Windows XP Games won't start

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cris

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Lately, when i try to play games (Need for Speed, Oblivion, Unreal tournament), they just won't start. i double click the shortcut and wait and nothing happens. what's strange is that this doesn't always happen, many times everything works just fine.
Sometimes i also get this error message: 'The instruction at "0x4ff30a1c" referenced memory at "0xffffffff". the memory could not be read.'
My operating system is Windows XP Sp2, and I use Kaspersky Internet Security.
My computer is Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (2,66 Ghz), Asus P5K motherboard, 2 Gb of ram, Asus Nvidia Geforce 8600 Gt video card.
I hope someone has a solution.
Thanks
 
cris said:
Lately, when i try to play games (Need for Speed, Oblivion, Unreal tournament), they just won't start. i double click the shortcut and wait and nothing happens. what's strange is that this doesn't always happen, many times everything works just fine.
Sometimes i also get this error message: 'The instruction at "0x4ff30a1c" referenced memory at "0xffffffff". the memory could not be read.'
My operating system is Windows XP Sp2, and I use Kaspersky Internet Security.
My computer is Intel Core 2 Duo E6750 (2,66 Ghz), Asus P5K motherboard, 2 Gb of ram, Asus Nvidia Geforce 8600 Gt video card.
I hope someone has a solution.
Thanks
Click to expand...


Hi,

Have you reinstalled these games? Are the games fully patched? Also I would check your ram for errors, download this then burn it with this .


Thanks,

Wiz
 
The games are patched and were working ok before. I don't know what happened lately. For some time i thought it was some malware because problems came up so suddenly. I haven't tested the Ram memory because they are almost new (a few months old). But i'll do it now, you can never know.
Anyway, as i was saying, what's really curious is that these problems happen randomly, sometimes everything works fine, sometimes none of the games would start.
 
Are you using the latest DirectX? if not then download this and install it. Even though the memory is quite new it could still have faults this has been known but does not happen very offten. Are you using all the latest Video Drivers and Sound Drivers?


Thanks
 
do you have other random issues with memory related errors?

that would rule out memory. unless its with your video card. games wont render without working video memory.

how old is your video card?

- surfer
 
The video card is only six months old and has worked fine until now. I have the latest drivers and i don't bother much with Directx because my video card has DirectX 10, so i suppose it shouldn't create any troubles.
I also doubt that the ram is faulty because sometimes everything works fine. preblems occur only, let's say twice a week, but when this happens none of the games work.
It's one of the mysteries signed 'Microsoft'.

Thanks for the replies, if you have any more ideas i'm waiting.
 
Reinstalling the operating system is the last thing i want to do. By the way, i tested the ram with Memtest86 and it seems to be ok. I think that it might be some software issue but i can't find anything.
 
cris said:
Reinstalling the operating system is the last thing i want to do. By the way, i tested the ram with Memtest86 and it seems to be ok. I think that it might be some software issue but i can't find anything.
Click to expand...


Cool at least it’s not memory. :) The only way to determine whether it’s a software issue is to either remove programs you don't use or do a System Restore to a point when this problem was not happening.
 
while it seems to be a task that you don't want to undertake, sometimes you have to reinstall.

the problem with programs when they install is that it's like having a kid in a room with 293874928365120349857209387410239482109238471234 switches and expecting him to hit each one right the first time. never happens. corruption, incomplete copies, deleting the wrong files or better it's deleting files with the same extension that are necessary and not supposed to delete.

if you have done alot of install/remove/reinstall, download movies/music/etc and shuffle them around alot, this can cause the hard drive to be misaligned. meaning where some info was it's now somewhere else that kinda stuff.

if you have tested the hardware, tested the software, removed and reinstalled every other possible combo of those programs, you may have to reinstall the OS. not fun, but may be the only fix to properly replace the system file that is causing the issue. unless it tells you specifically.................................you never know.

the only solution is more testing, both hardware and software.

good luck

- Surfer
 
I was thinking about trying windows repair maybe that could fix the issue. What i really don't know is whether i'm going to have to reinstall all my programs after the repair. What does windows repair really do? I know it repairs the register but does it also whipe it clean? That means that i'll lose all the software i have installed. Can anyone explain?

Thanks very much.
 
cris said:
I was thinking about trying windows repair maybe that could fix the issue. What i really don't know is whether i'm going to have to reinstall all my programs after the repair. What does windows repair really do? I know it repairs the register but does it also whipe it clean? That means that i'll lose all the software i have installed. Can anyone explain?

Thanks very much.
Click to expand...


I would suggest that you try a repair install first before you wipe the drive, all a repair install does is replace all the systems files. Also wips any Windows Updates that are installed, but it does not wipe any of your data.
 
I thought about system restore but i don't exactly know when the problems started.
I also thought about windows repair but i don't exactly know what it does. Does it only repair the registry or does it also recopy all the system files? And most importantly, will i have to reinstall all my programs after windows repair? Could anyone explain please?
Thanks very much for your help.
 
As mentioned above a repair install wont wipe any of your data, the repair install will recopy all the system files. If you go ahead with a repair install you will not have to install the programs again. however if you did a full format of the drive and installed windows again this would wipe all your data off and your programs. (make a backup first of your files if you are going a head with this). See this link on how to preform a repair install.


I hope this helps,


Regards,

Wiz
 
Sorry for posting the last reply twice. Stupid me, I forgot to click "next page" when viewing the messages.

Thanks for your help, i think i'll try a "windows repair" and see what happens.
 
cris said:
Sorry for posting the last reply twice. Stupid me, I forgot to click "next page" when viewing the messages.

Thanks for your help, i think i'll try a "windows repair" and see what happens.
Click to expand...


No problem mate, good luck with the repair install. :thumb:
 
Aparently the problem has been solved. I discovered in the "Device Manger" that there was a problem with a driver called "Enhanced display driver helper service". I reinstalled this driver and since evrything has been working fine. I hope that this was the cause of my troubles.

Thanks for the help.
 
cris said:
Aparently the problem has been solved. I discovered in the "Device Manger" that there was a problem with a driver called "Enhanced display driver helper service". I reinstalled this driver and since evrything has been working fine. I hope that this was the cause of my troubles.

Thanks for the help.
Click to expand...


Hi,

Thanks for your feedback I hope the problem is now fixed.

You're welcome,

Regards,

Wiz
 
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