I play an online game called "Asheron's Call" and ever since I started playing its been crashing without warning. Sometimes I can play for 3 hours or more without any problems. Most of the time however, I play for a few minutes and it crashes. Usually bringing me back to the desktop as if the game was never open in the first place. Last night and this morning I attempted to login and it crashed everytime I hit "enter game" button. It would begin to login, but once it got to the point where it actually needs to have some sort of graphics it crashes. I can't even log in now.

My question is, is this a video card problem? I'm beginning to think it is. I have a AMD-K6 400MHZ Processor, 8 gig HD, 128 RAM, and one crappy graphics card (Don't remember exactly what it is. But it says its a "SiS 630", not so sure about the '630' part but do know the 'SiS' is right).

When I bought the computer it came with some onboard piece of crap video card, which I have yet to replace. Other games that actually have nice graphics have major issues on my machine as well. If its not the video card what do people think it is? I'm really getting frustrated here, because I can't seem to find out what the problem is. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much!

Hi, I have a SiS530 graphics card. It's also crap. It's using 8 MB of my RAM as videomemory, that is why it's so slow.
I added a Voodoo2- add on card, and it helps a little, but I don't think that will be the problem. Check if you have the latest directX.
Johan

I have the most up-to-date version of directx (8.0a). Another thing that happens when it crashes is that it resizes my desktop to 800x600 and then when I try to change it back to how I had it, it gives me a rndll32 (or rundll32?) error, and I have to restart my computer because its frozen. This has been a constant problem and getting very annoying. I bought the computer about a year ago (maybe more?) and the card came with it. I don't know if it is a really crappy card or not. But it seems that can be the only problem I can think of.

Johan,
You said you don't think thats it. You have any other ideas besides the directX? Thanks!

I never played the game, but the reason why your resolution is 800X600 is because the game uses this resolution. When it isn't shut down proparly (sp?),the game can't restore the resolution.
About the card, it's just a card for standard usage, not for heavy games. So if you just use it for text writing, it's a good card...

Perhaps this is something to look at: What internet connection do you have? Perhaps the game crashes if you get disconnected from the internet (by some reason or program).
It is even possibble to disconnect if you have a permanent connection like DSL or cable. (Outlook express is good in doing such nasty things...).
Also run the directX-diagnostic-program (in c:\program files\directx\setup\DxDiag or else C:\WINDOWS\SYSTEM\DXDIAG.EXE). Run the video-tests etc. Perhaps this could give you information on any problems.

You could also check for updates for your drivers (like videocard (I think there's an update), joystick,...). If you don't know exactly where to look, look
Report Offensive Follow Up For Removal

What the f**k???

The end of last message should be:

If you don't know where to look, look at www.driverzone.com. It's very easy tofind something here.

And another thought: Did you ever reinstall windows? If not and it is still the same windows that came with the computer, this could be the problem. After a while, there come small errors in windows. All this small errors usulally result in a bigger error.
Perhaps you can consider to reinstall windows (be sure NOT to install windows over the old version. At least delete the windows-foleder or format the c-drive).

Hope there's something usefull between my thoughts.
Johan

Johan,
I have a cable connection to the internet. Since the game crashes all the time then I'm guessing its not an internet connectivity issue. The game will also tell you, you've been disconnected if your connection goes down as well.

I'll try running the directX diagnostics program you mentioned. Also, I finally found the website for SiS. I used technicalsupport.com and found their website that way. You'd think it would be sis.com, but noooo...it's sis.com.tw. Strange! So I'll try and get the most up-to-date driver from them.

I've reinstalled windows many times. I try and do this every so often to keep problems from getting to out of hand.

As you said, the card is mostly just a basic card. So I'll probably go ahead and buy a new card. You know of a good website I can go to that can explain to me the functionalities and terminologies used for graphics cards so I can pick the one that best suits me. I'm considering a Voodoo 3 though because a few of my friends have Voodoo and don't have any problems running any games.

