*CRASH* The memory could not be 'read' error, for HL2 and CS:S

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Hazar said:
Like has been said before, there are most likely many different causes to the same problem.

My hl2 just borked again and was coming up with this error again.

Stepping down the heapsize a lot has seemed to work.
My heapsize is 100000 now, even though I have 512mb of memory.

How do you change the heapsize? And how do you choose what the new size should be?
 
has anyone tried older drivers than the 61.77 - do they work? any above it give me the blue screen =/
 
Got mine fixed!

Hi chaps, I've just been lurking in this forum so far, but I finally got my Half Life memory cannot be "read" error sorted! So I have a duty to tell you how I did it.

My error was not random, it was always at the same place every time, just after you meet Alyx. To be precise it was "The instruction at "0x241f9877" referenced memory at "0x00f0f5c0". The memory cannot be "read". I have seem someone else with this exact same error as well.

Now I had tried every other method posted here, redownloaded HL2, -heapsize, screen resolutions etc etc but nothing worked.

So I backup up my HL2 files to DVD, then uninstalled Steam. I did NOT delete anything in the registry relating to Valve/Steam etc.

Then I downloaded the latest Steam installer from Valve, reinstalled Steam, then reinstalled HL2 from the backup.

Now it works!

As to why it now works I don't know, but one thing I DID notice was that now the Steam install directory is NOT where it was before. Previously when the crash was happening Steam was installed to C:\Valve\Steam, the latest installer from Valve defaulted to C:\Program Files\Valve\Steam (which I never noticed at the time).

Maybe Valve have left a hardcoded path variable in the code somewhere (for those of us crashing at the same spot all the time)?

Other possibilities:

1) Steam was simply corrupt and the reinstall fixed it

2) I have not yet reinstalled CS:Source, maybe some conflict between the two was the original problem?

Anyway, I haven't played any further yet, so I may still get faults later on. But hopefully this may help some of you out there who are as frustrated as I was....

Good luck!
Jacko
 
Error Fixed

I was having this problem prior to yesterday afternoon. In my case, the crash / memory error occurred everytime the game loaded a specific area (In the waterways after you escape the helicopter into the tunnels). I tried all the solutions here with no fix in sight. So, I fell back to the last one I wanted to try...remove and re-download. Specifically, I deleted ALL local content from Steam (after saving my HL2 save games) and uninstalled Steam. I then re-installed it, and re-downloaded HL2. Once I'd copied my save games back, I was able to make past the load sequence that was stopping me before. I've now played FAR past that point without a single crash.

So, long story short: if you are seeing the memory issue occur at the same point every time, I STRONGLY suggest you simply bite the bullet and re-download HL2.

Oh, and to respond to Jack02's statements about the install path, I just wanted to point out that I NEVER install to default paths (I use my D:\Games directory to hold all my games) so I don't think it's that simple an issue. Also, I've re-installed both HL:Source and CS: Source without issue, so I suspect the problem is simply that one of the files got corrupted during the pre-load / un-lock sequence.

Good Luck, everyone!
 
I'd agree with it not being the path issue Kendrick, but I thought I would mention everything different no matter how small it is.

I'm pretty sure now that it was the Steam install itself that had something wrong, as opposed to the HL2 files. Because I made a backup of the HL2 files that it was crashing on, and restored from them too. So essentially still using the same HL2 files as before, just different Steam install.
 
Hey, some (maybe usefu), info. The problem seems to come if u don't have enough ram, at least on my computer. If I set -heapsize 348000 and I have less free ram than that, the program crashes so early as the menu.
If I set -heapsize 256000, which is a less amount than the free ram, I can load the menu just fine. My guess is that in-game, u go empty for ram, and then some coding error makes the game crash. If everyone that have this problem just run no other programs than AV/Firewall, Windows and the game, see if u get the error then.
My theory fits with the fact that re-installing Windows is just helping for some ppl, as it is differences in how many programs and ram u use after a fresh install.
Plz test it and tell me if I'm wrong
 
whilst these solutions all work for various different people, there are plenty of people who none of them work for.

It may be worth your while trying all of the suggestions, but none are guaranteed to work.

It's clear by now, that there is issues with source, as this happens with people in CS Source to, just not to the same extent i think.

