Windows Xp Gaming Crashes To Desktop

[EvilTwinOfAtrus]

Hi everyone and thanks in advance. When running DirectX games in Windows Xp Pro (and Home from what I've heard) once in the actual game (ie not including the game menu) they crash to the desktop within 1 second to 2 minutes. Here are my system specs:

1 GHz Athlon Processor
GeForce 2 MX
512MB PC133 SDRAM
30GB HD

I have tried everything within my knowledge and am desperate to get the problem sorted so that my son can play the games I got him for Christmas. Any help that anyone can give would be greatly appreciated

 

[smah]

What games, specifically? Have you tried compatability mode?

 

[EvilTwinOfAtrus]

Max Payne and No One Lives Forever 2 and I've tried running them in compatibility mode but they won't work. I know for a fact that this PC can handle Max Payne because I borrowed a friends game when I was using Windows 98 and it worked OK then.

 

[firewolfrl]

your problem will exist with any 3d mode games or video
if you have a 3d screen saver it will lock up to desktop too.
I had the same problem and fixed it by adjusting the ram timing on the motherboard.
what brand motherboard do you have?
you need to make some adjustments in the BIOS for the video card.
this web site will explain all the settings needed for your video card and how to fix the 3D issues and make the motherboard stable for the geforce card.
Geforce FAQ

http://www.tweak3d.net/faq/faq.html

 

[smah]

Max Payne:

http://www.talonsoft.com/techsupport/gamehelp/maxpayne2.php

http://www.take2games.com/index.php...C,Gathering_of_Developers,maxpayne§ion=issues

http://www.take2games.com/index.php...C,Gathering_of_Developers,maxpayne§ion=issues

http://www.take2games.com/index.php...C,Gathering_of_Developers,maxpayne§ion=issues

 

[smah]

No one lives forever 2:

http://downloads.gameplanet.co.nz/dl.dyn/Files/2509.html

Many posts here seem to talk about turning off the intro video:

http://www.noonelivesforever.com/forum/messages.asp?topic=2&ArchiveStart=951

 

[FormerHPB]

Make sure you have all the latest patches for Max Payne. I played through that game on my old machine no problem.
the specs on the old machine:
XP Pro
PIII 800B
768 MB Ram
G Force 2 GTS 32 MB

No problems on mine. Great game though. Enjoy it!

 

[EvilTwinOfAtrus]

Thanks ever so much for your help. It is very much appreciated. I haven't tried any out yet but there are some things I didn't think of such as the IRQ sharing problem. I'll keep you posted on the results, hopefully good . Thanks again.

 

[johnodq]

Are you using the Microsoft Display Drivers ?

The MS drivers are not 100% with OpenGL games and for the best results you should use the NVDIA Drivers..

Download them from

http://nvidia.com/content/drivers/drivers.asp

The latest Nvidia drivers are fine with all DirectX 9 aswell.

I have all the games you mentioned running perfectly on XP systems with the Nvidia drivers but have always had problems with the MS ones.