Is this a sound related problem?

Hi all

I have installed IL2 Stumovik Forgotten Battles with the Ace expansion pack.
I already had the original IL2 Stumovik game.

I suppose that I should let you know what spec my system is at this point.

2.53 pentium
512 ram ( No idea what kind.. spec etc )
60 gig maxtor H.D
motherboard? well I have tried all sorts of utilities and the best thing I can tell you is that my system is an ADVENT one. It seems that the MOBO is exclusive to them
256 Radeon 9600 pro graphics card.
Sound. C Media AC 97 audio device. Sorry for sounding dumb but is this on board as I suspect?

My problem is that IL2 crashes the system. I get what I can only describe as a very fast repeating tone and then a completely blue screen. All I can do is power the sys up again to get it back.

IL2 is very graphics intensive and it seems that the more detail.. noise wise the more often I crash. Also the more noise IE objects background noise etc the more laggy I get.

I like the ability to plug in headphones.. speakers etc in the front of this sys.

So I guess 2 questions really.

1 Do you think this problem is sound related

2 Can you run 2 sound devices and swap between the two? I ask because if I need a PCI soundcard I am going to lose the front jack plugs.

I have seen references to problems with Audigy cards regarding IL2 so I am personally leaning towards this as being a sound related problem. Could well be wrong.. I often am

 

Have you checked your sound drivers and tried to re-install them (after you have installed the game)?

 

hate to repeat... but try checking for new drivers for ALL your devices... it kinda sounds like a driver problem... also check that your sound card is compatible with directsound, and see if you have the directX needed for that game

cheers

 

Update:

I got the latest sound drivers. It even gave me a media rack ( O.K. it doesn't work ) but I got it

I have seen some very bad stuff about the latest ATI drivers so I am not going that route right now.

I have just tried to get the omega drivers site but it looks like it's down.

I am not into overclocking coz I dunno ennuff but what do you folks think to these drivers? I have seen nothing but good stuff about them.

About my graphics card ( Radeon 9600 pro 256 ) It is running at 4x AGP. Can anyone tell me why and maybe how I can get it to 8x?

Ta very much

 

what driver version do you have? i have 4.7 and i do not have any problems playing IL2 sturmovik ... i had some major problems all around with version 3.x driver though ... i dont think there is any problem with the latest ATI driver i don't know where you heard that from ... the new catalyst control center(CCC) uses up alot of resources so alot of ppl may be complaining about that but on ATIs site you can choose not to install that ... again their complaints have nothing to do with a crashing system ... you can get 4.9 and that should be just fine http://www.ati.com/support/driver.html

and i wouldn't recommend the omega drivers unless you know what you are doing ... they are essentially the same thing as ATIs drivers anyhow

as for changing the AGPx4 to x8 you can change that in the ATI control panel ... right click your desktop>'properties'>'settings'>'advances'>'smartgart' and there will be a bar and just slide it all the way to the right .... however your motherboard may not support x8 so you may not see an option to push it that high also your BIOS may not be configured to use x8 ... from what ive read it doesn't make much of a performance boost anyway ... and i highly doubt that is the cause of your problems

 

hmmmm my driver version is 6.14.10.6360 dated June 2003

Says provided by ATI technologies.


If I do get the latest drivers from ATI are these self overwriting or do I have to uninstall the old ones? I hope I dont lol

Thanks for the info on AGP.. I already knew about smartgard but just wondered why it only showed 4X.

 

Just Googled 6.14.10.6360 and its a 3.5 catalyst version

I will update to the latest ones. BUT I should have said that I had the same prob with the original Il2 Sturmovik with my old GF440 card which kinda makes me think this may not be a graphics driver problem.

There must be a cause for this problem I just don't know what it is. This sys is very stable for all other apps. It may be IL2 specific .. or not lol

 

what about your motherboard drivers? if you had the same problem with a previous card the mobo may not be communicating with your video card correctly

you would have to tell us what the motherboard manufacturer and model number .. or the make/model of your computer itself if you bought it pre-made from a retail store(like compusa etc) ... from what you say it sounds like it is proprietary which sometimes makes it a bit diffucult

you may be able to tell with a program called everest ... you can dl it here:
http://majorgeeks.com/download.php?det=4181install it and open it ... then open the following menu:
motherboard> motherboard ... you should see information in the main box about your mobo ... look at the top and you should see about 2 or 3 lines down "Motherboard name" ... and to the left ... you guessed it ... it says the make/model of you motherboard

it also be as simple as reinstalling IL2 sturmovik ... does it crash with other games? or is this the only game you play?

