a memory read problem before the 3rd episode, just after leaving the train station, read this.
I had it too, but after deleting and letting steam re-load the "source models.gcf" file, it worked flawlessly and no problems since then.

 

[janii]

battlefield vietnam fix

Hi,

I heard that removing command.com file from windows\system32 folder works (in XP). I tested it and it works. Before, i had to lower my memory frequency from twin 200 to 166mhz. Now works just great with 200mhz. This info was in some battlefield vietnam forum.

 

[daveodeth]

Updatded my Nvidia chipset motherboard drivers.

works fine now.

 

[daveodeth]

edit: no it dont played for longer but still get the error.

 

[taku]

So they still haven't fixed it? OMFG...I bought this back in November, and Valve still hasn't done anything about it!? F**K VALVE! I'm never buying another game from them for as long as I live.

 

[madcat75]

So they still haven't fixed it? OMFG...I bought this back in November, and Valve still hasn't done anything about it!? F**K VALVE! I'm never buying another game from them for as long as I live.

I'm with you if this is they way they keep going on making games.

 

[solidshot27]

wow, i just bought this game today... great game, but it has the error at the boat part... I think it may have somthing to do with our audio because when i first got the error i got out of the game and my computer didnt see that i had a audio device installed... eventhough i was listen to music while installing the game...so i dk, i hope they get this fixed.. they probibly wont because there are so many factors that could cause it but whatever...

 

[sirRealist]

hey guys, check out post #81 in the thread titled "System Freeze w/ looping squelching sound". I know its not exactly the same problem, but for those of you who have not yet tried downclocking your RAM bus its worth a shot. Ive read a lot of people who've fixed a variety of problems by doing this. If you try it, whether it works or not, please post in the "System Freeze w/ looping squelching sound " thread with your info so we can pin this down. Let me know what you guys think.

 

[jonarc124]

I guess i'll add my name to the list of pissed off game owners with this problem. I used to have a much worse issue, a full system freeze, but having to quit out of HL2: DM is just as annoying.

I have onboard, integrated sound, so its not a PCI card issue. Seems to occur at random places. Keep posting here, though: sooner or later Valve will have to quell the masses with a patch.

 

[madcat75]

I cant get HL2 DM to work at all. I click "find server" and it locks up and I have to reboot.

 

[LoBiSoMeM]

hey guys, check out post #81 in the thread titled "System Freeze w/ looping squelching sound". I know its not exactly the same problem, but for those of you who have not yet tried downclocking your RAM bus its worth a shot. Ive read a lot of people who've fixed a variety of problems by doing this. If you try it, whether it works or not, please post in the "System Freeze w/ looping squelching sound " thread with your info so we can pin this down. Let me know what you guys think.

I downclocking my DDR 333 to 266 and seems to works fine now.

I´ll do some more testing and tell if works without crashes.

 

[shortTIMER]

HL2 and CS Source memory errors

I have installed and played HL2 and CS source on my new Dell 3.6, 2gb, x800.
I have had no problems until recently. I receive the error message when trying to enter either game.

The instruction at "xxxxxxxxxx" referenced memory at "xxxxxxxxxx". The memory could not be read. Click to close.

I have checked my memory with 12 hour test and did not find a problem. I feel the problem is in steam/source and not my computer. I have seen many complaints on the internet forums and little from steam except to deny they are the source of the problem.