I'm just gonna wait till valve update the software, don't think there's much more i can do, or will bother with, as i've tried all solutions to no avail :(
 
strange...

Steam has nothing to do with the game isn't it?
It just run them..

but I will try and post my results..
 
Hynsey, plz try to do what I said. Run HL2 with no other background apps than AV/Firewall and Steam. I think I'm at least partially right about what I say.

Everyone else, try this too. I can't say if I'm right out my own results only. If we can adress the issue, that would speed up the process for Valve making a patch, maybe
 
Just putting in my two cents:

My crash seems to always occur before I can get out of the train station (when starting a new game). I get the same memory error that everyone here has been speaking of. The mem addresses are the same. I have a clean install of Win XP SP2 Pro (Corp) and bought the retail, 5 CD version of HL2 at Wal-Mart.

Forward your system stats and error info to Erik Johnson ([email protected]) at Valve!

Here are my system stats: (yeah, it's not barnburner, but it's quick enough for me at this juncshah)

MB: Chaintech 7VIF4
CPU: Athlon XP 2600+ (266 FSB)
Mem: 512 MB PC2100 (DDR266)
Vid: Sapphire/ATI Radeon 9500
Sound: Hercules Game Theater XP
(BIOS and all drivers current)
 
Dreamhacker said:
Hey, some (maybe usefu), info. The problem seems to come if u don't have enough ram, at least on my computer. If I set -heapsize 348000 and I have less free ram than that, the program crashes so early as the menu.
If I set -heapsize 256000, which is a less amount than the free ram, I can load the menu just fine. My guess is that in-game, u go empty for ram, and then some coding error makes the game crash. If everyone that have this problem just run no other programs than AV/Firewall, Windows and the game, see if u get the error then.
My theory fits with the fact that re-installing Windows is just helping for some ppl, as it is differences in how many programs and ram u use after a fresh install.
Plz test it and tell me if I'm wrong

Try to run only HL2, Steam and AV/Firewall software. No other apps, and see if u get the error
 
512 MB RAM must be enough (minimal is 256 MB they said!).
And I don't even run AV/Firewall!

I'm running totaly NOTHING exept for Hl2.exe and EXPLORER.exe.. and it still crashes!

I'm trying to re-install the game with another steam aplication downloaded from steampowered.com so I hope it helps if not than I just wait for a patch becuase all "soluctions" are just or bullshit or its different from person to person.
 
May be so, but it would be nice to find the error anyway. And try to set -heapsize 256000 and see if it works, then change to -heapsize 348000. Just to see if the same happens to u
 
Dreamhacker - i have tried to run with nothing running in background at all. unfortunately, i still get the error. i've got 1 GB Corsair ram, so really memory is not the issue. it's the way source is interacting with it that's the problem i think.
 
re-intalling steam from the website instread of from the CD doesn;t work for me..
 
When I try to dedicate more ram to HL2 than there is available, I get "can't read memory" error. When I dedicate less than the ram available, I don't get it. Then it would be logic (at least I think) that when u get the error in the game, it's because of HL2 using to much ram, and can't handle it when there is too little ram. This cause a crash where it can't read the memory, as it can't properly transfer the data that should be read over to the memory

Ok, then the reason of this crash would be that u don't have enough ram, or HL2/Source can't handle the transfer to the memory good enough, right?
 
Dreamhacker said:
When I try to dedicate more ram to HL2 than there is available, I get "can't read memory" error. When I dedicate less than the ram available, I don't get it. Then it would be logic (at least I think) that when u get the error in the game, it's because of HL2 using to much ram, and can't handle it when there is too little ram. This cause a crash where it can't read the memory, as it can't properly transfer the data that should be read over to the memory

Ok, then the reason of this crash would be that u don't have enough ram, or HL2/Source can't handle the transfer to the memory good enough, right?

no, not really. there are people with 1 GB (same as me) and less, who don't have the issue. The issue i think is that Source isn't freeing up memory after it's finished with it properly. it's not handling memory read/writes 100% properly, and this i think is causing the issue.
 
IMHO i think the reason peeps may be running out of RAM (and experiencing the memory error is coz its probably a memory leak and this means (i think) that the RAM isnt clearing enuff space for more data to write to the RAM.

the only definate fix is a patch from valve, but good luck to all you chaps who have found a workaround and enjoy the game.

