windows has stoped working

[BillJr]

Well you guys won't beleive it but I did three simple things. I turned down the rendering speed, unchecked the player sound script and turned off the Norton live update. It seems to work fine for now, so I have turned up the rendering speed, turned back on the player sound script but left the Norton live update off. So the simple fix it think was the Norton live update checking every 15 min. I now do the norton live update manually. Thanks guys for all you help.

Bill

[GoBucks]

Thanks, Bill. Might save someone else some time down the road.
Norton can be a resource hog at times, usually when it can cause the greatest inconvenience.

[RR_PatGarrett]

I have been trying to get LS working in a new machine from a reinstall from a crashed XP system for the past 10 days or so, talking at length with two fellow players both on the phone and online trying to get past the "Links 2003 has stopped working" indicator. I have read every post here and have tried those things which I had not previously done, no luck. I have an HP quad-core 8 meg RAM system, OS is Windows 7. As many people have, I had initial problems with the onboard NVIDIA graphics and installed an ATI Radeon HD 2400 card. The graphics of the game are as good as they were on the previous machine and I can plan uninterupted as long as I do not try to connect online with another player. This includes the direct connect page in the game, both joining and hosting, as well as through GameRanger where I most often go for games. I have a Lynksys WRT54GL router, using the following three port settings, Links 1 2300-2400 BOTH, Links2 6073-6073 UDP and Links 3, 47624-47624, TCP. All are enabled. I have my Windows firewall set to allow Microsoft Direct Play and well as Links 2003 (for some reason, the Links selection appears 5 times, all of them with boxes checked). I use AVAST and the firewall there is shut off while trying to play Links. Norton came with the machine, however, every trace of it has been removed from my computer. I have run the NVIDIA final patch even though I no longer use the onboard card. The Bios has been checked and the only graphics indicated there is the
Radeon PCI card. I have also ran two patches from LSPN, crash_fix.exe and main_L2k3.exe. I have executing the game from both Launcher and from LinksMMIII, no difference. The game video is set for HD widescreen 1280 X 1020 (second value may be incorrect, put here from memory). In that vein, I constantly get a reminder box there stating that the preferred resolution is 1920 X 1080. Any ideas on permanent elimination of the popup box? In addition to all of this, I have edited through NotePad, my videocard text file to comport with my device value and entered my graphics card there. Next stop for me is dual booting if I cannot get this solved. I know it is solvable, many run the game with no problems with similar systems. RR_PatGarett

[terrell]

...I can plan (from terrell: i'll assume you meant 'play') uninterupted as long as I do not try to connect online with another player...

since you're able to play offline, i don't believe you have a graphics card problem. and since you're crashing when trying to make a direct connection, i don't believe it's a router setup problem. more than likely, you have a corrupted directx file problem.

ya might try removing links completely, then reinstalling directx. ya might even try the specific version jasonanne suggested (9-something?), though i think it's simply more of reinstalling directx being the solution.

for direct connection troubleshooting, tryandtyoneon (murray) is the best. ya might try picking his brain to see if there are any quirks of direct connection that would cause crashes.

for the monitor issue, ya might search for armand's display type chart.

[RR_PatGarrett]

Thanks for the spellcheck Terrell, all my problems are now solved. Just what I was looking for. I tried to downgrade the DirectX to less than the 11 that is now on the machine and it will not install over the 11.

[terrell]

I tried to downgrade the DirectX to less than the 11 that is now on the machine and it will not install over the 11.

then i would imagine it's necessary to first remove/uninstall directx before installing a different version.

personally, i think the version that comes with windows 7 x64 is just fine. i've had no trouble whatsoever, and i've seen dozens of other posts where no one is having a problem. i think the key is to simply reinstall directx, however you have to do it (hint: goto microsoft's directx support page).

[Armand]

<snip>The game video is set for HD widescreen 1280 X 1020 (second value may be incorrect, put here from memory). In that vein, I constantly get a reminder box there stating that the preferred resolution is 1920 X 1080. Any ideas on permanent elimination of the popup box?<snip>

Please confirm the wide screen resolution from within Links by selecting OPTIONS and then SYSTEM INFORMATION. 1280x1024 is a typical value, but that is not a wide screen resolution. If in fact you are running 1280x720, 1280x854 or 1280x960, then you would have some variant of wide screen resolution, but it seems apparent that your monitor (or Links) prefers to display a different resolution. I'm assuming you have an LCD monitor, in which case, it will display its best picture at its native resolution. Is the reminder box stating the preferred resolution is 1920x1080 a Windows box or is it from the monitor itself? Regardless, confirm the monitor brand/model as well as its native resolution and then set Links to display that same resolution. Since you've run Mark's nVidia fix/patch, you should be able to select that resolution from within Links. If for some reason you cannot, do the following:
1. Start REGEDIT (Start, type REGEDIT and press enter)
2. Navigate to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Microsoft Games\Links 2003\DisplaySettings
(* note this path is under Vista 32-bit, so it might be a little different under Win7 64-bit)
3. Change the value of the Mode key to 14 (refer to thread http://linkscorner.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=23683 )
That should stop any message regarding preferred resolution as it will set the resolution to the preferred value.

As for the connection issues, I have only one comment/question. Do you run the game with ELEVATED ADMINISTRATIVE PRIVILEGES? (I make those capitals, since they are not the usual administrator account - refer to http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/aa511445.aspx for more information). I don't know if that will make any difference, but a regular user or a built-in administrator may (for reasons unknown to me) be limited from accessing certain parts of the system.

Armand

[RR_CrazyHorse]

Nick with your skills be very very careful doing the regedit (I don't recommend you try that) sorry armand