# "Memory could not be read" in various games



## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

Hello everyone. I tried using the search function but for some reason it is not working. I get the following error:*
Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 33554432 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 1048576 bytes) in /home/tsf/public_html/search.php on line 1011*

----

Anyway, my problem is that I get the following error in multiple different games, for example counter-strike, doom3 and neverwinter nights1. The games do not even start or go to loading screen, they simply crash after few seconds of trying to run.

Here is the error:
_
The instruction at "0x5ed2aed8" referenced memory at "0x00000564". The memory could not be "read". Click on OK to terminate the program._

Here is an example of the error signature:
_
AppName: nwnmain.exe AppVer: 1.6.4.0 ModName: atioglxx.dll
ModVer: 6.14.10.8577 Offset: 0051ffd0
_

The errors are very similar in all games, all saying the "memory could not be read" and stating "atioglxx.dll" as ModName. Atioglxx apparently is some ATI's Open GL driver. There are many games that still work, Civization IV including all expansions, Oblivion, GTA San Andreas and Neverwinter Nights 2 all work without trouble. I can't think of anything that would link the games that won't run and those that do. Some older games won't work, yet some do and same thing with newer ones. I did some google research on the subject, but all I was able to find was suggestions to update gfx drivers - I've done that, multiple times and many different versions but they all give the same result. Some other topics suggested a memory check, but how would that affect open gl?

My computer specs:

processor: AMD Athlon 64 3500+ 
motherboard: MSI K8N Neo2 Platinum
memory: 512mb pc3200 ddr
gfx card: Sapphire ATI Radeon HD3650

No overclocking done to any parts. I know my total memory is quite low, but I doubt that would cause trouble with games like Counter-Strike, which is years and years old. Graphics card only accepts Sapphire's own drivers, so I can't use ati's catalyst ones. (Or at least I haven't been able to install catalyst drivers)



Any help would be greatly appreciated, thank you in advance.

ue


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## Lord Sirian (Jan 14, 2007)

Hi unkown entity, make sure you have the latest ATI video card drivers, located here:

http://www.techsupportforum.com/648501-post3.html

And the latest DirectX, located here:

http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx?displaylang=en&FamilyID=8b5cd64e-b4be-4135-95f8-ecfcf9182431

Let us know how that goes.


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## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

Lord Sirian said:


> Hi unkown entity, make sure you have the latest ATI video card drivers, located here:
> 
> http://www.techsupportforum.com/648501-post3.html
> 
> ...


Hi Lord Sirian and thanks for a quick reply.

I can't install ATI's drivers, I can only use Sapphire's own drivers. ATI installation fails to find compatible graphics cards. This is apparently a known problem or a feature, I don't know which one. I have the latest drivers Sapphire has released.

I have DirectX 9.0c installed. On the download site it says the file has been published on 8/4/2004. I take it there haven't been any updates after that. If that is so, then I'm sure I have the latest version, as I updated my Directx few months ago trying to fix this same problem.


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## RockmasteR (Aug 10, 2007)

2004?
that quite old
download the latest directx 9.0C from my sig it's 2009
every now and then Dx 9.0 release now updates
also what is your virtual memory?
right Click on "My Computer" -> properties -> Advanced, under performance choose settings -> advanced
under virtual memory look at the Total Paging file, it must be at least 1.5x of your ram (if you have 1 gig of RAM, set the paging file to 1536)


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## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

RockmasteR said:


> 2004?
> that quite old
> download the latest directx 9.0C from my sig it's 2009
> every now and then Dx 9.0 release now updates
> ...


Hello RockmasteR.

2004 was the release date on microsoft's site that was linked earlier in this topic. I'm now downloading the latest release from your source, thank you. I have my virtual memory set to 3gb. Can there be such thing as having too much virtual memory, as I have only 512mbs of normal memory.

ue


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## koala (Mar 27, 2005)

I can't see why a Sapphire is any different to any other ATI card. I've used various models of ATI cards over the years, including Sapphire, and have never known the official drivers not to work. You should be able to install the official ATI driver and Catalyst Control Center, or the unofficial Omega driver (aimed at gamers who want higher framerates and image quality).

Please post a link to the site where you downloaded the Sapphire driver so we can compare it to the ATI driver.

What error do you get when you try to install the official ATI driver? If you're installing the whole package (driver and CCC), you need to have Microsoft .NET Framework installed first.

Did you follow the correct procedure for updating graphics drivers? Uninstall the driver, reboot to VGA mode, disable antivirus, install new driver, reboot to complete.

For general use, 3GB virtual memory is about right. Any more than this would be wasted hard drive space. Make sure the Initial and Maximum settings are both the same for the swap file. This creates a static file rather than a dynamic one which is constantly changing size.

Any chance you could upgrade the RAM to 1GB or more? This would make your computer feel alot more responsive.

Also, your OS is listed as XP SP2. Service Pack 3 has been available for a while now, and is recommended.


