Crashing to Desktop

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

I have had a problem with AC crsahing to desktop since about September of 2003. I have tried MANY MANY things to fix this problem and narrow down what could be causing it. When playing AC I could have no problems for hours then just crash, other times I crash 2 minutes after I log in then 5 times right in a row. The computer that has been having this problem is running: AMD 2000+, 512 megs of ram, Windows 2000 Pro, Geforece 2 ti 64 meg, Audigy gamer. At first I thought it was being caused by my video card, I tried many diffrent drivers for it nothing worked, I tried reinstalling windows no go, I tried a full system wipe...nothing. Finaly I tried a diffrent video card (from a computer that was not having this issue) I still crash. It crashes with out third party programs running or even installed.

Another Thing I have noticed is when you are in AC and you crash you dont see the erorr. If you happen to be alt tabbed when it happens you see it (Over the 5-6 months I have seen it a few times ;-)) It says: Client.exe has generated erorrs and will be shut down.

[Trident]

Hi,

Could you PM me what the errors say that you have occuring?


Thanks

[KirillHuntersun]

I've seen this on occasion myself. The errors say,

"Client.exe has generated errors and will be shut down. You will need to restart the program. An error log is being created."

There's a cancel button on the dialog box. No reference to the errors it generated, and no reference to where the error log is located.

For reference, Win2K Pro, 512MB memory, Athlon XP 2600+ processor, GeForce2 MX400 64MB Video, NVidia NForce Motherboard with MCP-T southbridge for sound and network - IIRC, sound is run as Creative Soundstorm Dolby and LAN is both a Realtek MAC (not being used) and a 3Com MAC.

This looks, to me, suspiciously like it's causing an issue with the OS and the OS is shutting it down, rather than the client itself failing.

(Edited to correct message, as I just got it again.)

[Jovesh]

I should tab out and see if I see this message myself - I know that once I have my first crash, I can just re-enter the game, but they tend to happen more frequently after the first, and I end up having to quit and reboot soon (if I don't have the machine just autoreboot from inside the game).

The threads on this that I know of:

From the vault technical board (http://vnboards.ign.com/message.asp?topic=63505081&start=64306562)

From these boards General Discussion area (http://forums.ac.turbinegames.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=2340) (there was no Tech Support board here then)

It would be great to know what the cause of it is - I have been replacing drivers AND hardware trying to get it to end, but the cause of it seems to be AC. =(

[QuickBlade]

This is the exact same problem I have been having since January.
The error msg I get (when I can see it) is
"rundll32 has caused an unusual error in client.exe".

When it happens it locks my system solid and I have to reboot by pushing the reboot button on my comp.

I've tried everything I can think of and it is still happenning.

[Zharina]

Several times when I've logged in a character, I make it in far enough to read the text box and see the following error twice...

Failed to leave chat room!

I then find myself dumped to desktop with the following error box there which is the client.exe msg that others on this thread are reporting.

At this point my computer is so thoroughly bogged down that I am forced to reboot. Any suggestions for a fix to this problem?

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

What specs are you guys running, I have been trying to figure out if there is one constant thing that everyone with this problem has. And if this occurs even when you dont have decal running or even installed.

[Jovesh]

my (vague) specs:

AMD box (I forget the mobo & chip brands/stats offhand - about 10 months old)

1gig of ram

Windows XP (home)

Radeon 9200 (128mb) video

SB Live! audio

cable modem, no router installed (computer direct to the modem)

no decal or dual logging installed



From what I have read it is the XP/2k users that are affected, and it has made me want to drag out my old computer with 98se on it... (although some of the 98 folks are having mouse lag, but I might take my chances on that and try it anyway).


The key points: it is NOT a router issue (since I don't have one) and it is NOT decal or dual logging (neither have ever been installed) - one of which is what everyone's short answer to the problem tends to be... getting really tired of that.

[QuickBlade]

here are my full specs.

Custom self built comp with all seperate components (non- integreted).
450 watt power supply
800Mhz Intell P III processor
256 ram
32meg ATI magnum vid card (updated with latest drivers)
sound blaster pro
Windows ME
direct to cable modem with no firewalls or routers

System has worked flawlessly (3+years of AC) up until Jan 2004 when this started happening.

