OpenGL Freezes On Half-Life

Yaa yaa I know there are a million other threads for this, but mine is a bit different than the others… so here’s the trouble.

System:

  • PIII 500mhz
  • Windows 98
  • DirectX 8.1
  • Nvida GeForce4 MX 440 64mb AGP
  • 256mb Sdram Memory

Whenever I play Half-Life (specifically Team Fortress), and I’m using OpenGL (640x480)… my computer complelety freezes shortly after entering the game. Sometimes I can actually spawn and walk out of the resupply, but I never get very far. Most of the time it locks up after I enter a server while viewing the MOTD. Only way to fix this is pressing the restart button.

I’ve tried using the D3D mode, but I have the same freezing problem. BUT sometimes I can press the ‘Esc’ button and exit into the menu system and close out Half-Life. This means the game froze but not my computer, strange…

I have tried about 5 versions of video card drivers from the Nvidia site, even the set that was included with my card do the same thing. I play several other games but they do not freeze, just Half-Life.

I downloaded the suggested refresh rate program but the installation stops at 62%, even in windows safe mode. I’ve also changed my monitor refresh rate to various settings, to no availe.

And yes I’ve turned on/off Vertical Sync, and tried just about every possible combination of Antial/Anstro settings, block transfers, texture clamping, etc…

The freezings are never the same either. Sometimes the screen will simply stop, other times the monitor will flicker and make those clicking sounds like its changing modes, and then come back to the game frozen. Any sound being played at the time of freezing, repeats in a loop.

I even went as far as taking out my modem, and sound card from the PCI slots, running video card only. No help… My bios is updated, my current video/sound/modem drivers are all updated. I tried DirectX 9 but that didn’t help. Reformatted my computer numerous times with my testings, nothing ever works.

So… any ideas you guys have? I can play with Software Mode, but it’s no fun with 10fps