Possible fix for those of you with hard locks!

[Scalpel]

Alright, I know if you're like me, you've probably tried everything else under the sun, all the updates, patches, and castrating your video card you could stand, just like I had, but if you're out of other ideas, it just might be a power issue:

"Well, strange as it seems, I think I finally fixed it! It kept seeming like an overheating problem, but every time I checked, my video card (eVGA 6600GT) would be reading 50-60, not a heat problem. So I thought about power. I have an Antec 430 watt PS, so I thought no way, but I had tried everything else, so why not? So I cracked open my case, and come to find out, I had the power cord feeding my mobo also feeding my video card. So, after switching each of those to differing cables, AND disconnecting my 2nd HD, I have been crash free ever since!

Obviously the next step will be to bump back up my settings, and then eventually reconnect the 2nd HD, but for now, I couldn't be happier, as I'm successfully kicking Julies Ceaser, Tokigawa (?sp), and Saladin's butts around my continent! "

Hopefully this will help someone else out as well!

Scalpel

 

[Zydor]

Yea - well done Scalpel - just reward after the hassle you been through - and a thoughtful post

Regards
Zy

 

[DGoose]

Quick question Scalpel, do you have your hardware accelleration at full, or is it bumped down a step or two?

--DGoose

 

[Zanmato]

Good to hear you have found the problem, Scalpel.
That nvidia card and 2 HDDs already take half the wattage from your PSU. Disconnecting one saved you about 30 watts depending on the RPM speed.

I've posted this link a few times and I have found it useful for finding out the power requirements for various setups.
http://www.extreme.outervision.com/index.jsp

Always best to have a single lead to feed the graphic card, since it takes the biggest draw on power after the CPU. What's your mobo and what ATX socket is it, 20 or 24 pin? Because I got a Antec 430 and it didn't work with ASUS A7 and A8 boards somekind of hardware bug with them.

 

[Scalpel]

DGoose, I had originally bumped it down 1 step, with write caching disabled, but after the power cord switching, I cranked it all the way back up, and was able to play for 3 hours straight last night before finally having to go to bed. It did lock up 1 time since I've made the power cable changes and disconnected my 2nd HD, but I've played for prolly 6-8 hrs with only one crash, and I can DEFINITELY live with that.

Zanmato, I have an Asus P4T533-C, and I don't really know if it's a 20 or 24 pin, sorry, and I have enough homework to keep myself from looking it up right now. Hope this helps y'all tho!

Scalpel

 

[DGoose]

Glad to hear it. I could live with that, too. My problem now, is I have to run in windowed mode. In fullscreen, the cursor blinks all crazy, and the game hangs a little sometimes. Graphics card is on it's own feed from my 500w power supply, so that shouldn't be a problem, but if I try to bump it back to full acceleration, it starts freezing again.

The only thing with windowed mode is mouse scrolling is a bit tricky. It's more than just tricky though, every time I scroll up, I hit the title bar, it doesn't scroll, and it serves to remind me of the 'pain and heartache' of trying to find a way to make the game work right. And since it's in a window, it still doesn't function exactly like it should.

Anyway, I'm not really complaining, I'm just going over some... annoyances I have. I realize that I've gotten more out of Civ4 than a good chunk of people out there, and I consider myself lucky.

--DGoose