# Half Life 2 blue Screen issue, help please



## novicegamer (Oct 24, 2007)

I am asking for help to get the game Half Life 2 (Orange Box) working on my Sony VAIO VGN-S560P. I run Windows XP with an Nvidia GeForce Go 6400 graphics card.
After a download install that takes me several hours every time (and Ive done it 3 so far), I start the game only to be presented with a blue screen with the following text:

<<A problem has been detected and windows has been shut down to prevent damage to your computer.

If this is the first time you've seen this stop error screen, restart your computer. If this screen appears again, follow these steps:

Check to be sure you have adequate disk space. If a driver is identified, in the stop message, disable the driver or check with the manufacturer for the driver updates. Try changing video adapters.

Check with your hardware vendor for any BIOS updates. Check BIOS memory options such as caching or shadowing. If you need to use Safe Mode to remove or disable components, restart your computer, press F8 to select Advanced Startup Options, and then select Safe Mode.

Technical Information:

*** STOP: 0x0000008E (0xC0000005, 0xBFA6EC4, 0xBA8A2B4C, 0x00000000)

*** nv4_disp.dll - Address BFA6E3C4 base at BF9D5000, Datestamp 42977d35

Beginning dump of physical memory
Physical memory dump complete.
Contact your system administrator or technical support group for further assistance.>>

This screen appears after the computer appears to change my screen resolution (a 1 black stripe appears on both the left and right side of my wide format screen and the desktop picture becomes squeezed; my current resolution is set to 1280x800 and a change in the settings produces no different results for the startup of the game). The blue screen is visible for about 1 second.
I brought the computer to a computer dealer in my town and the tech ran a few tests, all of which showed that this machine is quite able to handle the game.
He ran, among others: www.canyourunit.com as well as the test links from the Steam Website.
I also ran across the following article on the Steam web support page:

<<Posts: 318
Game Crashes and Overlay problems caused by Anti-Virus Software (9-27-07) 
________________________________________
Recently there have been some issues with Source engine games and certain Anti-Virus applications. These issues can cause game crashes and prevent the Steam Community overlay from functioning.

- AVG 7.5 and NOD32 have both been confirmed to cause crashes with Source engine games. Here are some examples of the symptoms you will see as a result of this issue:

1) A warning message telling you to reduce your screen resolution
2) A error message about failing to lock the vertex buffer
3) The game hanging with steam.exe at 100% utilization (or 50% utilization on a dual core, or 25% utilization on a quad core).
4) A hang while connecting to servers

If you are running either of these Anti-Virus programs then they need to be fully uninstalled.

- Kaspersky anti-virus can prevent the in-game overlay from working correctly. Kaspersky has provided a work-around that can be found here:

http://supportwiki.steampowered.com/...m_is_malicious

Please be aware that we are working with these companies to improve these issues.

As always, we suggest closing as many background applications as possible while you are using Steam. This includes Anti-Virus and Security related programs. For more information, please see:

Disabling Background Applications>>

Until then, I ran the full version of AVG 7.5. We uninstalled that version.
Due to time constraints that day, he suggested I re-install Half Life 2 since the STOP error above is a setup error. I re-installed the game and it worked. Then I re-installed AVG (free version) for rudimentary virus protection. The game crashed again.
I have now uninstalled AVG completely, re-installed Half Life 2 (again) but get the blue screen again. This time, not immediately following the screen re-size, but just before I would be able to enter the game by choosing New Game, Load Game, etc. The text in the blue screen is the same as above. After this crash, however, Windows asks me to send in an error report. The text and the tech data from it are here:

<< Error Report from fuzzy startup screen in Half Life 2
Error signature
BCCode : 1000008e BCP1 : C0000005 BCP2 : BFA6E3C4 BCP3 : BA38DAF4
BCP4 : 00000000 OSVer : 5_1_2600 SP : 2_0 Product : 256_1

Further Technical Information
C:\DOCUME~1\Tom\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERd935.dir00\Mini102407-01.dmp
C:\DOCUME~1\Tom\LOCALS~1\Temp\WERd935.dir00\sysdata.xml>>

Can anyone please help me with this problem? I know it is not earth shaking and not even that important in the grand scheme of things, but I would very much like to see this program work on this computer.

