Complete Freeze at 2 min. mark

[kyro74]

Whenever I run Doom 3, everything looks phenominal. There is no jittering or hesitation. At about two minutes in, the game freezes to the point where I have to shut down the computer and restart. It just stops responding, the screen keeps its picture.

All of my drivers are current. I am running a P4 3.0 Ghz processor w/ HyperThreading, 1024 Mb of DDR 400 RAM, ATI 9600 Pro video card w/128 Mb DDR Texture Memory, etc. My system is up to date.

Anyone else having the same, or similar problem? Anyone heard of a patch to correct it?

[Prismhead]

No patch is needed. There is something "wrong" with your machine

Disable Anti-virus

Check for Spyware/Malware

Make sure no other programs are running (check your startup folder and clean it out….and kill whatever else is starting up automatically that you don’t NEED).

Go to blackviper.com and check out the Windows 2000/XP services and turn off the services you don’t need.

Only use the latest drivers from the manufacturer of your hardware.

[Trilinear]

Could be an overheating issue - are you overclocking?

Also, there are issues with ATI drivers and Doom 3. There are some other threads around on this forum that might help you.

[Some Llama]

Prismhead said:

No patch is needed. There is something "wrong" with your machine

Disable Anti-virus

Check for Spyware/Malware

Make sure no other programs are running (check your startup folder and clean it out….and kill whatever else is starting up automatically that you don’t NEED).

Go to blackviper.com and check out the Windows 2000/XP services and turn off the services you don’t need.

Only use the latest drivers from the manufacturer of your hardware.

Wierd, something is "Wrong" with my system as well and about 20 other people in a different post... btw I already tried everything you suggested and it hasn't helped...

[Prismhead]

You are right. It is weird. But why does it work fine on so many machines and not yours (and the 20 other people)? Is it ID's "fault" or could it be something with your machine? It just seems strange to me that some people automatically assume it is not "their" fault.

Some people have rebuilt their entire machines, because the game would not run or it would crash...then suddenly the games runs fine after they rebuilt their machines....so obviously something WAS wrong with their machines. Who knows what it could be, people install so many types of different software on their machines it could be lots of things.

So....IMHO......until you rebuild your machine, and only install Microsoft updates, and the latest drivers from the manufacturers of your hardware...etc....and then Doom3 won't run....I will maintain, in my very humble opinon, that it is YOUR machine that is the problem...not Doom3.

[Some Llama]

well actually it could be Doom3 conflicting with something already installed on the system... you shouldn't have to reformat to get a game to work.

If i have 20 games on my system (also top hardware stressers like farcry and painkiller) and can play these games for hours with no problems but yet Doom3 is crashing my system, it is more likely that Doom3 is conflicting with something...

Let's be realistic here... this game is BRAND NEW, there WILL be conflicts and bugs that will have to be fixed with a patch...

I could see your arguement if this game was out for a year now with a few patches released, but this is a brand new engine, brand new technology in the engine.. bugs like this are completely reasonable.

To summarize, the game runs in its own memory space and only interacts with the OS, other installed programs should not affect this game.. so, if i have an OS with the latest updates, latest directx, latest drivers for all system components, the game should work.. if not then there is a problem in the code that needs to be fixed. Blaming people's configs at this stage is just ignoring possible problems.

[kyro74]

Amen,

I completely agree with the above post. I have done all of the obvious things that were recommended before I even posted (shut down anti virus, internet security, spyware, etc.). I also run EVERY other program without problems and find it odd that someone would say that a brand new program would be problem free and need no patches.

I have done more research since posting this thread and am finding that my complaint is VERY common among ATI users. It seems pretty obvious that this is a conflict issue that will require a patch to fix.

With all of that said; I want to say thank you tremendously for your replies to this thread. Without this interaction, these forums would be useless.

BTW, it is not a heat issue and I am not overclocking.

[BillBrasky]

Hi,

I have an ATI card also - the game hasn't crashed on me a single time. BUT my purpose here isn't to say 'well it works for me so your machine must be retarded'! I hope I can give you a couple ideas to try, short of re-installing winxp which is a serious pain in the ass I know.

First, I would try *under*-clocking your video card. Carmack has said that doom 3 will exercise parts of your GPU that may not have been heavily used before. The idea here is to rule out a faulty video card as the cause of your troubles.

Second, you can test your memory. Memtest86 is a good tool for doing that.

http://www.memtest86.com/

You can download an ISO - just burn that, and boot the CD-R, let it do 2 passes at least.

Hmm - other ideas - you could:

o under-clock your CPU
o make sure that AGP FAST WRITES are turned OFF
o completely wipe video drivers, and platform drivers, and re-install both
o uninstall sound drivers -- if you play the game with no sound, does it still crash?
o re-install directx 9.0b (let the game install it for you)

That's all I can think of right now -- I hope you can get this straightened out, it really is a GREAT GAME and you'll enjoy the hell out of it once you get past these problems.

