Game restarts pc after a few turns

[Marco Polo]

First of all I would like to say thanks to all those who maintain this community. It is one of the primary reasons i love the civ series. loads to add on and read which makes purchasing a civ game a bargain. I used to play civ 3 (never got bored) but have recently moved to civ 4 and i am having one major problem that is going to drive me insane.

after starting civ 4 and playing a few turns the pc just simply restarts.

i have the latest ati drivers as i have read elsewhere here that it may be a problem and have cleaned up any extra useless gunk on my pc as well as closing down any little programs running in the background. and also turned down the graphics settings in civ to their lowest. im also virus free and other games run fine (such as AOE 3). all with no luck

I am playing civ on my notebook which is capable of playing games that are more demanding spec wise than civ 4.

the only thing i can think of is over heating as it does run a little hot (aoe3 runs hotter though). would like to see if it could be another issue though as this is not such a consistant theory . i have played in very cold areas and still got the same results. it doesnt happen every time either, just most of the time and i'm in love with this game.

thanks a lot and keep up the good work.

ADDED: i upped the pagefile size yesterday too after a suggestion on these fora too

 

[Akhenaton]

after starting civ 4 and playing a few turns the pc just simply restarts.

First, disable rebooting on BSOD, so that you can get a crash dump or at least BSOD identifying the driver. You could also check if CivIV crashes first, in which case you will get an Application Log entry listing the module name and address. If this is the case, you can also get a dump (take size "Normal") from CivIV by setting "GenerateCrashDumps = 1" in C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\CivilizationIV.ini. These dumps are found in the "temp" folder (by default C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Temp\CivilizationIV.exe.dmp), which you can zip up with the latest save before the crash (even if the crash doesn't happen consistently with the same save, it might theoretically offer easier to access clues to the devs about what it did prior to the memory state in the dump).

Without the exact details of what is crashing and where, it's impossible for anyone to tell you what the problem is, unless there is a solid precedent with similar symptoms (it seems frequent crashes are reported with both ATI and NVIDIA graphics). However, if the crash starts with CivIV, even with the detailed information, only the coders at Firaxis will be able to tell you why, so you should send it to them.

The more detailed information you are able to provide, with a list of steps you have already taken (preferably in reference to the standard solutions), the more likely the 1st tier support is to escalate the issue and bring it to the attention of guys who can actually do something about it in offering a workaround or fixing bugs/making workarounds in code.

If you report the problem to 2K Games support (usa@take2support.com), send them what they request and more:

• dxdiag report
• msinfo report
• CivIV logs
• CivilizationIV.ini
• Dr. Watson log with symbol table dump enabled
• offer to provide a binary dump (with the latest save) via FTP

 

[Marco Polo]

First, disable rebooting on BSOD, so that you can get a crash dump or at least BSOD identifying the driver. You could also check if CivIV crashes first, in which case you will get an Application Log entry listing the module name and address. If this is the case, you can also get a dump (take size "Normal") from CivIV by setting "GenerateCrashDumps = 1" in C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\My Documents\My Games\Sid Meier's Civilization 4\CivilizationIV.ini. These dumps are found in the "temp" folder (by default C:\Documents and Settings\[username]\Local Settings\Temp\CivilizationIV.exe.dmp), which you can zip up with the latest save before the crash (even if the crash doesn't happen consistently with the same save, it might theoretically offer easier to access clues to the devs about what it did prior to the memory state in the dump).

Without the exact details of what is crashing and where, it's impossible for anyone to tell you what the problem is, unless there is a solid precedent with similar symptoms (it seems frequent crashes are reported with both ATI and NVIDIA graphics). However, if the crash starts with CivIV, even with the detailed information, only the coders at Firaxis will be able to tell you why, so you should send it to them.

The more detailed information you are able to provide, with a list of steps you have already taken (preferably in reference to the standard solutions), the more likely the 1st tier support is to escalate the issue and bring it to the attention of guys who can actually do something about it in offering a workaround or fixing bugs/making workarounds in code.

If you report the problem to 2K Games support (usa@take2support.com), send them what they request and more:

• dxdiag report
• msinfo report
• CivIV logs
• CivilizationIV.ini
• Dr. Watson log with symbol table dump enabled
• offer to provide a binary dump (with the latest save) via FTP

cheers,

i'll give it a go. i hesitated in contacting 2k as they only listed USA and canada tech support for some reason.......

i'll set up all as you recommended and give them a buzz.

thanks a lot for your help and ill post back with any replies i get.

mark

 

[santa]

Can't seem to pass past secont turn...

 

[Zydor]

Santa

Civ IV will not run on that laptop - its running off the SISM650 which is on board intregrated graphics, you need hardware T&L support - ie a video card.

Hardware Specs
http://www.2kgames.com/civ4/support_msr.htm

Regards
Zy

 

[Dudy80]

this is a long shot but it happend to me awile back... i was installing a new sound card and a wire got crossed in my graphics card fan. Every time id play counter strike source it reboot after 10 minutes. I was just about to get a new card and i looked in there and the fan was blocked ( : So check to make sure your video card fan (if you have one) and your processor fan are working. Its always a good idea to check simple stuff first before you do something drastic.

 

[santa]

No... I think Zydor is right. It needs a hardware.

 

[Caesar Ozo]

Are your memory blocks compatible?

I had the same kind of problem : my computer restarted without warning, sometimes I got blue screen with some warning text.

The problem was solved when i bought new DDR 512mb memory block. Now the both 512mb blocks are made by same manufacturer. I haven't had the problem for 2 days, so i guess it's fixed now.

Some computer-guru told me that usually these "restart-problems" happen because the memory blocks aren't compatible with each other.

 

[Akhenaton]

Some computer-guru told me that usually these "restart-problems" happen because the memory blocks aren't compatible with each other.

That's a distinct possibility, but instead of just buying new RAM modules, you should first test if the problem is really a memory subsystem problem by running a memory tester.

 

[merchantoftolbi]

Does it happen to do this whenever you complete building a wonder?

 

[Marco Polo]

i contacted take2 tech support a little while after opening this thread. i recieved a couple of emails trying to solve the problem after which i recieved a final email on the 15th feb as follows:

Dear Sir/Madam

Thank you for contacting Take 2 Technical Support.

I am escalating your problem to the 2nd level technical support who will
look at your problem and find a solution


Please be sure to delete all previous correspondence when replying. This
will help us to process your response in a more timely and efficient manner.

Kind Regards,
Take 2 Technical Support

I have yet to receive a reply. this is disgraceful behaviour!

 

[Gyathaar]

Have you tried to limit the max fps by setting the SetMaxFrameRate option in ini file to say 40 or 50?

If the problem is caused by overheating then this might fix it..