20 replies to this topic

[Seraphiel]

So I got a new laptop, RO freezes like every 2-3 minutes for like 3~5 seconds. During that time, I can't do anything. Strange thing is that RO BGM still plays. It also happens when I see any new sprite on the screen. Any ideas how to fix this? =/

My equipment:

* Produced by Acer
* Windows 7 Ultimate x64 (SP1)
* Radeon HD 6310
* 6GB RAM
* AMD E-350 Processor - 1.60GHz (Dual-Core)

[DrAzzy]

Does mouse stop moving also?

[Seraphiel]

Does mouse stop moving also?

Yes, mouse stops moving as well. The only thing that still runs is RO's BGM. The freezes are really annoying, especially during WoE/PvP or MvPing. =(
I tried turning off some Win7 services, I tried different drivers, I tried playing RO in window mode and different resolutions/options, etc. Nothing helped.
This bug might not be directly connect with RO because some other online/internet using games and applications freeze in the same manner, e.g. Firefox.
I've read hundreds of "freezing" related topics, but couldn't find a fix, so far.
Any ideas? What might cause those freezes?

Edited by Seraphiel, 30 October 2011 - 01:49 PM.

[techguy8]

Yes, mouse stops moving as well. The only thing that still runs is RO's BGM. The freezes are really annoying, especially during WoE/PvP or MvPing. =(
I tried turning off some Win7 services, I tried different drivers, I tried playing RO in window mode and different resolutions/options, etc. Nothing helped.
This bug might not be directly connect with RO because some other online/internet using games and applications freeze in the same manner, e.g. Firefox.
I've read hundreds of "freezing" related topics, but couldn't find a fix, so far.
Any ideas? What might cause those freezes?

Possibly there is a program running that uses too much processing power from the CPU; since your CPU is only 1.6GHz even if it is dual core. Are there multiple programs running in the start-up or is your laptop have any other games or other applications installed that did not came in pre-installed in the notebook? Like any anti-virus or other security software?

This is a copy from my other response in the other thread:

Try running the disk cleanup utility that is built-in to Windows. Or download and install the CCleaner from Piriform's official website. Run CCleaner. Under the Cleaner module, check all boxes except Hotfix Uninstallers, Custom Files and Folders, and Wipe Free Space. Click the Run Cleaner.

Then, go to CCleaner's Registry module. Click Scan for Issues button. After the scanning is done, click Fix Selected Issues. You will be asked whether to save a registry backup or not. If you chose to save a registry backup, then click Yes and Save.

Restart your computer. Try launching the iRO game client and login to test if the problem still persists.

[Seraphiel]

Possibly there is a program running that uses too much processing power from the CPU; since your CPU is only 1.6GHz even if it is dual core. Are there multiple programs running in the start-up or is your laptop have any other games or other applications installed that did not came in pre-installed in the notebook? Like any anti-virus or other security software?

This is a copy from my other response in the other thread:

Try running the disk cleanup utility that is built-in to Windows. Or download and install the CCleaner from Piriform's official website. Run CCleaner. Under the Cleaner module, check all boxes except Hotfix Uninstallers, Custom Files and Folders, and Wipe Free Space. Click the Run Cleaner.

Then, go to CCleaner's Registry module. Click Scan for Issues button. After the scanning is done, click Fix Selected Issues. You will be asked whether to save a registry backup or not. If you chose to save a registry backup, then click Yes and Save.

Restart your computer. Try launching the iRO game client and login to test if the problem still persists.

I don't have any other applications running while playing RO, only NOD32(I tried playing RO without it, nothing changed.). I also installed and used CCleaner. The problem still persists. It seems there is no fix for this. =/

[DrAzzy]

Any sign of what the machine is doing during that time?

Harddrive light on? flickering?

Also try turning off all sound, so you can listen to the machine while it's in this hang - I'm imagining a situation where, due to power-save settings, the hdd is spun down when "not in use", resulting in a delay when the game needs to access data on the disk. If this is what's happening, you'd hear the harddrive spinning up during the "freeze", if you listened closely.

