Question

[Sutone]

Hello, I'm new to the forum. I dowloaded Celestia a while ago, however. But every time I try to use it, it ends up freezing or my computer shuts itself off. Usually, if I don't click anything, Celestia will automatically take me to the Earth - or so it says - but I won't be able to see anything. I'll be able to move around but still not be able to see much of anything. If I click and hold on the sun when it starts up, it'll leave me there, but and I can scroll forward and backward. But no matter what, after a while it freezes or my computer shuts off. I just want to know what the problem could be, and what I could do to fix it. I'd really like to be able to use Celestia. Sorry if this question has already been asked...

[Reiko]

Never mind.

[selden]

Sutone,

I'm assuming you're running Windows.

Objects not being rendered is usually caused by bugs in the drivers for your computer's graphics hardware. You can test this by disabling 3D hardware acceleration in your computer's display properties menu. Software 3D rendering works, but does not show all of Celestia's eye candy. Current drivers should be downloadable for free from the Web site of the company that made the graphics hardware.

Computers shutting off after Celestia has been running for a while could be caused either by buggy graphics drivers or by the graphics hardware or CPU overheating. (Most graphics chipsets use more power when they are running in 3D mode, and Celestia puts a heavy load on the CPU, which causes it to run hot.) If the problem is overheating, then you need to improve the cooling in your computer.

[Sutone]

Never mind.

It's not from my Celestia program.. I just found it online

Sorry, I forgot to mention but I am using Windows XP. I used Celestia for a couple minutes today, and navigated to some planets, but they just show up as black spheres. I went back to Earth once, and I was clicking around trying to get myself to a different view of it so maybe I could actually see something and these blue rectangle-like things appeared all over it. And then, as always, everything froze and then my computer crashed. There is a message on a blue screen that appears just after it crashes though, which says something about an "ati2dvag" infinite loop error. I don't know if this makes a difference, but I have Google Earth and it always works fine. I also play Age of Empires III pretty often and I don't run into problems with it either.

If it helps, I did take some screen-shots of what I'm talking about:

Post-crash Blue Screen -
http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1438lq9.jpg

Celestia Start-up Screen -
http://img257.imageshack.us/my.php?image=startupfw5.jpg

View of Earth -
http://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?image=terranp1.png

View of Alpha Centauri -
http://img161.imageshack.us/my.php?imag ... entxa7.jpg

[JarC]

Never mind.

There is a message on a blue screen that appears just after it crashes though, which says something about an "ati2dvag" infinite loop error.

you may have some luck here...

http://www.sightsea.com/pghpchd/forum/f ... ID=19&PN=1

otherwise this google search may be of some help?

[Guckytos]

It's not from my Celestia program.. I just found it online

Sorry, I forgot to mention but I am using Windows XP. I used Celestia for a couple minutes today, and navigated to some planets, but they just show up as black spheres. I went back to Earth once, and I was clicking around trying to get myself to a different view of it so maybe I could actually see something and these blue rectangle-like things appeared all over it. And then, as always, everything froze and then my computer crashed. There is a message on a blue screen that appears just after it crashes though, which says something about an "ati2dvag" infinite loop error. I don't know if this makes a difference, but I have Google Earth and it always works fine. I also play Age of Empires III pretty often and I don't run into problems with it either.

Hi Sutone,

this looks definitely like a grapics driver problem (ati2dvag). So I guess from this bit of information that you use an ATI graphics card. The best thing is to go to ATIs homepage and get the most recent driver for your card/chip.
And then please take a look at this topic: viewtopic.php?f=2&t=12440

It tells you how to best update your driver.

If you still have problems after updating the driver, please give us then more information on your system and especially about the driver info from Celestia itself (to be found under "Help/OpenGL Information", just copy the info from there).

Regards,

Guckytos

[John Van Vliet]

--- edit ---

[Sutone]

Thanks a lot for all the help, guys. I'm sorry, this may be a stupid question, but how do I know which driver listed under "Windows XP" to use after I uninstall mine?

Also, how do I keep auto-updates from reinstalling the old one?

[John Van Vliet]

--- edit ---

[Sutone]

Aha! Found it! ATI RADEON XPRESS 200M Series.

But just to make sure I'm right, here's what I found following your steps:
http://img87.imageshack.us/my.php?image ... vermv7.png

I couldn't find that exact model on ATI's website, though (looking under Windows XP Home edition). Should I just uninstall what I did find and install one of the one's on the link you gave me?

Sorry if I'm being a pain in the butt, but I just want to make sure I get this right so I don't accidentally screw up something on my computer.

[John Van Vliet]

--- edit ---

[Sutone]

Ok, I followed your steps and now I have some good news and some bad news. On the positive side, Celestia works now! I used it for about an hour or two last night, and for a while today already. It doesn't freeze up or crash anymore. However, I think I ran into some problems during the installation of the driver:

After installation, before reboot (still in safe mode):
http://img141.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1480nq9.jpg

I clicked "ok" and then rebooted.. Since then, every time I start my computer, this pops up:
http://img510.imageshack.us/my.php?image=img1481nc4.jpg

Also, since I put my computer into safe mode, when I start my computer normally now, the screen resolution is odd. I've tried changing it by going to Control Panel>>Appearance and Themes>>Display Properties.. but so far nothing has worked. My computer also seems to be running a little bit slower now.

[selden]

Sutone,

Those error messages are telling you that the wrong graphics driver was installed, so your computer cannot use it.

Celestia is working and graphics are slow because your computer is using Microsoft's software libraries and not using 3D hardware graphics acceleration.

You need to locate and install the correct graphics libraries. They should be available on the Web site of the company which made your computer. (HP, Lenovo, Dell, IBM, .whatever) not AMD/ATI. This is because your embedded chipset uses a proprietary chipset to interface with the computer. Make sure you download the graphics software for your specific model of computer.