ironman666

Hey guys, I have a weird problem that I hope to fix. I have a Sidewinder Game Pad (the basic model). Whenever I play Madden 2002 using the SGP the controller begins to act up. Basically what happens is the controller stops responding. Then when I hit ESC to quit the game the main menu keeps scrolling up as if I were pressing Up on the D-Pad. Whenever I check the controller in Control Panel it's Status is OK and then when I go to the properties of the Game Pad all the buttons/D-pad respond perfectly. I don't have this problem with ANY USB gamepad that i've tried (i have tested madden with a Game Pad Pro and a Gravis Pad, both were USB). This is the only game that I play using the Game Pad, so I'm not sure whether or not its Madden, WinXP Pro, or the Game Pad itself. If anyone has any ideas or can shed some light into this situation then that'd be great. Thanks in advance.

Hey everyone. Whenever I play Starcraft online the game crashes during intense battles. The BSOD I get says that the file that crashes is QSoftAudio.sys. So that seems to be audio related. I have a Philips SonicEdge 605 sound card. I have the latest drivers installed. I've tried moving the card to various PCI slots and that didn't help. The only way I can play the game w/o crashing is by disabling the soundcard (from Device Manager of course). Does anyone know what else I could try? I have AC'97 audio integrated in the motherboard (it's disabled, btw), should I try that sound card instead? Any help will be appreciated.

I was thinking about that too. I have on board audio (AC'97), but its disabled (BIOS). Device Manager doesn't show any errors in the IRQ settings (i.e. no conflicts). I'll check some more settings.

Another thing, the error at the top of the BSOD says something like: IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL hope that helps...

I have DX 9a and i think i have patch 1.07

Hey everyone. don't know if this has been asked of (i'm guessing it has) but what would you guys consider to be better as a workstation: XP Pro or 2003 Server. I've read the guide to turn 2003 Server into a workstation and it seems easy enough understand. I like the fact it is somewhat tight and locked down (despite the changes that are required). another argument, which is semi-convincing for me, is that its the "latest & greatest" in terms of fixes and stability. but of course, with XP Pro i don't have to worry about what appz to get or which gamez would work (though the only game i've been playing is Starcraft). plus it has been working just fine for me, so its not like i NEED the alternative. Any suggestions or comments would be appreciated.

I know that 2003 Server is obviously designed to be a server and XP Pro is obviously supposed to be a workstation. I just brought it up because of the guides that are out on the web, which made me think about the whole process. i wouldn't install DNS Server, DHCP Server, or any other "server-specific service" so those services wouldn't run (either they'd be disabled or not installed), so i know i can possibly have less services running by default (which is nice). The only other issue besides programs and games that may not work would be hardware (not sure if my soundcard is even supported by 2003). Anyways, I don't think i'd consider using Windows 2003 Server as a workstation...Thanks for the feedback.

Kill Ad is that phattest popup killer. Its really tiny, free, and has a mode called "Terminator Mode" which kills every instance of IE. It is, of course, customizable too so you can have a "safe list". worth a look.

Hey everyone. Just bought Madden 2003. I installed the typical setup and tried to start the game. but after the EA Sports splash screen goes away and when RIGHT when the music begins i get kicked back into my desktop. anyone else go through this with Madden 2003? I have a GeForce 2 GTS so i don't think its my hardware. any suggestions would be great.

Hey everyone. I was wondering if anyone who has been testing the .Net server betas has noticed how well the built-in ICS/ICF work in .Net Server. I tried using Windows 2000 Server with ISA Server but that didn't work too well and IMO ISA Server is way too bloated. Have there been any improvements in ICF? Is it worth running just ICF or would a 3rd party program still be required with .Net Server? If it turns out that ICF is good under .Net Server than I wouldn't mind trying it on my LAN.

