Unexpected Kernel Mode Trap....crash

[hogarth...]

I downloaded the installer from the Ubisoft website.
Ran the installer. All went ok.
Started the game by clicking on the desktop icon.
Game loads...I see the Ubisoft and Cyan Worlds splash screen animations.
I get the loading screen that explains the mouse mode...I see the blinking icon in the upper right corner against a graphic background.
Within 3 seconds, without my having touched the mouse, my machine crashes to a blue screen message showing a memory location and the words, "Unexpected_Kernel_Mode_Trap" (beginning memory dump...memory dump complete).

No option but to restart my machine with a warm boot.

Anyone else seeing this?

I'm running Windows 2000 (all Windows updates installed). 1GHz processor clock speed. 1 GB system RAM. nVidia GeForce FX 5200 w/128MB RAM.

[Heimdall_G]

Hello again. Long time, no see!

Do you find any .log files, or something like a crash report, in the \Program Files\Ubisoft\Cyan Worlds\Myst V Demo subfolders?

Take a look at your Event Viewer logs, if any. Refer to How To Diagnose System Problems with Event Viewer in Microsoft Windows 2000 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;308427#15).

Also, performance data may help to diagnose the problem. Refer to How to collect information about your computer to troubleshoot performance issues (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;330138).

Heimdall

[hogarth...]

I checked the various logs and minidump files. No red flags immediately appear.
I guess I should do a search on the Microsoft site using "unexpected kernel mode trap" as keywords.

This error is repeatable and consistent. Any time I attempt to run the demo, Win2K crashes. I realize that it is VERY difficult for an application to crash the system, but this one manages it beautifully.

This is, by the way, the same computer I used to run Uru. It is clear that Myst V is a slightly different animal, but I am nevertheless a little surprised.

Dx9 is installed and all functions are go. I think there is just something incompatible between Myst V demo and this system.

Well, I was planning on buying a new machine soon anyway...

Why is it that every Myst game I have ever tried requires that I buy new hardware?

EDIT: Now, HERE's something weird...

I just went to uninstall the demo, and the Control Panel uninstaller won't work - it simply asks me if I want to remove the Myst V demo icon from the list of installed programs.

Furthermore - and this is the totally weird bit - when I go to Start/Programs from the taskbar in Windows, all of my programs and programs folders have been rearranged in random fashion! I used to have them in alphabetical order. They aren't in any order I recognize - it isn't by date, or file size.

Something about the way the game demo caused Windows to crash has seriously hosed my system.

This is not a happy event, I must say...

FURTHER EDIT: I see why the uninstaller wouldn't work. For some reason, the folder in the Myst V application directory called "_uninst" contains no files. I tried running the installer again, hoping that this time it would populate the folder, but instead it created a folder called "_uninst2". At least this time there were files in the folder, and I attempted to run the uninstall application, but it failed with a Java machine error.

This demo is majorly flawed.

I give up.

[Heimdall_G]

My \_uninst folder has never had any files in it, over about 8 demo installs. This has required manual uninstalling with both Windows Explorer and Regedit.

I've had the incorrect sort order problem with my Win 98SE machine (Contents of the Open and Save As Dialog Boxes Sorted Incorrectly (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;233526)), but have never seen it on a Win 2000 system.

When you do an MS Advanced Search for "unexpected kernel mode trap", also search for "kernel debugger". It's possible that something fairly nasty has happened to your system.

Got a recent Restore Point?

Also, if you have a Registry diagnosis and repair tool like Symantec's Norton SystemWorks 2005 (http://www.symantec.com/sabu/sysworks/basic/) WinDoctor, Rose City Software's Registry First Aid 4.1 (http://www.rosecitysoftware.com/Reg1Aid/), or VCOM's Fix-It Utilities 6 (http://www.v-com.com/product/Fix-It_Utilities_Home.html) SystemRegistry-RegistryFixer utility, this would be a really good time to use it!

[hogarth...]

Both the first and third times I installed the demo, I was able to use the Add/Remove Programs uninstaller without trouble. It was the 2nd install that had the empty folder.

And yes, as you can tell by that statement, after my last message I did try reinstalling the demo and running it. The first couple of times I had installed it to a non-default drive on the system. In the most recent attempt, I allowed the installer to place the demo into the default location, thinking there might be some **** code that required libraries to be in the C:/ drive.

No joy. Same system crash, with the same error message.

I have uninstalled the demo and deleted the installer.

The game will not run on this system.

EDIT: Sadly, I don't have system restore enabled on this machine, nor do I use any utilities that repair the registry. I'll keep my eyes open for any weirdness going forward, and reinstall the OS if necessary. (Man - on this machine reinstalling the OS, applications, codecs, drivers, etc takes about 3 days...eek!)

