Crashing when I press ESC?

If you were attempting to run ME-1 with any of Intel's terrible video solutions, that is exactly what would happen every time.  Those things aren't supported for any of the three ME games.  It's entirely possible that some of the silly things may react the same way in ME-2 as well.  Meanwhile, THIS is the correct way to report a tech problem:

http://social.bioware.com/forum/1/topic/106/index/1537629  

                    ME2

PC MINIMUM System Requirements
OS = Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
Processor = 1.8GHz Intel Core 2 Duo or equivalent AMD CPU
Memory = 1 GB RAM for Windows XP / 2 GB RAM for Windows Vista and Windows 7
Hard Drive = 15 GB
DVD ROM = 1x Speed
Sound Card = DirectX 9.0c compatible
Direct X = DirectX 9.0c August 2008 (included)
Input = Keyboard / Mouse
Video Card = 256 MB (with Pixel Shader 3.0 support). Supported GPU Chips: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or greater(**); ATI Radeon X1600 Pro or greater. Please note that NVIDIA GeForce G.205, G.210, 310, 7100, 7200, 7300, 7400, 7500, 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, 9100, 9200, and 9300, also (probably) GT 520/610; ATI Radeon X1300, X1550, HD 2400, 3100, 3200, HD 3450, HD 3470, HD 4200, HD 4250, HD 4350, HD 4380, 4550, and (probably) HD 6370 are below minimum system requirements. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required. [i][b]Intel[/b][/i]  and S3 video devices are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.

(**)Two of the Geforce 6800s are worse than the next-lower Geforce game card, the 6600 GT, and should be avoided (6800 SE, 6800 XT).


PC RECOMMENDED System Requirements
Windows XP SP3 / Windows Vista SP1 / Windows 7
2.6+ GHz Cure 2 Duo Intel or equivalent AMD CPU
2 GB RAM
ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, or better, recommended
100% DirectX compatible sound card and drivers
DirectX August 2008
NOTES: For the best results, make sure you have the latest drivers for your video and audio cards. Laptop or mobile versions of the above supported video cards have not had extensive testing and may have driver or other performance issues. As such, they are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.  [i][b]Intel[/b][/i]  and S3 video devices are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.

(Unofficial P.S. Low end hardware will hit a snag right from the start, when any input ends up being ignored, so the first thing to do in the Tutorial amounts to an  impossibility.)

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
MINIMUM Graphics
Video Card = 256 MB (with Pixel Shader 3.0 support). Supported GPU Chips: NVIDIA GeForce 6800 or greater; ATI Radeon X1600 Pro or greater. Please note that NVIDIA GeForce 210, 7100, 7200, 7300, 7400, 7500, 8100, 8200, 8300, 8400, 9200, and 9300; ATI Radeon X1300, HD 2400, 3100, 3200, HD 3450, HD 3470, HD 4200, and HD 4350 are below minimum system requirements. Updates to your video and sound card drivers may be required. [i][b]Intel[/b][/i]  and S3 video devices are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.

RECOMMENDED
ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT, NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GT, or better, recommended
NOTES: For the best results, make sure you have the latest drivers for your video and audio cards. Laptop or mobile versions of the above supported video cards have not had extensive testing and may have driver or other performance issues. As such, they are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.  [i][b]Intel[/b][/i]  and S3 video devices are not officially supported in Mass Effect 2.

(Unofficial P.S. Low end hardware will hit a snag right from the start, when any input ends up being ignored, so the first thing to do in the Tutorial amounts to an  impossibility.)

I am having the same problem. Running a Toshiba P740 Satellite laptop with:

NVIDIA GeForce GT 525M

4.0GB RAM

All drivers up to date

Intel Core i5 2.5

64-bit Win7

DirectX9c

Windows .NET framework up to date

ME3 works fine, but ME2 crashes every time I open the game menu or whenever it feels like it. Sometimes I get the black screen, but most times I get a faded, frozen screen and I have to actually reboot my machine to get it to go away (cannot end process through system monitor).

Any ideas?

Your video card is somewhat below the minimum, although it should at least try to work, if a little more slowly and perhaps less attractively than the designers intended. 

http://www.videocardbenchmark.net/video_lookup.php?gpu=GeForce+GT+525M

The chances are very good that there is a problem between the firmware Toshiba wrote for the video device, and the drivers.  That is the most frequent reason for what is most likely happening.  The 525M only has half of the normal contents of a desktop graphics card, since the Intel video chip runs all the time, and is supposed to perform the front end procedures in cooperation with the graphics card.  What ends up happening all too often is that the graphics card itself remains asleep, and never does anything in some games. 

You can check whether the game and the PC are on different screen shape settings, which causes similar problems, and you can try an assortment of Geforce drivers, in case there is one or another that works better, but in no case will you get a fully satisfying game as long as you try using business grade hardware instead of gaming class parts. 

I haven't read it in depth, but any idea why ME3 runs well (high resolution, no issues yet), but ME2 is goofy? Are the ME2 components that much more needy?

I should also mention that I've been through all of those potential fixes, and nothing worked. I still get the problem whenever the game does something *extra.* Opening the game menu, checking for downloadable content, anything not on the base level of operations. When I start up from that initial save, wherein you go and talk to the Illusive man the first time, I get good textures and sound is quality. I run down the ramp, the cut scene runs fine, and then, when I level up... bam. Frozen.

I'll doink around with it some more and see what's going on with the graphics switching. Maybe disable the onboard temporarily and see what happens.

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@adirollblack wrote:

I haven't read it in depth, but any idea why ME3 runs well (high resolution, no issues yet), but ME2 is goofy? Are the ME2 components that much more needy?

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When console hardware stagnated for so long, it caused not only stagnation in PC games' graphical progress, but eventually a "dumbing down" of sequels because the console versions outsell the PC versions, and the PC becomes the tail of the dog being wagged, not vice versa.  Yes, from a purely graphical point of view, a low end product of the type that you have, is now CLOSER to the minimum of ME-3 than it is to the minimum that works properly in ME-1 / ME-2. 

But that explanation doesn't make sense. I ran ME1 with all the graphics on and turned up, with nary a blip. Even load screens flashed by without much hesitation. I have the same experience with ME3. But ME2, which appears to have lower requirements than ME3, does not run. Barely makes it out of the box. I don't think your general disdain for my hardware is a proper explanation. My "low-end" system is well above the minimum requirements for ME2, and only just shy of the optimal for the game. If you don't know why something isn't working, don't bother. Thanks for the limited knowledge you've shared, otherwise, keep it to yourself.