System Resources

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 5:16 pm

I have cable installed and now my games lock up my computer. I can play for about 30 minutes and then, locked. After rebooting, I get a System Resource Warning.

While the game is playing I have this in the system tray.

Explorer (This one I'm not sure if it's on while the game is)
Gwhotkey (For my keyboard)
Zonealarm (Firewall)
Rundll32 (No idea)
Starter (No idea)
Systray (No idea)

Any idea how to free up more?

(I have cleaned hard drive....which had .8 mb
I defrag every week.
I don't put short cuts in the system >> right now I have Soundblaster, Volume, NVIDIA Quick tweek and Zonealarm in it)

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 5:35 pm

If you're using Win98 check the contents of c:\windows\temp. If there's anything in there delete it.

Also how much physical RAM do you have, and available hard disk space?

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 6:02 pm

Originally posted by Mr Flibble
If you're using Win98 check the contents of c:\windows\temp. If there's anything in there delete it.

Also how much physical RAM do you have, and available hard disk space?

192 mb of RAM and 4.03 GB of free space in the hard drive.

Before I start deleting..Do you mean go into my harddrive and goto Windows, click show files (disregard the warning, like I do all the time) and clear (C:\WINDOWS\TEMP) 47.2 MB or (C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files) 24.1 MB

(C:\WINDOWS\TEMP) Is a pile of junk, private messages, oadist.exe , Regclean.exe, setup_wm.exe,

(C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files) shows to be cookies.

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 6:07 pm

Originally posted by Weasel
Before I start deleting..Do you mean go into my harddrive and goto Windows, click show files (disregard the warning, like I do all the time) and clear (C:\WINDOWS\TEMP) 47.2 MB or (C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files) 24.1 MB

(C:\WINDOWS\TEMP) Is a pile of junk, private messages, oadist.exe , Regclean.exe, setup_wm.exe,

(C:\WINDOWS\Temporary Internet Files) shows to be cookies.

Delete Temp files of all sorts, as they tend to take more than they say. Also, check to see if your computer may still be reading any games that have been previously deleted. Some traces may still be around, causing problems. Also, don't rule out the possiblity of a mild virus.

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 6:39 pm

I deleted (C:\WINDOWS\TEMP) And all the file except oadist.exe , Regclean.exe, setup_wm.exe, IEC72F4.TMP and IECB060.TMP are now gone. (I didn't delete the five above because it gave me the Window say : If you remove this this program might not work

Waverly · Post by **Waverly** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 6:40 pm

Just a thought; I had this happen:

After I uprgaded to XP, I reinstalled all my programs and games. Several programs, and I remember unreal tournament specifically, seemed to lock up... after some trouble shooting I realized they weren't really locked up, but ZoneAlarm had caught them accessing my ISP, and was waiting for a response whether or not to let them. Problem is, these programs were too dumb to give up focus to another program and they just stalled.

By running each of them in a window (as opposed to full screen) I was able to get them squared away and working properly. Once done, they could be run full screen again.

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 6:44 pm

ANYTHING in the c:\windows\temp directory is leftover rubbish. The more files in there, the worse windows performs. If you restart you should be able to delete the lot of them without any hassles.

Another good program for this sort of thing is the windows system resource meter. It is an optional component of windows, so it may not have been installed, but it will alert you when your system resources are getting low. If you get a warning after opening and closing a particular program, then your computer has a memory leak (an application not returning memory to the operating system after closing). Reinstalling the program causing the leak will solve the problem.

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 6:58 pm

Originally posted by Waverly
Just a thought; I had this happen:

Problem is, these programs were too dumb to give up focus to another program and they just stalled.

By running each of them in a window (as opposed to full screen) I was able to get them squared away and working properly. Once done, they could be run full screen again.

That is how it seems to be. It will freeze and then to unlock it, I have to hit the switch. I believe when it reboots the System Resources are still registering the game, even though it's not on.

I'm playing Torment right now, any idea how to force it to a window. Alt Tab brings it down to the task bar.

Originally posted by Mr Flibble

Another good program for this sort of thing is the windows system resource meter. It is an optional component of windows, so it may not have been installed, but it will alert you when your system resources are getting low. If you get a warning after opening and closing a particular program, then your computer has a memory leak (an application not returning memory to the operating system after closing). Reinstalling the program causing the leak will solve the problem.

Right now I'm getting it on reboot...but only if I reboot after a game hangs. I have the Resource Meter installed, but I have never check it while running the game (I guess I could Alt Tap and see if it shows) Right now my resourse..(all three show 85% to 90%)

HighLordDave · Post by **HighLordDave** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 7:02 pm

Which version of XP do you have? I've heard that Home Edition is buggy and riddled with compatibility issues. If that is the case, you might see about going to XP Professional.

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 7:11 pm

Originally posted by HighLordDave
Which version of XP do you have? I've heard that Home Edition is buggy and riddled with compatibility issues. If that is the case, you might see about going to XP Professional.