Thanks for your help and keep the responses coming if you can! :-)

I found the SiS-website via driverzone.com (needed it for linux-drivers).
I also reinstalled windows many times, but since i discovered the usefullness of system restore, it has been a while I did reinstall windows.
For a website for all sorts of hardware, people always refered me to pricewatch.com, so I'll do the same, as I don't know other websites.
For the Voodoo3, I heard it is totaly unsupported. I have a Voodoo2, and that is an ADD-ON-card, it's not a stand-alone videocard. So it still slows everything down because the graphics still go trough my onboard videacard. Als see if you have an AGP-slot (brown) or not. I don't have one, so watch out, otherwise you by something that doesn't fit in your computer. You will also need to disable the onboard videocard in the bios.
I suggest you look in a magazine for computergames, they usually have articles about good videocards for gaming.

Hope this helps a bit
Johan

Thanks Johan!
I doubt I have an AGP slot. I'm going to be purchasing a new computer in the next month or two so I will be buying a motherboard with an AGP slot. I will also be buying a motherboard with 5 PCI slots. The board I have now is WAY to small! Also, the computer I have now has way to many onboard things. I can't stand them! I want to be able to upgrade quickly and easily without having to worry about disabling onboard chips and that kind of crud. It will be nice to have a whole new setup. My fiance is excited too, because she gets my old computer. AMD-K6 400 MHZ, 128 RAM. I'm considering getting one of the new Athlon Thunderbirds or a different Athlon chip. What would you suggest? I've heard the P4 is very buggy and that the Athlon is higher reliability right now. What do you think?

You're right about the onboard thing. I've onboard video, onboard sound (wich i'm actually pretty happy with), parts of my network-card and modem are also onboard,...
Not to mention slots, only 2 PCI and an ISA. I can't use the isa because of my modem, so that doesn't leave much space for me either.

Some suggestions I can think of:
The P4 is indead pretty buggy, especially the first series.
Usually the AMD-processors are cheaper. (P4 also only works with expensive RDRAM)
The case: don't by someting with a "wel-formed" chape at the front-side, it's usually difficult to add extra drives. By one with plates that you can remove. I have one with space for 2 harddisks, 3 cd-romdrives and two floppies (not that I'm using them all).
If you can choose, choose at least 128MB ram, otherwise you'll probably have to upgrade soon.

That's pretty much it I think. If you have more questions, feel free to ask.
Johan

I will have a choice on the case thing, I believe I'm going to build the machine myself. That way I can get what I want and put it where I want :-) Also, it will me less expensive for me to build it myself. It will also be easier to upgrade if I buy everything myself, hard to find a dealer that will put everything you want in a machine from scratch, without charging you up the ying-yang.

I do have another question. Do you know anything about the new DDR SDRAM that is being used on some of these Athlon boards? Is it faster than DIMM? Is it the wave of the future (in other words, should I get it because if I don't I'll have to buy a whole new mobo anyway?)? Thank!

Sorry, don't know anything about it.
quick search with google showed up this links that seemed interesting to me:
http://www.mkdata.dk/click/module2e5.htm#ddram
http://www.pcreview.co.uk/Article.php?aid=9
seems that DDR-ram is fully supported by AMD-athlon.
also look here:
http://peripherals.about.com/compute/peripherals/library/weekly/aa021701a.htm
Now that I looked at it, it seems to be a pretty good thing, that DDR-RAM.

I also have one suggestion to build your computer, be sure to have good cooling for your CPU (heatsink + ballbearing fan)
Johan

f--- yous all...

kkkk

Sorry for the long link, just cut and paste... Here is what Microsoft has to say about it... Did you try any of these?

Your system seems to meet the requirements of MS....

Let me know... Will follow with link via email (Easier to link)

http://search.support.microsoft.com/kb/psssearch.asp?SPR=ashcall&T=B&KT=ALL&T1=7d&LQ=video+crash&S=F&A=T&DU=C&FR=0&D=homegame&LPR=asheron**+and+call&LNG=ENG&VR=http%3A%2F%2Fsupport.microsoft.com%2Fsupport%3Bhttp%3A%2F%2Fsupport.microsoft.com%2Fservicedesks%2Fwebcasts%3Bhttp%3A%2F%2Fsupport.microsoft.com%2Fhighlights&CAT=Support&VRL=ENG&SA=GN