I didn't like ZoneAlarm. I didn't like the way it worked with my Win2k Server box. That's what prompted me to try ISA Server. It isn't bad, but in general I thought it was way to bloated for my use.

right now I am running an OpenBSD box as my gateway so if it turns out that .Net Server has crappy packet filtering then I won't fret because of my OpenBSD box. XP/.Net seems to have great support for PPPoE (which is what Verizon DSL uses unfortunately) and I was hoping that ICF would be improved too. If it is anything like XP's version then I would not consider that to be suitable even for my small LAN at home. But like I said before, if its good then I'd be up for trying it out, at the least.

hey guys. i installed windowsxp and i decided to turn my hard disk from basic to dynamic. i like the ability to mount/unmount stuff but i can't see an advantage of using dynamic disks. the fact that i can manage dynamic disks on the fly and don't have to worry about 3rd party progs like partition magic is nice but i don't see myself mounting/unmounting often. does anyone know of an advantage that dynamic disks have over basic that would prove its worth? based on what i've read dynamic disks are better suited for large storage and server environments.

that is true, but i only have 1 hard disk so i couldn't setup any sort of RAID configuration. but i'm definitely gonna keep my current config the way it is because dynamic disks seem much better than basic disks.

hey everyone. i've read that some ppl were able to use the watercolor theme that was in place before LUNA. i'd like to know where to get the theme and how to install it. i have read that there is a way to install the watercolor theme using TGT Soft's Styles XP, but is there a way to set up that theme (or any other theme) w/o it? i've already tried windowblinds 3 and it wasn't as good as i thought it would be (IMHO). any advise would be great, thanks in advance.

hi everyone. i currently have a voodoo3 3000 and i want to upgrade to a nvidia card. because i don't have much to spend on cards right now i'm thinking about getting a geforce2 MX. i'll be honest, i'm not much of a gamer. i'll play games here and there (i play Unreal Tournament and Madden 2000/2002 a lot). but other than those two games i don't play much (for example, i recently beat max payne. since there is no multiplayer mode that i know of i won't touch that game again). knowing this much, is the geforce2 mx series worth the money? from what i've read at various websites that review vidcards it is a good card considering its price. i also want to know if getting a 32meg card over a 64meg card is worth it. personally i'd like to get a 64meg card but considering the fact that i don't play too many games, will i really notice the 32meg difference? and of course i'm also concerned with support in windowsxp. any advice will be greatly appreciated. thanks

hey everyone. i have setup a windows 2000 server machine to be my internet router. i had linux running and i had setup a firewall in ipchains. now that i'm windows i want to be able to properly protect my system. i'd like to do it w/o 3rd party programs BUT if anyone has any suggestions on a good 3rd party program then please let me know. the only one that i can think of off the top of my head is zone alarm firewall. thanks for any advise.

just in case you are wondering, my server is setup as dhcp server and dns server. i'm sharing my connection via ICS in Networks and Dial-Up Connections, not Routing and Remote Access.

hi everyone, simple question: does anyone know what port Terminal Services uses?

thanks

hi everyone. i was wondering, based on everyone's experience, if its worth it to use windows xp power toys or tweakxp 1.16. should i wait for MS to "officially" release a tweakui for xp or is it ok to use one of these new tweak programs. thanks for any advise.

i found tweakui for windowsxp at win2kworld.com. that's all i wanted thanks for the replies/advise.

hi everyone. madden 2002 crashed in winxp. it said the problem was the video card driver. i need to know if there are any good (and STABLE) voodoo3 3000 drivers for winxp. if there are then a link pointing to them would be greatly appreciated. if you need to know my system specs then here you go: Duron 650mhz 640megs of RAM pc133 15GB Hard Disk Voodoo3 3000 AGP AC '97 sound (built-in of course)

yes i did, that's what prompted me to write my original post! just to let you all know, the gameplay is fine. the crashes after a play is over, when the game zooms into players. the actual gameplay is fine, its those dumb cutscenes that come up after a play is over which seems to cause the crash. if there is a way to disable that (couldn't find them in the game options) then that'd be great. i can live w/o the cutscenes.

oh yeah, i know that 3dfx doesn't exist anymore and how nvidia isn't make drivers for winxp (well for the voodoo series). but i was actually sort of relying on 3rd party or "hacked" drivers. i did find a hacked driver but the game froze up again. it seems as though Madden 2002 requires a beefy video card, no matter. oh well.