"Program Not Responding" Issue

[FMS]

Hi,

Occaisionally, when playing the computer, I get a "program not responding" message as Fritz thinks about his move. The game freezes for a while, the screen flashes, and then it's my move. This occurs on both my Win8 laptop and my Win7 desktop, and continues to happen every time Fritz thinks. However, if I restart the software it may stop, and other times it doesn't happen at all. It does happen often enough to be annoying, though. :)

Just wondering if anybody else gets this? whether it is a know glitch?

Cheers.

[sailorbear510]

We're aware of this happening with Fritz for Fun 13 but not Fritz Chess 14. Is this happening to you on this particular game? I need to make sure that we have a new bug for this as I believe your posting may be the first about Fritz 14 not responding. Also just some thoughts. The Windows 8 laptop you have, did you upgrade from another operating system to Windows 8 or did Windows 8 come included with your laptop? This is very important information for me to find out because those people who upgrade to Windows 8 from another operating system may not have an optimal gaming experience then a system that was natively made for Windows 8. It's the way it handles video memory, etc. A DXDIAG file from you would be helpful in this manner to see what's happening. Send it to [e-mail]

[kewlbns69]

i've seen this happen when the engine is set to use more memory than the system can handle. try lowering the hashtable size. on the engine tab click "change main engine." with the prefered engine selected on the dialog that opens there click "advanced." a second dialog window will open allowing you to set the specific size. it will also tell you the maximum allowed. just out of curiosity what are your cpu/mem/gpu specs?

[FMS]

Thanks a lot, chaps. My laptop did come with Win8 included; and I will try the hashtable thing - although each system has a fair amount of memory. I was also thinking that I have Norton AV on each machine, and that I should try disabling it to see what occurs.

Will report back! Thanks again.

[FMS]

Ps. Kewl, My laptop has 6GB of memory, Intel I3 2.4Ghz cpu and Intel HD4000 graphics. My old desktop has 4GB of memory, something like a dual core 2.5Ghz cpu, but quite a snazzy 1Gb graphics card (can't remember the spec) :).

[sailorbear510]

Originally posted by FMS:

Thanks a lot, chaps. My laptop did come with Win8 included; and I will try the hashtable thing - although each system has a fair amount of memory. I was also thinking that I have Norton AV on each machine, and that I should try disabling it to see what occurs.

Will report back! Thanks again.

I don't like pointing the finger at security software but in my tests, Norton was really hogging up my system even in an optimal memory environment. Always best to stay protected on the computer but light on the resources.

[kewlbns69]

hey jason have you tried panada cloud av? the memory footprint on it running idle is like almost nothing. running a full scan only uses a lil over 40mb. bonus it's free unless you want the extra features like a firewall.

[FMS]

LittleBear, I don't think Norton is such a hog, these days. According to my Task Manager, it only uses between 10 and 20 Mb whilst idling, and perhaps 120 or so whilst updating, etc.

Back to the issue. I have played a few games with Norton's Silent Mode turned on - which basically disables background processes for the specified duration - and not had a single freeze. Whether this is a bit of chance, so to speak, or whether there is actually some conflict with Norton, I wouldn't like to say at present; however, it might be worth mentioning it to the Fritz people.

Anyway, I'll continue on like this and see if it is a fix for me. I'll let you know.

[kewlbns69]

man your laptop makes my desktop look like nintendo lol. the only thing i personally can think of is to try reinstalling. just make sure you deactivate before uninstalling. chessbase has a weird kinda cd key scheme where you're only allowed to install 3x before it "kills" your key. so deactivate to free up that 1/3 slot. and reinstall...other than that i don't really know :/ have you tried using fritz with another engine?

oh one more thing just popped to mind. are you using the 2d or 3d board?

[FMS]

Nothing wrong with Nintendos, Kewl! :) I did actually reinstall on my laptop as soon as I noticed the problem - no joy. Good idea about the engine. I do have Stockfish 5, but haven't really used it as the main engine. And I always use a 2D board, can't get along with 3D boards on a monitor.

Cheers, fella.

[kewlbns69]

Originally posted by FMS:

Nothing wrong with Nintendos, Kewl! :) I did actually reinstall on my laptop as soon as I noticed the problem - no joy. Good idea about the engine. I do have Stockfish 5, but haven't really used it as the main engine. And I always use a 2D board, can't get along with 3D boards on a monitor.

Cheers, fella.

stockfish is a far superior engine to any of the default fritz engines anyhow imo. i would suggest trying that for a bit and see how it goes. if no problems arise it could be an engine bug and would atleast rule out any sort of gui issue. might be good info for the devs to know about.

or maybe jason nailed it and norton is just giving you a fuss :/