Freezing / Locking Up

bonobotheory · Sep 21, 2006, 06:28 AM

Athlon 64 4000, GeForce 7800GT, 2gigs RAM, Asus A8N-E mobo (nForce4). Civ4 patched to 1.61 (no Warlords)

When I first got it, the game would lock up anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours into play. Sometimes I'd get a BSOD saying nv4disp was stuck in an infinite loop; sometimes I'd reboot after a minute or three with no BSOD.

Dumbing down the graphics didn't work, so I completely uninstalled my video drivers, using Driver Cleaner to remove every last trace, and installed the new 91.47 Forceware. That stopped the problem... for about a day. Last night, it locked up twice, once about ten minutes in, once about an hour in (I didn't play any more after that). I left it alone after it froze to see if I'd get the BSOD, but gave up and rebooted after five or ten minutes.

I'm not willing to jump through too many more hoops just to play this game, but since I can't return opened software, I may as well try to make it work.

bonobotheory · Sep 21, 2006, 06:54 PM

If nobody has any ideas, I suppose I'm done with it. Anyone want to buy a barely-used copy of Civ4?

thewhitv · Sep 22, 2006, 09:12 AM

I get this too, I'm running it on an old computer with an Athlon XP 2100+ and a Geforce 4 4600 with latest forceware drivers. Warlords will freeze, usually at the leader selection menu, anywhere from 10 seconds to a few minutes. Sometimes it will come back and be fine, other times it will give the infinite loop nv4disp error. Anyone have any ideas?

bonobotheory · Sep 29, 2006, 07:27 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by thewhitv

I get this too, I'm running it on an old computer with an Athlon XP 2100+ and a Geforce 4 4600 with latest forceware drivers. Warlords will freeze, usually at the leader selection menu, anywhere from 10 seconds to a few minutes. Sometimes it will come back and be fine, other times it will give the infinite loop nv4disp error. Anyone have any ideas?

Unfortunately, the only suggestion I have is not to give the crooks at Firaxis and 2k another dime. I got the same response from their "official" tech support as I got here - absolute silence. It's a shame, because the game is great when it works, but hard rebooting my computer sucks all the fun out of it.

Doomed_UK · Sep 29, 2006, 08:06 AM

Did you install the graphics card manufacturers drivers first before applying the latest Nvidia ones?
On one of my machines I went straight for the latest drivers after a format and had no end of problems. Put the manufacturers drivers on, then applied the latest ones and the problems went away. Should not of happened, but did!

Not hopeful this will solve your problem, but you could try it.

bonobotheory · Sep 29, 2006, 09:58 AM

Thanks, but no luck there. It's an EVGA, and their "driver download" page links right to nVidia's website. Civ 4 is also the only game I've had this problem with, so I'm not experiencing the same "no end of problems" you were.

When I was having the nv4_disp error, I was sure all my problems with Civ 4 were video-related. Now that I''ve fixed that one and am only getting straight lockups, I'm not so sure.

crunch · Sep 30, 2006, 06:37 AM

Use google to search for infinite loop nv4disp, you should find a lot of people with similar problems, and perhaps some working solutions.

bonobotheory · Sep 30, 2006, 09:04 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by crunch

Use google to search for infinite loop nv4disp, you should find a lot of people with similar problems, and perhaps some working solutions.

Do you think my current lockup problems are related, or were you replying to thewhitv? I've done everything I could about the nv4_disp errors on my game.

willybeer22 · Oct 18, 2006, 05:03 PM

I have a very similar problem. I would frequently "hang" for a few seconds... to up to maybe half a minute. However up until last night I would always be able to, "snap out of it." Last night (for another game) I updated to October's directx and also got the latest Nvidia drivers (gforce 7800 gt, btw the new menu interface just sucks for nvidia). Now when I get these "hangs" I am unable to snap out of it and must do a cold reboot. No crash messages. I enabled logging but havn't the slighest clue which logfile to check or what to look for.

Any help appreciated.

-w

willybeer22 · Oct 18, 2006, 05:12 PM

Another feature of this problem is that the music will continue to play on for a few seconds, and then stop. I retain movement of the mouse cursor (although no scrolling). Of course I am unable to alt tab/ctl alt del.

-w

Azalnubizar · Oct 20, 2006, 01:56 AM

hi - had similar problems - in my case it was the soundcard.

try disabling sound in civilisation.ini. If this works, try to set your audio settings (civ/options/audio) to use windows-settings...

bonobotheory · Oct 22, 2006, 05:33 PM

Problem solved.

It took a while, but I remembered that my video card was a factory-overclocked version by eVGA. I used CoolBits to reduce the timings to stock levels, and haven't had a problem since. I've been playing for a couple of weeks now with no freezing, where I used to freeze several times a day.

The problem was on my end after all. I hate it when that happens.

Maybe this will help someone else who is having hard lockups. I'm not an overclocker or a hardcore power user, so I never gave it any thought, but my video card was just a tiny bit unstable - just enough that it couldn't run Civ4.

willybeer22 · Oct 24, 2006, 10:47 PM

set max frame rate to 30 and no more problems here.

thanks for all the help btw.

