Computer Help Please!

Hey all -

I posted this in the tech forums on Friday and haven't had any kind of response and since the Champion forums are generally pretty active on the weekends, I am hopeful that someone here might have a solution for me.

Here is my original post to the tech forums:

Quote:

Originally Posted by Llewthor I've search for the last couple of days in an attempt to try and figure out why I continue to have this issue. My computer is new (not quite two months old, i believe) and I started having this issue about 2-3 weeks ago. What happens is, when I fire up my computer and load CoH, I am working off of my left monitor. The game opens up on my right monitor (which is how i have things set up), but when i click on the game/right monitor for the first time, everything freezes for a few (20-30) seconds. If I try and switch back to the left monitor (to run vent, Itunes, Chrome or anything else) I get the same freeze again. If I don't start the game when i start up my computer, I can click back and forth between the two monitors without any issues or freezing, which leads me to believe that the issue is with CoH.

Here is an update based on what I've tested myself in trying to fix this:
- the freeze happens whether I am running two monitors or one
- the freeze happens if I load the game in safe mode or in normal mode
- i can run anything else I want to after closing CoH without having any issues whatsoever
- i have de-installed and re-installed the game twice now and this hasn't fixed the issue either

I have a ticket open with NCSoft support, but haven't really gotten anywhere with them yet either.

And, in case it helps, here is what my computer looks like:
Alienware Aurora with Intel core i7 980x extreme, running Windows 7 64-bit Ultimate, 1.5 gb Nvidia GeForce GTX 480 and 12BG of RAM.

I'm willing to try just about anything at this point, so any suggestions will be appreciated. I guess my next step is to wipe out and reformat my hard drive, but I'm not ready to do that yet.

Thanks all.

-Llew.

I had a similiar problem with my NVidia card, and what I had to do was tell the card to treat the program as though it's always on top, even when there's other open applications on top o' it. This keeps the renderin' o' the graphics enabled and shouldn't crash CoH.
Dependin' on how you have your graphics settings for your applications, you might just be able to right click in the blue bar at the top o' the game, if you're runnin' in Windowed mode. If you aren't, do that first for CoH. You should be able to turn it back to full screen afterwards. Once you are in Windowed mode, right click on the blue bar and there should be an option to be 'Always on Top' or somethin' along those lines.
If you can't right click to enable this option on the blue bar in the window, you should be able to go into your Nvidia interface and set it specifically for the CoH.exe executable to treat it as such.

If either o' these don't work, let me know. I'll figure somethin' out.

The only thing I can think to suggest is updating your drivers, but I'm sure you've thought of that.

try what Cobalt said,

I seen that issue with a single monitor sent. I tend to have it only when I alt tab to do soemthing else while it is loading new content. You might not be lagging, but focus is really set one of the other windows you have openned

I'm having a similar issue lately, with Vista. After some reasearch and some playing around I've done two things that seem to help.

First changed to a Windows VISTA CLASSIC theme instead of Aero Theme.
The other thing I did, which may have nothing to do with, it is I set my FSAA to 0.
-The graphics are a bit less smooth bit the game doesn't seem to crash as often.

Good Luck Llewthor.

I looked at the tech forum and couldn't find your post anywhere...

anyway, I think CA is on the right track, playing in Window mode should make the transition between screen easier.

Thanks for the responses guys.

Just to update, I have the game in windowed mode as this is how I normally play (so I can switch between two instances of the game while also running anything else), but I have been unable to tell the game to "stay on top."

I have my computer at my office with me today and the plan is the wipe the hard drive and start from scratch ... since when I first got the computer a little more than a month ago everything worked fine.

Hopefully I'll have a report tonight that everything is back to normal.

-Llew.

damn I just thought of something,

Did you have the Alienware visual desktop modder program running ???(sorry can't remember the name)

I believe it comes by default with the alienware (it was on my old one) and I've seen report in the tech forum that it was causing issue with the game to the point where some people could even get in the game and were stuck at the loading blue bar.

Might want to check that if you are reinstalling.

Edit: AlienGUIse by Stardock is the name of the program.

I haven't reformatted yet, so I just did a search of my computer and can't find anything remotely close to the program you named.

Thanks for the suggestion, though.

hum maybe they changed their installation procedure. They used to install this desktop theme manager on their PC.

Hey guys, so it looks like i'm still at a sticking point.

Today, I wiped out the hard drive today and work and re-loaded all the essential programs, and the game, today before I left work. I tested the game and had no freezing issues and everything looked like it was 100%.

