requesting urgent help or advice on this.

ok first thing im on the verge of taking a hammer and twatting my pc to computer heaven with it, ever since the directx9 update for gw and since my new installation of pentium motherboard and proccesor, my gw just tottaly decides to quit when ever it feels like it, one minute im playing next minute BOOM desktop and/or the usual 'send report to anet box comes up' must of sent like 60 reports in last few weeks. it always begins with something like this
--->>.CRASH.<<--- some crap like that, im not finally asking for help from the guru's, what triggered me to ask for this help was in hoh 'gold brute drops for me req10' i go to pick it up and BAM im at desktop...let me just say im buying a new mouse tommmorow...as my other is in pieces atm...anyways i was reinstalling gw from the site and not disk...after bout 300mb of data it crashed to my destop with this warning (been getting these since the lame error started)

http://img163.imageshack.us/img163/6...pimage36rn.jpg

form what it say's i know this to be a load of ballacks as i play cod2 on dx9 on extra textures for long periods of time on MP 2-5hours and my computer dosent even flinch...now when i play gw for 1-2 hours it crashes when ever it wants shortest record was 29mins...so what is this telling me, that gw is more graphical and proccesor intense than cod2??? lol sure whatever...this is what im baffled about...gw also likes to restart my computer at times :/

specs:

1 gig ram
nvidia 6600gt
pentium 4cpu 2.8hhz
and an aGp x8 motherboard that was recommended for pentuim
service pack2
virus scans are clean, spyware scans are clean

if this was an overheat issue then why dosent cod2 fry my comp like gw does.

anyways i really appreciate any help you can give, tell me if you require any info on my comp etc

(pup)

things i missed out:

i am using the april release of directx
latest sound and gfx drivers (tried 71.xx hoping it would matter but no avail)

Hmm, this might be caused by the sound quality, that causes lag for some people. One thing to try would be going to Options and turn the sound quality down as far as it will go.

Also, your system should definitely be able to run it, especially if it can run CoD2, but perhaps it is your ram? Bad ram can cause weird crashes, although that still doesn't explain why CoD2 runs fine.

Oh, and what operating system are you running? From the screenshot it looks to be an older version than XP, since XP would be blue, unless you went into preferrences and changed it to "Classic" style. If it is Windows 2000, it might explain why it is unstable, although it still doesn't explain why CoD2 runs fine.

Because this is only happening with Guild Wars related stuff, I would try fiddling with the Guild Wars options.

Tell me if you have any luck, and don't give up!

Go to this thread:
http://www.guildwarsguru.com/forum/s....php?t=3012710

Someone else had the same problem, and although they never posted to say if they fixed it, that thread might help you. Someone in it pointed out that running memtest will check your ram. It may take a while, but try to test everything so you at least will know what ISNT causing the problem.

my xp version is xp pro with classic skin, and i have tried your sound advice but same thing happens, i will view the thread you gave me in the meantime, thx alot

the mem6 thingy i have no clue to use and im not sure in that thread that ram voltage would fix it or not, maybe i should post my computer info for more in depth specs, any idea how i could do that?

Just from reading your specs, it seems fine. I have heard of people reformatting their hard drives and stuff when they have had similar problems, but that sounds a little harsh...

Well, this forum is full of posts about the game crashing, so I am going to look through them and try to find some answers...

"Fess up machine, we know your behind this!!!"

haha yeah txh alot for all the help alias x, i have looked on forums and search and tbh im baffled but if you can help in any way its appriciated very much thx

Yah, I will be looking around for answers. This is a really odd problem, and it is pissing me off that I can't fix it.

thx alot for your dedication, this error is really killing me..

edit; ARGHHH IM GOING NUTS I CANT EVEN PLAY PROPERLY CUZ OF THESE RANDOMS CRASHES..

