Thread: stuttering sound, total system lock

I'd try going to the device manager enabling both then uninstalling them from the device manager and restarting.

Post up a new dxdiag when you do, also multicore rendering should be disabled until a patch fixes it. (Currently it's 100% fubar'd)

Left 4 Dead: Common PC Fixes

AMD XP 2400+ | 2GB DDR 3200 | Audigy 2 ZS | Nvidia 6800 Ultra

And now we have a full-on blue screen. While playing with these launch options (as suggested by Valve's troubleshooting page):

-nosound -window -dxlevel 70 +mat_forcehardwaresync 0

The game crashed with the same symptoms as previously described... well, there wasn't any stuttering game sound, since the game was running without sound, but a sound did begin to stutter and loop after the BSOD came up.
--
A bit more about the BSOD (since I was able to replicate it running the game normally, without all the launch options):

This is the error text:

The device driver got stuck in an infinite loop. This usually indicates a problem with the device itself, or with the device driver programming the hardware incorrectly.

(there wasn't anything indicating which device was having issues, it just jumped right into the text I copied above)

The stop code:

0x000000EA
0xFFFFFA800A026BB0
0x0000000000000000
0x0000000000000000
0x0000000000000000

The stop code for the previous BSOD:

0x000000EA
0xFFFFFA800A0F8910
0x0000000000000000
0x0000000000000000
0x0000000000000000

Have you the retail version 'cause i'm having the exact same problem with a RIP of the game. I've heard that the cracked engine.dll file is causing the problem. Don't worry, I have buy the retail version and I will recieve it tomorrow ... I hope that will solve the problem

Yes, I'm running a legitimate copy of the game, purchased from Steam directly during their holiday sale.

Crash persists, and goes to the same BSOD every time now. Windows is saying it's the video driver and hardware conflicting (did some research on the stop code), but I've tried 4 different versions of the Catalyst drivers now and nothing has fixed the issue.

I guess there's a chance that the card itself is faulty, but I don't have a way to test that... and it'd be an awfully expensive thing to fix

if u are running vista, make sure that you have compatibility and run as administrator turned off within L4D properties.

to check, right-click the l4d and steam icons (in windows explorer), select properties, go to compatibility tab, and make sure the boxes are un-checked.

Bump -

I've had the same problem for a couple weeks now. Everything I've tried, including every solution I can find on this forum and every solution I've found for similar problems with different 3-D games is not really helping. Same exact situation, as decribed by Thoth (original poster).

I've rolled back drivers, tried the mat command in console, tried all different types of graphic card and display settings, even tried bumping my cpu voltage up in case that was some kind of choke point (this helped for an entire day before it was crash city again), checked game integrity from the steam console, and countless other things in the "solutions" thread that's stickied up at the top of the forums.

My system specs - Intel Core2 Duo processor, two SLI'd GeForce 9600 GT cards, 8 gb ram (excessive, I know), Windows Vista 32 bit with service pack 1 installed, using the 177.66 beta drivers from NVidia (yes, I tried the 178.xx, 180.xx, and new beta drivers).

Current game specs: AF 2x, Anti-aliasing off completely, Shader down to medium, all other settings at medium or low.

Game crashes seemingly at random during multiplayer games, locking up entire computer. Screen goes black (no BSOD) and the sound stutters rapidly. I can't ctrl-alt-del, can't alt-tab, can't do anything except for hitting the reset button on my case or killing the power.

Thoth, did you manage to get this fixed?

Ok, figured it out :waves:

The version of NVidia PhysX drivers that come with the 180.xx are to blame. Although I did uninstall the Graphics Drivers, the PhysX drivers have a different uninstall file and are easy to miss (or hard to find, however you want to say that).

To resolve the issue, simply search for the PhysX setup files and use them to uninstall your version of Nvidia PhysX. Then, uninstall your graphics card drivers. Then, reboot and install the 178.24 NVidia graphics card driver. It'll automatically install the older version of PhysX, and your systems lock problem shall forever be a bad memory!

I'd like to thank google.com, my parents, my manager, my sponsors, and God.