Happens with or without decal.

my ping times are excellent, both for AC and doing a tracert from dos prompt.

testing on system verifies that everything is in top notch condition.

computer is clean from spy ware, viruses, scripts, etc.

AC game, ms zone have both been uninstalled and re-installed twice so far.

temp files cleaned, system scanned for errors and defragged once every 2 days.

not much more I can do..
I'm putting the ball in Turbine's court. It's not my computer. This I know for a fact.

[Madgic]

I am getting the same problems especially on laggy evenings, or perhaps that could be the problem they arent laggy i am?

I have 2 computers 1 is used for the childrens school work and is quite plain no decal installed verry basic graphics card and no sound card just a basic PC but runs the game to allow me to mule and check quests and maps etc while running my main computer.

The main computer is all singing all dancing cant give you the exact specs to it becaus eim a house wife and couldnt even tell you if my VDU is the thing i type on or the thing i look at LOL.

Both computers experience what these people have been saying I find it happens if i am trying to type in allegiance chat while portaling or if im portalling to a new area or if im runing outside and i hit a "lag wall" as i call it sometimes i freeze up for a long time other times i just boot out instantly with a blue screen and message or to the dektop with a small error about my exe client.

Not sure if this helps but its mainly to let you know that 2 completely different computers with completley different confurations in the same room with the same style connection are both effected.

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

Still waiting for any help...

[Zharina]

This always happens to me when I am switching from one character to another. It started after the implementation of allegiance chat. And it occurs on all of my systems regardless of whether decal is operating or not.

[Kash]

Im about done with this game if i cant get the crashing to desktop stuff fixed. I been playing since retail release and have never had this sorta problem.

I log in and I can always count on 2-3 boots per hour minimum.
Some days I get booted 3-4 times in the 1st 15 mins.

if I run decal I get booted if I dont run decal I get booted. Seems like it sarted about january and has only become worse.

Any input you guys can come up with would be great. I dont play AC very often any more but the thought of just not playing at all is becoming very attractive as all it does is cause me grief.

Im right on par with the peeps above using
win2k Professional
AMD xp2500+
abit NF7
512 megs of DDR3500
Gforce4 ti4200 128 meg (msi)

[QuickBlade]

Please...
Will one of you Turbine techies address this problem for us.

We and others on a similiar thread are having these problems.
We are the ones that have posted. I personally know of others in my clan who are having the same problem yet not posting here or anywhere about it. I'm sure there are many more also who are not posting about this problem.

I have done everything your tech help pages say to do and I still have this problem. Something is awry someplace.
Please help us. We are loyal customers and want to remain so.

[QuickBlade]

Bump to the top.
I'm gonna keep this here until we get an answer. Trident..I have sent you a pm about this.

[Kash]

Is there any sort of log created that we can send to the tech support guys to help them out?

I been looking through my system but this Dr watson thing is the only sort of error log thing I can find and its a bit confusing.

"Client.exe has generated errors and will be shut down. You will need to restart the program. An error log is being created."


If i t would just tell me where the error log is being created!

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

Im pretty sure it is windows that makes the erorr logs.

[Kash]

The Dr watson thing is part of the windows 2k pro operating system. Im just unsure if its somthing I need to initiate or where to find any logs its created. The help file tells me quiet a bit but wont give me specifics that I can relate to.

[Bunyun]

I too get randon crashes to desktop. They almost always seem to happen while I am attack something. I have a 2.2ghz p4, windows 2K, gforce 4ti video and a soundblaster card.

[Monteus]

Wether on a fast computer or a slow computer.. Ac has run excellent for 3 years. With few minor problems inbetween.

Now I start playing again this feb, after not playing for a few months, and wammo.. nothing but packet loss, and bootage! I can go for a few hours sometimes with no problems, but it wont be long till I get booted. The computer freezes and I have to reboot like many others on this thread.

