There are a lot of steps below, it may seem a bit overwhelming but please try and follow them all as each of them have solved this error for different customers. Reply back with the results:
1. Make sure you meet the minimum requirements for Warcraft III.
http://www.blizzard.com/support/?id=awr0517p
2. Run DirectX 8.1 from Microsoft's website at
www.microsoft.com/directx even if you already have 8.1 installed.
3. Update your video card driver from the manufacturer's website and make sure that your video card is supported by our game. Links to manufacturer's web sites can be located on our support site at
http://www.blizzard.com/support/?id=mwr0555p
4. Get all the critical updates from Microsoft's website at
http://v4.windowsupdate.microsoft.com/en/default.asp
5. Checking the Device Manager for IRQ conflicts:
a. Right click on My Computer and select Properties
b. (Windows 95/98/Me) Select the Device Manager tab
c. (Windows 2000/XP) Select the Hardware tab and click the Device Manager button
d. Look for devices which have yellow exclamation marks beside them denoting problem or conflicts
If you see a "!" or an "X" next to anything, either contact your system administrator for help or contact your computer manufacturer for help with the problem Windows is detecting with your computer.
6. Set your Hardware Sound Acceleration level from Full to Standard. a. Left click "Start" b. Select "Run" c. Type in "dxdiag", without the quotes d. Select the "Sound" tab e. Under "DirectX Features", set the Hardware Sound Acceleration level to Standard. f. Select "Save All Information..." and exit the program.
7. If step 6 doesn't help, try disabling your sound card.
a. Right click on My Computer and select properties.
b. (Windows 2000 only) Click on the Hardware tab.
c. Click on Device manager.
d. Expand the Sound, video, and game controllers branch.
e. Select the sound card and click the Properties button.
f. Disable the device from the active profile.
g. Click OK
h. Reboot your computer and start the game again.
8. Set your Min and Max for your Virtual Memory to about double your RAM. a. Right-click on the "My Computer" icon.
b. Select "Properties".
c. Select the "Advanced" tab.
d. Select the "Performance Options..." button to get to the "Performance Options" screen.
e. Select the "Change..." button to get to the "Virtual Memory" screen.
f. Set the initial and maximum values to twice the amount of RAM your computer has.
128 MB RAM ..........Min 300 Max 300
192 MB RAM .........Min 384 Max 384
256 MB RAM .........Min 512 Max 512
g. Left click on the "Set" button to apply the changes.
h. Reboot your computer.
9. Set the role of the computer to Network Server:
a. Right-click on My Computer.
b. Select Properties.
c. Click on the Performance tab.
d. Click on the File System button.
e. Set the typical role of this computer to Network Server.
f. Click OK and reboot.
10. You may need to exit any programs you have running in the background to improve performance and stability.
a. Press the Ctrl, Alt, and Delete keys at the same time. A dialog box will display with a series of buttons, select the Task Manager button to display a dialog listing the active programs running.
b. Select each program displayed and click the "End Task" button below. Repeat Step 1 to bring up the list once more.
c. Close all active programs other than: explorer, and Systray.
Note: You will have to do this every time your computer restarts unless you remove the certain programs from the startup. If your system locks up or reboots because of step 10, you will need to contact your computer manufacturer to find out how to close these programs for your system. If your system does lockup, turn the power off (waiting 10 seconds) and back on.
11. We have gotten reports of crashing, freezing, and memory read error messages being solved by removing bad or mismatched RAM from machines. If you would like to test your RAM to make sure it is performing as it should, we recommend downloading and using a RAM testing program. We have heard good results from using the program called GoldMemory for testing RAM. If you need a program to do this try doing a search on the web or use the link provided to get a program from
www.download.com (
http://download.com.com/3120-20-0.html?qt=ram+tester&tg=dl-2001)
The link to GoldMemory's website is:
http://www.goldmemory.cz/
Unfortunately we cannot provide support for using these programs but they should come with well documented readme's to get you started on how to use them.
12. Download and install the latest chipset drivers for your motherboard. Check the motherboard manufacturer's website for updated chipset drivers, first. If you can't find updated drivers at the manufacturer's website, the next two most common locations for chipset drivers are
http://www.viaarena.com/?PageID=2 and
http://www.intel.com/support/chipsets/
13. Set the Warcraft III refresh rate and basic settings:
Download and run War3.reg (
http://ftp.blizzard.com/pub/war3/other/war3.reg) to set the refresh rate to 60 and setup the game to use some basic settings.
14. Sometimes this error will occur if your computer gets too hot, so anything you can do to lower the operating temperature of your computer might be useful. Lowering the clock speed will lower the operating temperature. You should also make sure that your processor is adequately cooled with a cooling fan and heatsink. Your processor manufacturer has specific recommendations for cooling fans for some of their chips. If you have Windows 2000 or XP and you are receiving random reboots, you have your computer set to "Automatically reboot" for system failures.
Steps to stop it from rebooting:
a. Right click on "My Computer"
b. Select "Properties"
c. Select "Advance"
d. Select "Startup and Recovery..."
e. Under "System Failure"
f. Uncheck the box next to "Automatically reboot"
Unchecking the "Automatically reboot" will stop your computer from rebooting, but it will not stop your computer from crashing. If none of the solutions below helps you with this problem, feel free to send us your System Error Logs, MsInfo.txt, DXDiag, and a description of your problem to support@blizzard.com.
1. Steps to save your System Error Logs:
a. Left click on "Start"
b. Select "Programs"
c. Select "Administrative Tools"
d. Select "Event Viewer"
e. Right click on "System Log"
f. Select "Save Log File as..."
g. Save your System Log to your Desktop and name it "System Log"
2. Steps to send MsInfo and DXDiag:
a. Click on Start.
b. Click on Run.
c. Type in DXDIAG and press Enter or click OK, this will open the DirectX diagnostic tool. d. Click on the Save All Information Button (save this file to your windows desktop and name it dxdiag). e. Click on the More Help tab and open the Microsoft system information tool (MSInfo). f. Click on File and choose Export (save this file to your windows desktop and name it MSInfo.txt).
Attach the System Log.evt, dxdiag.txt, and msinfo.txt files to your email and send it to support@blizzard.com.
15. If you have an Nvidia video card and are using an AMD processor, go to display properties/settings/advanced/(card name ie GFti4600)/additional properties/direct3d settings/ and change the PCI texture memory to 2mb.
Regards,
Chad Jones
Technical Support
Blizzard Entertainment