Matrix Games Forums

It could be a faulty power supply in the PC. Modern CPU boards apparently monitor the power being supply and will shutdown the processor if the power drops below a certain point.
A work mate had a problem where every time he moved his USB mouse, the PC locked up. Most times he dialled up using his modem, the PC would lock up.
He bought a new PC power supply with a bit more watts, put in in, and now does not have any lock up problems.
I myself am having the odd lock up issue (WIN98SE) and I also think my power supply is iffy. If I move my optical mouse while online, it will some times freeze up requiring a hard boot.
Michael

It's simple enough to add additional custom logging to a game.

Why not just have a logfile created at the end of each turn or other relevant interval of time with the current state of all leaders and other related details?

This could be a simple comma delimited type format I'm sure some player would be willing to feed into an excel file, simple program, etc.

Since its OBVIOUS the problem does exist and for well more than just a few people.

If a mechanic doesn't exist in the game as is, to narrow in on the bug, why not add one?

I believe it is the responsibility of the player to find a bug ONLY when they are the only one, or perhaps one of a very very small number, that are experiencing it.

Anything beyond that really should go back to the developer. And as I said, if there isn't anyway to track it down, add one. (Even if its in a temporary new build that only those who are experiencing it and would wish to help might get) [:D]

Hi all,

ORIGINAL: Mogami

Currently I have a rather curious situation on my machine.

If I turn on my computer and do nothing, within 3 or 4 minutes it locks up.
If I turn on my computer and go online within 3 or 4 minutes my machine locks up.
If however I run WITP (or any program) my machine does not lock up.
In order to post this message I have WITP running in the background (doing my morning PBEM turns)
If I exited WITP and tried to remain here and post my machine would lock up.
I've tried everything I know to fix this but I don't understand where to begin.

(It's like my machine is saying "play WITP or else")

Get "HijackThis!" program, install it, run it and post the log of it (i.e. the report it creates) here!

http://www.hijackthis.de/index.php?langselect=english

It will list _ALL_ programs that your machine runs at start-up (in all possible ways this can be done) and will show any possible malicious software there...

I have been using this little freeware gem for years (and I am IT professional)...


Leo "Apollo11"

Logfile of HijackThis v1.97.7
Scan saved at 3:35:37 AM, on 1/2/2005
Platform: Windows ME (Win9x 4.90.3000)
MSIE: Internet Explorer v6.00 SP1 (6.00.2800.1106)

Running processes:
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\KERNEL32.DLL
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSGSRV32.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\mmtask.tsk
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MPREXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\EXPLORER.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\SYSTRAY.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\WMIEXE.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\RESTORE\STMGR.EXE
D:\MATRIX GAMES\VERSION 2.30\WAR IN THE PACIFIC.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DDHELP.EXE
C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\PSTORES.EXE
C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTERNET EXPLORER\IEXPLORE.EXE
C:\HIJACKTHIS\HIJACKTHIS.EXE

R0 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Start Page = http://www.matrixgames.com/forums
R1 - HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\Main,Window Title = Microsoft Internet Explorer provided by America Online
O2 - BHO: (no name) - {53707962-6F74-2D53-2644-206D7942484F} - C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\SDHelper.dll
O3 - Toolbar: &Radio - {8E718888-423F-11D2-876E-00A0C9082467} - C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\MSDXM.OCX
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [ScanRegistry] C:\WINDOWS\scanregw.exe /autorun
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [SystemTray] SysTray.Exe
O4 - HKLM\..\Run: [3dfx Tools] rundll32.exe 3dfxCmn.dll,UpdateRegSettings
O4 - HKLM\..\RunServices: [*StateMgr] C:\WINDOWS\System\Restore\StateMgr.exe
O4 - HKCU\..\Run: [SpybotSD TeaTimer] C:\Program Files\Spybot - Search & Destroy\TeaTimer.exe
O8 - Extra context menu item: Download with GetRight - C:\Program Files\GetRight\GRdownload.htm
O8 - Extra context menu item: Open with GetRight Browser - C:\Program Files\GetRight\GRbrowse.htm
O9 - Extra button: Real.com (HKLM)
O16 - DPF: {39B0684F-D7BF-4743-B050-FDC3F48F7E3B} (FilePlanet Download Control Class) - http://www.fileplanet.com/fpdlmgr/cabs/ ... 0_0_44.cab
O16 - DPF: {0000000A-9980-0010-8000-00AA00389B71} - http://download.microsoft.com/download/ ... sp9dmo.cab
O16 - DPF: {D27CDB6E-AE6D-11CF-96B8-444553540000} (Shockwave Flash Object) - http://download.macromedia.com/pub/shoc ... wflash.cab

Mogami,

On the site he listed, paste a copy of the log file it created and hit the analyze button at the bottom. It will tell you what is or is not safe.