Now that I have the computer at home, reconnected and fired up, I'm having issues with it recognizing/connecting me to the internet, and having the same exact freezing issues with the game and now also with vent for the first time (as I tried to re-set this up, as well).

Not sure what my next step is at this point, but I'm still plugging away. I've done the next suggested tests from NCSoft and will have to wait until tomorrow at this point to see what they come up with/suggest next.

Hope to be back to normal soon.

-Llew.

you might find this weird, but bring back the computer at work tomorrow and see if the same thing happens again. if it doesn't then I think you might have problem with your internet connection at home.

To be sure start and stop the game a couple of time.

Yeah. If you're using a separate router, try plugging your computer directly to the modem.

So I've got my computer at my office again this morning and I can connect to and run the game with no issues (I even had both of my accounts logged in and running).

I'm hopeful that this means the root of my issue is with Verizon Fios and now I just need to get a break from work to head home and get their support people on the phone to straighten this out.

-Llew.

Well at least the complete wipe out will make sure the PC is fresh and ready to go ... lol

I was kinda surprised a 3k$ (give or take) PC would do this...

Tell me about it.

I guess I should have fired everything up here and testing how things worked before doing the wipe and it would have saved me some time and hassle, but oh well.

what?? who?? me??

I think i missed something .....

Here's my daily update:

After spending two hours on the phone with Verizon Fios support and another hour on the phone with Dell/Alienware support yesterday afternoon, one of my brothers asked me when the last time was that I ran the computer without my air conditioner on.

When I shut down the A/C and re-started the computer and loaded the game, everything worked fine!!! I couldn't believe something like the A/C unit drawing power at the same time as my computer would impact the game (especially when everything else ran normally).

BUT (yes, it's a big one), I got greedy and decided to start re-loading programs onto the computer that I run with the game. I downloaded Vidiotmaps and then restarted everything so that it would take effect. In the process of restarting, I happened to turn on the tv and a window fan I have in the room and once again when I started the game, it froze on me.

I couldn't get back to test the game with everything in my room off because of another issue i am having, since the wipe/reformat of my hard drive: at my house, when I start my computer it doesn't recognize me being connected to the internet. I didn't have this issue at all when I had my computer at my work office, but for whatever reason when it is at home, I constantly have to shutdown, restart or force shutdown to be able to get the little troubleshooting icon to pop up when I restart.

This was something that I had the Dell/Alienware tech support guy check out (when he logged into my system remotely) and he did do something to fix it, but whatever he did hasn't fixed the issue.

So, after about an hour of the shutdown, startup, restart shuffle and not being able to get my computer to see the internet, I called it a night and will have to try everything again after work today.

The A/C unit will draw power, but this may not be a simple power issue but rather one of EM bleeding. Make sure your connectors do not have any cracks in the shielding or jacks. High bandwidth signals are easily jammed from background EM, and some electronics with high gain amplifiers inside tend to not be shielded, and just flood the area around them with "noise".

I would:

A) Connect directly to the modem and check the signal levels at the modem. Verify they are ok.
1) Do this with alot of other stuff on
2) Do this with almost nothing else on in house

B) Examine my wall jacks and my cables for defects.



*Side note: 2 years ago I had a nasty issue with my cable modem losing lock, signal going south for no reason. Took almost 4 months to resolve. I got a new router, new cable modem, strung all new lines in the house, had 2 new cables run from the curb. FINALLY, after pleading with the cable company, they went upstream to find a partially damaged switch, which after all the new lines and equipment my cable modem performance is actually better than the next tier above me for bandwidth even though I am not paying for it. tl;dr This sounds like hardware, not a software problem.

I'm back on the phone with Dell/Alienware support now (and working off a laptop) because i can't get any internet connection working at all on the computer at home.

I've tried all the obviously troubleshooting: different patch cord, different port on the router, connected through a different jack than what i normally use from my computer room and nothing changes anything.

I just wanted to close this thread up by thanking everyone for their help and support.

After working with Dell/Alienware on Wednesday for about three hours, my computer seems to be working at 100% again, connecting me to the internet when I start up, which was the most recent issue.

And, I've separated my power connections so that the computer and my A/C unit aren't being powered from the same outlet and everything seems to be working again.

I have been able to connect and run/play the game without any issues for the last two nights.

-Llew.

That's good to hear.

Did support told you what the issue was with your internet connection? or was it just a bad configuration of your network?