[Boshettee]

(Man - on this machine reinstalling the OS, applications, codecs, drivers, etc takes about 3 days...eek

I know what you mean. I generally try to do a complete reinstall of OS and everything else about once a year. It seems to take longer and longer each time what with all the updates, reboots, and other c***(stuff).

[robsmyst]

instread of buying a new system, think about upgrading your os to windows xp pro or home , first, if this does not fix it then buy a new system, it would take less money to just upgrade the os

[robsmyst]

Win 2000 system
Win 2000 system does it have a restore option , I thought that only comes with windows xp systems?

[hogarth...]

To be frank, I don't consider Win XP to be an "upgrade" from Win2K. Aside from some window dressing and wizards, there isn't much of significance to separate them. My home network utilizes machines running Win98, Win2K Professional, winXP (laptop), Linux and - shock! - Mac OSX (G4 Powerbook). The most trouble-free machines I have are the ones running Win2K and Mac OS X.

Until now, of course.

Sadly, the game isn't likely to run on either laptop machine either. So best option remains to buy a new WinXP desktop system if I want to play Myst V.

Anyone know a good source for a watercooled, super-quiet game screamer?

[robsmyst]

Doen't the windows xp , Package SP2 make windows xp different from windows 2000?

Serice Pack 2 =SP2 differ from the core of 2000?

[Heimdall_G]

robsmyst,

See How To Use the Backup Program to Back Up and Restore the System State in Windows 2000 (http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;240363).

For your other questions, a good place to start is doing an Advanced Search with the MS Knowledge Base (http://support.microsoft.com/search/?adv=1).

[Heimdall_G]

For quiet, water-cooled systems, I'd start with Alienware (http://www.alienware.com/standalone_pages/liquidcooling.aspx). They're definitely not cheap, but their equipment is arguably the best available.

[mashmore]

The install was brilliant, the load up time is great (seconds), I get through the controls splash screen click on OK, and then I have a few problems depending on where I click on the screen.
If I click in the middle of the screen to move forward the hand freezes and I get my normal mouse pointer appear on the screen.
If I turn to the left to look at the bridge and click to move towards it I get this error message “An error has occurred in Myst, Please report faultâ€Â� with this error code.
Exception type: Access violation

Call stack (14 levels):
0x005D0024
0x004A1ECB
0x005245EE
0x005237EB
0x004B4B83
0x00499603
0x005D0024
0x004A1ECB
0x0063DC88
0x0063B5EF
0x0063B97D
0x00519E41
0x0051A9A8
0x005202ED
<end>

I thought I was unable to click to move anywhere, but if I turn around to the bridge behind me, and click on the blue button the gate opens. I am then free to move to the end of the bridge (Unable to open the other end of cause) so I turn back around go across the bridge fine, try to go anywhere else though and I get either of the two problems. Both of these unexpectedly exit the game.
Puzzled

[Heimdall_G]

A stack error is often memory-related.

Suggestions:

1. If you have only 256 MB of system RAM, install at least an additional 256 MB. Even if this doesn't solve the stack problem, your system will run much better!

2. Reset your virtual memory paging file size to to 2X your RAM in MB. See step 3 in Myst V: Miscellaneous Video Problem Fixes (http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3471054943/m/9271033704) for details.

3. It's possible that an application or process running in the background is interfering with the demo. Use Windows Task Manager to close everything except for Explorer.exe, Ctfmon.exe, and whatever your hardware needs before starting the demo. See step 4 in Myst V: Miscellaneous Video Problem Fixes (http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3471054943/m/9271033704) for details.

If none of the above help, you may have a hardware and/or driver problem. Post a DxDiag report in this Forum so that we can take a look at your system and make recommendations. For a how-to, see Posting Guidelines and Myst V System Requirements (http://forums.ubi.com/eve/forums/a/tpc/f/3471054943/m/4941067943) under POSTING GUIDELINES, To post a DxDiag report. Run all of the graphics and sound tests you can before saving the report to a file, and post *all* of the file. Also, include the manufacturer and exact model number of your PC, if this info doesn't show up in the DxDiag report.

Heimdall

[Mowog]

Hogarth --

Sorry to hear about the problems! I was greatly relieved when the demo installed and ran okay on my venerable VAIO. And I was also really pleased when I donned my eDimensional shutter glasses, toggled into stereo mode, and that also worked perfectly.

So you can still do cool stereo stuff in Myst V. Woo hoo! I can see another stereo pairs thread in our future.

Regards,