Half life 2 freezes whole system - possible solution

[mcgeezer]

Hi,

I appologise if there is a thread already for this.

I bought an entire new system to play HL2.

System:

Mobo: MSI - With Nvidia Nforce2 Ultra 400 Chipset
CPU: AMD3200+ @2.2Ghz (No overclocking)
Memory: 2 * 512Gb
Sound: On board Realtek AC97
GFX: Powercolor ATI Radeon 9800Pro
HD: 120Gb Maxtor
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 intergrated (Fresh install)

Drivers:

All latest for Mobo, BIOS, Sound, GFX - Catalyst 4.12beta
All windows updates latest.

Symptoms:

The game would freeze (no crash dump or GPF's) and crash the operating system intermittently after between 2 minutes and 30 minutes. It even crashed once while I was in the menus (after pressing escape key) and seems to have had nothing to do with the load on the system. I'd have to cold start (power off) the system to bring it back to life.

Testing tried:

I tried disabling sound changing catalyst drivers to 4.11, changing detail level on GFX, changing AGP to 4x, changing CPU voltages - you name it I tried. All memory tested.

My solution:

My mobo has 3 memory array slots, the memory modules were placed in slot 1 and slot 3 (My friend thinks this has something to do with memory duplexing and helps performance).

I first removed the memory module from Slot 3. Played the game
for over 3 hours with all details increased to maximum (although the lack of memory did degrade the performance in places).

I put the memory module into slot 2 and played the game for another 3 hours without any interuption or stuttering.

To test the theory, I placed the module back into to slot 3 and the game froze within 10 minutes.

If this helps anyone out then I'll see it as time well spent.

My question:

In other board members opinion, do you think this is software or hardware related? The system only has one other game (The Sims 2) which runs without any issues whether the memory is in slot two or three.

Personally I think it's software.


McGeezer

 

[Heiland]

I appologise if there is a thread already for this.

Me too, but please point us there if there is any I didn't find some.

Your System is somewhat similar to mine. I tried various drivers for my Radeon 9800 Pro (from old Cats to 4.11 and 4.12b, DNA etc.) and upgraded to the latest AC'97 Drivers (a3.66). As well Chipset and AGP. Nothing helps with the freezes.

Unfortunately i have only two memory banks. Maybe i try switching them vice versa. But i don't think that helps.
With my GF Ti4200 everything worked fine (obviously a bit suckier ) So it seems to me that the ATi Card is the evil.

 

[destrukt]

yes, this has been said hundreds of times and only fixes it for a few people.

http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1076237
http://www.halflife2.net/forums/showthread.php?p=1076137

and many others.

 

[Orbitsnatcher]

OK - here's a thing... I have been whinging about my multiplay stopping dead since the DM download... guess what? I shut down about 4 tray items and suddenly it works..!

I shut down Logitech Webcam.... Spybot....StyleXP... GetRight... I will do more exoeriments to narrow down this potential issue...
(of course maybe I accidently hit one of thoe working servers too)

 

[TEDR]

Hi,

I appologise if there is a thread already for this.

I bought an entire new system to play HL2.

System:

Mobo: MSI - With Nvidia Nforce2 Ultra 400 Chipset
CPU: AMD3200+ @2.2Ghz (No overclocking)
Memory: 2 * 512Gb
Sound: On board Realtek AC97
GFX: Powercolor ATI Radeon 9800Pro
HD: 120Gb Maxtor
OS: Windows XP Pro SP2 intergrated (Fresh install)

Drivers:

All latest for Mobo, BIOS, Sound, GFX - Catalyst 4.12beta
All windows updates latest.

Symptoms:

The game would freeze (no crash dump or GPF's) and crash the operating system intermittently after between 2 minutes and 30 minutes. It even crashed once while I was in the menus (after pressing escape key) and seems to have had nothing to do with the load on the system. I'd have to cold start (power off) the system to bring it back to life.

