When starting new game it freezes comp

[bigforearms]

My problem:
When I begin a new game, I get to the loading screen with the drawings of the earth's formations and the Nimoy narration and can run that all the way through, but 9/10 times after I hit the "play game" button it locks my computer. And I don't mean it freezes the program: it completely locks my computer so that I can't alt-tab, ctrl-alt-del, alt-f4, etc. out of it, and can only hold down the power button until it shuts off. There is no mouse movement, there is no controls interface, just a black screen with one of the portrait tool-tips pointing to a worker on the edge of the screen that I can't see (as the whole thing is black), the time, and the words "BIGFOREARMS has joined the game."

Note:
-I have never had any trouble with loading from the desktop to the main menu of Civ 4, as many seem to have had.
-Once I get a game to actually start, I can play it for as long as I want on high graphics settings with a little lag toward the end or medium with no lag. I only experienced one CTD in an ongoing game, and that was late game and did not lock my computer like this bug does. Similarily, I can load games that are already in progress without a problem.

Things I've tried:
-Harkonen fix - no change
-Defrag, Reinstall, repatch game - no change
-Changing the graphics settings to minimum - no change
-Playing in windowed mode - no change - still locks entire computer
-Unpacking the art0.fpk in assets - I don't have an art0.fpk in assets; just four files marked assets0-3.

Thing I can think of that I haven't tried:
-Using third-party graphics drivers: I'm not convinced this is a graphics problem, and I don't care to put third-party drivers on my laptop if I don't have to. HP doesn't release drivers for my video card very often (last was this summer, which I have) and the ATI unified driver series doesn't work on this chipset.
-reformatting and reinstalling Windows: I'll return the game to the store before I do that.

My system:
HP Pavilion zt3000 custom laptop
1.7 ghz Pentium M
768 MB RAM
64 MB ATI Radeon 9200 Mobility (driver updated to the most recent the manufacturer released, so around June of this year)
~4 gigs of free space on the main partition (where swap file would be)
Windows XP SP2 fully updated
Latest mobo bios
onboard sound with latest drivers
v 1.09 of the game

I appreciate any help or suggestions you could give me for fixing this problem, as the game is great when I can actually start one.

 

[Neon Deon]

Solid freeze up in a laptop

My money is on: The laptop overheated due to playing a high output 3d game. Laptops get real hot all by themselves.

You are in spec no doubt about it.

Please post a DX diag

Dont let the laptop sit flat on any surface. keep the bottom elevated.

anyways post the diag please.

 

[bigforearms]

I appreciate your help, but it looks like whatever was wrong has been fixed with the v152 patch, because I haven't gotten a lock-up since I updated.

 

[Neon Deon]

I appreciate your help, but it looks like whatever was wrong has been fixed with the v152 patch, because I haven't gotten a lock-up since I updated.

Well I am glad I dont bet

Anyways. Great!

Good Gamming.

 

[Thormodr]

I had the exact problem you had with the game locking up when starting a new game. You described it to a tee. It was bearable since it autosaved just before it locked up, so I could load the autosave and play.

Lo and behold, the new patch comes out (1.52) and I still have the locking up problem. However now it doesn't let me load the autosave as it doesn't seem to save the game now. Wonderful. Thank you for making things worse Firaxis. Complete bulls**t.

I have a Compaq nx7000 1.5 Ghtz with an ATI Radeon 9200 with 64 Meg Ram.
Seems to be almost an almost identical system to yours, Bigforearms.

Microsoft says it is an error caused by ATI Graphics driver.

Here is the link to the page:
http://oca.microsoft.com/en/response.aspx?SGD=dae36c26-3d4a-4f72-a4a7-cfdb1c16f49d&SID=802

 

[bigforearms]

Thormodr:

I haven't tested it a lot since the patch came out, but I got three starts in a row off without a hitch and no crashes when I'd only managed 1 out of 10 before. I'll test it some more but it appears it's fixed on my machine (which I believe is the same family of notebook as yours with different badging).

I hate that HP doesn't come out with drivers more frequently for the vid card. If you want, you could try downloading the third-party drivers. Search the forum.

Nice autosave workaround btw. I didn't even think to do that. I'd just keep restarting my comp until I got a game.

 

[Moo Zedong]

Hello all

I've suffered the exact same problem since I got hold of the game about a month ago.

I've tried pretty much every fix going but nothing has provided a permanent solution. However, I do have good news: there is a way round it!

If you're new game freezes your computer after you hit the 'Play Game' button then it will have been saved in the auto-save folder. Once you reboot your machine access the game through the relevant game folder and you should find that you get to play the game without any hassles at all.

Other than some dodgy playback on some of the wonder videos and some issues with the odd bit of gameplay I never have trouble playing a game now I know to load up like this.

hope this helps.

 

[Thormodr]

Yes, I was loading the autosave after the game froze. It was a pain in the butt but it allowed me to play. Occasionally the game worked, like 1 in 10 tiimes. Now after the 1.52 patch, it has always failed, and it fails before it autosaves. Now as they say, "I got nothing".

 

[Neon Deon]

Yes, I was loading the autosave after the game froze. It was a pain in the butt but it allowed me to play. Occasionally the game worked, like 1 in 10 tiimes. Now after the 1.52 patch, it has always failed, and it fails before it autosaves. Now as they say, "I got nothing".

Did you follow MS recommendations?