Ways of the computers are odd sometimes, I would really do the memtest-thing and eliminate any possible memory problems there might be, because that's what I'd be looking for.

http://www.memtest.org/ for the proggy, if you are familiar (and able) with burning CD images, you can download a bootable CD version (should be pretty easy on recording software like Nero).. Or possibly the floppy version tho it might require more knowhow.. Then just put the disk/floppy in and restart and memtest should (hopefully if the boot order is "right") start up.

http://sp2004.fre3.com/ - StressPrime 2004 is windows proggy, so it should be easier to use, and has detected few errors (!) that memtest didn't detect.. Running SP2004 for hour or more (leave it on while going to school/work/whatever) and check if the calculations had gone okay.

Back when my motherboard was failing, I could play games pretty fine, no problems whatsoever. But when I watched movies on the computer, it just froze up, running SP2004 right after boot resulted in errors all the time, but after playing a game, no errors at all on SP. Turned out that the power supply components on the motherboard were damaged, and they worked just fine at high loads, but acted up on low/medium loads. Had me confused for a few weeks.

Not saying you might have that same problem, but it's always good to eliminate those things out. If there's so probs with the proggies, just drop a message

Also, try dropping graphical details on GW to minimum and see if the errors vanish and then slowly nudging up the details.

well the thing is with everything on high gw is smooth as hell, i have tryed all the low settings, even 640 res and i even went to change my skin to windows classic..but ill try these programmes you mentioned, thx

sigh....i was fooling around last night and came around this...(yes ascalon so what ^^)

could this be my gfx card overheating..as i only have 2 fans inside my computer atm..can there not be enough cooling...hmm

your help so far guys is great

ok while playing cod2 when i got hit and was bleeding on my screen the blood was all blocky and multiocolored...could this be artifacts from overheating..and would underclocking my card do any good...

That looks like vidcard overheating or RAM failing yes. Did 6600GT have thermometer built into it already? Atleast my 6800GT does.

Mine is under Display Properties (right click anywhere on free space on the desktop, select Properties -> Settings 'tab' -> Advanced button closer to bottom -> GeForce 6600GT 'tab' and finally Temperature Settings under 6600GT. Not sure if 6600 has it tho..)

Memtest should be fine for testing the memory, unless it's heat problem..

nope...mine dosent have the thermometer thingy in the list so im guessing mine dosent have it...i left that SP2004 running overnight...2 copies of it and when i woke up it was still running with no errors...[6 hours it was on for aprox]

so is it starting to look like a heat issue, more fans in computer? install 2 more maybe, what do you guys think.

thx to the guys who helped me so far

edit: my gw is doing a repair data so them snow like textures in ascalon will proberly be reset to normal....what im confused about is can overheating on a vid card cause the textures to be corrupt? and force gw repair..i just want to be crtain so i can correct the error..thx

Well running SP2004 that long should clear out memory and processor errors as processor should be running at max load.

Vidcard could still be the overheating part, tho it's a bit trickier to verify without the thermometer. I'd suppose running 3dmark2005 or 2006 for a while stresses out vidcard to see if it fails.

And yes, vidcard stores the textures in it's memory, and if it overheats, the textures can get corrupted. Doesn't affect the textures you have in the GW datafile, thus it should be for duration of that game only.

hmmmmm ok well i been running gw flawless for a few hours during heavy pvp...now im just waiting for it to crash so im expecting it any minute now...does this SP2004 actually fix anything or change anything rather thn a simple test? right now im thinking of buying more cooling maybe add 2 more fans for a total of 4? think that would benefit, i will off course run 3dmark in a few mins and let it run through, thx alot for the help kaguya its really appreciated.

Do you have an option in your case to aim a fan right at the video card?

If not they do make fans that go into a card slot and pull air from the nearby cards. That might work nicely for you video card.

They also make cooling systems that hook up directly to your video card.

---

It does seem odd that other graphis intense games would not be causing the issues or overheating (if that is what the trouble is).

Maybe, as suggested, a graphical stress tester would be the best next step?

---

Good luck!

Nova-

god dam i spoke too soon

*--> Crash <--*
Assertion:
MdlApi.cpp(476)
App: Gw.exe
ProgramId: 1
Build: 16943
When: 4/23/2006 15:08:30
Flags: 0x1

yes i will be testing my card with a stress tester ill post the results and finding soon, im sure my card is just overheating

I've had similar problems to those texture pics you posted since the dx9 update, and i'm also running a 6600GT. I've done a little temperature monitoring using nVidia's ntune tool, and it doesn't seem any higher than when working correctly. I have never had the repairing thing though.

is there anyway that i can check my vid card temp?