Testing tried:

I tried disabling sound changing catalyst drivers to 4.11, changing detail level on GFX, changing AGP to 4x, changing CPU voltages - you name it I tried. All memory tested.

My solution:

My mobo has 3 memory array slots, the memory modules were placed in slot 1 and slot 3 (My friend thinks this has something to do with memory duplexing and helps performance).

I first removed the memory module from Slot 3. Played the game
for over 3 hours with all details increased to maximum (although the lack of memory did degrade the performance in places).

I put the memory module into slot 2 and played the game for another 3 hours without any interuption or stuttering.

To test the theory, I placed the module back into to slot 3 and the game froze within 10 minutes.

If this helps anyone out then I'll see it as time well spent.

My question:

In other board members opinion, do you think this is software or hardware related? The system only has one other game (The Sims 2) which runs without any issues whether the memory is in slot two or three.

Personally I think it's software.


McGeezer

just because one game works without issues still does rule out a hardware issue could be with memory..

i had a processor that was faulty and would only show up its fault with certain games and worked perfectly with others

 

[Heiland]

yes, this has been said hundreds of times and only fixes it for a few people.

I'm afraid no. I have no sound stuttering problem and didn't get a single memory error message. My system freezes without anything. No reboot, no crashdump, no message, no running in circles, screaming and shouting.

 

[mcgeezer]

I'm now beginning to think that this problem is infact hardware related;

I looked at my motherboard documentation and it does infact say that if I want to enable the dual channel memory that I should put the modules in the 1st and 3rd slots.

I'm beginning to wonder if it's a problem with dual channel memory being used with an ATI Radeon 9800pro.

If I can determine if it's a hardware fault or a configuration fault then I can take the PC back to the supplier.

I've had a call logged with steampowered.com for over a week now without any reply - I guess I'm just not important enough.

My concern is here that although HL2 runs perfectly in non-dual channel mode, I wonder what side effects it may have had on other apps or games on my system.

 

[destrukt]

I'm afraid no. I have no sound stuttering problem and didn't get a single memory error message. My system freezes without anything. No reboot, no crashdump, no message, no running in circles, screaming and shouting.

no to what ?

 

[billy269]

I'm afraid no. I have no sound stuttering problem and didn't get a single memory error message. My system freezes without anything. No reboot, no crashdump, no message, no running in circles, screaming and shouting.

Having a similar problem.

 

[SupaFly138]

damn. the only time my half-life 2 and other source games freeze are at the menu. ( i havent got past the menu on CS:s and HL2DM)

 

[Cardo]

yea my game only freezes in the menu too, I have to quick save and quick load with f6 and f9, I want to fix it, because I want to play it on hard and eveyrthing up

 

[jonarc124]

same problem: hl2 freezes entire system

I'm having the same problem. Sometimes the game runs for 5 mins, sometimes for 3 hours, then abrubtly freezes, along with Windows. I am then forces to shutdown and restart with the case power button.

The game runs smoothly, and there is no error message. Maybe it has something to do with my new graphics card. Hopefully it isnt a hardware issue.

specs:
P4 2.4ghz
asus mobo p4r800-vm
512 mb ddr ram
western digital 80gb 5400rpm
- 80 gb 7200rpm
*new* 128mb ati all-in-wonder radeon 9800 pro

just ask me for any additional specs

 

[Kruel]

It's looking more and more like a memory leak to me. I even got a crash as it was paused at the menu. My guess is it's not clearing the cache all the way when you load a new level... but it just keeps building up untill the ram can't take anymore.

What I've been doing is simply restarting the game once I start getting graphical glitches (a sign that the game is about to freeze). Then I play some more untill it happens again. :/

Luckily for me, the crashes stopped once I got to the hovercraft mission. It didn't crash at all for the rest of the game.

In Valve's defense, this could very well be a issue with DirectX. Seeing as they're utilizing DirectX probably more than any other game out there right now, it wouldn't surprise me if the problem was caused by Microsoft. Then again, I may be a bit biased since I like to blame Microsoft for everything anyway.