Computer crashes.

I read the stickied threads and couldn't find anything quite related to the same exact problem that I am having... so correct me if I am wrong, and if I happened to overlook a resolution for this problem already.

Ever since I have gotten Guild Wars: Factions last month and installed it, the game freezes or completely crashes at random, resulting in my computer automatically restarting itself unexpectedly without warning. When my desktop and everything has completely reloaded, I get an error message, saying something such as, "Your computer has just recovered from a serious error... Would you like to send an error message."

Well, I looked into what exactly type of error I was experiencing, and it's none other than the 'blue screen of death' supposebly, and there's no solution for it, according to the Microsoft website, I guess.

But this never used to happen to me when I played regular Guild Wars, and none of my other computer games crash either. It's got to have something to do with Factions, right?

Sometimes I can tell when my game is about to crash, because when I zone or teleport into a new area in my game... the 'loading' screen with the picture of whatever area I am going into gets all pixelated-ish for a brief moment or so, but then it sorts itself out. When I get into the new area, everything is absolutely fine... and then a couple minutes later, of course, it crashes. At this point, I'm refusing to party because twice already I have crashed or froze in the middle of a mission or quest, resulting in a manual or automatic reboot.

Here are some of my system specs, let me know if you need to know anything else:


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System Information
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Operating System: Windows XP Home Edition (5.1, Build 2600) Service Pack 2
Language: English (Regional Setting: English)
System Manufacturer: HP Pavilion 061
System Model: DQ034A-ABA A282N
BIOS: BIOS Date: 07/18/03 16:14:52 Ver: 08.00.08
Processor: Intel(R) Pentium(R) 4 CPU 2.40GHz (2 CPUs)
Memory: 512MB RAM
Page File: 449MB used, 800MB available
DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c (4.09.0000.0904)

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Display Devices
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Card name: RADEON 9600 PRO
Manufacturer: ATI Technologies Inc.
Chip type: Radeon 9600 Pro
DAC type: Internal DAC(400MHz)
Device Key: Enum\PCI\VEN_1002&DEV_4150&SUBSYS_00021002&REV_00
Display Memory: 128.0 MB
Current Mode: 1024 x 768 (32 bit) (60Hz)
Monitor: hp mx703 Color Monitor
Monitor Max Res: 1280,1024
Driver Name: ati2dvag.dll
Driver Version: 6.14.0001.6307 (English)
DDI Version: 9 (or higher)
Driver Attributes: Final Retail
Driver Date/Size: 3/1/2003 02:39:22, 272512 bytes


Sorry for the long post, I wanted to include as much information that I could; To solve this as quickly and less fustrating as possible. :]

Memtest86 your box? I had problems with memory once, gave me random crashes. Could also be power supply getting hot and dusty.
Also are you getting "Repairing data archive" when you start GW?

Its probably not the BIOS itself, I wouldn't worry about that until you try drivers and dusting.

I would try updating your your chipset drivers, video drivers, and motherboard drivers.

Also a can of air always seems to help.

Sounds similar to what happened to me with my 9600XT. Apparently, I installed the drivers wrong and had to do a clean driver uninstall with Driver Cleaner. After that, I went for the Omega ATI drivers just because I dislike the Catalyst program that comes with the official drivers download. Since then, no problems here.

But yeah, check to see if the fan on the card is spinning normally. If it is, just follow what Mistress said.


Good luck!

Sudden resets is usually a sign of overheating problem. Overheating is very common with GW, as it is very taxing on the CPU/memory subsystems, and marginal systems will overheat. You can check if the crashes go away if you open the computer and run with the cover off (running without cover is not dangerous for your computer unless you spill coffee into it or something).
Another way to test for overheating issues is to get another program which stresses the CPU and memory systems and see if it too causes crashes (e.g. try running a looping CPU test in 3DMark2001 from http://www.madonion.com, or Prime2004 torture test from http://sp2004.fre3.com/ - both these programs should provoke your computer to crash within a few hours if it's got insufficient ventilation.

I posted in another one like this and I got the same microsoft error, usually i don't send but i did and it told me it was a graphics issue. but i have a built in graphics chip, but i just upgraded the driver and it works fine now