71.xx is hardly new.

Don't use nTune to monitor temps. Use NvTempLogger or RivaTuner.

White texturing (images 1 and 2): If you hit Alt-Enter to change to windowed mode and Alt-Enter again to enter fullscreen mode, does it return to normal?

For what it's worth, I also have a 6600GT and I didn't see any major problems (more than usual, I mean) after the DX9 update.

yes i tried small screen etc and map loading it all stayed the same until i did a data repair, i will try them proggies out keneko thx

edit: sigh....the picture says it all

im going to leave SP2004 on again overnight and post for you veterans if ya wouldent mind looking it over

thx for everything ppl.

well i left this on overnight, what does this mean?

from what I've read so far you got it- it's the video card.. I've seen fans go out before- by go out I mean they barely spin or don't spin at all.. you can stick your finger very lightly onto the cards fan and tell if it's still alright without a sensor- it should'nt slow down or stop with light pressure.. if the fan's still good you can always add more cooling and mess with the clock core/mem speeds (you can even fix fans with teflon lube like triflow but it's only temporary until you get a new one).. something like powerstrip works great for messing with your clock speeds (it's not free though like some others but it's pretty good) it let's you launch your games with different settings- you could run bf2 just like before and underclock for gw and not spend a penny on cooling.. another thing is check to make sure nothing else is running in the background during these tests- you can ctrl-alt-del and check all your running processes.. it does'nt look like your having any crashes outside the games so your powersupply looks good (this is another common issue but the crashing happens at random)

SP2004 is just a stresstest, it doesn't fix anything. It calculates decimals of pi up to pretty accurate numbers which requires a lot from CPU (and memory with larger amounts of decimals), when the calculation results are wrong, it beeps out error and stops.

On the image above, seems it hasn't done anything at all, didn't find the reason of that from the website, haven't had that myself :/ Possibly trying to allocate enough memory but failing for reason of another, restart should fix it.

yes mayhem im hoping its just a basic cooling issue i will be adding 2 fan's soon..

thx for repsonce kaguya...so this hasent really dont any testing the? dammit..yes i did a restart after the first 4 hours and left on while i slept...any idea's :/

adding fans in the right place and correct orientation is important. you want more exhaust than intake ideally to eliminate any hotspots of stagnant air in your case. i suggest at least 1 fan at the rear (as large as the case will accept) for exhaust and another at the front as intake. also check that yor heatsink and fan (hsf) isnt clogged with dust. do the same for the heatsink on the gfx card as well.

im not that advanced copper...im too afraid to open up my pc incase i, you know, do some damage..but when i buy the 2 extra fans i will do as you said.

but 1 thing i played flawless last night in ha from 11pm to 2am without a hitch...its just really strange..as soon as i hit pve for a while..boom..data repair...

so guys does this all look like a bad cooling issue..as i did have 4 fans on my old motherboard now i got 2 as of 3 weeks ago of a new pentium.

thats looking like something other than heat issues then. do you know the make and model of your power supply?

all i know is that its specially made for pentium 4 systems *as said on the side of the suppy case*

you say this started after the dx9 update?
I have a few easy Ideas that may fix the problem.
You may have a corupted GW dat file, I know it's a pain but maybe un installing guildwars the re instaling it will do the trick. It's a pain haveing to download all the updates again, but can be worth it!! (doesn;t hurt to try)
Also make sure you have the latest Nvidea 6600gt drivers. There was an issue with DX games and the 6600gt card. Just find the model you have. (my computer,properties,hardware,device manager.) Go to Nvidea's website and download latest driver.
I found this link on google for you about graphics glitches and the 6600gt

http://forums.nvidia.com/index.php?showtopic=294


I am trying to find the post on GW command line options. I was a great post and also has something that may fix you issue. If anyone else could find it that would be awesome.
Basicaly what you do is right click on you GW shortcut and select properties