 

Thanks for the continued help

My sys is an ADVENT 3112 bought from PC world


I already had Everest.. Here is what it says about my MOBO


Motherboard Properties:
Motherboard ID 09/23/2002-SiS-651-6A6IXE19C-00
Motherboard Name ECS L4S5MG3

Front Side Bus Properties:
Bus Type Intel NetBurst
Bus Width 64-bit
Real Clock 133 MHz (QDR)
Effective Clock 533 MHz
Bandwidth 4266 MB/s

Chipset Bus Properties:
Bus Type SiS MuTIOL
Bus Width 16-bit

Motherboard Physical Info:
CPU Sockets/Slots 1
Expansion Slots 3 PCI, 1 AGP, 1 CNR
RAM Slots 2 DIMM
Integrated Devices Audio, Video
Form Factor Micro ATX
Motherboard Size 220 mm x 240 mm
Motherboard Chipset SiS651

Motherboard Manufacturer:
Company Name Elitegroup Computer Systems
Product Information http://www.ecs.com.tw/products/pd_list.asp?submenu_id=4&function_id=1
BIOS Download http://www.ecs.com.tw/download/dw_list.asp?submenu_id=23&function_id=1


I have tried reinstalling IL2 many times. The original IL2 seems to be fine since I put the radeon in except for having to press F3 then F1 to get the sound as it should be.
( With you having the game you will know what these keys are for )

I have been online with il2 FB and it seems very laggy.. got a 1 meg ADSL conn with 256 uploads so it shouldnt be too bad. I have the detail well down the scale but feel that I should not have to go so far. It has only crashed the sys once but it's exacly like the original IL2 used to do.

It doesn't crash with any other game.. for instance MOH allied Assault and spearhead at FULL detail levels.

All my instincts point toward this being a sound related prob.. Although as I said earlier I could well be very wrong. I say this because the more planes, AAA ground vehicles etc there are in a mission the noisier it gets. The one I crashed the sys with forgotten battles was very full and noisy.

Oh and please don't tell me I have to flash the bios lol

I did it once before on my last sys.. got it right but BOY did I sweat tears

 

I just found this site which describes this MOBO in more detail.

http://www.firingsquad.com/products/hwproduct.asp/1823?viewdesc=1


I am o.k. with some of the info but some of it is a bit too techy for me

 

the recommended RAM for IL2 is 1gig and you only have 512 ... also im guessing that there may be some compatibility issues here if lowering the settings doesn't help stop crashing, also have you tried disabling the sound altogether? ... if it is a sound problem that may be your only alternative, if it is compatibility related, i am not sure your sound card supports direct sound(and IL2 needs this), so you may want to buy a directsound compatible sound card

i would suggest the above before you got your hands dirty with these:

this is your AGP(GART) driver:
http://download.sis.com/download_step1.php?act=Search&mode=2&category=12&subcategory=121&os=4&x=23&y=8

this is your sound driver: (the one at the top of the page when it loads)
http://www.ecsusa.com/downloads/drivers_sound.html#cmedia

although it is best to install the AGP driver right after you've installed your system, so windows knows to use it

 

1 gig!! Forgive me if I laugh at the system requirements that UBI publish.

I can see where you are coming from though about that.

I updated my sound driver a few days ago. It's working fine

I just tried dxdiag and direct sound was fine.

Just to update the game hasn't crashed the sys for a few days now but it's still laggy compared to the original IL2. Especially online at Hyperlobby.

I had thought about a new soundcard ( Something like a SB Live 5.1 ) but I really like the ability to plug into the sound at the front of the tower.

I am wondering.. as I said in my original post. Is it possible to put in a PCI soundcard AND keep this onboard stuff? For music.. video.. chat etc the sound quality is great... I have it patched through to a real good Surround sound system.

Until I have prayed to the gods of geekiness and fasted for at least a week there is no way that i am going to even attempt that AGP ( gart ) driver.

Once again though thanks very much for continuing to help me