So far I have just been dealing with it as best I can. it sucks real bad, but I have hope that it will get fixed eventually. I know I have done everything possible to see what the problem is. Fixing any errors, checking graphics, os, memory, and the like. But while so many others thing run ok, do ok, and I dont expierence any problems... . that is untill im playing ac :\

Bump for our pleas for help. Thanks, no matter what turbine. Im behind ya, and will be patient for your hard working efforts. I love what your doing, excited about everything ya got going. I love this game and am happy to be able to play it, regardless of these mishaps. :-)

:]

[Zharina]

To make things really interesting, if I shut down all of the programs and restart them, when I log in, I get a message telling me that there's already a client running on my machine and that I should use that instead. However, there's no such animal. Even my windows task manager doesn't see it. I spent two full hours tonight trying to play but unable to log in. I really wish someone would at least acknowledge that they've seen our posts.

[Sunspiral]

I just got some pixrender error that booted me to desktop. Was second time today.

Fun fun....

[Wizz_FF]

Trident.

I very often get the same error message and also crash to desktop randomly. This occurs also when changing characters to log in. If there is any way to retreeve a log file over Client.exe's numberous crashes, please inform us how to get a hold of this information so we can help you in resolving this error. Let it be known that this happens a lot, and many of my guild members are also complaining about it.

Let it also be known that this happens with or without Decal.

Besides, why does Client.exe grow from 28mb to over 200mb if you have been playing for a long time? It gets terrible slow for my computer to process all that data in regular memory and it starts to use the virtual mem on the harddrive instead.

[thebantons]

Wonderful, an new thread to post about my problems about :)

I have been having these problems for the longest time and have not been able to find any solutions, i have been discussing them on The Vault and other places, but aren't any closer to a solution than before.

Actually, I'm ecstatic about any official word from Turbine, even if it's "I'm moving this to our techical board". :D

I'll try compiling a list of threads from the vault about the issue as well as my comp specs and my experiences and post it here.

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

Still waiting on a response.

[Kash]

Last night I tried removing everything AC related and editing everything out of the registery then re-installing everything. All I can say is WOW.... AC crashes faster and more often than intoxicated seniors on the autobahn. I used to be able to crash 3 or 4 times then Id get a break of maybe an hour to play. Heh now I get 5 mins to play and then crashes to desk top..heck I dont even have to do anything just stand there LOL. Looks like no more AC for me till the find a cure :(

[Lancelore]

I only can repeat what others have said before. Random crashes to desktop or to the server conection screen. Sometimes a few in one evening, some days none. This is going on at least a few months.
Anyway, I cant relate it to special events in game.

First I thought it was Decal, but reading about no use of thirth party software, I can only draw one conclusion: It is a bug in AC software.

Also thought on a moment that it was a hardware problem, but seeing howmany different systems crash, it can't be.

Also heard other players in game complain about this bug. I don't think they have written it to this thread.

A solution would be very welcome.

[Jovesh]

still have not managed to catch an error log message, but still crashing (w/occasional machine reboots)


I *am* learning to avoid autorun though =)

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

It really sucks when you are fighting a big mob, that is what most of my deaths are from now =(

[Kash]

Bump

[Papa LazarouWS]

my specs r :

amd athlon 2.2ghz
512 ddr ram
geforce 4 64mb mmx
SB live 5.1 sound card
windows xp

i recently rejoined the game, had no problems when i quit (sometime in 2002) but now my system locks up after a few minutes to an hour... please can we get some official help on this matter turbine??

[Papa LazarouWS]

Bump

[Dark Essence]

Papa try PMing one of the devs

[Nalizan]

I was having problems with crashing to desktop right after clicking play. I never got to hourglass screen or char select. I switched from a Ti4600 to a ATI 9500 Pro with no change. If I uninstall and reinstall the game I can play right after I reinstall but if I shutdown or reboot I have problems again. Now that I am on the Radeon card I uninstalled / reinstalled again and everything worked fine till I shut down the computer and then powered back up to see if problem was resolved. Now I can't even use 3D acceloration it says my hardware is not compatible or some **** . this is SO FREAKING aggrivating will someone please come up with a solution or this may be the end of my AC days.

Comp Specs are :

Pentium 4 2.4gig chip
Soyo P4S Dragon Ultra Mother Board
2 512 DDR Chips of Memory (1gig total)
ATI Radeon 9500Pro 128M DDR Vid Card

[Bunyun]

If a developer reads this, at least make it so when I am logging out after a crash to desktop, (which happens 2-3 times a day), I still have melee defense. I almost always crash in combat and when I log out I go to zero melee defense and get killed by things I should be able to evade normaly.

