HELP: can't play games

The Core Video Games Forum
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hi, i’m new and would like to ask some questions…

just bought a computer recently but has not been able to play games for more than half an hour …

tried all kinds of games , warcraft 3 , medal of honour , vietcong , hitman 2 , cm4 , hotel giant…

everytime i play a game , the game would hang , then i have to restart the comp , or if i’m lucky , the game will shut down by itself and i’ll be back at the main windows screen.

just wondering whether any of you has had the same experience…

i’ve asked many people but no one seems to have the same problem as me except for one where he told me to change my cd-rom but i found out it wasn’t my cd-rom that’s faulty as i used my cd-writer to play the disc but same thing still happened.

i would REALLY2 appreciate anyone who can help me as i’ve wasted my holiday all this while not enjoying the new games that i have !!!

my comp spec: pentium 4 , 2.4 ghz , 55 gb harddisk , 512 kingston ram , msi gf4 vga card , using windows 98…

thanks in advance.
:hmm:

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Does this happen to any other programs?

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If it doesn’t happen outside those games, it’s probably your video card. Try updating/replacing your computer’s drivers (To appease the tech guys) then, if it doesn’t fix the problem, it’s time to call in that warranty.

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Originally posted by Green Mage
If it doesn’t happen outside those games, it’s probably your video card. Try updating/replacing your computer’s drivers (To appease the tech guys) then, if it doesn’t fix the problem, it’s time to call in that warranty.
I can safely tell you he doesn’t have a warranty. He just got the computer and it has Windows 98. Therefore, 99% chance it’s a custom build, because downgrading XP to 98 isn’t worth the effort (nearly impossible ><)

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Well, from experience from my brother, I can tell you that you might want to look at what type of windows or something it requriers. You could need an expansion pack. Or it could be that you need something to deal with the hardwhere. (bad speller, I know. ^^; ) Make sure you have the right rom for your computer befor buying a game.

In simple matters, your computer probably doesn’t have the softwheer for that game.

Heh, hey there newbie!:smiley:

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AHHH! So many computer terms mis-spelled. Plus you’re wrong.

All those games in that list meet his specs.

“Need an expansion pack”, yeah right, Expansions are built months/years after the original game.

The right ROM before buying a game? I have never ever ever <BIG>EVER</BIG> heard of ROM affecting software performance of a game.

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Do you have all the most recent drivers?
If not, go get them.

Other than that, I really don’t know whats wrong. If I were you, I’d run a virus scan, defragment, and run scan disk and all that good stuff.

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Originally posted by Xelopheris
I can safely tell you he doesn’t have a warranty. He just got the computer and it has Windows 98. Therefore, 99% chance it’s a custom build, because downgrading XP to 98 isn’t worth the effort (nearly impossible ><)

FAILED! =P

All hardware comes with an out of the box warranty, just in case something like this happens. Unless you overclocked the card or something else that could void the warranty, the factory warranty should still be covering it. So he can still contact the manufacturer and ask for a replacement under warranty.

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You have to prove that the specific part is causing the problem.

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I would say you don’t have enough ram, but you obviously do. I had that same problem with my 256 burnt out and I only had a measly 128 cries I say just go with what other people are saying and update all of your drivers.

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in addition to updating drivers, update Windows. go download the Service Packs from Microsoft’s website, or, even better, new versions of windows : ie 98 SE, or XP, and get updates for those. Also, since you’re running 98, you might want to check what version of Direct X you have… and, yes, once again, update that if necessary (current version is 9). Also… another thing that might, or might not work… every time you start up your computer, restart it as soon as you see the logon screen. then, go about your normal business from there. this seems strange, but my computer, if i dont immediately restart right after turning it on, the computer would freeze after about half an hour… i’m pretty sure it’s the graphics card driver problem tho… so i’m hoping i can get a new graphics card, and fix the damn problem…

see if all that helps :stuck_out_tongue:

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Try turning off all background programs, also you should consider buying new memory if none of the above works. It could be a problem with that.

Also, have you got a working fan and heatsink? Your computer could be overheating.