[Seraphiel]

Any sign of what the machine is doing during that time?

Harddrive light on? flickering?

Also try turning off all sound, so you can listen to the machine while it's in this hang - I'm imagining a situation where, due to power-save settings, the hdd is spun down when "not in use", resulting in a delay when the game needs to access data on the disk. If this is what's happening, you'd hear the harddrive spinning up during the "freeze", if you listened closely.

I did as you wrote - turned off all the sounds, and watched what the machine is doing. When the freeze occurred, hard drive light was constantly on until the freeze ended. It wasn't flickering. No strange or as if the machine was busy like sounds. Any ideas now?

Edited by Seraphiel, 31 October 2011 - 01:10 PM.

[techguy8]

• Is this laptop new as in "fresh" from the manufacturer?
• How many weeks/months has it been since you bought the laptop?
  
  • Was the laptop freezing when after you did the initial setup for Windows (taking the laptop out of the box and configuring all those settings)?
• You told that other programs also freezes in the same manner; was the other programs freezing happened before or after you installed the iRO game client?
  
  • If the freezing started happening even before the installation of the iRO game client, then it might be some other programs that is causing those freezing problems.
• No offense, but is Nod32 or other programs installed in your laptop running on a legit license?
  
  • There are some instances where security program(s) and other programs not running with a legit license corrupts some OS system files leading to freezing problems.
• How much space does your HDD have remaining?
• Are you using an account with administrator privilege for both installation and running other programs? Like one Windows log-in account for doing everything - from installing programs to web surfing/playing games/etc.

Edited by techguy8, 31 October 2011 - 04:19 PM.

[Seraphiel]

• Is this laptop new as in "fresh" from the manufacturer?
• How many weeks/months has it been since you bought the laptop?
  
  • Was the laptop freezing when after you did the initial setup for Windows (taking the laptop out of the box and configuring all those settings)?
• You told that other programs also freezes in the same manner; was the other programs freezing happened before or after you installed the iRO game client?
  
  • If the freezing started happening even before the installation of the iRO game client, then it might be some other programs that is causing those freezing problems.
• No offense, but is Nod32 or other programs installed in your laptop running on a legit license?
  
  • There are some instances where security program(s) and other programs not running with a legit license corrupts some OS system files leading to freezing problems.
• How much space does your HDD have remaining?
• Are you using an account with administrator privilege for both installation and running other programs? Like one Windows log-in account for doing everything - from installing programs to web surfing/playing games/etc.

* The laptop is "fresh" from the manufacturer.
* It was bought about a month ago. I didn't notice the freezes at first, but I believe they've been occurring from the very beginning. The laptop came with Win7 x64 which I didn't like so I formatted the hard drive and installed XP; however, XP can't see more than 3gb of ram and my laptop has 6gbs so I formatted again and installed Win7 Ultimate x64. It was also difficult to find all the drivers in XP version.
* Firefox has been freezing from the very beginning. I didn't notice any freezes while running any other applications.
* Nod32 is running on a legit license. I always thought it was one of better anti-viruses. I tried to play with Nod32 uninstalled but the freezes still occurred.
* 440GB out of 465 is free.
* I disabled UAC in Win7 completely.

Edited by Seraphiel, 01 November 2011 - 02:01 AM.

[DrAzzy]

I did as you wrote - turned off all the sounds, and watched what the machine is doing. When the freeze occurred, hard drive light was constantly on until the freeze ended. It wasn't flickering. No strange or as if the machine was busy like sounds. Any ideas now?