Thank you,
novicegamer


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## luker_02 (Oct 24, 2007)

Ok no need to worry i have this problem many a time and here is what i did to solve it i hope this is helpful to you

First go into your control panel
.>double click the *System icon*
.>now Look at the *Tabs* and select the* Advanced tab*
.>now you sould see a *performance section* click the *Settings button.*
.>now go again to the *Advanced tab* here and then select *Change* under *Virtual memory*
.>now the box where it says *Maximum size (MB)* change this number to something like *(2048)* this is what i have set mine as and i have not had that error screen since. this is all i have on the matter.
I don't like to dable in anti-virus software as i'm not experienced enough in that area.


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## novicegamer (Oct 24, 2007)

Thank you very much, luker_02. I tried it and was hoping for as easy a fix as that. Unfortunately, that did not help and I still have the same blue screen error. I appreciate your easy to follow instructions.

Still getting tossed on my ear by the blue screen.

Thanks again,
novicegamer


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## tom6049 (Aug 6, 2007)

novicegamer said:


> *** *nv4_disp.dll* - Address BFA6E3C4 base at BF9D5000, Datestamp 42977d35


That looks like a NVIDIA video card driver error.
Since you're using a Sony laptop, the video drivers 
are possibly very much out of date. 
You might want to check out laptopvideo2go
and install the latest NVIDIA drivers from there. 
They are drivers that have been modified so that 
they can be installed on a laptop.


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## novicegamer (Oct 24, 2007)

Thank you very much, tom 6049. I followed the link you provided but could not find the Go 6400 card in my machine. I am not experienced enough to recover from installing the incorrect video driver myself. This is why I hesitate to download and install a driver for the, say, 6800 card.

I have and am currently continuing to look for updated drivers for my card (computer bought in October 2005), but NVIDIA directs me to look at Sony's support site for updated drivers for this model, and I, for the life of me, cannot find any specific driver information (old, updated or current) for my model (VGN-S560P) or my video card (NVIDIA GeForce Go 6400).

Thanks again, any further help is still much appreciated.
novicegamer


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## JasonM17 (Oct 25, 2007)

There was a bug fix recently released via Steam which relates to this family of mobile chips from nVidia. In your My Games list, select HL2:Ep2, right click on it and select Properties. In the Properties dialog, click Launch Options... Type -autoconfig into that field, click OK and then Close on the Properties dialog. Try re-running the game with that set. This should cause the game to pick more appropriate options for your graphics processor. If you have any issues, please contact [email protected] (this is the catch-all for Orange box config issues like you're seeing). Assuming this works for you, you can remove the -autoconfig from the launch options after you've run once successfully. You'll have to repeat this process for other Orange Box games (TF2 and Portal) as well.

-JasonM


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## novicegamer (Oct 24, 2007)

Hi JasonM17,

thank you very much for your suggestion, unfortunately, it did not work on Half Life 2. I am installing HL2: EP2 right now to see if it makes a difference. When I try to play HL2, steam now gives me the warning that my video driver is out of date (it did not do that before). They, however, cannot suggest where to get an updated driver.

I have phoned the authorized reps for my area, Sony proper and Nvidia and they ALL told me that this is the most up-to-date driver available. The tech at Nvidia even told me of the third party website for an updated driver, but I haven't yet found one compatible with the GeForce Go 6400.

Again, thanks for your help.
novicegamer


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## JasonM17 (Oct 25, 2007)

Please post to let me know if this works for Ep2.

-JasonM


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## novicegamer (Oct 24, 2007)

Hello again, JasonM

I apologize for taking so long. After installing all the games, again, I tried something I read somewhere else.

I started the game with the string of parameters listed under "Troubleshooting" and "Crashes" on the steam website. They start with "-no sound" and "-window". Turns out I can play the game this way, even if I ratchet it up the resolution scala or go right to "full screen" within the "options" inside the game itself, I can now play Orange Box.

Thank you for your help and sorry I couldn't try out -autoconfig on Episode 2, I am having just a whale of a good time with Half Life 2.

Thanks again,
novicegamer


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