Halo Video issues

Archived from groups: microsoft.public.games (More info?)

Hi Tbone,

"Tbone" <anonymous@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:13d601c4a912$13457100$a501280a@phx.gbl...
> First alittle background. I had some problems (that I
> didn't fix, so I don't know the exact details) with my
> RAM being in ports that my specific motherboard did not
> like. So it would cause crashes in my games, especially
> Halo. Halo would start, I could play it, it would just
> crash fairly often with a blue screen. This was all fixed
> as far as I was told. But now it's not working again,
> just an entirely different problem:
>
> P.S. (It took many different tests to find the cause of
> the problem, so many settings may have been changed, and
> I don't know which ones.)
>
> I click for Halo to start, it has the 1st loading screen.
> Then it goes onto the fullscreen loading screen with the
> Halo ring, looks like the first one, just bigger.
>
> Instead of going to the menu (like it use to), it
> minimizes, so I'm on Desktop, I have Halo down on the
> taskbar. It can't be opened, but the menu music is
> playing.
>
>
> I have the latest drivers for my soundcard and videocard.
> I am pretty sure I have the latest drivers for my
> motherboard and bios. Latest Direct X for sure.
>
> Here are my computer specs.
>
> -Latest Windows XP
> -ATI Radeon X800 Pro
> -AMD Athlon XP 3200+, ~2.2GHz
> -System Model: A7N8X2.0
> -BIOS: Phoenix - AwardBIOS v6.00PG
> -SB Audigy 2 ZS Audio
> -2x 512MB RAM PC3200 (400MHZ) DDR SDRAM

Here are some solutions (and workarounds) to deal with the problem where games minimize to the Task Bar.

1. Install and/or play the game using an administrator account.

2. Keyboard software has been known to cause this problem. One player
posted that by un-installing their Trust Silverline Direct Access keyboard
software, all their games worked again without minimizing to the Task Bar.

3. Norton's AntiVirus (Internet Security) can cause the problem as well. The
workaround is to disable the program. To do so, right click it's Tray icon.
One person wrote: "I just went to the Norton Anti-virus options, and turned
off the Liveupdate auto update option. It worked like a charm for me."

4. One person wrote: "I finally found that if I open the command line, cd to
the directory, then type the program name, it works!!!"

5. Yet another workaround is to click the screen after you launch the game.

If the problem persists, please try these additional troubleshooting steps. :-)

The most common causes for that problem can be solved with
these few steps. If the problem persists after you've tried these,
please post back and we'll try some more solutions. Good luck! :-)

A. To see if it's a software conflict: Temporarily disable Startup
programs one at a time, starting with Firewall, Antivirus, and ad
blockers using: http://new.jtsoft2001.com/windows/startup.php

You can lookup what a program does before you disable it here:
http://www.sysinfo.org/startuplist.php

B. Run a virus scan at: http://housecall.antivirus.com Afterwards
Download & Run Spybot from: http://security.kolla.de to find any
Trojans, Adware, or Spyware which could clog up your system.

C. Click My Computer / Rightclick the Drive & Choose Properties
/ Run the "Disk Cleanup..." / Next Click the "Tools" Tab and run
the "Error-Checking" and "Defragmentation" utilities.

D. Go to the Windows Update site for everything under Critical and
Recommended: http://windowsupdate.microsoft.com Some games
require a patch: http://www.avault.com/pcrl/patches_list.asp?letter=a

E. Update DirectX and your Chipset, Sound, &Video Drivers:
For all Video / DirectX / Game and Hardware Issues, I have a
Checklist of Solutions at: http://mvps.org/nibblesnbits/Video.html

--
Cheers, Windows XP MVP Shell / User
Jimmy S. http://mvp.support.microsoft.com

Game FAQs: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=FH;[LN];gms
Visit my Zone.com / Gaming Helpsite: http://nibblesnbits.tk or Call / Contact
MS Support at: http://support.microsoft.com/defau [...] ;en-us;top
My advice is donated "AS IS" without warranty; nor do I confer any rights.
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