[Can't replicate] 47i doesn't work on my system!

The Ultimate DooMer · Post by **The Ultimate DooMer** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 4:27 pm

Well, I guess I'd better make a thread about it, so here we go:

When I play 47i with any wad, it locks up frequently at random. When I switch back to 47 everything is fine. (apart from the fact I can't use 47i and presumably all future versions, too)

One thing that may (but probably not) be useful is that on my system the programs Rndal and Gbdash frequently perform illegal operations and will be shut down (allegedly, as they will perform more of these in the same sitting) - does 47i have anything different to do with those? (compared to previous versions)

Cyb · Post by **Cyb** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 4:53 pm

uh what ARE rndal and gbdash exactly? I can't turn up solid results for either of them with a quick google. My guess is that it may be a system problem of some sort, those could be some sort of spyware (if they're not disregard that heh). Also it's worth it to update your video and sound drivers too if you haven't already. Oh and you may want to upgrade directx as well, but I don't think zdoom uses anything specific to newer versions.

The Ultimate DooMer · Post by **The Ultimate DooMer** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 5:12 pm

I don't know what they are, they just pop up every now and then with the illegal operation crap. The machine was scanned a few weeks ago with McAfee Online and nothing came up.

Last year my brother updated the video drivers (Riva NVidia TNT2 Model 64) and suddenly all 3D accelerated games (except Unreal) locked up constantly (OpenGL more affected than Direct3D), a bit like what 47i is doing now. Even Windows itself crashed often. We reinstalled Win 98 from scratch and this seemed to clear it (and it had cleared the crashes in Windows itself), but found out later that it hadn't cleared up the game crashes. So at the moment I can't play any 3D accelerated games I have except Unreal (strangely unaffected) and Half-Life (with Direct3D, and switching to software in the worst areas, meaning reduced crashes). I've got DirectX 8.0, from RtCW.

So I know my PC is screwed up, but at the moment I can't do anything about it. I still blame him for all the trouble, though.

Ultraviolet · Post by **Ultraviolet** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 5:26 pm

Use AdAware and Spybot: Search and Destroy.

Use this (http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml) to get rid of everything that is starting up with Windows that you don't need.

Another thing to be cautious of is spyware/viruses in the form of DLL's. They use Windows' RUNDLL program to run themselves without needing to be in normal executable form. Using the program I linked you to, examine all startup items that use RUNDLL. If the DLL's that the startup item had RUNDLL running have anything to do with that RNDAL or GBDASH shit or something like RJUIUJVA or any other seemingly random DLL names, uncheck that startup item. Some of these programs are smart and will re-iterate themselves as soon as you delete their startup entry or restart Windows. Some are only smart enough to re-instate their startup entry if it is actually deleted, so I just stick to unchecking them instead. It's OK to have that little bit of trash in your startup entries, just as long as it isn't being used.

If everything works fine after that, search for RNDAL and GBDASH on your machine. Open all folders that contain files named that and delete everything in said folders.

This works fine for me in Win98. May it work for you in whatever (Windows) OS you are using.

Cyb · Post by **Cyb** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 5:27 pm

hrm it sounds like you might have some sort of hardware issue. a couple weeks back my computer would randomly crash and reset when I played something cpu or graphics intensive (q3 most noteably, and also when I ran psp). I fixed it by reseating the ram, you may want to try that if you're comfortable with it, it's not hard to do just open up the box and pull out the ram sticks (usually they're clipped in there, just push those clips downwards) make sure there's no dust or other junk on them or in the dimms (the slots they're in) and then press them firmly back into the slots (make sure you populate them in the right order, ie, try and keep them in the same slots if you have more slots than sticks of ram, usually you want to fill the slot closest to the processor first and then the one next to that etc). If the machine doesn't boot that probably means you didn't press them in far enough, so just make sure you have them in and nothing else (ide cables especially) got knocked loose. that may fix your problem

Post by **Kappes Buur** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 5:29 pm

Possibly ...

With names like that, it could be that these are temporary files set up by whatever application.
With Windows ME, I can hit Ctrl+Alt+Del to open a small window showing all running processes.
Maybe in your version of Windows you can do something similar.

Or, it should be possible to track down the application by doing a search for that file.

Other than that, you could gingerly poke around the registry. Back it up first.
There is a nifty utility called Registry Detective by PC_Mag

===========================================================

Ah, some posts beat me to it.

Just, another thought. How often do you go to Windows Update. They are quite good with
security patches.
And, indeed, run AdAware often.

Maverick · Post by **Maverick** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 9:50 pm

TUD, after a quick search on Google here's what I've found:

RNDAL is part of Real Network's RealOne Player(More info here). As that page will tell you, you should uninstall RealOne and get an older version of the Real Player.

GBDASH has to do with something called "Gearbox Connection Kit".. Found this thread at Google Groups..

Although they have no effect directly on ZDoom, if they hog enough system resources, they surely won't help things. Hope that's some help to you.

Regards,

Maverick

Ultraviolet · Post by **Ultraviolet** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 11:02 pm

Yeah, there's nothing like properly managing resources to make a computer worth its system stats. When I was up in Canada my aunt mentioned that her computer had been acting slow lately (she uses it for you know, the internet and stuff, no games or anything that needs a lot of machine). It was 600 megahertz with 160 megs of RAM. I did what I could to get things running a little faster, and it helped a lot. When I came home I noticed that my computer (266 megahertz, 256 megs of RAM) still worked faster than hers, even under a bit of a workload.