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thanks for the suggestions guys , by the way mine is windows 98 SE and yes it’s custom built ( i regret doing that)

i’ve updated everything , tried that on the first day with my new comp , but nothing improves…

i’ve heard abt the overheating stuff but how can it overheat when i just started playing for 5 minutes… and everytime i play games , i NEVER open other programs man… just the game

oh this is so frustrating… what problem can my vga card give when it’s one of the latest out there…??? damn man

and this thing only happens when i play games…

sometimes my internet explorer does quit by itself saying that i’ve performed an illegal operation… but are they related???

abt direct x , i’ve just installed the latest…

i’ve tried to reboot the whole comp , install the windows and everything all over again but the same thing still happens.

it can’t be virus or anything like that as when i first got home and started my new comp , i straight away installed games and played them and they just got hung or quit by themselves…until now…

imagine, i was playing warcraft 3 yesterday for 10 minutes and it got jammed , and i was in the middle of a campaign…

i’m not gonna play games anymore until my comp is fixed…

brought to many shops and asked around but everyone has so many different answers… some even asked me to CHANGE my motherboard!!! crazy stuff…

some said about the power supply , ( dunno what’s that though) , maybe the fan thing in the comp ???

whatever… i’m so sick of all this S**T… school’s gonna start soon and i’m never going to enjoy 24 hours of cool games!!!

thanks for the responses guys , you are all so helpful , glad i make some great new online friends…

keep giving me input guys… THANKS again.

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wow… that’s a lot of periods…

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The problem isn’t because the PC is custom built, I’ve always built all my PCs and they run perfectly so the problem is either software related or there might be a hardware incompatibility. I can’t help you about the hardware without knowing the exact specs, but provided it’s all fairly recent parts from well know companies (Intel, Asus, Nvidia, etc…) there shouldn’t be a problem.

As for the software problem, the first thing you have to know is about solving computer problems is that reinstalling Windows does absolutely nothing, it just recopies all the OS (operating system) files to you hard drive and doesn’t touch any of the configuration settings your trying to get ride off. (If you don’t believe me try this, reinstall Windows, there’s a good chance you’ll still have the same wallpaper when you finish reinstalling.) The only way you can really reinstall Windows is by doing a total disk format. If you have 2 drive partitions (and you should always have at least 2) then simply back up everything you want to keep to the other partition, make a boot disk (explained later) and format the partition with the OS on it. Then you can reinstall a clean version of Windows.

To make a boot disk simply pop in a blank floppy in your drive and right click on the icon for you A: drive, select format and then chose boot disk (or start up disk, I forget what the exact text is, but it’s the choice on the bottom) then click OK.

Once your boot disk is ready go to your Windows directory and copy the file Format.exe to your disk. Once that’s do and you’ve backed up everything you want to keep you’re ready to format. Leave the disk in the drive and reboot your pc, you’ll end up at the dos command prompt instead of Windows desktop. Make sure that your command prompt reads the following:

A:>

If it doesn’t then type

A:

Once you’re in your A drive you’re ready to go, type the following exactly:

format c: -s

This command with format your C drive and make it bootable (so you can boot without a disk.

There’s one problem with some CD drives, they aren’t recognized in dos, so you won’t just be able to reinstall Windows right off your disk, the best solution is to copy the entire content of the Windows98 cd to your second partition or hard drive, that will let you install it directly from your drive in dos and best of all it’ll never ask you for the Win98 cd again since it thinks the cd is on your drive (provided you don’t delete the files, but it’s only 121 MB (127,315,968 bytes).

Once your C drive has been formatted simply go to where ever your Win98 files are stored and type setup (you can switch between drive by typing driveletter :), that’ll start the installer.

After you finish reinstalling just install all the updates, get the latest drivers and everything should work perfectly.

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Hmm… i just remembered something when i came home today…
try playing something until your computer hangs again, then, open up the case, and see if either the CPU, or the GeForce4’s GPU is excessively warm (as in, you dont want to keep your finger on the heat sink for more than a few seconds…) Normaly, the would be pretty warm anyways, as it’s almost impossible to get a cool CPU or GPU if you dont have uber water-cooling inside your computer (which i’m assuming you dont), but it shouldnt be hot to the point where your finger would be uncomfortable touching the heat sink of either things. If the CPU or the GPU is hot, then you may want to consider getting a new heatsink and fan for it… tho, if its the graphics card that’s heating, you may have a bit of a hard time finding new heatsink/fan for it…

see if that helps :slight_smile:

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Chris-chris shouldn’t have said anything… knocks on head bad speller that I’am. Good luck with your games on the other hand.

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Well i think I’ve seen your problem now. You’ve installed DX9 on 98SE. I made the same mistake and it did the same thing to me, it just doesn’t work with most games. There’s no way you can uninstall it that I know of either.

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I’m having trouble with Warcraft 3, but that’s about it. Maybe it’s the video card.

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If you think that’s weird… I have a Pentium 4 with a GeForce 4MX 440, and Soul Reaver 2 keeps running slowly. Also, SR1 always skips the movies and the dialogues are often accelerated…