Strange problem...my emulators keep freezing...help?

[Ranger-X]

I'm having a problem with several of my emus. Whenever I click on them, the program runs but then immediately stops responding and just pops up with a black screen. I'm having this problem with the 3 main emus I use: zsnes, visual boy advance and kega. MAME also will not work, but it's a different problem: I can start the program up, but no games will run (it just gives me an hourglass and then freezes). Also some of my 3D programs will not work, such as Splinter Cell and Halo. What could be wrong? They always worked before...

[Ranger-X]

I'm having a problem with several of my emus. Whenever I click on them, the program runs but then immediately stops responding and just pops up with a black screen. I'm having this problem with the 3 main emus I use: zsnes, visual boy advance and kega. MAME also will not work, but it's a different problem: I can start the program up, but no games will run (it just gives me an hourglass and then freezes). Also some of my 3D programs will not work, such as Splinter Cell and Halo. What could be wrong? They always worked before...

[ddockery]

What programs have you installed lately? I'd start there.

[ddockery]

What programs have you installed lately? I'd start there.

[Ranger-X]

Well...let's see...iTunes, Yahoo Messenger, Quick Time... I think that' s it. Thing is, I tried doing a system restore already (I'm running XP which allows you to do that), and that didn't work. Actually, it worked the first time around, but when I went back they didn't work at all, same problem. Could it be a DirectX problem? I've noticed that only program which require DirectX 8.0/1 don't work. Older programs such as Unreal Tournament (original) and Jedi Knight still work. Newer 3D games are having the same problem, though. What do you think is going on? Can anybody help?

[Ranger-X]

Well...let's see...iTunes, Yahoo Messenger, Quick Time... I think that' s it. Thing is, I tried doing a system restore already (I'm running XP which allows you to do that), and that didn't work. Actually, it worked the first time around, but when I went back they didn't work at all, same problem. Could it be a DirectX problem? I've noticed that only program which require DirectX 8.0/1 don't work. Older programs such as Unreal Tournament (original) and Jedi Knight still work. Newer 3D games are having the same problem, though. What do you think is going on? Can anybody help?

[zektor]

Hmm, have you upgraded video drivers lately? Also, it could be a DX problem. Download v9.0b and upgrade your Directx...see if that doesn't solve the problem.

[zektor]

Hmm, have you upgraded video drivers lately? Also, it could be a DX problem. Download v9.0b and upgrade your Directx...see if that doesn't solve the problem.

[Ranger-X]

Yes, I upgraded video drivers and monitor drivers, that didn't help at all (although last time this happened it fixed the problem). I also ran a windows update, and I already had 9.0b but I tried reinstalling it anyway, which didn't help either. So now I am stuck with playing old games...oh well. I could just use other emus that might work, but the one's I have right now are the best ones :) Well, hopefully I won't have to do a full system restore and wipe my hard drive...that would really suck.

[Ranger-X]

Yes, I upgraded video drivers and monitor drivers, that didn't help at all (although last time this happened it fixed the problem). I also ran a windows update, and I already had 9.0b but I tried reinstalling it anyway, which didn't help either. So now I am stuck with playing old games...oh well. I could just use other emus that might work, but the one's I have right now are the best ones :) Well, hopefully I won't have to do a full system restore and wipe my hard drive...that would really suck.

[ddockery]

Actually, the NEW drives could be the problem. You might try installing an older version if you can. Also, try to run inside a window if it'l let you. I know it's not ideal, but this seems to work for me when fullscreen doesn't (like Space Invaders for some reason) so it's not a bad temporary solution.

[ddockery]

Actually, the NEW drives could be the problem. You might try installing an older version if you can. Also, try to run inside a window if it'l let you. I know it's not ideal, but this seems to work for me when fullscreen doesn't (like Space Invaders for some reason) so it's not a bad temporary solution.

[Jorpho]

(And to think some people still say XP is a good thing.)

[Ranger-X]

No, no... I've tried running them in a window, that doesn't help. And the problem started before I updated the drivers, but I'll try to roll them back anyway, just to see if they work. But I think that it must be a DirectX problem, because like I said only games that run on the newer version of directx have problems. Anyway... I forgot to say earlier my computer specs, which I don't think is a problem...

AMD Athlon XP 2400+ (2.0 GHz)
GeForce 4 MX420 (64MB)
768MB DDR RAM

So is there a way to roll back DirectX?

[Jorpho]

There are programs that can remove DirectX 9 (DirectX Buster (http://www.dxbuster.de/index_e.html) comes to mind), but I wouldn't place much faith in them.

Have you tried simply running the DirectX Diagnostics (dxdiag) already?

[Ranger-X]

Yes, I have tried using dxdiag, it didn't say that anything was wrong; I even tried running tests which passed perfectly. Well, I'm at a standstill; I don't really know what to do! I've never heard of anything like this before... hm maybe I should contact HP (the maker of my computer).