Hobgoblin

1. Splinter Cell:

It plays fine, until in the training level, the point where Sam gets to the point where he has to get a retinal scan from one of the volunteer guys. As soon as he gets the security code from the other guy and enters the room, my Windows 2000 machine shuts down (powers off and reboots) immediately. I have an ATI Radeon 7000 card with 32MB RAM, 1Gig of DDR RAM and a Pentium4 2 GHz processor.


2. GTA Vice City: Same problem with abrupt shutdown of my Win2K system. The machine gets turned off as if a switch were turned off very abruptly.

Anyone else get this kind of problem playing games on the PC? Is there a fix for it?

Will the retailer accept a return when the software is opened, but does not work?

I have done BIOS upgrades and got the latest drivers for the graphics card. For splinter cell I also applied the latest V1.2 patch from the official website.

I have a whole lot of other games that work fine on my PC, such as Matrix, Mafia, X2 etc.

BizRodian

Windows 2K isn't known for being great for gaming. Sounds like it could be an overheating problem... but it could be a lot of other things as well. If it's only in a specific spot, it might be something else. I'd suggest checking out the offical sites for these games and seeing if they address these issues in an FAQ, if not, check out the forums there and see if anyone else has the problem.

Gutz

I'm pretty sure it's your WIN2K.
Try to install different windows! XP perhaps?
Also, If games are crashing in the same spot try to apply latest patches from www.ati.com (video card) and game sites.
I hope this helps.

Hobgoblin

I also have WinME on dual boot. I hate XP and do not see myself going that route anytime soon. Is WinME a good OS for games?

So far I have done the following to rectify the problem:

1. I got the latest driver from ATI.
2. I got the latest BIOS upgrade for my motherboard from Intel.
3. For splinter cell, I went to UBIsoft website and got the latest patch (1.2)
4. Updated Direct X to the latest version from the windows update site.

Even WinME has problems sometimes because the very first game I installed on it (Nascar 2003) locked up on it. I will try splinter cell on it and see how that goes.

Win2K has been good with other games such as Enter the Matrix.

Thanks for all the suggestions. Has anyone here ever experienced such problems on their PC with any game?

blakwngbrd

You chose WinME over WinXP?? You must have been using XP Home - try XP Pro, you'll be much happier...

BizRodian

WinME will work better then Win2K for games. If this doesn't work (it looks like your drivers are all current and such) then do what I said in my first post about checking FAQs. Sometimes weird stuff can cause a crash.

~~ PAL ~~

WinME stinks. You shouldn't choose ME over XP, but I guess it's still slightly better then W2K for gaming.

Groucho

In order, here's are the best OS for gaming with recent releases:

1. Windows XP
2. Windows 98
3. Windows ME
4. Windows 2000

~~ PAL ~~

Yes, and even for older games, I would always choose Win98 over WinME.

Groucho

Agreed. The reason I specified "recent releases" was because for older games, XP would drop down the list.

Hobgoblin

I just found out to my utter chagrin that WinME sucks majorly when it comes down to games.

Splinter Cell completely locked up on WinME. At least on W2K PRO it played one level.

I am going to dust off my old Win98 SE CD and install it. WinME can go to hell.

I like Splinter Cell and GTA Vice city so much that I am desperate to get it working on my system somehow.

Hobgoblin

I never went the XP route because I heard so much about Micro$oft spyware that comes prepackaged with it. Plus the fact that I have to phone MS anytime I need to reinstall it is a major turn off.

nodoubt

hmm don't know what to tell you but both games run fine on my Win2k pro OS... beaten splinter cell with no technical issues...

Hobgoblin

Then it has to be my hardware. I had this new PC custom built at a local computer parts store. I wonder if that guy put in any substandard parts such as memory. Or it could be that the ATI Radeon 7000 card with 32MB RAM is not good for these games.

The guy who built my PC for me is no longer in business. So I am outta luck there as well.

Jonny2k1

Windows ME sucks for everything, it has to be the worst windows ever made.

al_bundy

I've used Win2000 for gaming for a few years now and the only problems I had were due to my soundblaster live and audigy cards. All new games run on win2000 just fine. WinXP and 2000 are virtually the same OS except for a few minor differences. In fact WinXP is based on the Win2000 kernel.

This is a clear issue of a hardware or driver conflict.

gr8fuldave

I think it could be the 32mb video card. Splinter Cell runs slowly on my other computer with a 64mb card, can you borrow another card from a friend with say 64 or 128mb ram and see if it does the same thing?

BizRodian

I quite like Windows ME actually, have far less crashed then on Win 98. Still, Win 98 sucked, and Win 95 was much better... but it has a lot of rescrictions now.

Hobgoblin

I installed Win98, but the ATI Radeon driver for Win98 refuses to install. Keeps giving the error message "the display driver is not compatible with the display adapter installed in your system".

ATI support was not very helpful. The guy who custom built my PC went out of business and so I can't take it back to him for diagnosis either. The PC is just 6 months old and I have lost the builder's warranty because I can't find him anymore.

Anyway, I have given up trying. I will just get rid of GTA Vice City and Splinter Cell.

Hobgoblin

Actually the game runs very fast on my PC until the crash. I guess having 1 Gigabyte of DDR-RAM combined with a P4 2GHz processor helps. I play most games at the highest graphics details settings with no problems in speed at all.