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## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

koala said:


> I can't see why a Sapphire is any different to any other ATI card. I've used various models of ATI cards over the years, including Sapphire, and have never known the official drivers not to work. You should be able to install the official ATI driver and Catalyst Control Center, or the unofficial Omega driver (aimed at gamers who want higher framerates and image quality).
> 
> Please post a link to the site where you downloaded the Sapphire driver so we can compare it to the ATI driver.
> 
> ...


Hi

I read somewhere that ATI's drivers won't work on the AGP version of the Sapphire Radeon HD 3650 card. I tried installing them but as the install prepares itself, it just states that no graphics cards were found that could use the driver and exits the installation. I download my drivers from Sapphire's own web pages, at 
http://www.sapphiretech.com/presentation/download/?psn=0006&gid=4&sgid=337&pid=82

I have proper frameworks installed and also followed the instructions during installation. I would upgrade my ram, but since this computer is quite antiqued and the compatible ram sticks cost a lot, I've decided to skip that part and started saving for a new computer 

Edit:

I updated my DirectX to the latest version, but it did not fix the problem or change the behavior in any way.


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## RockmasteR (Aug 10, 2007)

try this:
http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=xp/radeonx-xp


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## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

RockmasteR said:


> try this:
> http://game.amd.com/us-en/drivers_catalyst.aspx?p=xp/radeonx-xp


Actually I just tried those probably 15 minutes before you posted . Same result, the exact error message during installation is:

Severe
Setup did not find a driver compatible with your current hardware or operating system. Setup will now exit.

I've read from multiple forums that the ATI Catalyst drivers aren't even supposed to work on the AGP version of my card, however none of the posters have represented any official technical support of any kind, so I don't know for sure what's up. Sapphires own drivers work and install just fine though, apart from the atioglxx.dll error.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

I have seen it before with newer AGP Sapphire cards.


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## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

wrench97 said:


> I have seen it before with newer AGP Sapphire cards.


According to Google hits the "atioglxx.dll" Open GL specific issue seems to be a quite common problem, especially with Sapphire's Radeon cards, however nobody seems to have found a working solution.

I've tried adjusting my BIOS values and using different versions of atioglxx.dll, even extracting and copying the file from ATI's own catalyst driver packages to my windows/system32 folder but so far nothing has helped me overcome the issue.


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Have you tried the Omega drivers?
http://www.omegadrivers.net/


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## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

wrench97 said:


> Have you tried the Omega drivers?
> http://www.omegadrivers.net/


I just tried them by installing the latest ones available. Normal installation didn't change anything, but I copied the version of atioglxx.dll from Omega directory to windows/system32 and was able to start neverwinter nights. It was horribly slow though, maybe one screen refresh every 2 seconds or so. Counter-Strike didn't even run.

Wonder why the Omega drivers didn't even replace the atioglxx.dll in system32 directory?


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Try removing the ATI drivers with driver cleaner, then reboot tapping F8 and selecting VGA mode disable any antivirus/malware programs then install the drivers.
A lot of the time the installation programs skip any files that are existing.
http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=745


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## RockmasteR (Aug 10, 2007)

installing the drivers from the CD that came with your card is the best thing to do now


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## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

RockmasteR said:


> installing the drivers from the CD that came with your card is the best thing to do now


I have tried that, doesn't help :/

Could my BIOS settings have something to do? I've tried turning off FastWrite and adjusting AGP Aperture size but they haven't helped.



I'm trying the cleaner-vga mode-reboot thing now, I'll be back soon


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## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

Sorry for a double post, but something completely unexpected happened. I'm writing this on my laptop now..

So, I booted into VGA mode and uninstalled my graphics adapter drivers and used the driver cleaner, after which I installed the Omega Drivers. Everything went fine during the installation, but now every time I try to reboot my computer I get an "Error Loading OS" message after which my computer just halts. I have no idea what could cause this and how to fix it 

ue


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Hit F8 to see it will load safe mode.
You only removed ATI drives and no Nvidia drivers correct?


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## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

wrench97 said:


> Hit F8 to see it will load safe mode.
> You only removed ATI drives and no Nvidia drivers correct?


Yep, only ATI graphics and nVidia graphics. Hitting f8 does nothing, it doesn't even load the startup screen, just says Failed Loading OS. Apparently my master boot record is corrupted, since BIOS settings are OK. I'll have to find my xp cd and try fixing it somehow :/


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Is the CD drive empty?
Check the hard drive with the hard drive manufacturers utility or if you don't know the manufacturer try Seagates Seatools for *Dos* it's a bootable CD> http://www.seagate.com/ww/v/index.j...toid=720bd20cacdec010VgnVCM100000dd04090aRCRD


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## Sven2157 (Feb 10, 2009)

Hello unknown_entity :wave:,

F8 only works when the OS is found....

The "No OS found" is usually because something reset/changed your BIOS settings. There are a plethora of reasons why this happens. So.....

