Read this if you are crashing all the time!

[Gorehound]

Ok, after I saw about 13 posts on the same thing, AO crashing and entire system locking up, I decided to try and help.

I've replied to other posts on the same topic, but I can't find all of you that are having this problem.

If you are crashing in missions and other places, to the point where you entire system locks up and has to be rebooted to play again, or you crash to the "Blue Screen of Death", you might be having a software conflict with Anarchy Online and the Window ME operating system. The only sure-fire fix I've found so far, after trying multiple things, in various ways for 5+ days is that WinME is screwed up when running AO after the last patch and you need to install a new OS or upgrade to WinXP. This all just started recently, correct? (this bug not the other ones )

So, if you can, go to the store, get WinXP, reformat and install WinXP. You should really do it anyway since WinME is a crappy OS. The worst Microsoft has ever released. If you compare the amount of critical updates WinME has needed in the last few years to the amount any other Microsoft OS has needed, it almost triple. Seems like they pulled a FC and released it before they shoulda .

Anyway, if you aren't running WinME and are still having this problem...reply here and let us know. We are trying to isolate this to try and help everyone.

Thanks for your time and I hope this helps.

PS - The upgrade package for WinXP, if you are already a WinME user, should cost you roughly $100. Or just borrow a friends copy

[Octopuss]

I found somewhere:

DO NOT EVER USE ME AS OPERATING SYSTEM.
I have repaired many computers and worked on all sorts of models and whatnot. If i had to choose two OS' id either use 98 or XP. ME is like the bastard child of 98 that was dropped on its head a few times.

and

You saw the new OS coming? its a mix of Win CE, Win ME and NT - called Win CEMENT (hard as a rock and dumb as a brick)


hehe

[Gorehound]

bump...who do i need to talk to in order to get a thread rooted?

[Timelapse]

PM me and include thread URL. we'll talk.

[saerra]

Thanks again Gorehound for the advice (here and in my thread). Did you guys actually clear the hard drive and then install XP, or do the "upgrade" thingee that, supposedly, preserves your data/applications?

Honestly at this point, I'm feeling so utterly depressed about the whole thing my account will probably not be active much longer.

I've got to think it over a bit more and figure out what to do I think. My last payment brought me up til Jan 30, so got a couple of weeks to decide.

Thanks again,
-saerra

[Jellobiafra]

And for those who don't have the $100 for xp, Kazaa lite is your friend

[Lorna]

Been having the same problem with Win XP Home since May...

After the last patch it got really bad, but seems to have settled down again in the last couple of days. Right after the patch, I think I was getting about 2 reboots an hour, it really pissed off my team mates!

I also get a BSoD after about 10 Minutes online if I have used MS Office (XP) or Internet Explorer before starting AO. Doing a fresh re-boot usually gets around the problem.

After a couple of days of constant crashes, it seems to have settled down to one crash every 3-4 hours.

[DivineRite]

I have the same problem. I'm using Windows XP Pro and I crash far too often to really enjoy the game.

P4 3.2 Ghz HT
1gb Corsair 3200 XMS 400mhz
Radeon 9800XT
Lanparty Pro mobo
250gb western digital

Anything to solve this would be appreciated.

[_____________khadaji]

I run 98 and either freeze up and must hardboot or it just reboots my system in the middle of play. This is happening as many as 10 times during a couple hours of play. It seems to only happen during team missions. After playing UO and EQ for years and just recently coming to AO, I think AO is by far a more fun game but I am about to quit and go to another because of these constant crashes. Any help would be appreciated.

[kyleb]

I use ME and just did one team mish, 11 crashes . I don't know how long it's been happening because I haven't done a team mish in forever, but I made a new shade. Anyway it's godawful, either just blinks to desktop and ao disappears, bsod, or runtime error.

[Xeviv]

Specs:

Epox 8RDA+ (nForce 2 Chipset)
Athlon XP 2100+
ATI Radeon 9700(Driver version atm:6.14.10.6387)
1.50GB RAM(333Mhz)
Windows XP Professional

Problem:

BSODs, C++ Runtime errors, desktop crashes...Can't even play the game. There is no certain place/time these problems occur, seems to be pretty random. Sometimes I login, take a step, crash, login, cast a buff, BSOD and so on. It probably has something to do with graphics card but since I've tried about every driver there is for my card and it still doesnt help. Tweaked the card settings, no help...I'm running out of ideas. Took a few month break just now and before that none of these problems occured.

*Edit*
Oh, and this certain room in home type of missions makes my fps drop from 60-90 to 0-3. But that's an old problem. Now I'm lucky if I manage to get myself to a mission terminal w/o crash.

[_____________tharien]

I crash out every 15 min or so. A+ certified, i have tried everything aside from a format and fresh instal. Dif, vid drivers, xp updates, mobo drivers, chipset drivers, sound drivers. Nothing fixes it. Just installed a couple days ago and havent gotten in an hour of game time. I crash more than i stay in game.



