AMD Dual Core and lock ups

Hey all,
I have recently built a new machine. Here's the specs:

MSI K8N Diamond Plus MB
AMD 64 3800+ Dual Core
1 GB Ram
GeForce 256 Meg DDR3 7800GT
SATA Hard Drives

OK, now here's the problem. I've been getting freezes on the game. It will just lock up (randomly, could be 2 min's or half hour, etc..). Music and other sounds will finish cycling through. Cannot ctrl atl del to windows. Have to do a hard reset. I've changed my latency on the ram to 3 (as recommended). This has not helped. Updated with latest drivers etc... My old card use to flash as load screens but with new card and now new drivers, that problem is fixed. I do not believe this is an over heating issue as the CPU is running cool and the card never goes above 55C. Is this a Dual core issue?

Also, if the issue is dual core...i've read a post from here that you can set the game to run either 1 or 0 (which was said that 1 and Dual will not work, but 0 will). I am unfamiliar how to do this. Would like to give this a shot to see if it works. Anyone know how to set the program to run 0?

Thanks for all the input/help!

Nah, you shouldn't have to set the CPU affinity of the GW.exe. I play GW on an Athlon X2 4200+ all the time and I have no problems. Have you confirmed that your current motherboard and BIOS version are 100% compatible with Athlon X2? Make sure you have the newest BIOS for your board.

Also, have you confirmed that your RAM is 100% compatible with your motherboard? What is the brand and output wattage of your power supply? Check on those issues, and if everything looks good get back to us because it will probably be time to start troubleshooting (process of elimination).

If you're sure everything is compatible you also might want to test your RAM with Memtest86+:

http://www.memtest.org

You also might want to download the newest Windows XP driver for your CPU from AMD.com.

Make sure you get the AMD cpu driver - Assuming you have an Amd 64 X2 3800+

http://www.amd.com/us-en/Processors/...1_9706,00.html

I would also make sure you using the most current Bios for your mother board. http://www.msi.com.tw/program/produc...il.php?UID=710
(I notice there is no new ones yet..)

I would also run 3dmark in a loop (demo) and leave it running over night to do a stress test on your system (may not be guildwars). http://www.futuremark.com/

I also run dual core 4400 with ram at SPD timings. There are some lockups that will crash the game on mine, too, however, I've been able to determine that my crashes appear to be video related, since the system does finally give me a desktop after a while (5-10 minutes). Additionally, CTL ALT DEL doesn't give the desktop either during the crash.

I have noticed that when it crashes, the cursor will change to reflect elements that are behind the screen (if there's a webpage with a text field in it, the cursor will change to an insertion bar, etc), while the frozen game screen remains visible.

My vid card is Gigabyte x800xl - this might be a game engine issue.

I've noted that the last time I crashed like this, 3 other members of the party crashed at the same time, yet another party member's computer that shared the same internet connection and (mostly same) hardware setup didn't crash.

I'm curious if there's any others that have similar problems.

I think you set the affinity through the Task Manage but don't quote me on that.

However, there is a patch from Microsoft for Dual Core systems. http://support.microsoft.com/?id=896256

You have to call MS for that patch... or go here http://www.thehotfix.net/kb/KB896256.htm

I completely forgot about that patch. My XP install includeds all major patches and a lot of ones like this as part of the clean install.

Maybe it's just me, but I wouldn't rank your dual-core CPU among the most likely causes of your lockups. That patch is going to disable some useful load balancing and throttling policies that you probably are better off not messing with unless you're actually having a problem.

I would try troubleshooting some more likely culprits (weak PSU, bad RAM, drivers, bad piece of hardware in general, BIOS settings, etc.) before you go and use that patch or edit your system registry. There are a lot of other possible causes for your lockups.

I have a AMD X2 4400+ and I also crash in Guild Wars.
Its usually after a few hours of play that the sound loops and screen freezes.
I havnt tried leaving it, I usually just hard restart.
I firstly tried reformatting and it didnt fix it, so I started researching.
I basically followed this
http://www.xtremesystems.org/forums/...ad.php?t=81429
but it didnt help.
If anyone knows how to stop crashing please post it here.
Would be nice not to have to restart before going GvG to try and not crash.

I ahve an AMD X2 4400+ and I never lock up in games, and I have defragged a hd while playing!

You set affinity in the task manager.

For me, my CPU temp never goes over 43degrees Celcius, are you sure yours isnt overheating?

AMD 3800 dual core, no lockups. Ever.

I'm guessing you guys are having temperature issues, with the CPU or the graphics card.

Wouldnt have thought its to do with temperature since if I restart computer, I usually dont crash for a while. I restart before gvg and I dont crash usually then.
Could be power issues, but then why does it crash in guild wars and not seem to crash in other places.

I have a generic 420watt PSU. I run fine with my X2 4400+. I have 13 on my 12volt rail, and I only have one 12v rail.

may be it's your network card. people with marvell yukon network/lan card have trouble with guild wars such as freezing and crashing. if you have this card, check out this topic http://www.guild-hall.net/forum/showthread.php?t=25887

Wow! Didn't know this thread was still going...lol. I fixed my problem. Apparently the MSI K8N Diamond Plus MB will NOT run well with double sided ram in dual mode. It requires single sided ram to run dual mode better (which makes no sense to me). I now have 2 gigs of DS ram but I am not running them in dual mode. Ever since I have done that, the freezing/lockups/restarts have been fixed. I had tried to change my affinity before changing the way I ran my ram and that worked for a lil bit. Now I can run everything fine...even multitask other programs while running GW. I swear, i'll never buy an MSI board again. This is the second one I had trouble with. I'm sticking with ASUS on the next go around. Thanks to all for your help!