"Read Errors" playing World of Warcraft.

[.Lethal]

Hi,

I have been getting random crashes while playing World of Warcraft where the game would just instantly close and give me an error report basically saying it is due to "read error" of various objects ie maps, characters not loading the err graphic (or whatever it may be it is trying to display).

I have an 8800 GTS 512mb card by BFG Tech and I am aware of there RMA process BUT this is a card I have received back from BFG a year or so ago as a refurb as my original GTS had problems where it was actually crashing my PC.

My problem is that I am don't know if this makes sense or if this is my graphics card at all. I don't want to send it in and have them tell me its fine and you now have to pay some fee for wasting our time.

I bought brand new hdds last wk from OcUK thinking read error was my HDD which was not the case. I have formatted and installed the latest drivers, I have installed WoW by various methods to ensure it was not a bad instalation. Memtest states there is no problem with my RAM. I have never overclocked anything on the PC or changed settings in the nVidia control panel.

So I'm at the point where I believe the next step is to return the card to BFG Tech as an RMA.

Anyone have any input? It would be MUCH appreciated.

Thank you.

 

[.Lethal]

Is your system Prime stable?

It definitely sounds CPU/memory related to me.

I'm not sure what you mean by "Prime stable"

I have an Intel Q4400 quad core and 4gb RAM (4x1GB sticks).

The only changes I have made in the BIOS was from an older thread where I set the timings to match exactly what my memory stated.

I also have Intel speedstep disabled in the BIOS. I think thats pretty much it to be honest.

While I am glad you don't think it is my GFX Card I am very curious on how to proceed in identifying this problem.

Thank you.

 

[.Lethal]

I had similar problems all of a sudden in WoW.

It turned out that my RAM was on its way out and WoW is very sensitive to memory errors.

As suggested, run Prime or try memtest as that was what narrowed it down to the RAM for me.

Been thinking this all afternoon, ordered some brand new ram.

 

[.Lethal]

I get the occasional crashes also but it just a memory issue i just upped my voltage to my ram as it was set at 1.8v when it should have been 2.1v seem to of cured it now

Until my new RAM arrives tomorrow I reset the values in my BIOS for the RAM, I was given set values but clearly they don't work. Last night I had no crashes but the settings are "loose" now so I'm not happy with it.

I will set the proper timings when the new RAM is delivered tomorrow.

 

[.Lethal]

Just an update here.

I installed the new RAM last week on Friday and I can confirm I have had ZERO problems since. It definately was a problem with my RAM, even though about 2 months ago I had ran a stress test with Memtest which gave me a report of no problems.

FWIW I had cleared WTFolder, CacheFolder etc etc. I even formatted entirely, fully reinstalled (Various ways I tried installing, I even bought a new copy of WotlK thinking it was a dodgy instalation).

antonusklesk nailed it when he said WoW is very touchy with RAM.

Saying this I can't recall a problem when I reset the values of my previous RAM, however, they were not set at the correct settings and had reduced PC performance (Yes it did make a difference!).

It was various map/model errors. I can't remember if it was .adt error but the extention is "familiar" when I red that. To be honest I was getting crashes every evening I just stopped reading the error after a while because it had become the norm.

If your having errors like I did, I suggest new RAM.

Also (sorry to go on).
I would like to think I was clued up (at the time) regarding my previous RAM and the specific settings I had in the BIOS. I never ever had problems with my RAM until the crashes with WoW while into WotlK in the last 2 months. I think patches are part of the problem being so sensitive to memory errors forcing the game to crash.

unknownsock - not quite.