For us others looks like we have to be patient

so very frustrating :flame:

what i found out about memory leaks at http://www.tu-harburg.de/~smhp2803/memoryleaks.html

"What is a memory leak ?
A memory leak is a part of memory that has been allocated but never got freed after its use. The more often this occurs the more valuable memory will be wasted and taken away from other processes. In the worst case your application's memory usage will exceed the physical memory size and finally crash the system when the limit of virtual memory is reached after a period of heavy hard disc activity.
Will I ever get my memory back ?
Yes. The kernel will completely free all memory allocated by a process when the process terminates (exception: shared memory). That's why a memory leak isn't necessary evil. If the size of the leak is guaranteed to be fixed during the whole lifetime of the program the negative impact is limited and might be acceptable. If the leak is growable, though, you'll surely have users that decide to run your application long enough to make it crash. "

btw i am not a programmer so this is kinda a guess
 
I am a programmer, but I'm programming as hobby.
Only have less than 1 year of C++ experience :p

I'm currently writing simple 2D games with SDL and it's quite funny and more easey than I tought.

But about the memory leaks.. yes.

#include <stdio.h>
int main(int argc, char **argv)
{
char *p = new char[10];
p[0] = 'A';
printf("%c\n", p[0]);
}


should be the code below (in C++ stlye). The style above is the old C style.

#include <iostream>
#include <cstdio>
using namespace std;

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
char *pointer = new char[10];
pointer[0] = 'A';
cout << endl << pointer[0];
return 0; // closes the currently function, in this case main

}


With new char[10] you reserve room for 10 character variables.. that means 10 bytes. Normaly you will need to free this memory with "delete [];"

The example above is only allocating a very little amount of memory memory, but it could be fatal when you use for example this loop:

for ( int x = 0 ; x > 0 ; x++)
{
pointer = new char;
}

It will constantly reserve new memory.. and this will end up in a crash :)




Download the program from the full code below here:
http://www.freewebs.com/toadhead/memorycrash.exe
copy it to your adres bar, otherwise it don't work. Atleast not for me because my browsers opens this thread again if i click on it :/
(I havent tested it yet but I'm almost sure it will crash)



#include <iostream>
#include <cstdio>
using namespace std;

int main(int argc, char *argv[])
{
char* pointer;

for ( int x = 1 ; x > 0 ; x++)
{
pointer = new char;
}

return 0;
}



edited:
I first had for ( int x = 0 ; x > 0 ; x++)
start value for x is 0,
x < 0 so x > 0 isnt true so loop will stop so program will close.
now x = 1 so it will work now :)
 
hey if i delete steam and dl it to my program files will i have to aquire all the files again...

also when i play hl: s the weapons dont appear in gordons hands although the function like their there they have no picture
any ideas
 
only my computer is slower when I run my program lol.... no error, just as I tought becuase some games I played also had memory leaks and no errors... only the system will be slower.

So I don't think the errors is caused by a memory leak :/

Btw I will try to allocate the memory part that is causing the error for me.. ( 0x048f83d etc.)
I'm just wondering what will happen. :/
 
I'm getting completely random crashes. I can go over the same point where it last crashed and it won't necessarily crash again. I can be playing for 5 minutes or for two hours and I may or may not crash. Changing the heapsize option didn't help at all, but it did help the stuttering..
 
I'm sure now it's a prob IN hl2 and not with hardware/ram etc, it does not matter if u download hl2 or install the retail dvd....

I even tryed the warez version, same probs....

I wont play this game until Gabe and his other fat employies come with a patch

a game comes more then 1 year later and still u have no time to do some proper bugfixing.... :rolleyes:
 
try disk defragmenting! it worked for me and now i neva get the memory error :D
 
dell ive tried defragging didnt make a difference for me
 
YAHOO!!
No really this time.
I have had the game running for 4 hours with no errors and with all the video settings set to high.
I have not over clocked my PC in any way but setting my “CPU External Freq” from 200 to 195 has stopped the error.
My brother, who has the same MB, Memory and CPU as me is also running error free.

This might help people who get random crashes; I don’t think it will help with the game crashing at the same point or at the load screen.

Strange, if this is a bus speed problem why doesn’t my PC crash all the time?
I have played Doom3, Far Cry, Unreal2 and Thief 3 from start to finish with no hiccups.