-w

Sep 21, 2006, 06:28 AM	#1
bonobotheory Chieftain Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 7	Freezing / Locking Up Athlon 64 4000, GeForce 7800GT, 2gigs RAM, Asus A8N-E mobo (nForce4). Civ4 patched to 1.61 (no Warlords) When I first got it, the game would lock up anywhere from a few minutes to a few hours into play. Sometimes I'd get a BSOD saying nv4disp was stuck in an infinite loop; sometimes I'd reboot after a minute or three with no BSOD. Dumbing down the graphics didn't work, so I completely uninstalled my video drivers, using Driver Cleaner to remove every last trace, and installed the new 91.47 Forceware. That stopped the problem... for about a day. Last night, it locked up twice, once about ten minutes in, once about an hour in (I didn't play any more after that). I left it alone after it froze to see if I'd get the BSOD, but gave up and rebooted after five or ten minutes. I'm not willing to jump through too many more hoops just to play this game, but since I can't return opened software, I may as well try to make it work. Last edited by bonobotheory; Sep 21, 2006 at 03:58 PM.

Sep 29, 2006, 09:58 AM	#6
bonobotheory Chieftain Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 7	Thanks, but no luck there. It's an EVGA, and their "driver download" page links right to nVidia's website. Civ 4 is also the only game I've had this problem with, so I'm not experiencing the same "no end of problems" you were. When I was having the nv4_disp error, I was sure all my problems with Civ 4 were video-related. Now that I''ve fixed that one and am only getting straight lockups, I'm not so sure. Last edited by bonobotheory; Sep 30, 2006 at 08:16 AM.

Oct 18, 2006, 05:03 PM	#9
willybeer22 Chieftain Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 8	same stuff I have a very similar problem. I would frequently "hang" for a few seconds... to up to maybe half a minute. However up until last night I would always be able to, "snap out of it." Last night (for another game) I updated to October's directx and also got the latest Nvidia drivers (gforce 7800 gt, btw the new menu interface just sucks for nvidia). Now when I get these "hangs" I am unable to snap out of it and must do a cold reboot. No crash messages. I enabled logging but havn't the slighest clue which logfile to check or what to look for. Any help appreciated. -w

Oct 18, 2006, 05:12 PM	#10
willybeer22 Chieftain Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 8	related note Another feature of this problem is that the music will continue to play on for a few seconds, and then stop. I retain movement of the mouse cursor (although no scrolling). Of course I am unable to alt tab/ctl alt del. -w

Oct 20, 2006, 01:56 AM	#11
Azalnubizar Chieftain Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Munich, Germany Posts: 49	hi - had similar problems - in my case it was the soundcard. try disabling sound in civilisation.ini. If this works, try to set your audio settings (civ/options/audio) to use windows-settings... __________________ "the surest sign that intelligent life exists elsewhere in the universe is that it has never tried to contact us." - Bill Watterson.

Sep 21, 2006, 06:54 PM	#2
bonobotheory Chieftain Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 7	If nobody has any ideas, I suppose I'm done with it. Anyone want to buy a barely-used copy of Civ4?

Sep 22, 2006, 09:12 AM	#3
thewhitv Chieftain Join Date: Mar 2006 Posts: 1	I get this too, I'm running it on an old computer with an Athlon XP 2100+ and a Geforce 4 4600 with latest forceware drivers. Warlords will freeze, usually at the leader selection menu, anywhere from 10 seconds to a few minutes. Sometimes it will come back and be fine, other times it will give the infinite loop nv4disp error. Anyone have any ideas?

Sep 29, 2006, 08:06 AM	#5
Doomed_UK Warlord Join Date: Nov 2005 Posts: 253	Did you install the graphics card manufacturers drivers first before applying the latest Nvidia ones? On one of my machines I went straight for the latest drivers after a format and had no end of problems. Put the manufacturers drivers on, then applied the latest ones and the problems went away. Should not of happened, but did! Not hopeful this will solve your problem, but you could try it.

Sep 30, 2006, 06:37 AM	#7
crunch Emperor Join Date: Jul 2003 Location: Slovakia Posts: 1,100	Use google to search for infinite loop nv4disp, you should find a lot of people with similar problems, and perhaps some working solutions.

Oct 22, 2006, 05:33 PM	#12
bonobotheory Chieftain Join Date: Sep 2006 Posts: 7	Problem solved. It took a while, but I remembered that my video card was a factory-overclocked version by eVGA. I used CoolBits to reduce the timings to stock levels, and haven't had a problem since. I've been playing for a couple of weeks now with no freezing, where I used to freeze several times a day. The problem was on my end after all. I hate it when that happens. Maybe this will help someone else who is having hard lockups. I'm not an overclocker or a hardcore power user, so I never gave it any thought, but my video card was just a tiny bit unstable - just enough that it couldn't run Civ4.

Oct 24, 2006, 10:47 PM	#13
willybeer22 Chieftain Join Date: Oct 2006 Posts: 8	. set max frame rate to 30 and no more problems here. thanks for all the help btw. -w

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