Just add -dx8 with a space. Your target line will look like this

"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe"

change to this

"C:\Program Files\Guild Wars\Gw.exe" -dx8

I hope 1 of these fixes the problem for you!!! Good luck

Oh and as for cooling, I realy do not think that is the problem. I have only 1 fan on the side and back of my P4 2.8 with a 9600pro ATI card. No cooling probs at all. Plus your 6600gt has a very nice fan attached to it.

well jammy i have formatted my comp, reinstalled like 5 times, i am currently using -dx8 commands, i have used 71.xx serious drivers and very lasted gfx drivers...altho that article is very useful...i may try the 67.xx serious driver....thx alot i will try this as soon as im hone

EDIT..im juat after playing halo on max setting 1280 resolution for bout 2 hours and not a sngle glitch or artifact...could be that its just gw..and not my comp..

Good Luck.
Yep that's why the 1st thing I thought of was a corrupt GW dat file. Also it may even be having dx8 in the target line..lol
If that doesn't work. Only other thing i can think of is go to the GW website and under support send them an e-mail with the problem. Make a dxdiag file ( Run, dxdiag, save all information), and attach that to the e-mail. Their support is awesome, you will receive a responce back within hours.

ok i installed the old 67.xx serious drivers and i aint seeing much difference it seems that when i leave my comp overnight i can play gw for a few hours maybe even 4h flawless....(thx to the new counter :/)...but anyways i thank even for there help and suggestions altho my error is still present i thank you all for trying

Seeing as you've reformatted a few times already I'd look very hard a replacing the memory sticks, at least temporarily, and possibly change the hard drive. The number of times you've had to repair the data archive is a dead give away of some sort of recuring file corruption. In my experience probably 75% of data corruption issues stem from bad ram. Another 15% is due to a failing hard drive.

The third most likely faulty hardware is the power supply. Weak PSU's can cause all kind of weirdness that is very difficult to trace.

Things to try without spending money:

1. If you have two, or more, sticks of ram, remove one, play for a while, swap with other, play again. See if your errors stop, or occur less frequently with one stick removed.

2. Disable hyperthreading on he CPU. You can do that in the mobo's BIOS. the manual should be able to tell you how. est the game fro afew hours.

3. Do this first actually, update every driver, especially the video card drivers. Check for sound card drivers, motherboard drivers, even for the NIC.

We can't stop now, must fix your problem!!!! LOL
I found these bit of info on the problems, you are having.


I have squares on terrain textures.
Answer
The 81.85 driver package from NVIDIA® has caused some GeForce 6600 and GeForce 6800 users to see large squares instead of the normal ground texture. Please install the 81.98 package to resolve this issue:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_2k_81.98.html

If changing your driver version does not help please contact the Technical Support Team using the Ask a Question tab.


With the NVIDIA® GeForce FX video cards, we have been able to replicate a known issue in which the user is playing with both the 61.77 drivers and the NVIDIA Image Settings set to "High Performance". One of the effects of this combination is missing terrain features. However, there are several viable solutions for this issue.

1. Upgrade to the latest NVIDIA driver version. These can be downloaded from http://www.nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp. Make sure to download the drivers, uninstall any existing drivers, reboot into safe mode, install the new drivers, and reboot one more time. This avoids any potential conflicts caused by different driver versions. If this alone does not resolve your issue, please follow the steps listed below (2a-2g).

2. Change your video settings to "High Quality". This can be accomplished by the steps given below (on Windows XP):

a) Right click on your desktop and select Properties. This brings up the Display Properties control panel.
b) Click on the Settings tab.
c) Click on the Advanced button.
d) Click on the GeForce tab.
e) Select Performance and Quality Settings in the left window.
f) In the Global Driver Settings window, select Image Settings.
g) Move the slider in this pane to the right, which is High Quality.

The video cards that are affected by this issue are:

GeForce FX 5200
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra
GeForce FX 5500
GeForce FX 5700
GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
GeForce FX 5700LE
GeForce FX 5900
GeForce FX 5900 Ultra
GeForce FX 5900 XT
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra
GeForce PCX 5300
GeForce PCX 5750
GeForce PCX 5900