well... I did all the harddisk wipe-out and started my Win98 all over again, put the back-up crap back in, updated my drivers, msconfig my tasks, got my Video card replaced (hooray!), brought new anti-virus program, moved my sound card to the new PCI slot, and....................

.... my computer STILL FREEZES when I enter the world of Everquest EVEN at the test Everquest!
[img]graemlins/crying.gif[/img]

I feel like shooting my computer... should I or shouldn't I? [img]graemlins/smilelazer.gif[/img]

perhaps I should shoot myself [img]graemlins/drunkass.gif[/img]

First up, dont shoot yourself. Youll regret it the rest of your life.

Shoot the computer if you want, but first, what ISP are you using?

And do you *need* an active background virus scanner , or could you get by with an on-demand type that dosent eat resources and crash computers.

Backup software can be a pain, cos it monitors all disc activity much like an active virusscanner. Id disable them both and test then.

56K and I have disabled my anti-virus programs before I play

Is everquest actually playable with a 56k modem?

Though it woudnt be something obvious. And IIRC you posted earlier that tech support has no clue.

A few random things which probably dont make all that much sense but I could get lucky.

MMORPGS download patches each time you log on. Any chance they could be causing the appearance of a freeze? If youve just re-installed and you have an old copy you could be downloading years worth.

Dialup sucks. But a games oriented ISP (I dont know where you are so I cant suggest one, barrysworld in the UK was ace but im not sure about them now) can make it suck less. And will likley have a forum of people who know these things.

Shoot the computer.

Firewalls. Proxies. Horrid things you probably wont have cos your on dialup, but which screw up games like nobodies business.

DO other games work?

Im still thinking its a problem with your ISP, which company is it? Freeserve, AoL? avoid AoL BTW, they suck big time.

Everquest came out before ADSL did. Back when ISDN was king, 33.6K dialup was still around and 56K was the recommended spec.

I think I wont try it all the same. I fear the lag monster. All my multiplayer is done on lans.

I'm pondering on the switching from 56K to ISDN modem.... *ponders*

my tech help said she'll recommend it...

otherwise it comes down to the changing of the slot, get my tech to boot up into CMOS (what's that anyway?), to set PNP OS installed to NO then boot up in safe mode then go to device manager then force a different IRQ [img]graemlins/1ponder.gif[/img]

CMOS=Complementary Metal Oxide Semiconductor

It is a chip that stores the Basic Input/Output System (BIOS) information for your computer. The BIOS contains all the code required to control the keyboard, display screen, disk drives, serial communications, and a number of miscellaneous functions. The info is saved on the chip with power fed to it by the CMOS battery. You'll know when the battery is dying when the time and date in your PC is not correct.

You can enter the BIOS by pushing a key or combination on your keyboard which depends on the brand of PC or motherboard you have, somtimes a function key or delete or alt escape.

There are many settings in your BIOS that can be adjusted. If you have the motherboard manual, you can get explanations of all the settings.

(This was probably more than you wanted to know ;) )

Mark

thanks I'm still looking for my motherboard manual [img]tongue.gif[/img]