Hi all,

"Mogami", nothing suspicious there (which is good news)...


BTW, any special reason why using WinME and not WinXP?


Leo "Apollo11"

ORIGINAL: 2ndACR

Mogami,

On the site he listed, paste a copy of the log file it created and hit the analyze button at the bottom. It will tell you what is or is not safe.

Turn first, forum second![:-][8D] I swear this guy attends high tea for the casual conversation. Cucumber sandwich anyone?[8|][:D]

quote:


Currently I have a rather curious situation on my machine.

If I turn on my computer and do nothing, within 3 or 4 minutes it locks up.
If I turn on my computer and go online within 3 or 4 minutes my machine locks up.
If however I run WITP (or any program) my machine does not lock up.
In order to post this message I have WITP running in the background (doing my morning PBEM turns)
If I exited WITP and tried to remain here and post my machine would lock up.
I've tried everything I know to fix this but I don't understand where to begin.

Take a look at your BIOS, in Power Management; it may be trying to go in low power mode on inactivity. Better to disable all Power Management (APM, APCI, etc...) while you track this down.

Also, take a look at your Control Panel, also under Power Management; disable anything enabled for Power Management (stand-by, hibernate, turn-off hard drive, etc...).

Also, enter the BIOS setup and just watch it for several minutes. See if it will lock up at the BIOS setup if you don't do anything there. If it locks, then it certainly is a hardware problem; if it doesn't, then it may be anything.

Also, disable your screensaver. If have seen machine locking up when the screensaver tries to jump in.

Also, did you download the latest updates for Spybot? It was broken by Oct-2004 or so under Windows ME. I know for sure the Oct-2004 update was broken for Windows ME; I don't know if it is fixed already or not. Disable it and see if the problem persists.

F.

Hi, I did all those things before I had the problem. I never run screen savers and I turn off all the power stuff. The machine is getting old.

Hmm.. with power management and screen savers out of the way, my next bet would be (tremble) virus.

I don't see an anti-virus as a running process. When was the last time you ran a check for viruses?

F.

Hi, The problem began after I reformatted my drive and reinstalled my OS and then changed to cable internet provider but before I ever visted any web sites.

ORIGINAL: Mogami

Hi, The problem began after I reformatted my drive and reinstalled my OS and then changed to cable internet provider but before I ever visted any web sites.

Can you disconnect the cable modem? If so, does that make a difference?

Hi, The problem began after I reformatted my drive and reinstalled my OS and then changed to cable internet provider but before I ever visted any web sites.

Time to get some bigger guns, then. Try these programs:

http://www.memtest.org/

MemTest 86+ will stress your memory. Good thing about it is that it boots from floppy, so you will not rely on Windows.

Now, you also want a CPU stress test program; this is a good one:

http://www.diagnoseprogramm.de/indexe.htm

Run it from a floppy, to not rely on Windows. You will need to DOS boot floppy; either one of these places should do:

http://bootdisk.com
http://www.freedos.org

If your computer passes both the memory and CPU tests, then there's a good chance that the problem is a Windows driver. Now, if any of them fail or freeze up, then you got a defective hardware (which may be caused by many problems, like a ground loop through your cable modem, etc...).

F.

ORIGINAL: mapr

ORIGINAL: Mogami

If it were simply bad code it would always appear in every game.
Since the game does run without producing bugs for some and not for others the answer is to be found it what exists in one place but not the other.

I disagree - I've fixed and produced [:(] some bugs that appears just like that... Mostly it have been because of error in using pointers or errors in memory management. Mostly these two are same thing. At some cases results for these caused problems only at certain systems, and apparently randomly.

Still bad code. It's just bad code in an execution path that seldom gets executed and is very difficult to reproduce. This game is a very primative, procedural 'C' (DOS game on steroids) spaghetti code thing. These kinds of problems are very typical of that obsolete development style.