Okay, we've narrowed down the problem a lot here. I think it's especially interesting that you don't hear the clicky noises, and that the light is on solid. Any whirring noise of increasing pitch, as if a motor was spinning up to speed? (might have to put ear to laptop to hear it)

I'm trying to think of why accessing a small amount of data on the harddrive would take that long, and the only things I can think of is either you don't have any free RAM (which is not consistent with your specs) and your system is swapping - this is inconsistent with your statements, specs, and RO's resource requirements (I've got 3 RO clients, 30 browser tabs, and a bunch of other crap open on my machine, and only using 5.6GB (out of... uh... 16gb installed - sometimes I play games that eat more ram)) - OR your system is trying to save power by spinning down the harddrive when "not in use", requiring a pause while it spins up in order to load sprite data. You don't have anything weird set up, like disk encryption on the location RO is installed to, or anything, right?

Try listening for the whirr of a hdd spinning up (to confirm diagnosis), and changing HDD power management settings. Windows 7 now pushes you towards "idiot mode" power management - they have "balanced" "high performance", etc. These are meaningless - go to your plan, and choose change plan settings -> change advanced power settings, and set the "turn off hard disk after" to 0 minutes (which will disable that feature - the 0 will turn into 'never' when you click away from it) - that is, assuming there isn't some special power management program from your laptop's manufacturer - if there is, use that.

[techguy8]

* The laptop is "fresh" from the manufacturer.
* It was bought about a month ago. I didn't notice the freezes at first, but I believe they've been occurring from the very beginning. The laptop came with Win7 x64 which I didn't like so I formatted the hard drive and installed XP; however, XP can't see more than 3gb of ram and my laptop has 6gbs so I formatted again and installed Win7 Ultimate x64. It was also difficult to find all the drivers in XP version.
* Firefox has been freezing from the very beginning. I didn't notice any freezes while running any other applications.
* Nod32 is running on a legit license. I always thought it was one of better anti-viruses. I tried to play with Nod32 uninstalled but the freezes still occurred.
* 440GB out of 465 is free.
* I disabled UAC in Win7 completely.

You told that you reformatted the hard drive and installed the Windows XP operating system and then later on you reformatted the hard drive and re-installed the Windows 7 Ultimate x64.

• What media did you use to reformat and re-install Windows 7 Ultimate x64 - the laptop's recovery discs, recovery partition, Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Retail/OEM Genuine media, or Windows 7 Ultimate installation that are found on torrent sites?
• Is there any yellow mark(!) anywhere in the Device Manager ? Yellow Mark(!) either means no driver installed, incorrect driver installed, incorrect driver installation, or the hardware is malfunctioning by some other reason.
• Did you install the correct drivers that match your laptop's hardware?
• Are all drivers installed correctly?
• Was the 6.0GB RAM came pre-installed in the laptop or you bought and added those as an addition/upgrade?
• What model is your laptop - Acer Aspire ASXXXX or other Acer lineup?

========================================================================================================
DISCLAIMER: PLEASE DO NOT DO THE FOLLOWING PROCEDURE UNLESS YOU ARE REALLY SURE YOU WANT TO DO THESE...
Your last resort will be to copy the files and documents you need in that laptop to another storage and do a clean recovery of Windows 7 Ultimate x64. It is best to use the recovery media that came with the laptop.

After the laptop has been restored to its factory settings - all programs, bells and whistle, that came pre-installed in the laptop;

[1] Install Firefox and run it to check if it is still freezing.
[2] Then install the new iRO game client installation file. Run iRO game client and do some gaming to check if the freezing issue still persist.
[3] Then install your security software - the Nod32 AV. Restart. Run updates on Nod32. Restart if needed or if asked.
[4] Run Firefox again and do some web surfing. Check if the freezing issue still persist.
[5] Run iRO game client and do some gaming. Check if the freezing still persist.

Post here where and when the freezing started in each steps that I enumerated. Do not continue to the next step once the freezing occurred in any of those part of the procedure.
========================================================================================================

One possibility is a malfunctioning hardware just like Dr.Azzy is going into, specifically the hard disk drive (HDD).

Edited by techguy8, 01 November 2011 - 11:06 PM.

