Clean boot for games

[pike]

Hello

My daughter has a win XP pro sys. When we try NHL 2004 with a USB sidewinder the game either doesn't start, freezes, doesn't recognise the game pad or reboots or is too slow.
There seems to be a lot of background processing going on. when i bring up the task manager there are around 20 or 30 running processes.

I would like to know if there is a way to boot Win XP as we do with Win 98 with no unnessesary pilots and programs.

Sys :
Epox sochet A with duron 1.4
Via KT chipset
256 sdram
Radeaon 7500


Thank you

<font color=green>"Nothing is good or bad, it all has to do with intentions!"</font color=green>

 

[Esso]

I would check the EA forums first and update the game with any patches available.
Also make sure that XP is reconising your joystick properly (start > settings > control panel > game controllers).

If you hit F8 when booting you'll be dumped to a boot-option screen where you can boot in safe mode, last known good, etc.

20-30 processes is quite normal for XP. Check which one is railed in-game by click the CPU field and sorting by usage.

 

[pike]

I forgot about F8 but is safe mode good for gaming? And i wonder if you do a clean install of XP will there still be 20-30 processes? What my daughter has been doing is shutting down processes before playing her gamw but it's a pain in the ___ .

<font color=green>"Nothing is good or bad, it all has to do with intentions!"</font color=green>

 

[Esso]

Safe mode skips a lot of drivers (including video) so gaming would be hideous

After a clean install of xp, the process count will climb from installing other apps like firwalls, antivirus, unecessary software applications for your hardware (like mouse or sound card). I don't think I've ever had under 28 after an install that I was happy with.

You can find information about nearly any process on the net, so you can probably pick off the necessary and unecessary ones.

 

[WingDing]

Pike,

256MB SDRAM is pretty light for Win XP Pro. If you have a lot of background processes running as well then I'm not surprised your system is groaning under the weight.

Have you gone through which processes are running, and which are consuming your processing power? You may also be straining your PSU to its limit, hence the freezing and rebooting. What spec is your PSU?

I don't only break your heart, I also break your pelvis

 

[pike]

Your answers are appreciated.

<font color=green>"Nothing is good or bad, it all has to do with intentions!"</font color=green>

 

[WingDing]

You're welcome.

I don't only break your heart, I also break your pelvis