Another idea is to let me log back into my character without having him logout when I restart the game.

[Papa LazarouWS]

any tricks to getting the devs to answer? ive PM'd two so far about this problem and havent received a single answer. please give me some help on this turbine.

[Kash]

A solution sure would be nice. On a brighter note Im finding its possibly location related? I logged in last night and I got booted no less than 4 times in a 1/2 hr period standing at the mansion. When I actually ventured out to VoD (I know not too bright huh) I was able to stay logged in for 2 ful buff cycles.

[blizz]

I'm having the same problem, it crashes randomly to the desktop and i don't see a error message although i do here the sound as if a error message should be there. i've tried messaging tech support and they've been working with me to get a solution but so far i've had no luck. I've tried everything from drivers to playing without any 3d acceleration to playing with no sound and i've even reformated. i've fully updated all the possible drivers i could think of. Still happens randomly and nothing i do seems to prevent it.

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

What are your specs Blizz?

[Roadkill]

I don't crash to desktop, but my computer randomly locks up. I've been banging my head against a wall trying to figure this one out. I've bought new memory chips thinking it was going bad. I've formatted the hard drive, reinstalled windows and AC. (more than once). I've tried new drivers for sound card and video card. I've tried reformatting the hard drive with and without decal installed.

I'm finding that this is removing the fun from the game for me and making it nearly unplayable. The lockup occurs without warning. I've been playing since the game was on the new release section of the shelf. I've had lag all along, even occasionally booted back to desktop and sometimes problems logging in. But never until recently have I had my system lock up. Even ctrl-alt-delete does nothing when this happens. So far it has not happened on the odd occasion when I'm alt-tabbed out, so i cannot say if it might be producing an error message.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

My system specs are:

AMD Athlon - 950 Mhz
384 Meg Ram
NVidea Geforce 2 MX 400 video card, 32 Meg
Soundblaster 128D
Linksys Lnepci II ethernet card
Linksys BEFSR41 Router

I don't think its my router or ethernet setup since it worked fine for a couple years before now. Video card and soundcard are the same as they've been all along also.

Edit: Windows ME

[blizz]

My specs are,
P4 2.3Ghz
1G DDR Ram
GA-8s665FX Ultra Mother Board
3dForce fx5200Le 128mb DDR Graphics card
Soundblaster Audigy
Windows Xp

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

Seems a lot of people have Geforce and AMD...maybe there is a problem in there...

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

Well it seems that turbine does not really want to help with this issue and since it has just been getting worse...as in 4 crashes withing 10 minutes I am going to be unsubscribing. :mad:

[Wasted years]

I also get dumped to the desktop over and over again. :( Help

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

what are your specs ? and are you running Decal ?

[Wasted years]

It happens with or without decal running...

Specs:

Windows XP Home
AMD XP 3200+
Abit NF7-S Mobo
512 DDR ram
Radeon 9800 Pro
Sound Blaster Audigy

All drivers are current and running Direct X9.0b

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

I have a feeling it may be AMD/Soundblaster related...

[Orkin_Lady]

^

[trevis]

I am also having the problem with AC crashing to the desktop. I just started playing around january 2004, at first i didnt have the problem, but in the last month AC has been crashing. I didn't do any major changes to my system or anything like that. As stated in previous posts, it doesnt matter if I am running Decal or not. In an attempt to get it working again, I formatted my hard drive, reinstalled windows XP pro, then installed AC without decal or anything else, i still had the same problem. I then went ahead and installed decal while the problems continued. I checked one of the support pages and did as it said, updated my soudn driver, updated my video driver, and then i installed the newest directx. Still crashes. Crashing seems to happen randomly anywhere from several an hour, to 2 a day, makes it kinda hard to play the game when your fighting something and then your game crashes. My specs for my computer are:

AMD XP 1700+
Geforce fx 5500 w/ 256mb ram
512mb ram
not sure of mobo
Windows XP Pro
SoundBlaster Live! 5.1

Please devs work a little harder at fixing this, it seems quite a few people are having this same exact problem, and I don't know about the rest of them, but I'm thinking about giving up the game, even though it is one of the best mmorpg's I have ever played, because it is starting to become unplayable.


