# PC is crashing again - can anyone help?



## raven (May 7, 2002)

My PC crashes when I run games on it - especially annoying as I've just loaded GTA Vice City and every time I get somewhere it freezes.

I got an error message about the display driver, but don't know how to do anything about it. I looked on the device manager, but it says the display driver is working normally.

Can anyone help please?! ???


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## kmpowell (May 6, 2002)

If its a realtivly old PC, make sure your DirectX is fully updated...

Link removed just incase Sa|nTT is correct


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## aidb (Mar 19, 2003)

Have you got the latest driver update? (Sorry, obvious question) :-[


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Nope Direct X might not be the problem - and it could even add to his woes.

I need more info re OS (Win98 etc) , the graphics card (GeForce - ATI ) and the drivers you currently have. Also give some info re what the crash actually is.


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

KMP - eg - Voodoo card if u update to DX 8 or 9 will feck up a system real good - DX 7 is the only one to run.

DX9 should really only be installed with a card & drivers that support it (ATI 9700 pro GFfx) otherwise DX8 is more than enough.


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## kmpowell (May 6, 2002)

> KMP - eg - Voodoo card if u update to DX 8 or 9 will feck up a system real good - DX 7 is the only one to run.
> 
> DX9 should really only be installed with a card & drivers that support it (ATI 9700 pro GFfx) otherwise DX8 is more than enough.


Thats why i said, if your system is relativly old. but in heindsight, perhaps its best he doesn't. :-[


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

> Nope Direct X might not be the problem - and it could even add to his woes.
> 
> I need more info re OS (Win98 etc) , the graphics card (GeForce - ATI ) and the drivers you currently have. Also give some info re what the crash actually is.


Thanks for the replies. The PC is about 1 year old, Windows XP, the graphics card is NVIDIA GeForce3 Ti 200.

DirectX actually came with the game I think - I seem to recall it installing...


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Ok - what to do

Reboot machine -

go to www.microsoft.com/directx and download the latest version of DX which is 9a - there is a small web installation file to get then the rest of the files are loaded from the net.

Once done reboot machine

Now disable any antivirus you have running and go here -

http://www.nvidia.com/view.asp?IO=winxp-2k_44.03

Download the nvidia driver and install it.

Reboot machine

Then try the game out - if it works fine.....otherwise get back here and tell me what happened.


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

> Ok - what to do
> 
> Reboot machine -
> 
> ...


OK - done all that, played the game, it crashed big time (ie blue screen with message rather than just freezing). The key part of the message was as follows:

DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL

Not surprisingly, I've not idea what that meant. So I turned it off and on, and then was put into Safe mode from which I couldn't get out of, even with turning it on and off. I eventually clicked on "Load defaults" or something like that, and it eventually booted up again.

So.... waddya think? :-/


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Ok - BSOD - that is not good - sounds like something is corrupted more than a simple driver update should fix.

The IRQ - that is basically a number given to a bit of hardware attached on your motherboard - like an id number - sounds like something is in conflict.

Can you give me a little more detail on the contents of your PC - sound card etc....

Also - I take it the version of GTA VC has been bought from the shops and not downloaded from the internet?


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## jdn (Aug 26, 2002)

XP is usually good at handling IRQs. I had a similar problem in the past and turned out to be due to failing memory. Temporary solution was to slow the RAM down a little in BIOS. also check they are all seated in correctly and have not crept or got very dusty.


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

> Ok - BSOD - that is not good - sounds like something is corrupted more than a simple driver update should fix.
> 
> The IRQ - that is basically a number given to a bit of hardware attached on your motherboard - like an id number - sounds like something is in conflict.
> 
> ...


Yeah, it's a genuine version of GTA VC. Sound card is Creative Soundblast (I think). It's an Athlon XP1900, 1.2Ghz, 512mb of RAM. Does that help?

JDN - didn't understand what you meant about BIOS and IRQs. I'm happy to play around, but just bear in mind I've absolutely no idea what I'm doing. 

Thanks for the help!


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Raven - gimme 1/2 hour to get my other pc back up from an upgrade and I list what to try next.

What you can do atm is get the full version of DX9 - not the webupdate version - details on DX9 site I gave you.

You will have the proper drivers already downloaded.

Also as backup get a version of DX version 8 - again full version approx 9mb from MS DX website.


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## jgoodman00 (May 6, 2002)

Their website has a number of patches available. It might be worth going there & seeing if any fit your problem. You could also try contacting their tech support.

Also, a search on MS KB returned a fair few hits for


> DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL


. It might be worth looking through a few of the answers they provide, although most do not seem relevant to the problem...


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

By the way, ages ago, when trying to get my Psion Wavefinder to work on Windows XP, I loaded some Win2K drivers from the internet. I thought I had long since got rid of them (along with the Psion) but to be honest, I can't really remember what I did.

I'm loading the directX stuff now...


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

> Raven - gimme 1/2 hour to get my other pc back up from an upgrade and I list what to try next.
> 
> What you can do atm is get the full version of DX9 - not the webupdate version - details on DX9 site I gave you.
> 
> ...


Maybe I'm being stupid, but I can't find the full version, just the webupdate version. And the version 8 does not say it's for XP...?


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Sorry Raven - should have given you full links.....will post for you.


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

Thanks - I'm at work now, but if you post the links, I'll download them tonight.

Cheers,

Ed


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

DX8 - http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... X80eng.exe

Unlikely to be used.

Raven - uninstall current nvidia drivers though the Control Panel allow PC to reboot.
Reinstall DX9 from previous link - reboot.
Reinstall the latest nVidia drivers from previous link.


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

> DX8 - http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... X80eng.exe
> 
> Unlikely to be used.
> 
> ...


Just downloaded the 8a, but got the message that it is not designed to be used with XP, and then that was it...


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

OK - done it all - let's see what happens! Cheers!


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## raven (May 7, 2002)

sa|nTT - just a quick thank you for your help - it seems to have done the trick! ;D


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## saint (Dec 6, 2002)

Your welcome


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