Cyb · Post by **Cyb** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 11:13 pm

it certainly doesn't help that he's running win98, which has piss-poor memory managment, either :/

Ultraviolet · Post by **Ultraviolet** » Thu Aug 07, 2003 11:25 pm

Win98 is working just fine for me...
There are some registry keys you can create/change to alter Win98's memory management... I forget what they are, and I haven't used them yet, but whatever.

Cyb · Post by **Cyb** » Fri Aug 08, 2003 12:31 am

heh, there's little you can do to make win98 not have poor memory managment, it's just how it was written. That's the reason you have to reboot it every couple of hours or why it bluescreens for seemingly no reason. bad memory management. operating systems aren't supposed to do that you know ;) NT based windows and stuff like Linux won't crash unless you give them a damn good reason to do so.

sirjuddington · Post by **sirjuddington** » Fri Aug 08, 2003 7:36 am

Cyb wrote:heh, there's little you can do to make win98 not have poor memory managment, it's just how it was written. That's the reason you have to reboot it every couple of hours or why it bluescreens for seemingly no reason. bad memory management. operating systems aren't supposed to do that you know NT based windows and stuff like Linux won't crash unless you give them a damn good reason to do so.

Heh, I have WinXP and it likes to crash or lock up randomly

But at least D3D works with it (WinME and Win98 tend to hate anything D3D for some reason...)

I agree with the bad memory management thing though, 98/Me still have that periodic crash and many programs will not run under WinME due to 'lack of memory' (I have 768mb RAM, btw

).

Weird weird stuff...

HotWax · Post by **HotWax** » Fri Aug 08, 2003 9:53 am

SlayeR wrote:Heh, I have WinXP and it likes to crash or lock up randomly But at least D3D works with it (WinME and Win98 tend to hate anything D3D for some reason...)

I agree with the bad memory management thing though, 98/Me still have that periodic crash and many programs will not run under WinME due to 'lack of memory' (I have 768mb RAM, btw ).

Weird weird stuff...

If you have WinXP and it's crashing "at random" you most likely have a hardware issue or else some program that's running is screwing things up. WinXP itself is built on the WinNT core, which is quite solid I assure you. (Though most would argue not as solid as Linux...)

TUD, it sounds like your computer is really screwed up. In order, this is what I'd recommend doing:

1) Reformat.
2) Reinstall your OS (If you can afford it, upgrade to XP, but still install from scratch).
3) Run Windows Update and download all available critical updates and Service Packs. You don't have to download anything else (Even the "Recommended Updates") unless you want to.
4) Go to NVidia.com (You said you had a TNT card) and get the latest driver.
5) Get the latest drivers for any other cards that apply. Most notably your sound card, but if you have a network card or other such devices, make sure they're updated as well.
6) Install a good virus checker and make sure to do a full scan with it at least once every couple of months. (You can setup a task to do it for you if you like)
7) Download and install Ad-Aware and scan with it *at least* once a month. Damn cookies...
8) If you have a broadband connection and need it (your hardware may have built-in firewalls), get ZoneAlarm. It will keep you aware of every program that is making access to the Internet, and is an invaluable security tool.

I don't think it'd be too risky to assume that the problem here isn't with ZDoom, but with your machine. Even so, there are a few things you might want to try anyway.

Have you tried recapping the FPS at 35? With that being the only major difference between 47 and 47i, it wouldn't be surprising if it's causing the crash. If you can't load ZDoom at all, put it on your commandline.

zdoom +set cl_capfps 1

P.S. I almost forgot... Most people overlook one of the most important drivers for your PC... Your BIOS. Depending on your motherboard brand and the BIOS it uses, there may be updates available that can solve any number of hardware incompatibilities. So make sure to check for that. Also if you use an AMD with a VIA chipset (I'm sorry), make sure to get the lastest 4-in-1 driver from viaarena.com.

The Ultimate DooMer · Post by **The Ultimate DooMer** » Fri Aug 08, 2003 8:41 pm

I've knocked out the Rndal and Gbdash by renaming them to .old, and 47i managed to last for at least a minute without lock up (I quitted out after then) so I'll try 47i with a newstuff wad to see if it has cleared.

The Ultimate DooMer · Post by **The Ultimate DooMer** » Sun Aug 10, 2003 7:29 am

Ultraviolet wrote:Use AdAware and Spybot: Search and Destroy.

Use this (http://www.mlin.net/StartupCPL.shtml) to get rid of everything that is starting up with Windows that you don't need.

Another thing to be cautious of is spyware/viruses in the form of DLL's. They use Windows' RUNDLL program to run themselves without needing to be in normal executable form. Using the program I linked you to, examine all startup items that use RUNDLL. If the DLL's that the startup item had RUNDLL running have anything to do with that RNDAL or GBDASH shit or something like RJUIUJVA or any other seemingly random DLL names, uncheck that startup item. Some of these programs are smart and will re-iterate themselves as soon as you delete their startup entry or restart Windows. Some are only smart enough to re-instate their startup entry if it is actually deleted, so I just stick to unchecking them instead. It's OK to have that little bit of trash in your startup entries, just as long as it isn't being used.

I downloaded the CPL thing and deleted a startup item from Real (this one came back straightaway when I unchecked it), but how do I find the items that use RUNDLL?

The GBDASH stuff is related to the web package I use to get online, so I've reinstated that.

[Can't replicate] 47i doesn't work on my system!

47i doesn't work on my system!

Re: 47i doesn't work on my system!