0.702 (and older) computer hardlocks in menu

[mortti]

I have the following very annoying and difficult to repair problem...

Problem:
Starting up the game I get the normal menu screen. Within 10 seconds the screen gets garbled with different coloured boxes and ATI graphics drivers VPU recovery tries to correct the situation. After a while the menu screen pops back but computer is now "hard locked" so you can't see mouse cursor, alt-tab back to windows, control-alt-del boot or generally do anything.
Only option is restarting computer via reset button.
On 0.632 I had old savegames and could even load up a save and run around the map for few seconds. On new versions game locks up before I can finish character creation. Theres no bluescreens where to decipher possible point of error and no entrys in windows event logs which would help finding the error.

Background:
This problem appeared when I upgraded my motherboard and processor. Since then I've done the following:
-complete re-installation of Windows XP
-complete re-installation of Mount&Blade
-cleaned up default graphics drivers and made a clean install following "best practices" in www.rage3d.com forum
-updated chipset and motherboard drivers
-tested three different ATI and four different modded Radeon drivers (omega)
-checked viruses, spyware, adware etc generic stuff
-I've succesfully ran memtest and system analyzing software
-pulled half of my hair out

And system is:
AMD64 3000+
MSI K8N Neo2 motherboard, VIA chipset
2x 512mb memory, non-dualchannel
Sapphire Radeon 9600XT
Soundblaster Live! 5.1

Any tips and help is appreciated, although I realize this is probably not the most common problem with M&B users.

-the guy who wants to buckle up again

 

[Narcissus]

Hey Mortti,

One quick question: Have you had this problem with any other games/software?

The reason why I ask is because you never mentioned if you did or not and you said:

Background:
This problem appeared when I upgraded my motherboard and processor.

I'm wondering if it might be a hardware problem rather than a problem/incompatability with M&B.

Narcissus

 

[mortti]

Yes the symptoms make it seems like a hardware problem, but other games have worked decenlty. I've had few random crashes with some games but those are after hours of playing. The way how M&B fails right at the start every single time I run it is something I've never seen before with any game.

I dont rule out faulty hardware but there isn't so many pieces which can fail if memory and graphics card are functioning. Heck, I even removed my old soundblaster and begun using integrated AC97 audio to see if there was some PCI-card problem.

 

[Narcissus]

Ok ... just wanted to check.

I can't help you, but hopefully someone else can.

Good luck with it,

Narcissus