BSOD+Reboot right at start

[WhoCares]

I just messed a bit with a generally running system and upgraded Motherboard BIOS and drivers.
While anything else seems to work like a charm (incl. solving some minor hickups I had before) just M&B crashes right after the doubleclick on M&B. I don't even get to the initial screen where you can make some general setups and launch the actual game.  
Unfortunatly the BSOD is shown just a split-second before reboot, so I can't see what the actual problem is  

Stats:
AMD 3500+
Asus A8N SLi Deluxe
1GB RAM ( Kingston HyperX DIMM Kit 1024MB PC3200 DDR CL2-2-2-5-1T)
MSI GF6600GT 128MB
S-ATA HD
Win XP+SP2
Updated 0.704 and fresh install of 0.704

Drivers tested: from Asus 6.65, nvidia 6.66+6.70(currently installed)
BIOS updated to 1015-005


Is there an (command line-)option to launch the game directly (not via the intermediate screen)?

Edit: Update with the step-by-step solution form page 3/4!

Edit 2 (22/03/06): Note that this solution with the provided dummy application worked for me (and some others) with v0.711 of M&B. There is no guarantee that it also works with later versions of the game!

These are the step-by-step instructions:

The problem is that the game has the "old" driver embedded and needs to be
re-reprotected with latest Themida.

You can do the following also to update the driver.

1) DELETE the file oreans32.sys from /Windows/System32/drivers

2) REBOOT YOUR COMPUTER

3) Make sure that after reboot, the file oreans32.sys is deleted

4) Run attached test application protected with latest Themida (Msgbox2.exe)
(Edit WhoCares: I uploaded the ZIP to a public hosting service: Msgbox2.zip)

5) MsgBox2 is protected with latest Themida, so the driver will be updated
(Edit WhoCares: you can check /Windows/System32/drivers for the new oreans32.sys driver)

6) Run again the game and it should work.

Note, when I tried to run that dummy application out of the ZIP I got a security error, but after unzipping properly it worked without problems.

I will also edit my first post with this description.

Good luck!

 

[Morbo]

Well, knowing what the BSOD is exactly might help. If you wanna stop the reboot going so fast that you can't actually see the BSOD, try this:

hit the windows key + pause key -> go to advanced -> hit 'settings' in the boot & repairsettings part (got a dutch windows, so dunno if that's what it's called in english) -> and then uncheck automatically reboot the computer under systemerrors

 

[WhoCares]

Thx, that helped a bit
The error is supposed to be caused by a Oreans.sys and is a PAGE_FAULT_IN_NOPAGED_AREA error...

And I had quite some trouble right now when the system didn't boot properly anymore - had to uninstall quite some drivers in Safe Mode to get it back running in a currently fairly limited way...
However, the crash is still there

Will try some more tomorrow, good night

 

[Narcissus]

Do you have the latest version of M&B (0.704)? If so, was this a fresh install of 0.704 or an upgrade? Last question: what Operating System are you using?

Narcissus

 

[Archonsod]

Stop 0x00000050 or PAGE_FAULT_IN_NONPAGED_AREA
A hardware driver or system service requested data that was not in memory, causing an exception error. The cause may be defective physical memory or incompatible software, especially remote control and antivirus programs. If the error occurs immediately after installing a device driver or application, try to use Safe Mode to remove the driver or uninstall the program.


Orean.sys is one of the drivers for the Thermida copy protection system. It may just be that the file has become corrupted, in which case a re-install of the driver should clear it. It would be worth contacting Thermida themselves to see if they can advise a) whether the problem has occurred before and\or b) how to completely (and safely) remove the driver and re-install.
The fact that you are experiencing other problems with windows suggests several possibilities:

1. You have some kind of virus or spyware program which is screwing around with the memory. Run an up-to-date antivirus program (I recommend Avast antivirus http://www.avast.com/
2. You have a problem with the RAM installed in the PC. Try running Memtest 86 and see if it picks up any problems. Instructions are available on the site, though its relatively straight forward
3. Something is causing a conflict in memory. Try shutting down all non-essential programs prior to starting the game and see if that resolves the problem

 

[WhoCares]

Updated the original post with the additional info:
Running Win XP+SP2
M&B originally updated to 0.704 (and running nicely); a fresh install of 0.704 didn't help either.

I might check the BIOS memory settings again - after flashing the BIOS there were some questionable values there and I switched it to [Auto] - I might go and get the actual timings of my memory and edit them manually.
As a last step I might flash back to the previous BIOS version......

I still tend to blame the updated driver though, we'll see...

Some nice info there, thx!


Seems, I am not the only one with problems with Oreans.sys:
'Old' Thread
Notice the fairly similar hardware.

 

[WhoCares]

No dice so far and I don't know what else I can/want to try.

Flashed BIOS back to a previous version again, installed older nvidia drivers and some others as well, tried an older version of M&B, ... Always the same.
Everything works fine but M&B continuously crashes

Edit: No virus found either...

 

[Archonsod]

As I understand it, the system is now back to the way it was last time M&B was working?

Did you try memtest 86?

To be honest, it does sound like a problem with Themida. I assume it retains the same drivers once it is installed, hence no matter which version of M&B you run it's still going to cause a problem if it is corrupted.
Try contacting Themida ([email protected]) and explain the problem to them. They should be able to advise you on how to go about re-installing the oreans.sys driver, which should resolve the problem.

 

[WhoCares]

Well, I am not 100% sure everything is at the point before the error, but at least at a point that is supposed to be stable and reliable (BIOS 1011, nvidia nforce4 6.53 drivers; higher BIOS versions require also new drivers).

