[Someone Else]

When I play Black & White 1, it can play fine for maybe and hour but then it'll freeze up, and eventually the "blue screen of death" will show for maybe all of half of a second and my computer restarts.

I have never gotten the BSOD on this computer until now, it doesn't do this in any other video games. From what I understand the BSOD is basically the computers way of committing suicide under too much pressure, but it never used to do this before with this game. I played it fine just earlier this year. Could the summer heat be the cause?

[Caael]

Doubt it. On this computer, before we totally wiped it, we would get one pretty much every time we opened something new, because everything was so corrupted. It was just so clogged with viruses and spyware that there wasn't alot we could do.

Not sure if that helps, but scan the disk with AVG or something.

[Nick Presta]

More information is required. Is this a legit copy of B&W? Does it BSOD after a certain action or map load? How long do you play the game for before it BSODs?

[Someone Else]

Yes, it's legit. When the BSOD happens, that's tough to say. It seems to be when I'm zooming out or panning across the map. I'm only in the first land. Sometimes the BSOD can happen after a long time, once it happened in no time at all.

The BSOD also happened just once when I was playing the Sims 2, which is also why I'm blaming the heat.

Scanning my computer probably wouldn't be a bad idea, I've been downloading alot of things lately.

[Mallick]

things?

Sorry if this is spam, I've nothing else to say.

[Caael]

You dont need to use your imagination to know what he's been downloading


Joking, WD.

[Someone Else]

If I was downloading stuff like that, I wouldn't have mentioned it. So, losers, can we get back to helping me?

[Caael]

I've said all I can. Scanned the disk?

[Toasty]

I have little to none experience with this. But, if it's heat, turn off your PC and let it cool down for about 5 - 10 minutes. It also wouldn't be a bad idea to remove the RAM (all of them) and then put them back. I know thaton my Dell, if you do that and take out the BIOS battery (it's one of those circular ones, it's on the motherboard), it'll clear the RAM. Of course, you should unplug the PC before attempting. That might help, but I'm not sure if it would do anything different to a computer other than a Dell. Shouldn't though.

Other than that, scan.

[Caael]

It's not the heat, that's for true.

[Toasty]

Yeah, but a hot computer does run slower, and in my case, a LOT slower.

On a side note, my PC went mental and wouldn't start windows. It said that there was an error in the OS or something.

Well, I removed the RAM and BIOS battery, let it sit for about 2 minutes, and put them back in. And it worked fine. So for some reason, quite a few of my PC related problems are solved by doing that. Which is one reason why I'd suggest doing that, after disconnecting all the cords plugged into your computer. However, you do have to go back in and reset the clock to the correct date and time, but that's not a very hard thing to do.

[Someone Else]

You know, this is a family computer. I don't have my own computer and I'm not sure if Father would appreciate me pulling hardware out, particularly since this computer is a custom job.

It's also known that overheated CPUs can result in BSOD if your fan doesn't cool it down well enough. In my house, it's still 81 degrees Fahrenheit (27 Celsius)... not exactly room temperature.

Tell you what, you guys tell me where or if I can find the memory dump file and I'll see if I can debug it or something and see if I can find more about the BSOD I get when B&W crashes. If you guys can't tell me anymore than scanning the disk or moving hardware around in my PC I'd appreciate it if you let somebody who knows more post instead.

edit: B&W1 is the only game that gives me BSOD. Sims 2 gave it to me, only once though. Both these games require a lot of CPU and RAM. My CPU could be overheating because of stupid air conditioning in this house and, possibly, a weak fan, or any mixture of the two. Both of these games could run fine early this year when it was colder. You getting me on this?

[Split Infinity]

Buy a liquid coolant if you can afford one. So much quieter.

[Someone Else]

That's not a bad idea... I'll look at some then ask my father about it next time he considers a hardware upgrade.

Also, 81 Fahrenheit = 27 Celsius, my mistake back there.

[Toasty]

I'd suggest running your PC with the case open. The only bad thing is, though, is that the air probably wouldn't run past your drives. But that shouldn't be to much of a problem.

But how many fans do you have, what sizes are they, and where are they placed? Or, could you provide a picture of your PC?

[Split Infinity]

You'll know your PC is overheating if the fan suddenly gets louder after a few minutes.

[Someone Else]

It pretty much speeds up whenever an application is loaded. You can interpret that however you want.

[Split Infinity]

I think that might be your disc drive. They can sound similar.

[Someone Else]

You're probably right on that.

I tried playing it again. It would stutter up a lot when I would zoom around the map. I tend to move the camera around a lot when I play games like these. The screen would freeze and the music would still play fine, then stutter for a few seconds, and then play like normal again, following action on the screen to flow again soon after. I would experience these freezes throughout gameplay until I just got the BSOD.

I want help, Nick. D:

[Split Infinity]

Is your disc drive really primitive? Like, really primitive?

[Someone Else]

Nah, I have two drives.

This is the one I'm play B&W in, I haven't switched it out yet:
http://www.shentech....dwdv8xdv4x.html

This is the other one:
http://computers.pricegrabber.com/dvd-rom-...ters/m/2267307/

[Split Infinity]

Well, the only thing that I can deduce with my limited (zilch) knowledge of hardware is that your computer simply can't the graphics, so it kills itself instead. Try a lower resolution and see if it fixes it. If not, get a tech to have a look at your system.

[Someone Else]

It's worth a try, but considering this game is ancient and I played it from start to finish sometime this year, and can play other games (Oblivion) fine, I find it unlikely. Unless I put it to a resolution that I didn't use at that time.

[Split Infinity]

Your RAM could have been clogged up with all kinds of junk in a matter of months. Little programs running in the background, if you know what I mean.

[Someone Else]

I was starting to get that suspicion myself. I'm doing a full scan with Norton for any junk, I should get AdAware on this computer again too.

[Split Infinity]

A disk defragment wouldn't hurt, either.

[Toasty]

If that was the case, the RAM thing I mentioned would do the trick. But I think in this case, it's a matter o overheating. It wouldn't be a bad idea to take out the RAM and put it back in though.

[Caael]

Bump'd, because i'm having similar problems. But worse. Basically, every time I turn my PC on and then log on, about 30 seconds later it will get a Bsod. This only happens when the PC has been on a while, so it's probably the heat. Also, my fan is so loud, it's hard to hear over it, so it probably is overheating or something. It doesn't do it when i've just turned it on overnight, it usually happens 1-2 hours after I turn it on. But it's almost definately the heat.