[Seraphiel]

@DrAzzy

I have configured win7 right after the installation. I changed the power management, "turn off hard disk after" is set to 0/Never.
I don't know if the disk has some special encryption or not. How do I check it?

@Techguy8

- I reformatted back to win7 using Windows 7 Ultimate x64 Retail.
- There aren't any yellow marks; however, I'm not entirely sure if I'm using right drivers for graphic card. The graphic card of this laptop is supposed to be Radeon HD 6310 (Label on the computer says so.), yet the system shows Radeon HD 6300. ???
- The rest of the drivers seem to be correct, and working.
- The laptop came with 6GB RAM pre-installed.
- Acer eMachines E644 Notebook, bought in Spain.

[DrAzzy]

Unless you chose to set up encryption, you're not using it.

I will note that you're not the only one who has reported this issue - there is at least one other person who was having that similar delay when new sprites come onto the screen.
It's behaving as if either it has to load a larger part of the file than it should need to, or there's a delay prior to disk access. Does the system feel snappy otherwise, or are there 3-5 second delays for disk access in general?

Graphics drivers are almost always interchangable within a series, so the graphics driver discrepancy isn't a problem, and the symptoms aren't consistent with that.

[Seraphiel]

Unless you chose to set up encryption, you're not using it.

I will note that you're not the only one who has reported this issue - there is at least one other person who was having that similar delay when new sprites come onto the screen.
It's behaving as if either it has to load a larger part of the file than it should need to, or there's a delay prior to disk access. Does the system feel snappy otherwise, or are there 3-5 second delays for disk access in general?

Graphics drivers are almost always interchangable within a series, so the graphics driver discrepancy isn't a problem, and the symptoms aren't consistent with that.

There are no delays in general. The system works really smoothly.
I wonder... Why do the freezes occur only at certain times? The games is loading new sprites/animations all the time; and yet, sometimes, I can walk through Prontera without any freezes; and then, when I use summoning room to summon an MvP e.g. Turtle General, I get freeze when TG is using Water Ball. It looks as if the game was looking for the WB animation or something. What should the registry key for RO look like in windows 7? Where should it be saved? Maybe there's something wrong with the path of the game in the registry?

Edited by Seraphiel, 02 November 2011 - 10:08 AM.

[DrAzzy]

Can you do some more testing of what causes the freezes, and whether it's reproducible (you'd have to close and reopen client between tests)...

also see if turning off effects changes anything

[Seraphiel]

Can you do some more testing of what causes the freezes, and whether it's reproducible (you'd have to close and reopen client between tests)...

also see if turning off effects changes anything

Turning effects off doesn't do anything, game still freezes. It also seems to be random; when for example, I view the pictures of the monster cards some of them freezes the game for like 3 seconds and some of them don't. When I run the game again, different cards freeze the game, even some that previously didn't. It's really strange, it must be either something with the client's compatibility with win7 or my disk.

Edited by Seraphiel, 02 November 2011 - 11:56 AM.

[Anamzzz]

Hey there~

Sorry, i know its a necro thread but i was goolging and found it....and I have the same problem ever since i had my HDD replaced. Did the OP found the solution eventually?


really sorry for reviving this old topic ...

[Anamzzz]

BUMP~ Dx

[DrAzzy]

So the problem came at the same time as a new harddrive?

That confirms the suspicions that this symptom is a harddrive access delay - the question of why it's taking so long remains unanswered though...

[Anamzzz]

yepyep. When i got new HDD, my laptop got pretty reset and i had to install agani directx9 etc
not sure if it cause by missing a program e.e

[moonrawrr]

My suggestions:

Check device manager and make sure there are no yellow triangles with an exclamation point. That indicates missing drivers or that hardware isnt functioning correctly.

Make sure your drivers are up to date ( you can check the manufacturer's website for versions).

If all that checks out grab the manufacturer's diagnostic tools to make sure nothing is wrong with the drive itself.