Yes, I also tried memtest86, it hangs up at 87% of test 8 (modulo 20) - no errors to that point, so I am not sure what to make out of that result either.

Nevertheless, I also guess it is a problem with Themida. But deleting Oreans.sys (either by uninstalling M&B or manually) and reinstalling various versions of M&B didn't help. A last chance might be to dig through the Registry and clean up references to M&B, Themida and Oreans.sys, if there are any at all...

 

[WhoCares]

Hmmmm, somehow the stickies in a forum are like white spots I never really notice - just now I found the sticky about the not running M&B

After reading it I might have an idea what initially caused the problem for me.
When I updated the nvidia drivers the first time, I allowed it also to install its NAM suite, basically a firewall with some other stuff around. Unfortunatly I found reports about it too late, which indicate that it messed up the system for others. It also screwed up some things for me, so I just disabled it at first.
Okay, by now I ran a fair number of uninstalls and new installs of different nforce drivers (always w/o NAM), so I'd hope to be rid of it, but it might be another thing to have a closer look at...

 

[WhoCares]

I am about to give up
I am now back at the latest and greatest BIOS and drivers, used a system optimizing tool to clean up regristry and some other stuff but whatever I have done I always get the same BSOD with M&B

So I will have to come back later and check for updates - hopefully this problem can be solved (on whatever end tit may be)

 

[Archonsod]

Have you tried e-mailing Themida?

If the program is leaving information on the system, then its not likely to be in the registry or an easy to find file.
They should be able to tell you how to completely clean the system of it, which should give it a fresh install along with the next M&B installation.
I have a feeling that the problem may actually be related to the orean.sys driver not being correctly installed, or being locked out of memory for some reason (it hasn't been quarrantined by an anti virus program, has it?).
If your not having problems with Windows, or any other software, then the problem is definitely localised to the Themida drivers.

 

[WhoCares]

I contacted Oreans, some excerpts (slightly edited by me, myself and I):

Hello *,

I have reported a problem with Mount&Blade in their respective forum, but after some further analysis it seems more likely to be a problem with Themida and oreans.sys:

http://forums.taleworlds.com/viewtopic.php?t=5520

...
Is such a problem already known to you?

As suggested in the given thread, is there still something of Themida resident on the system after uninstalling Mount&Blade (incl. oreans.sys) and cleaning up of the registry? Something, that also survives a subsequent re-installation of Themida with Mount&Blade? (admittedly two questions that might be influenced by the uninstall routine of M&B which you most likely can't comment to)

Do you have a small application that can check for a proper install/uninstall of Themida?

Kind regards,
*

Hello *,

We just released a new Themida version that fixes many problems and it’s very probable that your problems will go away when protected with the new version.

Please, can you contact the author of Mount&Blade to re-protect his application with new Themida?

About the installation, only the driver (oreans.sys) is placed on the system and nothing else is touched (registry keys, external files, etc)

Thanks.

--
Best Regards,
Rafael Ahucha
Oreans Technologies

So I did forward the emails to Armagan and got this answer:

Hi *,

Yep, I'll use to the new Themida version in version 0.710. But you'll probably need to wait (Edit Whocares: let's just say in the not so far away future to prevent to much hype ) .
By the way, Mount&Blade removes the oreans.sys driver when it uninstalls.

Cheers,
-Armagan

So I/we will just have to wait and hope that the new Themida version really solves the problem.

 

[Archonsod]

Thanks for the info.

Fingers crossed for the new version then. With any luck it will rectify the problem.

Would appreciate it if you could keep us updated on whether the update resolves the problem or not.

 

[WhoCares]

Well, unfortunatly 0.710 did not solve my problem - still the same crash

 

[armagan]

WhoCares: Sorry to hear 0.710 didn't fix the problem. I'll play with the Themida configuration options a little bit and look into this sometime later this week. Maybe I can find an optionto get it to work.

 

[Archonsod]

Is M&B the only game thats been causing problems?

 

[WhoCares]

So far, yes, but I recently played few different games. Others to name would be 'Operation Flashpoint', 'Americas Army' and maybe a turn or two in 'War in the Pacific'.

Would be fine if a little tweaking could solve the problem, but don't mess with it so much that it doesn't work anymore for anyone else

I might take another look into my system as well, if I only had an idea where and what to look for...

 

[Archonsod]

I think we can rule out hardware being the problem, as other programs seem to be working fine.

The error message itself suggests two possible causes:

The first would be memory. This would more than likely be the page file. It may be worth checking the page file\virtual memory settings in Windows and seeing what it is set at. Might also be worth running a full check on the disk - try checkdisk on a full surface scan and see if it turns up anything.

The second would be the orean.sys driver itself. Don't really know enough about how it works to be specific, but it could be the driver itself that is corrupted, or something interfering with the driver. Perhaps Armagan may turn something up.

An alternative possibility is that Windows itself is corrupted. It may have occurred when you updated the BIOS - the drivers Windows uses to actually talk to the motherboard may either be invalid or corrupted. Again, if this was the cause I would expect to see it affect other programs too. If this is the case, re-installing Windows should resolve the problem (A repair installation would be enough).

 

[WhoCares]

I have set my pagefile to a fix size on a separate partition which is otherwise not used, except temp., when I put together a collection of data to be burned on CD/DVD (don't want to do this from my normal data partitions where the data is most likely fragmented; not to forget that this partition is the second one for better performance).

I am not sure about the size of the pagefile, most likely 2 or 4GB (not that I'd ever need it but what else to do with all that diskspace ), but I didn't change that after I initially setup the system about half a year ago.

Regarding the driver, for me it is now orean32.sys.