Can anyone help me with this one -
I use Windows 2000 Pro, 1 GB RAM, 128 MB ATI Radeon 9800 AGP, AMD Athlon XP 2600+ CPU, Gigabyte K7 Triton Motherboard. Minecraft makes no sound, though Windows 2000 does, and for about 10 minutes has a problem where mobs, signs, and such flicker bright/dark/between. Then it stops (after ~10 minutes). Ideas?

Have you updated Java recently?

Mackerel, not by a long shot. I have 1.6 on a CD, and always install the same one on all my computers, and always turn Java updates off. That is because (at least before) every time I updated, MC quit working and I had to uninstall the update!

Did you do any hardware upgrades? Hold back on updating Minecraft since January 9th?

Hardware upgrades: The lighting weirdness was fine before I upgraded the AGP from a nVidia GeForce2 MX 400 64 MB, then it started. The sound works on Windows XP or Vista, but not 2000! And as I said, all the sound works on Win2K but Minecraft. The version of MC is 1.4.6 - vanilla.

Oh, and another bizzare thing is - only on Win2K, I can log in as anyone in the world - KermMartian, CreeperNoob, Caleb, Player - and after saying "Play offline", it still uses that as my name in LAN! It isn't connected to the internet, though. But I am not concerned with all that - the sound and lighting are the problems.

I'd have to gander a guess your issues may be stemming from the AGP upgrade. Check the website of the new part to see if there are any drivers for compatibility with Java. You say what you upgraded from bot not what you upgraded to which isn't a huge deal but it could help knowing this. Also, check your connections as you may have plugged stuff into the wrong ports on the Mother Board or into the graphics card.

As for you logging in as anyone, what process do you take? Do you enter KermMartian and your password when you log in or what? How do you log in as any one in the world? Explicit details would be wonderful.

I have the newest driver available. I said what the new one was right at the top: "128 MB ATI Radeon 9800 AGP,". And, how could I plugged the AGP into anything but the AGP port?


I realize that sounds concerning, but as stated before, I am not connected to the internet, so it is clearly not logging into minecraft.net. I put in whatever name I wish into the name box, whatever password I wish or none at all into the password box, it says whatever it says (login failed, bad login, cannot connect, whatever it is I forget), and plays offline. The name only affects me if I am playing LAN Multiplayer, and the password doesn't matter. But I don't see how this could possibly affect my graphics anyway?

I should point out you can do the same thing (start MC with any name you want) by running MC from the DOS prompt with command:

Code:


And everyone else, don't forget that if you have experienced this problem before(the Win2K sound error and the MC lighting error), you can post here too!

Oh! So you did. Sorry about that, it's been a few days since I read the first post.

It's been many years since I've built a computer so I'm not entirely sure how many cables need to be plugged in on the inside of the case in order for the AGP to work but it doesn't hurt to check it's all plugged in correctly. If you're able, would you be able to put the old AGP in the system and see if Minecraft plays fine? Of course, someone with better insight on similar problems in Minecraft or other games are more than welcome to help.

Regarding the any name thing, I didn't fully realise it only happened when you continued to "Play Offline" and I wanted to make sure there wasn't a security vulnerability in the version of MC we have on our server at which point you'd be thanked and I'd inquire you to help me find out why then I'd raise the issue to Mojang. But since it isn't, there's no risk.

No no, no security risks, I am sure. Testing... yes, on logon to a server, it says "Failed to login: Bad login" as expected. It is very very useful for my LAN party, though! But, off-topic!

Yes, the old AGP works fine. So does the new one, though! Besides the lighting issue. The old AGP does play MC, just a little slower. The new one is installed fine; there are no weird connections to make but to plug it into the AGP slot. This particular model does happen to have a power input from the PSU, but that is plugged in and wouldn't affect this particular nuance of operation anyway, I'm sure. I am more thinking of some kind of software problem, for the flickering.

Then there is the sound not working too, I would love to have that fixed!

I don't think I'll be able to solve out the video issue, so I'll try the audio now. Per chance, do you get sound if you play with headphones? It's a long shot, I know.

My computer has no headphone port. I hear nothing from Minecraft if I plug the headphones into the speaker port, however.

Are you running the latest graphics card drivers for your card? That can often cause odd graphics glitches, and sometimes even crashes.

***Caleb sighs.

Come on, fellows! Can't we do any better? This is pathetic!

Caleb. Take our help with gratitude or don't bother asking. We won't be inclined to help if you are sharp with us. We don't magically know what's wrong, why and how to fix it.

Your remark in IRC the other day wasn't exactly kind either.

Exactly this. Without access to your computer, it's hard to troubleshoot what your problem is, especially something as nondeterministic as you describe. By the way, you mentioned that your graphics card has a 6-pin Molex to get extra power from the PSU - are you sure your PSU is powerful enough for the card?

I suppose that could be the case. Newegg as a very nice PSU calculator. If your power supply is less than 20 or so watts over what the calculator gives you, you're in trouble.
Edit: From what you've supplied us with, it sounds like you need a 320 watt PSU or so. What are you currently using?

Since you're running with 1GB of RAM, there's also a chance that when Minecraft tries to allocate memory for audio, it's failing. I don't know how flexible the Java/MC memory model is though. Is there any reason why you couldn't get another gigabyte?

I am very sorry.

About the PSU - nope, I have no clue... I didn't know it was possible for it to not give something enough power. The PSU is a HIPRO one I got from a heap of trash, and seems to say that it is 300 watts. It says, "Max output power 300W".

About the "Mojang: Minecraft Minimum Requirements" - wow, 2GB, I used to run MC at 512 MB, then 768 MB, before I got the 1 GB I have now from a different heap of trash. That might explain why I couldn't get another gigabyte, but if not, it is because I can't really afford it all that well...

Also note that the sound is operational on the same computer if it is running Windows Vista. Though the flickering issue still remains then.

Minecraft runs with a 512mb heap. You don't need more than 1GB of RAM.

I run Minecraft using 12G of heap and it stays at 1-2% usage. (120~290MB)

About the issue, I would blame LWJGL and OpenAL. Check to make sure your audio card is compatible with OpenAL for Windows 2000.

The latest LWJGL, from what I see, it targeting mainly Vista and upwards. Try looking at getting native libraries for windows 2000. This makes sense since your audio is ok on Vista. Go to Creative and get an older OpenAL32.dll, hopefully one that works nicely with windows 2000. Or, try getting an older version of LWJGL.

Make sure that your graphics card drivers supply an up-to-date OpenGL driver fully supporting 2.x.

That's just stupid.