I have 98 Second Edition...(I will not goto XP for at least another year) but I did upgrade to I.E.6.

Aegis · Post by **Aegis** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 7:13 pm

@HLD: Whats the difference? Will XP Pro run OpenGL drivers?

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 7:24 pm

The biggest differrence between XP Pro and home edition is networking. You cannot connect a home edition PC to an NT or win2k domain. All the interface features such as DirectX and OpenGL are still there.

@Weasel, has this problem been occuring since upgrading to IE6? Or any other changes to your system? I see you're using zonealarm, which can be really picky about things trying to access any networking subsystems. Does the problem continue to occur if you disable this?

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 7:33 pm

Originally posted by Mr Flibble

@Weasel, has this problem been occuring since upgrading to IE6? Or any other changes to your system? I see you're using zonealarm, which can be really picky about things trying to access any networking subsystems. Does the problem continue to occur if you disable this?

IE6 is the only thing I have added, and was cut off during the download the first time I tried. This lead to having to reinstall 5.5 and then downloading 6 again. It then worked.

Today I thought about disconnecting Zone and see, but could not figure out how to turn the internet off.

, I just now got of the phone and the man said ..no cut off switch, pull the plug out of the wall and it will be off then. Once I want back on-line, plug it in and reboot.

I guess that is what I'm fixing to try. Thanks "all" for the help, I will see what it does now.

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Mon Apr 15, 2002 11:53 pm

Well turning off Zonealarm didn't solve the problem.

But it did get me to thinking. I wasn't home when the cable company came and installed the modem. My wife was here and she told me it took them three hours to install it. I could not figure out why it took so long..till now (I believe) I believe they had to reinstall windows..(Network Password box is now appearing when I boot the computer and I know I had it disabled and my History of Searches was wiped out....along with my passwords.

So now I need to figure out what they changed to cause the lock-up.

(Now for a new line of thinking...

Patches for the game. When I got the game I when to ZNet and found a patch for it and when ahead and installed it. Tonight I go to Planescapes Torment website and find a newer patch.

The thing is I only played the game for three or four hours (Over 5 days) before I had cable installed.

Try the newer patch and hope?

Mr Flibble · Post by **Mr Flibble** » Tue Apr 16, 2002 1:13 am

I didn't apply any patches to PS:T and it worked perfectly. It's certainly worth trying though.

Cable modems in New Zealand are based on a static IP address assigned by the ISP, so I can only assume yours is the same system. This would mean the installers woul dhave to make some changes to your networking, and possibly install some hardware (network card or cable modem). That would explain the logon dialog box, but not the missing passwords or history. personally I'd contact the installers and find out exactly what they did.

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Tue Apr 16, 2002 8:46 am

Well the patch caused more problems than it fixed.

Now when I start the game it askes for CD2..(which is in the cd drive already)

The only difference I can see to cause this.

Without the patch it calls for CD2 in D:/

With the patch it calls for CD 2 in d

I believe I will start all over..delete everything except my saves...(Deleting the auto save in case it was corrupted)

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Tue Apr 16, 2002 12:15 pm

Originally posted by Weasel
Well the patch caused more problems than it fixed.

Now when I start the game it askes for CD2..(which is in the cd drive already)

The only difference I can see to cause this.

Without the patch it calls for CD2 in D:/

With the patch it calls for CD 2 in d

I believe I will start all over..delete everything except my saves...(Deleting the auto save in case it was corrupted)

Check the Torment.ini file to see the path that CD2 is looking for it should be something like d:\cd2\ or if it is copied to your hard disk you will have to specify the exact directory.

Weasel · Post by **Weasel** » Tue Apr 16, 2002 2:50 pm

Originally posted by Mr Sleep

Check the Torment.ini file to see the path that CD2 is looking for it should be something like d:\cd2\ or if it is copied to your hard disk you will have to specify the exact directory.

I reloaded the whole thing ..without the patch. But before I did I tried to edit the .ini. file.

From D:\CD2\

to

d:\cd2\

and it still said put in cd2. Maybe I should have tried d:\CD2\ but to tell the truth, I had enough of it.

I believe it's fixed though..no lock ups so far. Could a file been corrupted and reloading the whole game fix it?

Mr Sleep · Post by **Mr Sleep** » Tue Apr 16, 2002 3:08 pm

Originally posted by Weasel

I reloaded the whole thing ..without the patch. But before I did I tried to edit the .ini. file.

From D:\CD2\

to

d:\cd2\

and it still said put in cd2. Maybe I should have tried d:\CD2\ but to tell the truth, I had enough of it.

I believe it's fixed though..no lock ups so far. Could a file been corrupted and reloading the whole game fix it?

I don't think the change in case would make any difference. You could try copying CD2's contents to the hard disk and setting the ini to read that. Did you check for dirt on the CD?