Boot into your BIOS, and go to where your HDD's are listed. Make sure that your HDD with the OS is listed and is operating correctly. Second, go into where your HDD boot options are, and check that the HHD with your OS is set as the number one slot; NOT BOOT ORDER, THAT IS NEXT! Now go to your Boot Order, and make sure that your OS HDD is set as first.

I run RAID, and sometimes I get this problem because my RAID Configuration is set as number 2 or 3.

As for your "Memory" error, try uninstalling JAVA, rebooting and then re-installing JAVA again. JAVA is a very tempormental language that acts like a 3 year old sometimes.

Let us know.....

Sven2157


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## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

Hey again guys, sorry for a delayed reply, I've been somewhat busy with other issues.

So, I've figured out that the boot sector of my OS Hard Drive is corrupted. The HD itself is fine, the partitions are as they should and all the data on it should be intact, but it fails to boot. My BIOS settings are also as they should be.

So, is there a way to repair a broken boot sector? I tried windows system recovery console's fixboot command but it didn't do the trick. I guess I could get a data recovery program somewhere and copy all the data from the HD and format it, but that sounds a bit too extreme. Could the HD be simply dead hardware wise, or is this just a soft side issue? Any ideas are warmly welcome 

ue


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## Sven2157 (Feb 10, 2009)

unknown_entity said:


> Hey again guys, sorry for a delayed reply, I've been somewhat busy with other issues.
> 
> So, I've figured out that the boot sector of my OS Hard Drive is corrupted. The HD itself is fine, the partitions are as they should and all the data on it should be intact, but it fails to boot. My BIOS settings are also as they should be.
> 
> ...


Go back to the Recovery Console and type: *chkdsk /f /r*

This will scan the disk for errors. The switches, /f and /r, will instruct the system to *fix* and *repair* any bad sectors it finds; if they are fix/repairable.

Then chances are, you will need to use the *bootfix* command again, as your boot sector may still be damaged.

Sven2157


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## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

Sven2157 said:


> Go back to the Recovery Console and type: *chkdsk /f /r*
> 
> This will scan the disk for errors. The switches, /f and /r, will instruct the system to *fix* and *repair* any bad sectors it finds; if they are fix/repairable.
> 
> ...


Chkdsk doesn't recognise /F -parameter, but according to help /R should locate bad sectors and recover readable information, so I'm going with that now. The only available parameters are /P and /R, and /R includes the operations of /P. Hopefully this will get me further 

Edit:

chkdsk and another fixboot didn't change anything unfortunately 

chkdsk said that there are one or more unrepairable problems on the hd after the scan.


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## Sven2157 (Feb 10, 2009)

Ok here is what I would do at this point... (and before I lost all my Important things. i.e. pictures/music/documents/etc.)

Since you stated that chkdsk reported bad sectors. Go to your local computer store and buy a new hard drive. Install it in your rig and leave the other drive in there as well. Now here is where it "sounds" complicated but is not..... _really_ 

If your computer is using IDE ribbons, big FAT grey ribbons, you will need to configure the drives before you can put the side panel back on... Both drives need to have their jumper set to "CS" (*C*able *S*elect), and the new one needs to go on the "Master" connection on the ribbon; consequently the "OLD" drive needs to go on the "Secondary/Slave" end of the SAME cable.

If your Puter is SATA, then no worries... Just plug it in and configure from the BIOS; New Drive Primary, OLD drive Secondary...

Load Windows, FRESH NEW CLEAN COPY, onto the new drive. Once that is complete, you can boot to your desktop and move ALL your files to their "New Home", from the old drive, using Windows Explorer.

You will still have to re-install EVERYTHING, program-wise, but you won't lose your important documents/pictures/music/etc.

When sectors start going bad on a HDD, you can bet it won't be long for the whole drive to Poop-out on you.... Besides that, drives are pretty cheap now and are running at 3Gb/s! 

Good Luck! atty: Keep us posted........

Sven2157


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## unknown_entity (Mar 2, 2009)

Sven2157 said:


> Ok here is what I would do at this point... (and before I lost all my Important things. i.e. pictures/music/documents/etc.)
> 
> Since you stated that chkdsk reported bad sectors. Go to your local computer store and buy a new hard drive. Install it in your rig and leave the other drive in there as well. Now here is where it "sounds" complicated but is not..... _really_
> 
> ...


Actually I think I'll just buy a completely new computer, I've had enough headache with that old pos and certainly don't want to spend any more money fixing it 

I'll try your trick out when I have new setup up and running. First I'll have to figure out what kind of a system I want to buy and how much money I can spend.

Anyway, thank you all for your help. I'll keep you updated once I have my new computer. If anyone comes up with an idea on how to possibly save my old HD I'm willing to try it out 

ue


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## Wrench97 (May 10, 2008)

Start here> http://www.techsupportforum.com/f24...-are-6-suggested-models-with-spec-367415.html


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