Crash at login screen

Hello there.

I've been having some problems lately with Guild Wars. When I start Guild Wars, if I stay at the login screen with the Eye of The North background for too long (I would say about 1-2mins), the game crashes my computer and I need to shut down my computer with the power button. This also happens at the character select screen, or when I'm creating a new character. However, if I login with a character before the game crashes, the game runs totally fine. I get around 60fps all the time, no overheating, no lag. The game only crashes at the login/character select screen and I can't figure out why.

Any ideas?

There are a number of things i can think of at this moment.

First things first, try running a gw.exe -update from a command prompt or the run function in the start menu.

Secondly, it's a graphically intensive screen, make sure your graphics card drivers are up to date and directx 9.0 is installed. Even if you're running vista and dx10, the correct version 9 directx can help overcome issues.

If the game is still crashing try running the game on lower settings as an overheating or over-stressed graphics card can cause memory issues such as data loss which leads to crashes. Memory issues in general can cause a crash so it's useful to run a diagnostic on your video card and your system memory.

Try ensuring that there is enough hdd space on your primary partition or whichever one has the virtual memory manager, usually your C: drive. Also, make sure you have virtual memory set to be managed by the os as this helps to overcome issues when there is not enough of it available. If you choose to manually set virtual memory, a good rule of thumb is to go with twice the amount of system memory. If you don't know what that is, then you're better off leaving well enough alone.

What OS are you running btw?

And make sure if you have water cooling that there are no leaks.

I tried runnng the game at 1280x1024 @ lowest graphics settings, instead of 1920x1200 @ highest graphics settings (No AA) and the game still crashed.

I'll post my system specs, I'm on a laptop btw.

System
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Manufacturer ASUSTeK Computer Inc.
Model G2S
Total amount of system memory 3.00 GB RAM
System type 32-bit operating system
Number of processor cores 2
64-bit capable Yes

Storage
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Total size of hard disk(s) 178 GB
Disk partition C: 25 GB Free (112 GB Total)
Disk partition D: 45 GB Free (67 GB Total)
Media drive E: CD/DVD

Graphics
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Display adapter type NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT
Total available graphics memory 1023 MB
Dedicated graphics memory 256 MB
Dedicated system memory 0 MB
Shared system memory 767 MB
Display adapter driver version 7.15.11.134
Primary monitor resolution 1920x1200
DirectX version DirectX 9.0 or better

Network
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Network Adapter Attansic L1 Gigabit Ethernet 10/100/1000Base-T Controller
Network Adapter Intel(R) Wireless WiFi Link 4965AGN
Network Adapter Microsoft Tun Miniport Adapter

Does it happen when you're doing anything else?


Your system spec looks fine. Update your graphics drivers.

There's also a system test you can run from within guildwars itself which might pinpoint the problem. Run this and raise a ticket with guildwars support on the plaync website.

Run dxdiag from your command prompt as well. Then go to this link:
http://eu.plaync.com/eu/help/support-doc/doc_6330/

If you've done everything I asked above guildwars support will be able to help you with your problem.

Crashes for me are very rare, Guild Wars being the only one to crash (but only at the login screen) consistently. I will see if anyone else here has any suggestions, and then I will talk to NC Support.

If you play on a laptop, try putting it on to something. Either a real laptop holder-thingie, or two planks, so that the fan gets enough room to suck up fresh air

I know some people who have had problems with that, but I ran the Crysis demo with most settings on high for an hour and got no overheating. Also, I think that laptops become more prone to overheating with age because of dust collection that blocks up the fans. That's just my impression, and my laptop is pretty "new" (maybe 6 months old now). So basically what I'm saying is that I don't think the problem is overheating because no other game that I run will overheat it.

Would I be right in saying that that indicates you have played GW up to now without any problems and that these crashes are a new phenomenon?

Heh, we generally recommend a new gw.dat for virtually every fault - might as well give it a shot!

Oh, and you can also try the "test my computer" option on the login screen - seems a bit daft with your better-than-adequate system, but what the heck.

To be honest, I really haven't played (at all) for a while, I probably stopped a little while after GW:EN came out. Also, the game never crashed like this on my old desktop, it started with this system. Also considering that I have the discs for every expansion except Factions, if all else fails I'll go ahead and reinstall the game.

Also, this probably has nothing to do with my original problem, but when I finish the "Test My Computer" thing and hit "View Results" nothing happens at all, even after waiting for a few minutes, unless it takes that long.