[kyro74]

I got it!

I had the omega drivers installed for my ATI 9600 pro turbo. They seemed to have been the problem. I changed to the Catalyst 4.7 drivers and turned fast write off. I can now run the game with no hiccups (knock on wood). If anyone else is having similar problems- MAKE SURE FAST WRITE IS TURNED OFF!

I couldnt toggle it with the Omega drivers. ATI's Catalyst let me do it. I can now say "WOW!". This game is incredible. Gorgeous and real. I hope this sets the new standard for what games should look like.

Thanks to everyone for your help. Your quick answers put me on the right path and let me join in on the fun. Thanx 1000X!

[BillBrasky]

Real glad to hear that you are enjoying the wholesome doom 3 goodness now :)

Have fun :)

[Some Llama]

i am using the 4.7s and have FW turned off.. still having the freezes...

just an update...

[kyro74]

Bill Brasky! You know, he goes about eight feet high!

Hahaha... I love names that only a few will get. Most people probably have no idea what that's from. The obscurity of names like that makes it all the better to those who recognise it.

I play under the name Jax Smirking Revenge. Most people don't get it. Those that do think its cool though.

Anyway,

If fast write off is still giving you problems, try the Catalyst 4.9 betas. Make sure you click "yes" when it asks if you want to restart after you turn off fast write.

[Some Llama]

tried 4.9, made my system crash... hard too, it won't load OS with 4.9s installed.
:-/

[kyro74]

Odd...

What is your setup?

[Some Llama]

amdxp 2500+ asus a7n8x deluxe, 512 corsair ram (xms) radeon 9800 pro (msi td128 version) windows xp.

All latest drivers and updates and Dx9.0c

[Fly Tagart]

The exact thing happens to me also. I have 512 MB DDR /PC3200 - Intel Pentium processer HT 4 2.80e Ghz/HT 1 MB L2 cache - 256MB DDR ATI Radeon 9600. When i first start the game from fresh it only last about1 Min before it freezes. Then i have to shut it off manually. When i got to play it again itll last about 20-45 mins and it does it again. Whats the deal with that. I have Far Cry and i can run it with everyhting at max and my comp handels it stuppendesly. I dont know why Doom crashes on me? Please Help

[Prismhead]

kyro74 said:

I got it!

I had the omega drivers installed for my ATI 9600 pro turbo. They seemed to have been the problem. I changed to the Catalyst 4.7 drivers and turned fast write off. I can now run the game with no hiccups (knock on wood). If anyone else is having similar problems- MAKE SURE FAST WRITE IS TURNED OFF!

I couldnt toggle it with the Omega drivers. ATI's Catalyst let me do it. I can now say "WOW!". This game is incredible. Gorgeous and real. I hope this sets the new standard for what games should look like.

Thanks to everyone for your help. Your quick answers put me on the right path and let me join in on the fun. Thanx 1000X!

I am glad to hear you got it working. I am glad my advice paid off.

You know, I did say to use the latest drivers from the manufacturer (ATI) in my first post.

[Prismhead]

Some Llama said:

well actually it could be Doom3 conflicting with something already installed on the system... you shouldn't have to reformat to get a game to work.

If i have 20 games on my system (also top hardware stressers like farcry and painkiller) and can play these games for hours with no problems but yet Doom3 is crashing my system, it is more likely that Doom3 is conflicting with something...

Let's be realistic here... this game is BRAND NEW, there WILL be conflicts and bugs that will have to be fixed with a patch...

I could see your arguement if this game was out for a year now with a few patches released, but this is a brand new engine, brand new technology in the engine.. bugs like this are completely reasonable.

To summarize, the game runs in its own memory space and only interacts with the OS, other installed programs should not affect this game.. so, if i have an OS with the latest updates, latest directx, latest drivers for all system components, the game should work.. if not then there is a problem in the code that needs to be fixed. Blaming people's configs at this stage is just ignoring possible problems.

I agree and disagree. Of course bugs are completely reasonable. If EVERYONE had the same type of problem with the same video card or the same version of drivers or whatever. But this is not the case...at least from what I have read and heard.

So, when something works fine on one machine and not the other...you have to look at what the differences are. Drivers and what other programs are installed and running.

The "logic" it doesn't run on my machine so it MUST be the games fault...is a bad conclusion to jump to...in my opinion.

In this case there WAS something "wrong" with his machine.
He did not have the correct drivers loaded.

I did not call anybody dumb. I provided real things to try in my first post. If he would have tried the things I said to do, he would have solved the problem.

Of course...this is all just my opinion...and what all know what opinions are like...