SimCity 4: Deluxe Freezing and Blue Screen of Death!

[Zattatar 0]

Hey, Simtropolis. I have a big problem. Recently, I installed SimCity 4 Deluxe Edition on my PC.

The first time I tried playing it after I installed, it started freezing continually. For like 5 seconds it would freeze, unfreeze for another 10, and then repeat. I still decided to go and try the tutorial, thinking the freezing would subside. Wrong. I got BSOD right after I clicked continue on the "Getting Started" tutorial. It said "bad_pool_header". Thinking nothing of it, I tried again, with the same results. Then, after a moment, I thought to download the newest patch. So I get the patch, download and install it properly, and retry. Same results, but with less freezing. I try multiple more times, still freezing, still BSOD'ing. After a few more times, I took the disk out, and had a look at it. Slightly scratched.[Please, no talk of using "no-CD exe", or game cracks. tungston} Same result, but the BSOD doesn't even list the error.

Long story short, installed SC4, got BSOD, installed patch, got BSOD, installed crack, got BSOD, went to Simtropolis.

My specs:

Oh, and my specs are:

CPU:

AMD Athlon 64 Processor 3500+

CPU Speed:

2.21 GHz Performance Rated at: 3.978 GHz

RAM:

2.0 GB

OS:

Microsoft Windows XP Professional

Video Card:

GeForce 8800 GT 512MB OC'd

Sound Card:

Xtreme Sound PCI Audio

Disk Space:

115.8 GB

DVD-ROM:

Generic DVD-ROM SCSI CD ROM Device

Notes:

Already reinstalled once

Installed latest patch

So, please help!

[SC4BOY 21]

I believe that processor is a dual cpu one.. you need to go the the AMD site (ATI) and get the "Dual Processor Optimizer" patch (or some name close to that.)

[tungston 19]

BSOD, or complete computer freezes are not usually caused by the game.  Check the video drivers, and/or do an internet search for "bad_pool_header".

[HayleyRenaNemeth 465]

When your computer is giving you a BSOD , the problem is not in the game , it is in the operating system. Based on the fact that you are seeing the BSOD when playing the game means the problem is in your video card. I noticed that you have overclocked your Video Card , don't do that , run your video card at the settings it was designed to run at. Also you will want to download the latest video card drivers from NVidia's Website http://www.nvidia.com/object/product_geforce_8800_gt_us.html

Also I don't know if you have your CPU overclocked but if you do run the CPU at the normal settings. Don't Overclock unless you have at least a water cooling system.

Overclocking shortens the life of the components and can make the system unstable. The only time it is safe to Overclock is if you have a really good cooling system.

I googled the error message you were getting and I found some information.

This error is generated when a driver or part of Windows does not allocate the memory properly, and can be caused by any of the below possibilities.

1. Bad hardware drivers.

2. Issues with NTFS file system and/or disk write issues.

3. Issue with software program, e.g. anti-virus scanner.

Some things to try .

Install the latest drivers for any newly installed hardware device. If no new hardware has been installed make sure you have the latest drivers for the below devices.

* Video card

* Network card or router (if present)

* Any removable or external disk drive

Go to this page for more information.

http://www.computerhope.com/issues/ch001142.htm

Have you tried other software , does it happen with other software as well.

Also open your computer case and clean all of the dust out of the system.