Windows Vista Crash Problems

[richc46]

Tips on Troubleshooting Game Issues - Windows 7 Forums

 

[AlexProdigy]

Alright sorry about the delay again, but around the time of me updating my graphics card drivers I don't recall updating anything else. And as for new hardware, well you can say that my graphics card is pretty new. I only bought it around the beginning of July since my old NVIDIA card stopped working and I had to replace it.

 

[richc46]

Dont forget to get any game updates and the website.

 

[AlexProdigy]

Alright so I took a look at the link you provided me above and went through all the options. There were a couple of things I thought I should ask you about before I did anything. Firstly I haven't updated my sound card drivers in a while but that is mostly do to the fact that my sound card drivers come out over periods of 8-12 months at best and I'm not sure but I recall seeing a message saying there will be no more updates for my sound card upon my last update, this may or may not be right.

Secondly, one of the suggestions was to update my DirectX files. I didn't bother updating this yet because the only update I could find on the site was one that updates my DirectX to 9.0c and updates previous versions of DirectX. Also I'm running DirectX 10 so I'm not sure what this would do. Lastly is it possible to update my DirectX 10 to DirectX 11? or is that only a Windows 7 feature?

 

[richc46]

Check the website for the sound card updates.

DirectX 11 for Windows Vista SP2 Available for Download - Softpedia

 

[AlexProdigy]

Alright so I didn't find any new driver updates from my sound card but I did find some application updates for some of the applications that come with my card. Also I checked my dxdiag to see what version of directX I'm running because I wasn't to sure if the properties setting on my computer was right since I already have SP2. Turns out I already have DirectX 11 on my computer, but thanks for the link anyways and sorry for not checking earlier.

 

[richc46]

Try the game, see if the small changes have helped any.
Can you try the game on a computer that is about the same as yours; ram etc.?

 

[AlexProdigy]

Alright so I tried the game like you said and I think the small changes have helped the problem since I was able to play a little longer than usual before it crashes, but in the end after maybe an hour and 30 minutes i think, it still crashed.

I had a question about that dump file I sent you though, in that file you said there were drivers that were out dated. Is it possible to find which ones cause the crash or the ones that are extremely out dated and than update them?

 

[richc46]

To find drivers that need replacement the the driver verifier is used.
To get a list of old drivers in your system (the list is probably lengthy)
is to type cmd in search
in cmd type driverquery
In the case of Vista SP2. Anything older than the beginning of 2009 is considered outdated

 

[AlexProdigy]

Alright so I ran the driverquery through cmd like you said, and there were a lot of drivers. Not all of them need to be updated but a good chunk did. However the driver I was seeing I have never seen before and I have no idea where to look for updates. I used google to find a couple but none of the sites I went to told me if the download was for a specific computer or system. So I didn't download any drivers yet but what I did download was "Driver Genius Professional", the free version. Now it can scan my computer and find what drivers I need to update but will not update them for me unless I purchase the full version. I am fine with just knowing what drivers I need to update however, upon seeing the drivers that I should update I was kind of lost at where I could find them. Google didn't really work this time either since some of the drivers are for chip sets and google just gave me random Nvidia chip sets from other computers.

Here is what Driver Genius Professional told me to update:

NVIDIA nForce PCI System Management
NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
NVIDIA nForce Networking Controller
NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller
NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller
NVIDIA nForce Serial ATA Controller

Creative X-Fi Audio Processor (WDM)

So those are the 7 critical drivers it told me to update. I know where I can find the last one I think since it's just a sound card driver. But the others have me very confused, if you have any suggestions on where I can get them it would be awesome :D.

 

[richc46]

That is not enough information. Go to device manager. On the top it says view, check show hidden drivers. You now have all the drivers. Now its some common sense. Networking for example
Go to network adapters, you click on that. I see intel when I do it. Then you click on intel, then click on driver tab. All the information you need is there.

Here is the info that I use for BSOD work:
How to Find Drivers
search Google for the name of the driver
- compare the Google results with what's installed on your system to figure out which device/program it belongs to
- visit the web site of the manufacturer of the hardware/program to get the latest drivers (DON'T use Windows Update or the Update driver function of Device Manager).
- if there are difficulties in locating them, post back with questions and someone - will help you search Google for the name of the driver
- compare the Google results with what's installed on your system to figure out which device/program it belongs to
- - if there are difficulties in locating them, post back with questions and someone will try and help you locate the appropriate program.
- - The most common drivers are listed on this page: Driver Reference
- - Driver manufacturer links are on this page: Drivers and Downloads
To remove any left over driver remnants, especially from graphics cards, use driver sweeper Guru3D - Driver Sweeper

If you find any old Microsoft Drivers on the driverquery list, do not update those.

 

[richc46]

An easier method. Once I find out that it is intel. I go to the intel website, There is usually a donwload page. It asks for information OS, etc. then it comes up with the driver. Try that.

Worst case scenario, not the best way. You can go to device manager and just click update. It does the work, but you might be giving up a good intel for a cheap copy from somewhere in Canada that is know for crap.

 

[AlexProdigy]

Alright so I started to look for some of those drivers, and I ran into a little problem for some of them. Alright so the nvidia nforce serial ata controller driver download from the nvidia site requires that I know the product series in our to complete the scan and let me update them. Unfortunately I have no idea what the product series is. I went into device manager and found the drivers in there however, when I opened up the driver information tab it didn't say anything about the product series or the product name. All it said was file version: 9.99.0.8 built by: WinDDK

Have any ideas on how to find the product series? Or the product name itself?

 

[richc46]

Belarc Advisor - Free Personal PC Audit

 

[richc46]

Bottom of the page Intel will find out what you need
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/default.aspx?iid=gg_support-EN_01+home_downloadctr

 

[AlexProdigy]

Hey for the Intel site what do I choose as my OS? When I'm looking for Windows Vista 32 bit I find a variety of different ones. Ones like Windows Vista 32* (3) and Windows Vista 32* (2). My OS is Windows Vista Home Premium 32 bit so would I select the Windows Vista 32* (2) for SP2?

 

[richc46]

Look at this page Nvidia will find it for you, too
Drivers - Download NVIDIA Drivers

Let them find it for you.

You need a driver from the company that mfg your card. My example for me was intel, you need Nvidia
Use the feature that they find for you.

 

[AlexProdigy]

By the way the earlier post is because after running the automatically identify and run drivers there were no drivers for me to download so I double checked by manually going through the search by product name which ended up saying I have one driver, which depends on what my OS is which is why I asked what I should put into that search.

 

[AlexProdigy]

Ah that NVIDIA auto search tool never works for me for some reason, I believe it's because I'm running Firefox not sure though.

 

[richc46]

What did you get from Belrac?
You can use IE for the search, just type Internet Explorer in search by start button