Problem Windows blue-screening on switching to externals

[Usquanigo]

I'm not sure if this is the right spot, but this is a strange problem, hopefully someone can help.

I just built a machine for a friend of mine who is really into Orbiter. It's a Dell desktop, I can't see which product line, but I would guess Dimension (the home-line). It's a P4 1.8GHz, with 512MB of RAM (old machine, he got it for free).

I dropped a 30GB hard drive in it, installed Windows XP Pro (with the original Windows key from the sticker still on the side), and got all the drivers, SP3, all Windows Updates, etc. I put Photoshop, WinAMP, WinZIP, WinRAR, and Acrobat Reader on it, as well as a brand-new install of Orbiter, with just Orbiter Sound, the DGIV, and the XR-2 on it.

It also has an old (legacy) ATI Rage 128 32MB AGP video card (not on-board).

Now, Orbiter runs, while it's choppy, especially in external views, but when I hit F1 to go to external in the XR-2 (stock scenario, skin, everything), it blue-screens. The DG-IV externals work though. (however, there is an issue there too, the external model will sometimes just disappear and not come back, even though it starts out there)

Anyone have any thoughts as to what might be causing this or how to stop it from happening?

I've checked ATI, we have the latest drivers available. It's a clean install that I just finished less than 24 hours ago (windows and everything). I'm running a memory test on it now, and so far, it's clean.

---------- Post added at 01:30 AM ---------- Previous post was at 12:23 AM ----------

Some more info. The memory test ran successfully with no errors. After that I rebooted, re-unzipped the Orbiter 2006p1 file (for a new install), re-installed Orbiter Sound, and ran a stock DG in orbit scenario. After some high time accel the external model disappeared. When I jumped around camera views (to the DG on Mars, the shuttle on the moon, etc) and then back to the piloted DG, the mesh came back.

 

[Kaito]

Try it with just the base install: no orbitersound, no DGIV, just the base

 

[Usquanigo]

Just found out from the Crucial.com scanner, it's an Opti-plex.

I did try the raw base install with nothing at all added, and the same behavior happened, in the stock DG in orbit scenario, hit time accel to 100x and the 3D model (external view) disappears. Shift to a different object (like the ISS) then back again, and the model is back. Something is definitely going on, and it doesn't appear to be add-on induced (yet, only the XR-2 crashed the machine).

 

[Hielor]

It also has an old (legacy) ATI Rage 128 32MB AGP video card (not on-board).

Found your problem.
32MB is *very* low for a graphics card. I'd bet that in trying to load the external model/textures for the XR2, it runs out of graphics memory.

You can pick up a newer AGP graphics card for relatively cheap; try the Geforce FX 5200.

 

[Matt Decker]

Yea 32MB won't cut it. I had that problem with my old machine. You could always run the 2003 version of Orbiter. That won't run the XR ships or the DGIV. But it will work fine with the DGIII.