I'm at my wit's end.

user226 · Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 32

I am losing my mind with this. my laptop hates me.

I feel bad asking another sims 2 question... But i see that you guys are very helpful, and seem to solve your problems Smile

I have tried A LOT of solutions and they didnt seem to work.

I warn you. this may be the hardest problem from the sims you'll have to fix.

~~~

ALLLLLRRIIIGHT.

here are my specs.

==System==

Operating System: Microsoft Windows XP Professional (5.1, Build 2600)

Processor: Intel(R) core(TM)2 CPU t5600 @ 1.83GHz (2 CPUs)

Memory: 1022MB RAM

Page File: 408MB used, 3585MB avaiable

DirectX Version: DirectX 9.0c

==Display==

Name: NVIDIA GeForce Go 7900 GS

Manufacturer: NVIDIA

Chip Type: GeForce Go 7900 GS

Approx. Total Memory: 256.0 MB

Main Driver: nv4_disp.dll

Version: 6.14.0010.8463 (English)
==============
my C: drive

Capacity: 51.2 GB
Used space: 43.1 GB
Free space: 8.03 GB

I've even had to move things to my D: drive to make that much space in the C: drive. before i only had 1.2 GB of space on my C: drive.

Capacity: 17.0 GB
Used space: 10.6 GB
Free space: 6.43

and now my game crashes WHENEVER it wants. it doesnt when it loads, but it does crash when i save SOMETIMES. i can really only play for about 5 mintues or less. 10 on a good day.

i only have: original, universtiy, nightlife, open for bussiness, pets, and seasons. no speical fofo speical packs crap.

oh and for those who dont know the game, i dont own all of the eps.

i have removed all of my content, and the game just plays for say... 20 minutes before crashing ensues.

and ive tested my hard drives which if you look at the results BOMBED.

<<-- click to expand

atleast this looks okay...

Error: image could not be loaded. Image is not available from server

Image URL: http://img410.imageshack.us/img410/7833/hdtunepicerrorscanbl6.png

oh and this is the temp of my laptop playing rollercoast tycoon since it loads faster than the sims and im in a foul mood to load it >>

and this is my laptop right now. i havent shut it off in a week and just had it hirbernating.

*sigh*

how do i fix this? i've been told there is no way... please tell me we can...
i'll buy ram if need be. or a new graphics card. its just remeber i have a laptop... so there isnt much i can do with the hardware department. :'(

mmmm... I'd be very grateful if you guys could help me...

and if you cant, just say youre not going to get it to work. i rather know then get ignored.

EDIT!

no i do not have norton anti-virus.

[Language edited by ZEUS_GB]

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

Hello user226 and welcome to Lockergnome!

Did you move SIMS2 to drive D? (either by moving or reinstalling it)

Does you laptop crash with any other game?

user226 · Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 32

hello!
ack! im soooo soo sorry. i forgot to introduce myself! but thank you Smile

and no i have not moved my sims folder to D when i moved things around. i didnt move any programs. all i moved was:
Pictures
Saved AIM conversations
A back up copy of the game
Homework
And things i've written.

thats it. and no, my computer doesnt crash with any other game. but... the only other games i have installed are rollercoaster tycoon 1 and two. those games dont really need a lot of power to play on an XP anyway. XDDD

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

First of all updating your hardware drivers from the manufacturers website might be a good idea.

user226 · Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 32

Oh! i forgot to mention, that since my game always crashes, i attucally cannot get the game to play unless i reinstall my graphics driver. i also have forceware 167.51 for my nVida.

and i am pretty sure i do it correctly... i go into the control panel and uninstall nvida drivers and restart. then i install the driver, and restart again. i do this every single time after it crashes

for the the display driver i go into my control panel, and system and hardware and i unistall the driver, restart, install, and restart again. i've only done this... about 2 or 3 times?

should i download anything else?

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

Have you install the latest drivers for your sound card and motherboard?

user226 · Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 32

attucally... that i have not done..

Where do i get those?

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

You can get them from the PC manufacturers website or the component manufacturers website.

user226 · Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 32

i think my game is in worst condition. i downloaded a new sound driver, but not a motherboard driver since i had no idea where to find one on the dell site.

i loaded the game, and i removed all of the neighboorhoods and left just one. i loaded that, and the neighboorhood was slow, so i switched over to the create-a-sim part of the game, and when i went through, the bodies in the selection buttons were messed up. they were white from the neck down and had blue scribles on them. then i pressed the arrow to go to the next page, and a blank box appeared with only an okay button and the game terminated...

i guess i'll try reinstalling my graphics drivers... again.

but heres a noteable thing. this is the first time i played the game without unchecking the affinty of CPU1.... is it possible that that's a cause?

EDIT!

i reinstalled the two graphics drivers, and my game loaded fine, but the hood was very slow. not like before though, so i felt better. i loaded the lot, and i got all excited, because it loaded quickly, and i got in, and i started to move around in the game for less than a mintue and it CRASHED.

this time i changed the affinty.

GAH! it makes me want to tear my hair out!

still no motherboard driver.

should i buy RAM or something?

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

Use your service tag with the Dell tech support site and it will give you all the downloads/drivers for your model.

http://support.dell.com/support/downloads/index.aspx?c=us&l=en&s=gen

No you don't really need any more RAM because you have 1GB.

user226 · Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 32

ughh... im sorry. i feel seriously stupid. i MUST be missing it, since i cant seem to find what catagory it would be under...

well the catagores would be:

applications
audio
bios
CD/DVD
chipset
communtications
diagonotics
Input device drivers
network
SATA drivers
system utilies
system manigment
video

im really extreamly sorry... i must be annoying you Embarassed

my problem seems impossible Sad

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

The motherboard driver would be under chipset.

user226 · Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 32

im assuming its the one called "Intel" since thats what my sticker on the side of my laptop says Very Happy

i installed it, and i have yet to try it.

if my game still doesnt work after this, does that mean im done for?

user226 · Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 32

BUMP.

i just want to say THANK YOU.

sweet holy god on fire. i CANT belive thats ALL i had to do!!! it was so simple!

how did downloading just the motherboard driver fix everything?

i was able to play for half an hour before i took a break to write this to you. i havent been able to play that long since 3 eps ago Shocked

ZEUS_GB · Joined: Jan 14, 2003 Posts: 5061 Location: UK

Glad you got it working.

The motherboard drivers optimise AGP/PCI Express bus transfer, hard drive transfer etc etc. The Windows default drivers for some motherboards are poor to say the least thats why I always suggest updating them.

user226 · Joined: Apr 17, 2008 Posts: 32

how... terrible... it-it... crashed... again...

i think its because i played it too long today or something... i was just so excited...

what do i do...? do i re-download all of the drivers again...? what did i do...? Crying or Very sad

EDIT!

i did not update the drivers, but i turned it back on to see what was the problem. It loaded up fine, but my game was quite laggy. once i got them into bed after 15 mintues of playing, it crashed again.

right now im trying to defragement the laptop, but i only have 13% free space and i need 15% >> so im moving things around...

should i buy some more space? its getting so hard and cramped in here Shocked