Computer freezes when playing DVD games

  • Thread starter Thread starter Wish I was diving
  • Start date Start date
W

Wish I was diving

This problem is puzzling me for quite some time now: when playing a game from
DVD my computer freezes after a couple of minutes. It only happens if the
media is DVD - games from CD Rom run perfectly (as do all the games that come
with Windows XP). Also the computer never freezes when I use any other
program. Of course I tried to get help from the game websites but the only
suggestions I get are the standard 'turn everything off' crap which I just
don't want to do (because I think the games should be running normaly - and
they do on my wife's computer which has an older motherboard, less fast
processor, etc.). The wife understandibly is not too pleased if I occupy her
machine for hours :(.
During numerous attempts to solve the problem I did of course check all
available updates (graphic card, sound card, bios, Windows update, DirectX
etc etc etc).
Until recently I had a Gigabyte motherboard with a processor a little bit
slower than the one I have now. Under that configuration the games froze
earlier. Now I have the Intel DX38BT with Intel Core2 2,66, 1GB DDR3 Memory
at 1333 - strangely enough I get 2 or 3 more minutes of game time.
Checking my Registry with Registry Mechanic I found an invalid entry that RM
couldn't repair. It was connected to Flash Player. I changed the permissions,
deleted the key and uninstalled Flash Player - then loaded it down again and
installed. No change.
Of course I tried to install the game under different conditions (McAfee
turned off, turned on, partially turned off etc etc etc ....). It makes no
difference whatsoever. I installed the game on my wife's machine without
turning off anything and I also have VirusScan, Firewall and all that stuff
running during gameplay and it runs just fine.
The audio features of the motherboard are disabled but even that has no
effect.
I use the nVidia 6800 GT and a simple Soundblaster Audigy.
If anyone can help me to find the source of that annoyment I'd be really
impressed!
I guess my wife would appreciate it too :)
 
Has it occurred to you to replace the drive and/or the cable? I would
disconnect and reconnect the cable first to see if that helped but it sounds
like you may need a new drive.

"Wish I was diving" <WishIwasdiving@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in
message news:3035BFFC-FF97-4CE2-A6AF-F2EE2378D589@microsoft.com...
> This problem is puzzling me for quite some time now: when playing a game
> from
> DVD my computer freezes after a couple of minutes. It only happens if the
> media is DVD - games from CD Rom run perfectly (as do all the games that
> come
> with Windows XP). Also the computer never freezes when I use any other
> program. Of course I tried to get help from the game websites but the only
> suggestions I get are the standard 'turn everything off' crap which I just
> don't want to do (because I think the games should be running normaly -
> and
> they do on my wife's computer which has an older motherboard, less fast
> processor, etc.). The wife understandibly is not too pleased if I occupy
> her
> machine for hours :(.
> During numerous attempts to solve the problem I did of course check all
> available updates (graphic card, sound card, bios, Windows update, DirectX
> etc etc etc).
> Until recently I had a Gigabyte motherboard with a processor a little bit
> slower than the one I have now. Under that configuration the games froze
> earlier. Now I have the Intel DX38BT with Intel Core2 2,66, 1GB DDR3
> Memory
> at 1333 - strangely enough I get 2 or 3 more minutes of game time.
> Checking my Registry with Registry Mechanic I found an invalid entry that
> RM
> couldn't repair. It was connected to Flash Player. I changed the
> permissions,
> deleted the key and uninstalled Flash Player - then loaded it down again
> and
> installed. No change.
> Of course I tried to install the game under different conditions (McAfee
> turned off, turned on, partially turned off etc etc etc ....). It makes no
> difference whatsoever. I installed the game on my wife's machine without
> turning off anything and I also have VirusScan, Firewall and all that
> stuff
> running during gameplay and it runs just fine.
> The audio features of the motherboard are disabled but even that has no
> effect.
> I use the nVidia 6800 GT and a simple Soundblaster Audigy.
> If anyone can help me to find the source of that annoyment I'd be really
> impressed!
> I guess my wife would appreciate it too :)
 
"Colin Barnhorst" wrote:

> Has it occurred to you to replace the drive and/or the cable? I would
> disconnect and reconnect the cable first to see if that helped but it sounds
> like you may need a new drive.

Holy cow, Colin - you're fast! I am not sure what makes you think I may need
a new drive (but then I don't understand the matter enough). The cables are
new - it's all SATA now.
Going through some other threads I found that something: could it be that I
am having a problem with my pagefiles? My drive is partitioned, I have common
programs and system etc on C and my backup files, games, large files
(pictures etc) on D. When I checked System I saw that no pagefile has been
assigned to D. Hope that doesn't sound stupid but might it be that D should
have it's own pagefile? I received an error message from Photoshop 7 some
time ago telling me that the pagefile (they call it differently) should not
be on the same volume and I ought to move it, which I did.
 
OK - I am really working hard on this myself and not post a question to find
an easy way out (very proud!).
Checking different possible causes through different sources I found an
article in the Knowlegde Base in which it is NOT recommended to have a
pagefile on each partition. Thus I won't do that. It is also recommended to
NOT have the pagefile on the drive that contains the system files (if your
harddrive is partitioned of course). Thus I will move it to D. And: although
they recommend to leave the pagefile size at it's default value there seems
to be nothing speaking against increasing it, and since I can be very
generous with my GB's because I have a lot of free ones I'm gonna splash out
on it.
Should I not be back soon I'll be fighting Evil for the good of us all.
Otherwise, well - keep your suggestions coming in, they are very much
appreciated!
 
OK, moving and increasing the pagefile didn't do anything. Game still freezes.
...... damn .....
 
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