Computer re-boot Installed Sims 3 on an older pentium 4 2.50 GHz computer. Believe I've updated all of our drivers. My son plays for a while and then the computer shuts down and re-boots. Have upgraded to an NVIDIA GeForce 6200 card and bumped up the RAM. Realize that this is probably at the lower end of actually running the program but would appreciate any help so that I don't get yelled at about "this stupid computer" by my son. Thanks dxdiag should be attached.
Wanted to add that I don't have problems with any other game that we run. Just completely shuts down and re-boots. haven't had any problems with overheating either.
Try disabling 'Automatic restart on system failure'. This would stop the computer automatically rebooting when a BSOD occurs.
Is it bluescreening? Down the bottom left it should name what file is causing the crash. Post that back here.
Think I got it...BSOD said that file NV4_disp was the error and that the device driver got stuck in an infinite loop. Uninstalled Nvidia driver and re-installed latest one. So far so good. Thanks again
Arrrgggg...now I'm getting a Win32k.sys error. Cleaned ram and video card slots, did a chkdsk everything appeared good, now getting the same NV4_disp error again!!! Have run every test I can think of.
Install this driver and see if that helps any. Is the BSOD reporting a STOP PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA?
BSOD doesn't say STOP PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA...also didn't see the driver you want me to install, must be looking in the wrong area? I'l post what it says next time it does it.
Sorry, Josh really needs to change the hyperlink colour. http://www.nvidia.com/object/winxp_186.18_whql.html
Thanks for asking this question Dck12ga, I came here planning on asking a similar question. My pc, like your sons also barely meets system requirements, and I have a GeForce 6800 and it's been doing the same thing. I had updated my nvidia drivers just a few weeks ago. Thanks for the link Flameback, I'm downloading now. I will say other than the re-boot issue, the game looks and runs fine.
ok, updated the driver...still getting the BSOD!!! Still shows both the nv4_disp and the win32k.sys (at different times). Here are the two codes I am getting. 0x000000EA (0x894F8CF0, 0x89BC0008, 0xF78B2CB4, 0x00000001) and 0x000000EA (0x88C77020, 0x89BB9910, 0xF78B2CB4, 0x00000001) Not sure this helps or not...could my video card be bad? I've run the dxdiag tests and it says everything is good.
Do you run any remote control software such as PCAnywhere? Make sure your antivirus/spyware is up to date and run a few scans.
No remote software...I did tweak my video card settings to run performance and not quality. Was able to run Sims 3 for about an hour before it crashed. Same error on BSOD Nv4_disp. I've also run antivirus / spyware several times. Also ran a reg clean up program. Did this prior to the wonderful hour of play that we got.
I would try a different video card then. Not sure what else the issue could be. Nv4_disp is definitely the driver for the video card, though what is causing it to crash I can't think of.