Win XP
Athlon XP 2100+
Via sound
512m DDR
GeForce 4 ti 4200 w/ 8x AGP
Linksys BEFSR41 router

[________Dopedupsnipa]

Ive been having a prob like this, i have XP pro, and it in full screen AO crashes every 15-40 min, in window'd mode it freezes up for about a min or 2 at a time then refreshes and works again (till it happens again). This is getting really annoying ive been trying to avoid AO lately because of it.

[Bloodwalker]

I never play in full screen so I do not know of any problems there, but in windowed mode I have the same problem as you Dopedupsnipa, especialy when I move into the IPS shop in Jobe.

Anarchy Online offers me two drivers to choose from.
I always choose Hardware Transform and Lighting (for better performance *g*), but now that I changed to Direct3D HAL and I can move freely again.


Additionaly my system builds up a huge lag when I log in in SL and then move to RK and vise versa. Have to do more testing to see if that is gone too.

Hope this helps for now.

Windows XP
Athlon 1800+
PNY Verto GForce4 Ti 4800 8x AGP
1024 MB DDR

[zombiepetter]

I am running Win XP and crash Constantly 1 out of 4 times i crashe to blue screan of death and or have a total sytem lock where my srean turns black.
the rest of the time i crash the report says i had a problem with bbr.dll file. I have had this problem since the last to paches. I have totaly reinstalled Ao sl and down loaded new paches in case of file corruption. I have lost my prefreance files so often i back it up every time i log out succsefuly instead of crashing.

My system has a 865pe neo2 chipset motherboard made by MSI, 2.6 ghz pentium 4 etc. Ati video card but have properly uninstalled old drive and installed new one with out bugs.

i have tried every thing Starting to loose intest in ao play to play not to work at debugging. please send me tell or respond if you have answers. thanx.

PS i have reformated hard drive and update Win xp online etc

[_____________Twilara]

Well i have many different problems and it must be hardware related. Thing is though that every patch seems to introduce new problems to me up to a point that the game has become unplayable for me (in fact i have cancelled my accounts .... they will run till september so if it's not fixed by then ............)

Config
Asus CUSL2-C with P3 800
384Mb Memory
Matrox Milennium G450 dual head

With Win98SE .... constant crashes after the last patch
With W2K pro same
The game just crashes away and cannot be restarted without a reboot. No automatic reboots and no BSOD

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Config
Medion 8080XL PC (P4 2,4)
Ati radeon 9600XL
768Mb memory

With WXP
Team mission reward bug. "you will not be rewarded due to a too high level team meber"
Bugged boss loot: Drop rate on boss only items is terribly low compared to a few patches ago.
(These problems were introduced about 3 patches ago)
Many times the game will just freeze up when moving
(Had this for a few months now)

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Config
AMD 1800+
768Mb memory
Geforce 4 TI 128

With W98SE
Team mission reward message but i do get the reward
Other than that this seems to be the most stable system

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Extra info

I am always running two accounts, two characters that always group together.
Both computers are connected to the internet through a router.
I am not running firewalls or virus scanners on these PC's (Only running AO)
The router is connected to the internet on ADSL broadband 8MB

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------

One last note ... when i play one computer, one account it is playable but that is NOT what i want to do.

[Cboath]

Originally posted by khadaji
I run 98 and either freeze up and must hardboot or it just reboots my system in the middle of play. This is happening as many as 10 times during a couple hours of play. It seems to only happen during team missions. After playing UO and EQ for years and just recently coming to AO, I think AO is by far a more fun game but I am about to quit and go to another because of these constant crashes. Any help would be appreciated.

KYLEB please read also

I "use" to have this exact same problem myslef. I "fixed" it inadvertently though when in the last team mission I was in i noticed i hadnt gotten a BSOD. I checked my Audio preferences and noticed i had accidently turned music off. I normally either have all sound on or all off.

2 or 3 patches ago is when i started getting BSODs only when in teams in team missions on RK with all sound on. I use to turn all sound off to get around it. Now that i have figured out what setting is causing me to get a BSOD I just leave the music off now.

System specs:
WinME: i dont have near as many probs as others and fewer problems then i had with Win98.
AMD 1100 mhz
Turtle Beach Santa Cruz sound card
MSI Nvidia FX5200 128 MB
256 Meg SDRAM

[___________Manonmars]

Athlon 1.4/512 DDR ram/Windows xp (add on to 98)/ Ge Force FX 5600 256 DDR/Cable/ all windows updates.. all updated drivers.. Crash prb 1-2 an hour .. more so in populated areas..or when zoneing .. Please someone help .. really makes you not even want to log in.

[kyleb]

I was crashing only in team mishes, very bad. Formated and reinstalled Me, sos. I then formated and installed XP pro, crashes are all gone but I think the game runs slower now, more lags and temporary freezes.

[Octopuss]

You need to switch off several services - mostly those that has anything to do with local network - who uses this?? I must say it really slows down. Switch off all those remote control services, multiple users stuff an such - just things you don't need.

You'll also save lots of memory - when I start XP now, they eat only about 85MB, which is very good.