FFXI Crash Error. Comp Crash, not POL.Follow

My computer crashes constantly whenever I run FFXI. It does not crash at first, it will play fine for about 5-10 minutes then crash to a black screen where it says that it has locked up the comp to prevent damage and puts up a weird stop error.

It says to check my Disk Space and Drivers but My disk space is not anywhere near full and I have just gone and updated a ton of drivers. It also says to check on a BIOS problem, but I don't know how to do that.

System Specs:

Processor: AMD Athlon XP 2000+, MMX, 3D NOW; Speed 1.7 GHz
Hard Drive: 56 GB; 24 GB Free
Ram: 256 MB
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce4 MX440
Operating System: Windows XP, Service Pack 1
Model #: A26EV17F
Frequency of Problem: Happens approx 5-10 mins after entering the game, faster in crowded zones and in close proximity to other players. Also I'm getting the same error when running DXDIAG.

This is the error I get.

STOP 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0x6CB13D84, 0xF5928AF0, 0x00000000)

I have absolutley no clue what that means.

I have been running this program, problem free since november. Back in May the problems started, I found a virus in my computer and cleaned it out, my brother says I have to completley purge my hard drive, but I would like to save that as a last resort. I probably should have called tech support by now but I work nights and they are only open when I sleep.

If anyone can translate that error, or help me out in anyway I'd be thankful.

Edited, Fri Jun 18 05:07:56 2004 by thejp

Sorry for the delay in response, I have been gone most of the week. That stop error you are reporting often accompanies virus activity, incorrect IRQ assignments, or bad drivers.

First, try running the online virus scanner at http://housecall.trendmicro.com and see if you do still in fact have a virus. if so, remove it entirely. If you cannot, come back here and i'll give you detailed removal instructions. With viruses, you need to get them all, then protect against reinfection. If you leave even a single infected file, the infection will spread again. it's like a cancer. Annoying huh?

Sorry, for swearing but I'm at my wits end.

There was a virus. I cleaned it but it did not stop the problem. I tried reinstalling, driver updates and even reformatting the hard drives. I no longer get the stop error, now it just crashes to desktop after a while. Once I got a gray screen and I couldn't move attack or do anything. I logged out and the title screen was black, then it crashed to desktop. I logged back in and played for a while then got the standard crash to desktop after about 45 minutes. I would really like to know what is wrong with my computer, my brother is suggesting more memory is needed, but I have 256 Megs, which if I remember correctly is twice the required memory. But I have no idea what to do now. I can not get a hold of Squeenix tech support because I work nights and they only operate when I'm asleep.

Any help will be greatly appriciated.

The problem seemed to be corrected when I reinstalled, however with Summerfest, it has started up again.

This is the IRQ info

IRQ 0 System timer OK
IRQ 4 Communications Port (COM1) OK
IRQ 6 Standard floppy disk controller OK
IRQ 8 System CMOS/real time clock OK
IRQ 9 Microsoft ACPI-Compliant System OK
IRQ 13 Numeric data processor OK
IRQ 14 Primary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 15 Secondary IDE Channel OK
IRQ 16 NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440 OK
IRQ 18 Realtek RTL8139 Family PCI Fast Ethernet NIC OK
IRQ 21 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 21 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 21 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller OK
IRQ 21 VIA USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller OK
IRQ 22 Vinyl AC'97 Codec Combo Driver (WDM) OK

And this is the conflicts/sharing info

I/O Port 0x00000000-0x00000CF7 PCI bus
I/O Port 0x00000000-0x00000CF7 Direct memory access controller

I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF VIA CPU to AGP Controller
I/O Port 0x000003C0-0x000003DF NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440

IRQ 21 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller
IRQ 21 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller
IRQ 21 VIA Rev 5 or later USB Universal Host Controller
IRQ 21 VIA USB 2.0 Enhanced Host Controller

Memory Address 0xD0000000-0xDFFFFFFF VIA CPU to AGP Controller
Memory Address 0xD0000000-0xDFFFFFFF NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440

Memory Address 0xE4000000-0xE5FFFFFF VIA CPU to AGP Controller
Memory Address 0xE4000000-0xE5FFFFFF NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440

Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF PCI bus
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF VIA CPU to AGP Controller
Memory Address 0xA0000-0xBFFFF NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440

I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB VIA CPU to AGP Controller
I/O Port 0x000003B0-0x000003BB NVIDIA GeForce4 MX 440



I could not get memtest86 to work because I do not own floppy disks anymore. We use CD-RW for storing files.

The problem seems to persist in crowded zones with a lot of people around, sometimes I will not have the problem for a day or two and then it will start crashing to desktop repeatedly. Occasionally I get a black screen error similar to the one mentioned before. And it siad something about IRQC NOT LESS OR EQUAL TO. And it mentions syssound.sys as the problem file. But I don't know how to fix this.

Also a new problem has come up. When I try to enter the Character Create screen, it goes completley black. I can still hear sound and music, and I can still manipulate the menus, but I can't see them. Leaving the Create screen leaves the game with no picture and I have to exit out of FFXI to fix it.


Edited, Tue Aug 10 04:08:27 2004 by thejp

Could I get some help, please.

memtest86 also has an iso, which you can burn to cd-r.

The problem stopped for a while, but once the halloween event started the problems started again full blast. I have tried downloading the said driver. It fixed the character select screen problem, but did not fix the crash problem.

Also I tried turning all the graphic options off and running at minimal graphics.(Boy the game looks ugly now.) This did not help at all.

I do not have $250 to spend on a new video card and memory so if someone could find a fix to this problem before I go down to Squeenix with a shotgun, I'd be grateful.

Also I tried calling Tech Support, they were completley useless.

we already did answer it. You need an adequate graphics card. the haloween events = more load on your computers graphics due to significantly more people on.