Calling PS computer geniuses- why am I / are we crashing so much these days

[Roled]

Hi Computer programing brains and those who understand this stuff:
HELP and not just for me I think...

The past few months, there's been an increase in crashes, to me and I know to others.  Who of you brilliant people know why there is an increase, seemingly, in instability, AND what to do about it?

First I only crashed on Oja1 near the camp. Suggested I should not wear enchanted armor, so I don't. Suggested I not have a torch or campfire in inventory, so I don't.  Then I started crashing in every wildland area, not just Oja road...

Now it seems I crash whenever I try to turn using either the direction keys or the straffing forward backward shortcuts.  Crash crash crash.. then going into or out of East Hydlaa, Crash crash crash.

Trying to log back in the loading world, GUI bar gets to the last 1/2 inch then::::: Crash!

But not EVERY time, just pretty darn often. GMs are tired of moving the elfboy back to Hydlaa.

I've repaired, I've turned off sound, bloom, lowered graphics, logged in as administrator and not, everything else I can think of I do...

"PS client is not responding" over and over.

Nothing' changed in my computer since summer.. virus protection up to date and run daily, no new programs, no changes.

What can I/ we do about it?  How can I/ we prevent these crashes.

Please send me / us crashites your brilliant fixes!! Thanks
RR

[bilbous]

which client? Which os, witch hazel.
which skin? are your hard drives dying?

[Volki]

If you're using Windows, type "dxdiag" on your Start Menu to find this stuff.

[LigH]

Naah ... HWiNFO is more detailed in reporting hardware.

But sorry, Roled, without at least a link to this previous elaborate post, we can't remember what your PC contained in summer.

[Bonifarzia]

A simple trick worth trying is to (re-)move the shadercache, which you find on your user data, where screenshots, logs etc are located. Just move the file to some other place, so you can restore it if needed. This results in recomputing the cache, which might solve your problems with a bit of luck.

[Roled]

Thanks all so far- I will try Boni's idea first since I think I understand it.  I do delete the cache on the log in screen maybe every other time, but I will do this first, then Bilbous and LigH I will try to find the answers to the Dome's enduring questions...
THANKS!
RR the Incomprehending Elf

[Roled]

FAIL FAIL FAIL! HELP please!

Below are all my numbers ... Thank you in advance for trying to help me get back ig.    What else do you need to know, those of you who are geniuses and have time to try to help me? [I have two laptops, an older Toshiba Satellite that I usually use for PS, and this one, my slick newer HP, that doesn't seem to render the PS graphics. ]

Bilbous and LigH: I wonder if my Toshiba might be dying... other weirdness has cropped up to. So I'm going to attempt to get this HP to work with PS.

FYI, I did as Boni suggested, moved the shadercache: no help to my particular problem, but thanks.  I also uninstalled then reinstalled the client, through the Redlem mirror (?mirror is that the right word?) USA.

Bilbous: PS client version 0.5.9.12. launcher 3.04.
Windows Client (936,676,613 bytes) (32 bit) , downloaded with uTorrent vo 5.9.11.exe (32bit)  skin is default elves, no modifications 'cause I don't know how to do that.

Here are my stats:
STR-200
AGL-200
HA-127
no, wait, that's Roled (and a joke attempt)... 

My computer stats:
HP  Pavilion dv6 notebook pc                      514 GB free
running Intel Core 15 i5 2430M cpu @ 2.40 Ghz, 6.00 Gb RAM,64 bit OS,

Driver version 6.14.0.3074
Intel (R) HD graphics family driver 8.15.10.2372

Windows 7, Home Premium, Version 6.1 build 7601 Service pack 1

On this HP notebook,when I open the client, the log in screen is pixilated, with mostly black and white, no color, and so blurry you can't read the text and the picture of Levrus casting magic at the elf's belt buckle is almost impossible to see.  Since I know where the control buttons are, when I click to the login password screen, the only thing that shows up are the two bars background colors, one greenish and one brownish. No text is visible, no characters appear when I type in the box for email or for password.

thank you again in advance for trying to help me. I am gunna guess I need to install some other kind of driver?? but... well,
THANKS for helping!
RR 

[Mordaan]

Intel (R) HD graphics family driver 8.15.10.2372

There's the likeliest culprit.  PS has NEVER worked well with intel cards.

[bilbous]

you might want to try the 64bit client you have a 64bit processor and apparently the 64 bit windows.

[Roled]

Intel (R) HD graphics family driver 8.15.10.2372

There's the likeliest culprit.  PS has NEVER worked well with intel cards.

How do I find a driver that will work? Please? 

[Volki]

That's your GPU. You would have to physically go out (or buy online) a new GPU. GPU = graphics card. That's why bilbous said "card".

I'm afraid, however, that HP notebooks do not allow you to switch out graphics cards. You would have to buy a whole new laptop. There are some companies that sell laptops ~$1000 that have removable graphics cards.

And as bilbous said, try the 64-bit version of PS.

Do you have a desktop lying around? Even if it's older, you could probably buy new cards for it and run PS fine.

[Rucan]

Thia is what you need to do, Roled.
http://www.hydlaaplaza.com/smf/index.php?topic=40795.0

[Rigwyn]

Intel (R) HD graphics family driver 8.15.10.2372

There's the likeliest culprit.  PS has NEVER worked well with intel cards.

Hold on... did it work on this laptop with the current PS client previously?

If yes, then I would not be so quick to blame the hardware or drivers - unless the drivers got updated at some point. Windows might have done this silently if you automatic updates turned on.

I too have the core i5 processor with the built in HD Graphics chip and it works just fine. (I'm using Linux, so it really depends on how good the intel/windows driver is )

If you look at your event viewer, you can see what updates or changes may have occurred. To do so, click Start and then type in compmgmt.msc into the little search box at the bottom of the screen. ( You man need to click Start, then on Run to get this )

Once the computer management console is open, you can expand the "Event Viewer" folder and then double click on your System or Application logs. I can't really get into how to read these at the moment, but you will see in these logs, loads of messages. You would want to look for one that indicates whether or not any updates were installed at the time when it started failing ( if your logs go back that far ).

Again, I can't really get into the specifics of what to look for but may help a little.

Also worth noting, if you see logs of events with a red circle and X through it ( errors ) or events marked as "critical", then you may have a problem. Reading these events should give a little insight.

[Roled]

Still unable to solve this problem- I went to IRC and hopefully Eonwind and/or Talad might be able to help...
Still open to suggestions to try on my own... thanks to everyone who's been offering suggestions/help!

AND a related question- would it make any difference if I tried to download, I think it's called Ubuntu, and use that as the operating system, even on my windows/ microsoft hp computer? I told you I know nothing.... 

Intel (R) HD graphics family driver 8.15.10.2372

There's the likeliest culprit.  PS has NEVER worked well with intel cards.

Hold on... did it work on this laptop with the current PS client previously?

If yes, then I would not be so quick to blame the hardware or drivers - unless the drivers got updated at some point. Windows might have done this silently if you automatic updates turned on.

thanks - yes Rig that laptop with current PS client worked great up until a week ago, and then stopped working for PS client entirely yesterday.  I will see if I can find the event log you're talking about and see if it makes any sense to me...
Thanks so much for continuing to lead me by the virtual hand you all ...