-Trevis

[trevis]

Just something to add:

On one of the tech support pages, it says to try running the game with no sound, and not in 3d mode. I did both but to no avail it seems to crash the same amount of times.


-Trevis

[trevis]

bump ... I think this one could use a dev response.

[wids_1]

Heya folks

Not sure if you read my post .. but my hubby was having same problems with his pc .. he updated drivers on motherboard( he had recently reformated and possibly didnt do this is why the problem ) but after he did update drivers he played for over an hour and it didnt boot him out of game.. not sure if this could be the same problem for you all but its worth a try

[huan]

never figured AC to be a system hog, but it seems like this is a memory leak.

[trevis]

Just another thing to add, it seems my game does not crash if i am alt+tabbed

[huan]

the first 2 days it was fine. Better than fine actually. Suddenly it's just a crash hog and it's not a memory leak because I have never used more than 75% of available RAM, so I'm just wondering what it is. Also the weird thing is, it happened during this patch... so I'm wondering if the patch has messed up some registry info.

[Sangria]

I had that problem when I tried to use a Radeon ATI video card. Once I changed to GForce it has worked fine. Yet there are others in game who use Radeon just fine and love it.

I use Win98 and have not had that problem - but I do suffer mouse lag even after updating drivers. For those having that problem hit alt+L . I have no idea why that combination works - it just does.


It would be nice if they fixed those that too.

[huan]

http://forums.ac.turbinegames.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=8223

The post is there, read it and laugh about Turbine tech help.

[Daz'ar Tae]

I have been having the same problem that all you have been having. I tried huan's method and it did not work for me. It might for you, try it out; but back up your original client.exe if you do.

My specs are as follows:

Windows 2k Pro
Athlon 2200+
GeForce4 Ti 4200
256 DDR
SB Live!

[Daz'ar Tae]

Well I fixed my problem, for now, anyway.

I had AC installed in another directory and it had a client.exe up to date as of the february update. I copied that and dropped it into my main folder, downloaded the update from the Zone, and it is working just fine. I haven't crashed to desktop since that last post, which is unheard of if one is suffering from the little glitch.

[SCM]

I have the same crash problem as some of the above.
Every time I alt tab I get dumped when coming back to AC.
Also I am unable to have 2 browsers open on 2 different rooms as previously able. [1 playing & 1 minimised ready to be played when the other is closed]
I can't get the lobbies to finish downloading & have to go through the desktop shortcut to play AC.
This has only happened since the last patch.

System is:
Intel P3 processor
Windows XP pro
1 ghz
256 mb ram
NTFS file system
netgear router
ADSL connection

On a laptop so video is shared

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

up

[Moa Hunter]

I use to have these crashing problems as well.
Have been told most relate to video card drivers, the supported drivers from the graphics vendor did not rectify the problem so i scoured the internet and found excellent third party graphic drivers but the thing is while reading the info on them, he advised to DISABLE FAST WRITES in bios, reasoning was that fast writes dont really offer much of a boost to the card anyways and this is the cause of 99% of graphics crashes. since doing this i have had no crashing problems!!

[Thorn_Drumhellr]

Still no word at all....

[Master Chief]

the thing is ppl turbine has no clue. thats why they dont reply. I get this same problem alot, but im starting to understand why it does this. seems that if i Alt-tab when im in portal space, i get booted. this started happening after the june patch. and sometimes my screen goes blank when i leave a portal (but a handy /render radius 15 fixes that). thats basically the extent of my problem. dont run windowed mode either. thats what caused the problem most of the time. Sys specs? screw that everyone here has different hardware it has nothing to do with hardware, this is a software glitch.

[Master Chief]

however.....



BUMP

[Ibn]

To everyone reporting these issues and bumping this thread -- PLEASE file an official report on our technical support site if you have not done so already:

http://www.fuzeqna.com/asheronscall/consumer/search.asp

Responding to the issues on this thread is almost impossible as there is no guarantee that all of you are CTD'ing for the same reasons. Any given solution that may work for one of you has no guarantee of working for another.