Anyway, just completed sand traps and heading to the city.

I am going to see at which Freq the game starts to crash after I complete Half Life.

Specs

MB Asus A7N8X-E
CPU AMD XP 3200+
Mem Crosair 3200C2 x 2

Slim
 
Fire Flaie posted this in another Thread.

Here is the translation of a solution to have the game working !!

Part 1 :
--------------
Go in the directory :
E:\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\STEAM _ACCOUNT_NAME\half-life 2
there is a directory named "bin" that contains many .dll etc

Part 2 :
--------------
Enter the "bin" directory and copy all the files (ctrl+A, ctrl+C)

go back at E:\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\STEAM _ACCOUNT_NAME\half-life 2
then paste the files here (Ctrl+V)

Part 3 :
--------------
Select all the files and directorys (EXCEPT THE "BIN" DIRECTORY) in

E:\Valve\Steam\SteamApps\STEAM _ACCOUNT_NAME\half-life 2

Copy it !!!

Part 4 :
--------------
No Go back in the "bin" directory then Paste the files and dir you've just copy
if windows tell you that there is files that have the same name so just overwrite it, as you want that's not seams to be a problem if you don't

Part 5 :
--------------
Quit Steam
=> Reload Steam, right click : Games, right click on Half-Life 2 and Launch the game
Enjoy if that works , sorry if that don't


It worked for me. It fixed my problems with Crashing. It also fixed sound. Try it, it may help you. As far as I can tell it refreshes files, like a kick in the pants. Wakes them up so to speak. I was crashing ever 10 minutes or so and had done all the other fixes to no avail. I tried this last night at 2 a.m. and I was up and running for 2 hours with no stuttering or crashing. I don't get why it works but it did for me. It can't hurt anything just places extra files in another folder, you can always remove them if it doesn't work.

Asus A7n8X Rev 2.0
2500 Barton oc'd to 3200
1GB Corsair TwinX 3200
3 Maxtor 160 GB HD
Plextor Premium
Asus 522452 CDRW
Sony DVDRW Double Layer
EVGA 6800 GT oc'd to 425/115
Onboard NForce 2 Soundstorm (Love it so much, hate creative with a passion, never put one in my system)
:)
 
I still get an application error when I try putting the resolution higher than 800x600 =(
 
\OMG OMG IT WORKS GFOR MEE!!!

CSharkbytes..... your my hero!!!
This works!!!

I think I know what wrong and I'm gonna mail valve about it.
Atleast in my game... the bin folder wont be read!
Just copy all files from that YOURACCOUNT/hl2/bin dir into your YOURACOUNT/hl dir and it works!

As soon as I bought this game the game gaved me a mss dll error, after copying that dll from the bin dir into one dir up it worked so I had to know that that bin dir didnt worked.

Well I'm so happy that I don't know what I'm typing currently lol, I REALY REALY hope for you guys all your problems will be fixed becuase I know how it sucks to not being able to play the game.

Well good luck guys and I hope CSharkbytes his method works for all of you guys.

cya
 
The memory could not be "read" error.

Everyone with this error(The memory could not be "read".) who hasn't already done so.I suggest you submit a "question" detailing this problem to the official steam support page.Don't forget to add your "msinfo32" file.

Heres some more info i read in the support answers page...
----------------------------------------------------------
MSInfo32 is a tool that was written by Microsoft and is included as part of every operating system release since Win98.

Basically what this tool does is capture a snapshot of everything that is running on your computer including what drivers, versions and applications and all the devices and their current state.

This can be a great aid to debug computer problems.

The reports are in a formatted searchable database format with a .NFO extension, or they can be exported to a text file.

Win98 reports are the most primitive and are only viewable from Win98 or a special updated version of Win2000, all other operating system reports can be directly viewed using WinXP.

WinXP reports contain a bit more information, especially the errorlog from the computer which can contain specific information about crashes and potential causes.

This information can be especially useful for Steam problems, Game problems, Server problems and Video, Sound and Network problems.

Unfortunately, there is no guarantee that your problem will be solvable just by the information provided by this tool.


What you need to do to run the tool is this:

To run MSInfo32 and capture a snapshot of what is running on your system:

start > run > msinfo32 <enter>

It will come up to a panel, make sure the topmost item is highlighted: "System Summary"

then go to:
file > save > save to a file " msinfo32.nfo" on your desktop.

