Windows 7 - Disabling Aero Solved my crashes

[Xeryn_Star]

<p>Hello, I'm a long term eq2 player and I'm really struggling to get my new PC stable.  My old pc was windows xp and old hardware and ran eq2 with no problems.  I recently upgraded my PC including windows 7 (64bit) and my game is crashing to blue screen consistently.  It may be 5 mins or 15. I've tried running another mmorpg like Lotro and it is fine.</p><p>I've read through all these topics to see if there is anything i can do to stop it from happening.  I have put on older graphics drivers (186 Nvidia) I checked my directx which is dx11 and went to microsoft and got the directx9 one also.</p><p>I'm no computer whizz and would really appreciate it, if someone with more technical knowledge could help.  From reading posts I've ran the dxdiag and here are my pc details below.  If there is more info you would need I can post.</p><p>I know my graphics card isn't great and I hope to upgrade next year but its still an upgrade from what I had before. </p><p> <span style="color: #ff00ff;">Time of this report: 12/24/2009, 22:30:16       Machine name: ALISON-PC   Operating System: Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit (6.1, Build 7600) (7600.win7_rtm.090713-1255)           Language: English (Regional Setting: English)System Manufacturer: System manufacturer       System Model: System Product Name               BIOS: BIOS Date: 09/03/09 09:49:01 Ver: 08.00.14          Processor: Intel(R) Core(TM)2 Quad CPU    Q8300  @ 2.50GHz (4 CPUs), ~2.5GHz             Memory: 4096MB RAMAvailable OS Memory: 4096MB RAM          Page File: 1289MB used, 6898MB available        Windows Dir: C:Windows    DirectX Version: DirectX 11DX Setup Parameters: Not found   User DPI Setting: Using System DPI System DPI Setting: 96 DPI (100 percent)    DWM DPI Scaling: Disabled     DxDiag Version: 6.01.7600.16385 32bit Unicode</span></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff;">This is the blue screen: </span> <a href="http://img109.imageshack.us/i/photo2wb.jpg/">http://img109.imageshack.us/i/photo2wb.jpg/</a></p><p><span style="color: #ff00ff;">This is the error msg after reboot: <a href="http://img191.imageshack.us/i/photoud.jpg/">http://img191.imageshack.us/i/photoud.jpg/</a></span></p><p>Would really appreciate any advice, thanks.</p>

[Nionn]

<p>Sounds like a video driver issue with your graphics card.  I suggest ensuring you have the latest driver (64-Bit version).  186.xx drivers are good to go with eq2, but your driver may be corrupt or the wrong one entirely.  Just a guess from this point however...</p><p>btw the code you see is telling you this:</p><p>This problem typically occurs when you are running an application that requires lots of graphics processing. For example, this problem may occur when you play a video game on the computer.</p><p>Which leads me to faulty driver. (or possibly hardware heat issue or card memory going bad, but I bet on the previous, driver issue)</p>

[Wingrider01]

<p>that is normally associated with teh video memory managemt for graphics intensive applications, are you running a video card(s) that is overclocked either by you or by the manufacturer?</p><p>MS Knowledge base 953026 references a hotfix but it doe not pertain to Windows 7, but it does give some details on the stop</p>

[Xeryn_Star]

<p>As far as I'm aware its not overclocked.</p><p>I've removed drivers and installed newer ones but its still happening. I'm just a bit clueless of what to try next.  Will download a temperature guage to see if its related to any kind of overheating to rule it out.  Thanks for replies so far will look up the hotfix you mentioned.</p><p>Is there anything else anyone might know that I could test</p>

[Xeryn_Star]

<p>I found this link:  <a href="http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/easily-disable-vistas-aero-before-running-an-application-such-as-a-video-game/">http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/wind...s-a-video-game/</a> and set Aero settings to go off whilst in EQ2. It seems to be helping, no blue screens for a while now. </p><p>Could it be something this silly ? <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p>

[Nionn]

<p>Turning off Areo while in game and seeing improvement means your card was being taxed beyond what it could do.  SO no, it is not silly that it worked for you.  Areo in windows (the graphical UI) is very labor intensive on the card and takes a lot of resources.  Expecially on older or lower end (less ram) cards.  I am glad you found a fix for the time until you can possibly upgrade your card.  Just curious, what is the wattage on your power supply? </p><p>Maybe the power supply is not powerful enough to run everything while the card is being taxed in game.  What is the wattage of your power supply and the number on the 12V rail(s)?  I know my card requires specific wattage on the 12V rail or rails (some power supplies have more than one) and the processor alone requires no less than 400W for a power supply. My 620W power supply on the two 12v rails have  +12V1@22A, +12V2@22A meaning two rails at 22A each.  I really need to up my power to 800W and 26A on each rail, but for now I run really well with my current config.  My card is an XFX GeForce GTX 260 and it is a power hog <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/8a80c6485cd926be453217d59a84a888.gif" border="0" /></p><p>The combination of overall wattage and the amount each 12V rail supplies to the card can also affect the perfromance of the card, not to mention the overall pc. </p>

[Xeryn_Star]

<p>Still no blue screens, yaay!</p><p>My power supply is 500w, I checked the labels and the +12v is 34a (seems I have only 1) thanks for replying, I'm just delighted its working. <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /> <img src="/eq2/images/smilies/3b63d1616c5dfcf29f8a7a031aaa7cad.gif" border="0" /></p>