Topic: Recurring problem

[Pwilsonscott]

Hello. I sent in this problem a few weeks ago, and thought it had been resolved, but it is happening again. Several games attempt to start and then are sent to the task bar. If i press Control/Alt/Delete the Device Manager says it is running and occasionally choosing the "switch to" option allows the game to run, sometimes right clicking on the programme on the task bar runs the programme and sometimes restarting the computer allows the game to run ok. I think i have the latest driver for my graphics card and the screen resolution has not changed from previously. This is so frustrating because of the intermittent nature of the problem.
I am running windows xp. It seems there may be something else running that may be causing a conflict but i have very few things installed as it is a new system.

[Michelle]

Has this one been missed ?  I just saw it sitting here all alone and lonely.  

[Simon]

All I can suggest is a total Anti Virus scan, first updating your AV software, and also a spyware scan with either Ad Aware or Spybot, or both.  PWS, are you sure that you don't have a pop up stopper running?  Maybe incorporated in your AV software, or any other ad blocking utilities you may have?  Hopefully someone more technical may be able to help further.

[Pwilsonscott]

Thank-you. How can i tell if a pop-up stopper is running ?

[Simon]

Usually you have to install them, PWS, so you would know if you had one, but it should appear as an icon in your system tray (by your clock), if one is running.  Thinking about it, if your problem is intermittent, it may well be something totally different, but until one of our techies has a better idea, anything might be worth a try.  Sorry if this isn't much help.

[Pwilsonscott]

Thanks. The intermittent nature of the problem makes me think it is not the graphics driver causing the problem as i would expect it to occur all the time. I am not sure how to do a spyware scan, but i have Norton antivirus and there are no viruses detected. There is a box just above the task bar which says "Allowing Pop-Ups" I have also noticed when i right click on the programme that has been sent to the task bar, the screen will flicker a number of times and the music for the game can sometimes be heard in the background. Agsin, shutdown and re-start sometimes cures the problem, sometimes not. To be honest, it is driving me mad but i am at a loss to know what to do. I am grateful for any suggestions, and i am fairly new to using a PC.

[Pwilsonscott]

Just another thought, could it be a screen resolution issue ?

[Simon]

If you have something which is saying "Allowing Pop Ups", that would indicate that you do have a pop up stopper installed, but if it's allowing them, that shouldn't cause the problems you are having.  Just as an experiment, can you right click the icon where it says "Allowing Pop Ups" and see if you can Exit, or Disable it, then try your games?  That will then eliminate the Pop Up Stopper as being the culprit, or prove that it's guilty.

It doesn't really sound like a Spyware issue, but if you want to see what's lurking on your machine, you could download and run a program called Ad Aware, which will find and allow you to remove any spyware on your PC.  Make sure, before you run the scan, you click "Check For Updates", and download the latest definitions.

I'm still hoping someone more technical will show up soon!  

[Sandra]

So do I Simon, its got me stumped  
Intermittent problems are always the worst to fix as you think its sorted then all of a sudden it does it again.
Check Direct X is the latest version, possibly uninstall and reinstall the graphics card are all that I can think of at the moment to try  

[Pwilsonscott]

Thank-you Sandra and Simon.
1. I have Direct X 9.0
2. I previously removed and re-installed the graphics card driver from the CD, and everything was fine for a while until now
3. If i click on the down arrow by the "allowing Pop-Ups box there is an option to turn pop-up controls on (then the box says "blocking pop-ups" ), then the option changes to turn pop-up controls off which is the one currently selected. I do not remember installing this but could it be part of AOL because the other option is "set up Pop-up control preferences" which is an AOL box gives me the option to block pop ups from AOL sites, which is not selected. There does not seem to be an option to turn the whole thing off
4. When i started up my system this morning, i got a message which i have see from time to time which says " Debug Assertion ffailed " and a message about "Natural Colorload.exe" I am given the option to Cancel, Retry, or Ignore. If i ignore, i can see nothing wrong, if i re-try then i get a message about sending an error report to microsoft.
5. Strangely, all programmes i try seem to be running fine this morning, ie not returning me to the desktop, and i have changed nothing since last night.
I appreciate how difficult this may be to resolve. Thanks very much for your interest.

[Pwilsonscott]

Just in case the screen resolution could be a factor in the problem, it is currently at 1024 x 768 Colour quality highest (32 bit). I am not sure if games will select their own screen resolution.

[Simon]

Now you have mentioned AOL, PWS, I'm wondering if that could be something to do with the problem.  AOL does tend to do funny things sometimes, and not always what you want.  To be honest, never having used it, I'm not even sure how AOL works.  Do you actually have to have it running to be able to use your PC at all, or could you possible try to run the games without AOL running?

[Pwilsonscott]

I am fairly sure that the problem still occurs even when i am not connected to the internet via AOL.

[Simon]

Well, I haven't any more suggestions, but I'm sure someone will come up with an answer sooner or later.  

 

[Sandra]

I cant find anything at all about the Natural Colorload.exe
Nothing helpful about the debug failure either although it appears to be something to do with a coding problem but I cant see that being relevant to your current problem