Unable to get the first displaymode.

[Fromm]

Has anybody else received this error before? AO was extremely stable on my system until 17.5. After 17.5, AO began to crash now and then. Starting last week, I now get this error message when I attempt to restart AO after it crashes. AO crashes straight to windows with no warning, although it does seem more likely to happen shortly after zoning. I cannot reload AO until I do a system reboot, and I usually have to manually press the power button as the system hangs when shutting down after AO crashes. I am not dual logging or using any other programs that should be graphics intensive in the background (just a couple IE windows, itunes, and AIM). I will post a Hijack This! log or whatever if it is likely to help troubleshoot this problem, but what I would most like to know right now is:

a) Has anybody had this error message before?

b) Does anybody have a clue about what it may mean?

A search on the forum yielded no results for me, so any insight would be much appreciated. Here's a rough idea of my system until I figure out how to get further details:

Windows XP Pro
Core 2 Duo chip
GeForce 7300 LE card

I don't overclock or anything; the system is otherwise stable.

[Lektronik]

My AO was also extremely stable pre 17.5.

It's not anymore though. Jerky video mostly is what I experience. I plan to upgrade system memory from 1G to 3G soon so that I can play Tabula Rasa more easily.

However, just recently I experienced an AO crash that wouldn't let me restart AO until I rebooted the computer. It did not hang my system though, but it would not accept my username/password at all until I rebooted. It kept saying they were invalid. It totally boggled my mind.

From what I understand of your post, it would seem that your system has a lot of resources being used. You mentioned your system was stable, but does it respond fast to your commands (e.g. opening programs, startmenu, etc..)? AO can easily bring a stable system to it's knees. But a fast, responsive, stable system usually laughs at a program crash.

How much system memory do you have? If less than 1GB then you definately need to upgrade. I'd say 2G+ would be nice.

Do you use Norton Security products? (e.g. Norton Antivirus, Internet security suite) If so, UNINSTALL THEM and use some less intensive products such as McAfee, AVG, or Avast antivirus. I find that Norton causes way more problems than it supposedly solves when it comes to efficiency/speed of the computer.

When was the last time you reinstalled Windows? Over a year ago? I'd reinstall Windows. Make sure you backup your important files first!

The reason I ask these things is because the "system hanging" seems more likely due to your system than AO. (Unless you are having the same "username/password" issue that I am having.)

P.S. My apologies for that long winded reply. I'm half asleep atm. 0.o

[Fromm]

Thanks for the feedback.

I only have 1gig of ram, 2gigs would be nice, but it's pretty low on my priority list for spending $$.

My computer is always responsive, even after an AO crash. Some complicated graphics (hard to explain, but like the images they load in the diagnostic programs) will bug after AO crashes, but the system remains otherwise stable. It only hangs when I tell it to restart. It closes Windows successfully (I do not get any error messages upon reboot at least), but it continues to display the "Windows is shutting down" message well after it should have turned off or restarted. This does not happen if AO has not crashed.

I do not have any Norton products installed; McAfee is what I use. I did install AdAware in the past week or so (just got an itch to check to make sure there's nothing obvious and nasty going on); I'll see about uninstalling that to see if the error will go away. The frequency of the crashes has increased a little lately, this may be a contributing factor. If nothing else, it might explain why I get an error message now, whereas weeks ago AO would simply crash again with no error every time I attempted to reload it.

I wish I could remember exactly when I reinstalled windows, but it was some time in December I think.

Thanks for the advice, I'll post here if removing AdAware seems to help.

[Lektronik]

I don't quite understand what you meant by images that load in diagnostic programs. I'm gonna take wild guess and assume you are referring to burn in tests where the graphics are a series of extremely random blocks, circles, lines, etc.

If you are getting this type of graphics error when AO crashes, where does it happen? On the desktop or only with a specific program?

If it's on the desktop, try using older Nvidia drivers. Link provided as example, download and install at own risk: http://downloads.guru3d.com/download.php?det=1644

If it's AO that shows these graphics (or any other program for that matter). You might try hitting ctrl+alt+del, clicking on the processes tab, and ending that program. For instance, AO's process is called "anarchy.exe". To end AO, end that process. Generally, the name of the program that is running is also part of the process name.

[rumormill]

I've started getting this error as well. The AO login screen seems to have some corruption, and after logging in and clicking 'Play' it pops up the error dialog:

Anarchy Error Handling
Unable to get the first displaymode.

[Falkvinge]

I got this error yesterday for the first time as well.

While beeing dual logged and moving my 2 toons into the icc unicorn outpost, one client crashed. After trying to log back in with the crashed toon I always got the "Unable to get the first displaymode" message..
I could play with the other char just fine tho, just couldn't relog with the other crashed toon.

I've no clue if my problem is resolved now because I went to bed after doing a le mission.
Maybe a reboot might have solved that issue for me already, but since I'm at work at the moment, I have no chance finding out if the problem still persists.

[Kr00ked]

anyone found a solution for this yet?

I got this problem as well /:

[Depzor]

I'm having same problem. Old client worked perfectly last night but today I'm getting that same error.
I've feeling that windows 10 did some "update" cause everything seems to be bit off atm.
I'll run scans and reboot etc. Hopefully can fix it that way.. if not, I'll be back crying here.

*edit: Okies got AO it working again. Not quite sure how tho.. I went to radeon setup and put GPU-scaling and keep resolution on. Antivirus soft is still running backround but doubt it did anything.
**edit: now I can say for sure that my "Unable to get the first displaymode" problem is fixed when I put GPU-scaling on. Why? That I don't know. Been playing AO from 2003 and today was first time I run to this error.