Attach this file to your problem description when you "ask a question".
----------------------------------------------------------

Originally posted by DougV on the steam forums..

All,

It seems like there are a number of different memory issues in this thread. Please, if you are still having problems and have *not* created an incident in the Support tool (click on the Support" link at the top of the page, do a search to see if your specific problem has a solution, if not click on the "Ask A Question" link and give us as much specific information as possible). This allows us to track the issues across all customers having the problem...

Thanks,

DougV
Valve

------------------------------------------------------------

Link to above thread....

http://www.steampowered.com/forums/...5&pagenumber=13
 
Possible solution for your games crashes and audio problems !!!

Hi there,

bin here for a pretty long time, finding a way out of those horrible game crashes ... but nothing worked really 100% for me. Some of the hints could push the time between the errors, but only one post here in the forum did a 100% stable solution for me:

- Tur off AGP Fast Writes in your Mainbord BIOS !!!

That's all !!!

No starting options, low graphic details or what ever was dicussed here ... try it ... nothing to loos. Good luck.

Been playing now for 3 or 4 hours :) before that modification i never get through the teleporter scene ... and different loading screens quited while the "Memory errors" occurred.
Not sure, that this is a solutions for all of you, but worth trying, i think ...

My System:
Mobo: Asus A8V Socket 939
CPU: AMD 64 3500+
GPU: ATI 9500 Pro @ 9700, overclocked and running on the ATI 4.12 beta drivers.
OS: WinXP Pro SP2
Sound: SB Audigy (1)
RAM: 2*512 Corsair VR
Storage: 2*180 Gb IBM/Hitachi Raid-0
 
Same memory error here. Crashes randomly not consistently.

Have tried most of the solutions offered on this and the Steam forum, including uninstalling and reinstalling via download, to no avail.

What a dissapointment.

ASUS A7N8X Rev 2.0
AMD XP 2800
Raedon 9800 Pro
1GB Corsair TwinX 3200
Maxtor 120 GB HD
Audigy 2 Platinum
Windows XP SP2
 
Can't be real ... damned ... really thought this is a AllIn1WonderSolution ... @dietcheese: I'm really sorry, that this could not fix your problem ... but perhaps other forum members could shortly post there experiences ? Perhaps we get a bit closer to the cause?
Pleas reply, good or bad results !
 
i only had contantly errors that can be fixed with that bin dir thing. I guess the bin folder has read noyl or something..
 
Bartel said:
*snip*

I even tryed the warez version, same probs....

I wont play this game until Gabe and his other fat employies come with a patch

I know your pee'd off m8 as we all are about the bugs it does suck but I dont really think there is the need to bring comments such as above in to the equation. It certainly is not going to attract any attention from VALVe posting comments like that.
I am angry also but try and have a little common decency and dont resort to childish name calling it really is not welcome by me and I'm sure others will agree.

Many thanks

Allan (Budgie55)
 
I've also tried the copy job with the bin directory, no betterment. Before changing the "Fast Writes" i also had those audio stutteres on some autosave actions, but the game went on in my case ... but now, even those stutteres are gone ! OK, perhaps its a individual case ... will continuing testing the game ... will keep an eye on this thread.
 
It didn't work at all for me. I can't believe Valve hasn't even acknowledged the problem yet! Hell, Bungie addressed the widescreen and Multiplayer Live bugs within days of Halo 2's release, and had them patched within a week! So far, Valve has been content to give us the shaft...thanks alot.
 
Hi i'm new to this forum but i only signed up to discuss this problem. i have formatted 2 times and it didn't help i have uninstalled 4 times i have even taken the game back and bought another game in a different store and still no problem solved i have also done what this forum has said to try and still. So all i can do is play css and that's it like 2/3min it crashes this is crap. I am running windows xp home with sp2 2.8ghz 1 gig of ram x800pro. I can't beleive this is happening one of the best games is out and i can't even play it my goodness. Please valve or steam or whoever please bring out a patch to fix it so we can play a game that we paid for. :angry:
 
I got the same exact problem. The game freezes right at the beggining with the looping sound .
specs.AMD64 pc3200
wnidows xp sp1(apparently sp2 has some compatability issues with 64 bit processors)
1GB Kingston
Radeon 9600
Via VT8383
 
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