Help: Can't Play! [Weird Problem!]

Hey,

I have been playing Guild Wars Factions for quite some time now without any problems. Yesterday my brother purchased a copy of the game and unfortunately he has been experiencing big problems. We've installed the game and created his account... created a character and he played for some time without any problem.

But when he had shut down the computer and he tried to play again today, he couldn't... he logs on and gets to the character screen. When he selects the character and presses the 'Play' button to get to the game environment, the computer just completely reboots (!?) We tried to create a new character, but the same problem occurs... his computer is definately fast enough and there is nothing wrong with his hardware components... is anybody familiar with this problem or does anybody know a possible solution??

It's not a Firewall issue either since we tried to disable it and it still didn't work...

Help greatly appreciated...

Demmin

Sounds like spyware/malware... not GW.

To me, it sounds like a driver issue. Try updating to the newest video drivers available from your manufacturer. A reboot like that is actually a blue screen. If you update your drivers and still get a reboot on loading Guild Wars, post back and we can walk you through turning off the automatic reboot to see exactly what is causing the crash.

Definately not a Spyware problem... did extensive checks and even restored a system backup, so that's most definately not it...

I will try the video drivers though... turning off the automatic reboot is not an option... Automatic Reboot only applies to certain issues and this is obviously not one of them, since we already have it turned off...

Thanks for the quick replies anyway... I will update my video and post back when I know whether it worked or not...

Automatic reboot applies to all blue screens. If your system is rebooting and *NOT* blue screening, there is probably something physically wrong with your computer. Try running memtest86, available from this web site. Note: You will need either a blank floppy or CD-R to do this. Full instructions are available on that same site. This test can take a very long time, depending on the amount of testing you want to do, and just how "deep" the errors are.

If memtest86 does return a fatal error, I would advise using the method described below to clean the contacts of your memory sticks, then running it again. I only suggest running memtest first, because I am leery about asking people to take their computer apart. If you are comfortable doing this, I would actually suggest cleaning the memory contacts *before* running memtest.

If memtest86 comes back with no fatal errors, try taking out all of your expansion cards and memory, cleaning the contacts, and re-seating them. Here is the best method to do that:

Equipment: Screwdriver, pencil with an eraser, canned air

First, ground yourself by touching the bare metal on your power supply while the computer is powered down but plugged in. Unplug everything from the back of your computer, and take the side off. Then, one by one, remove your expansion cards and memory, and use the eraser on the pencil to rub the gold-colored contacts on all of them. Blow (with the can, spit can short out the contacts and give you a whole new world of trouble) or brush the rubber bits off. Take the canned air, and blow out the slot that you pulled the card from. Replace the card, and move on to the next one. Do this until you've cleaned all of the contacts in your computer. Replace them all, put your computer back together, and try again.

I appreciate all your help Combatchuck...but I ain't exactly a computer noob and the first thing I did when this problem occured was running Memtest... should have posted that here I guess

Anyways, I still have the problem... we updated the Chipset Drivers and updated the Video Drivers... I even put in my own videocard and it still didn't work.. also replaced the Power Supply, because it could have been something with the +12 V line... but still the same problem...

Is there anybody else with usefull suggestions or should I just buy a new Motherboard... cause that's the only responsible component I can think of...

Thanks anyway Combatchuck, appreciate it