LFS downloaded yesterday, licensed to S2, crashes after some time of playing (30 mins) with reference to d3d8.dll file:

- playing on HP nx9420 w/2GB ram (dual core 2+ ghz laptop)
- ATI mobility Radeon X1600 graphic card by default
- no overclocking, dust free fans, air flow OK
- no patches, no mods etc. installed
- no steering wheel installed (yet)
- TrendMicro PC-Cillin 2008 and Win Defender running in bgr (known to mess the games)
- latest video drivers installed
- reduced details (no sky...), having 20-50 FPS
- using 1680x1050 resolution @ 60 mhz
- machine probably not overheating (with max details it did - then on nx9420 the sound shuts down first, so I reduced graphics, now the sound stays)

Your thoughts about how to resolve this problem are highly appreciated! Thanks.

Updated info:
Reinstalled new DirectX - didn't solve the problem, though the game seem to run longer now before crashing again.

Tried re-installing the latest version of DirectX? That's what it sounds like.

New update (no more after this one, I promise but I hope the info will help someone) re. LFS crashing:

On Live to Cruise 2 host (almost full) the game crashes every 20-40 minutes, but on CROTeamRacing host (3-7 players) it never crashes, even if played right after LTC2 crash.
So, overheating is not the problem.
Also, on LTC2 I sometimes have nasty graphic artefacts "coming from other cars" (like blinding rainbow), even if I turned off skin download.

Your thoughts are welcome.

Note:
I'm new and I've been only on these two hosts, and this is in no way ment to criticize LTC2 host, which is excellent fun and play with great people participating, I'm merely having technical difficulties there.

Quote from GoGen :

So, overheating is not the problem.

Sorry, but this does in fact sounds like a text-book case of overheating. The fact that you get graphical artefacts is a dead give-away (overheating graphics card). Random crashes are usually caused by faulty or overheating hardware (memory or CPU) as well. I haven't had LFS crash on me even once the last 3-4 years so I doubt it is to blame.

If you are indeed sure the computer is dust free, try to set it on "stilts" on a flat surface to make sure you get plenty of air circulation around the underside. Also make sure you plug it in so it doesn't try to conserve energy by powering down the fans. If the problem goes away, you know heat was the issue.

Quote from wien :

Sorry, but this does in fact sounds like a text-book case of overheating.

What confused me is that crashing stopped when, just after "overheated crash", I changed hosts and immediately continue "heating" with same intense.
This, though, may have been merely a coincidence so I will add extra cooling on the bottom. The laptop is on a stand, it has airflow from all sides, the fan is not on the max, so I guess it won't be a problem to cool it down some more.
Thank you!

I reduced the number of LFS.EXE crashes by 90% by creating a new, clean, Limited User account.
Also, the number of graphic errors and strange artefacts is also heavily reduced now.

Hope this helps a bit