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Topic: System Crashes (Read 4258 times) previous topic - next topic

System Crashes

When I play a large NWC file, I get the BSOD (blue screen data dump) forcing a re-boot.  New computer, Pentium 4, 3 GHz, 1 GB RAM, XP Pro SP2, Audigy 2 sound card, Radeon X 300 graphics card.  Downloaded new drivers for both cards; no help.  NWC support suggested turning off note chaser, but this did not solve problem either. My old, less powerful computer played the same files without a problem.  Any ideas?

Re: System Crashes

Reply #1 –
I have no idea if it will help, but sometimes movies play better if the speed of the video (graphics?) card is slowed.

I run Win98 so I can't tell you how to adjust it in XP, but it might be in the Control Panel (see Start Menu/Settings).  As a matter of fact I can't even remember how to do in in Win98!!!

If you can't find it, go to any blank area of your desktop, then click F1 for Windows help.

Re: System Crashes

Reply #2 –
Adding to our previous suggestions:

  • Does the crash happen at the same spot every time, or does it vary each time?

  • Did you ever check the system temperature to see if you have an overheating problem?

  • If you have more than one MIDI synth device on your system, have you tried using a different MIDI device driver?

  • Have you tried using the NWC Viewer? If so, did you experience the problem? Did it consistently happen at the same place?

Re: System Crashes

Reply #3 –
Hi Bob...!
I didn't realise that it was possible to get the dreaded "BSOD", (Blue Screen of Death), in Windows XP...LOL...!
Everyone and his dog keeps telling me to get rid of my lovely old Win '98SE set-up...but I'm not convinced...!
I wonder if you still have your "old" system running under Win '98/'98SE...?
If so, try it out in that...!

I'm starting to wonder if Uncle Bill's "Magic" Windows XP is fully compatible with Noteworthy...?
(It's certainly not compatible with most of the "old stuff" I have collected over the years)...LOL...!

Cheers all...!

Paul.
(England).

Re: System Crashes

Reply #4 –
I have been using Windows XP for over a year now, and everything works fine. That is, apart from the odd virus in the mailbox (neatly caught by 'Avast!') and some spyware. No trouble running programs. Noteworthy works absolutely fine, my  favourite editor (The Semware Editor) works like the proverbial charm - I sometimes use it to hyphenise text before I paste it into the Noteworthy lyrics box; even good old PopDBF still lets me edit my old dBASE databases!

There must be many XP users - I haven't heard of any other crashes yet. It's something with my ears?

Re: System Crashes

Reply #5 –
Any possibility that software or driver was installed for a specific user on a multi-user system, instead of for all users?

Re: System Crashes

Reply #6 –
That should make no difference. Noteworthy should either work well or not at all. Only if the nwc-font is not installed, Nwc will not start. But once started, there should be no reason for it to crash. I have seen Noteworthy function perfectly from a network drive (just for the hell of it) but nwcv15.ttf should be added as a font first.
No crashes expected, and none seen.

Re: System Crashes

Reply #7 –
Quote 'When I play a large NWC file'

I'm no 'expert', but this suggests to me that the problem may possibly be midi-related, i.e. soundcard.

A quick search on Google, using this string  "blue screen" +"audigy 2"
produces lots of interesting results.
and even more if you use the string      BSOD +"audigy 2"

The gist of all this appears to be that audigy drivers are 'buggy', and the remedy is to do a 'cleansweep', remove the drivers (as in the article).  Then re-install them, making sure any anti-virus is switched off. Also to check if they have been 'digitally signed'.

http://us.creative.com/support/kb/article.asp?l=2&sid=1712

Creative labs have their own forum at  :-

http://forums.creative.com/creativelabs/board?board.id=soundblaster

If you go to that forum and use their search, it will produce results.
You could also pose the question directly to that forum.

They have a large number of 'patches' and drivers in their downloads section (there are 10 versions of audigy 2)

Creative also have customer support at  http://us.creative.com/support/custsup/welcomets.asp

The European forums for Creative are at  http://uk.europe.creative.com/support/forums/welcome.asp?shct=13

Other people on this forum must be using the audigy 2 ?  It would be interesting to see if they could run a file that causes your blue screen problem.

Just a thought,
Good Luck . .

Re: System Crashes

Reply #8 –
I've had the same problem with my relatively new computer using XP.  Among other suggestions, NWC also suggested back then "Did you ever check the system temperature to see if you have an overheating problem?" So removed the back cover, and sure enough, the ventilation holes were practically blocked up with dust and the blades on the ventilators were covered by it.  I carefully cleaned the whole ventilation system and eureka (!), problem gone.

If you're sure of yourself, you can turn on the power with the covers off and check whether your ventilators are turning to begin with (and keeping your hands out of it!)  If one of them is not, let a technician fix (replace) it.  And do not try to dislodge the vent on the large chip in order to clean it.  This vent is glued on to it with a special kind of glue - let the technician do this (if necessary).

You can also check the system's Bios to see if your system gets enough cooling.

Hope this helps,

Jan

Re: System Crashes

Reply #9 –
In WIN NT4/2000/XP BSODS will give you a great deal of information.  If it is a driver (usually a .SYS file) which has casued the crash, that will be shown.  If it is a Windows failure (they do happen no matter what Bill says!) then you will have an obscure piece of text like IRQ_NOT_LESS_THAN.  If it is a SYS file, check to find which piece of hardware uses that file.  From memory the AD1855 has sometimes been "problematical"  For Windows errors, try the hex code displayed as a search parameter on microsoft.com.