I’ve been running antivirus scans, and spyware scans. So I might as well preform system maintenance. Not just to potentially (which it won’t. Because I did this before and it didn’t) fix my lock up issue, but to prolong the health of my PC.
So far it looks like I have no Malware.
A good ole fashioned Defrag never hurt anyone, and it should help speed up the boot time of Windows.
As I was doing this, I noticed gop playing a strange HL2 mod I never heard of before, called “Calamity”. I asked him about it and he said he found it on Moddb. So I went in and took a look, and downloaded it.
Also got a few others. This modified version of the original “Pumpkin Night” mod for HL2, and a strange, spooky mod called “Dear Esther” that reminds me of the Myst series. These will give me something to do for awhile.
And of course, my lock up issue has to come to the party. The modified version of Pumpkin Night locked up one second after the menu popped up, everytime. Calamity locks up in 1 minute and 50 seconds after playing, everytime.
But the Dear Esther mod. I played that for a good 10 minutes until it locked up.
I’m beginning to wonder why I upgraded in the first place. I should’ve saved up and just got a new computer instead of spent the money to upgrade this and expect everything to work.
It was because of Crysis, and the mounting pressure I was feeling in Facepunch, that everyone had a nice computer, and I didn’t. Back then I didn’t care about having the best shit. I was happy with what I had… until I tried to see if I could run Crysis with Low/Medium settings, and somehow manage to keep the shadows that make the game scream “WOW”. Unfortunately my computer seemed like it was going to sweat, scream and smoke when I tried.
So that convinced me it was time to upgrade, not thinking about the issues that would await me for doing such a thing. And now look at me. Nice hardware, and yet I have more problems than I did with my old hardware.
Funny thing though. Even with these issues, and how graphic-intense this game is, it seems virtually resistant to lock ups.
I guess… Better hardware = More issues? This may not be the case for everyone, but it is for me.
But I believe I have this thing narrowed down to three things;
1. The PSU. No-named, 500W. But still it may not be reliable enough for my computer.
2. The case. Not enough cooling can cause lock ups, and it’s the one thing I haven’t replaced yet. Either that or the way the case is designed, it isn’t made for anything more powerful than my old hardware.
3. The video card(again). As gop and the guy at the computer repair place both said, it could be my GPU’s RAM overheating, and causing lock ups.
All three things share one trait. They all cost money! This is why I’ve decided to make out a list and buy what I need, and then take all three items up to the guy and have him install it. Any one of the three could potentially fix the problem.. once, and for all.
Trouble is, I’m going to have to suffer for four months. But with my birthday coming in August, maybe it won’t be as long.