My computer keeps force restarting during gameplay...

[Malice.8439]

First of all, I apologize in advance for my lack of knowledge of all things technology; hardware or software or otherwise. I've recently bought a new computer. It's not top of the line, but I've been told by friends and family that the video card and all other components are good. I had it built and assembled at a campus IT store. I've bought licenses for windows 10, I have the OS and Guild Wars 2 running on an internal SSD. I've told the game to auto-detect graphics, and adjust accordingly - so that the game can look and sound beautiful, but not overload itself.

Which is what it seems to be doing. At occasion, whenever I enter a zone (Timberland Falls and Ember Bay in particular) my entire computer will just power off and restart itself. The screen tells me that there was a Power Supply shortage.

I'm assuming this is a hardware problem, but it doesn't seem to happen with any other games that I play. Granted, Guild Wars 2 is the most visually intensive of them all. Before I load up my stationary PC onto my bicycle and take it all the way back to the computer store, I'd like to hear if anyone else has had similar problems with GW2, and how you managed to solve it in that case.

[SummerRayne.4672]

I haven't had this happen with GW2, but I did have this happening to me on another game about a year or so ago. The odd thing was that it was only happening to me on that game so I thought it had to be the game itself because I could play other games without having this issue. I don't know if this is your problem, but what ended up being my problem was my pc was overheating. For me, the fix was simple. The pc had not been blown out in a while to remove dust so this was causing my pc to overheat. Once I got my pc cleaned out, I was good and didn't have anymore issues.

Since you have a new pc, I highly doubt dust is your issue of course. You may want to take it back to where you got it and make sure your power supply is ample enough to handle the graphics card you have. Also, see what you can do to cool your pc down if overheating is actually your problem.

I would also ask this question in the technical support forums and have someone help you pinpoint your issue. There are programs you can run to check for overheating, etc.

[Malice.8439]

I've been reading up on similar users with similar issues, and I stumbled across this thread:

https://forum-en.guildwars2.com/forum/support/support/Constant-Crashing-PC-Restart

Specifically, this post caught my attention:

THIS IS NOT A HARDWARE NOR DRIVER ISSUE.I have been play the game for 4 years, this Constant Crashing only happen 3 weeks ago after the ‘WINDOWS 10 CREATOR’ update. If you don’t have win 10 you will not have this issue, so please stop telling people to update driver/hardware. Anet was try to patch this a few times, the 6/8 patch fix most of the issues, but then 6/9 patch mess up more then ever. I having crashing 5-15 min, sometimes if I change map I crash, sometimes if I use waypoint I crash. Anet really need to fix this for now this is totally unplayable for me

I do recall my PC installing a Windows 10 creator update quite recently (I didn't have windows 10 until a few weeks ago, with a new computer), and these crashes seem to occur very often after that. To my knowledge, though, this update is neither optional nor can it be undone. Is there any truth to this? Could the update be interfering with the game?

[SummerRayne.4672]

@Malice.8439 said:I do recall my PC installing a Windows 10 creator update quite recently (I didn't have windows 10 until a few weeks ago, with a new computer), and these crashes seem to occur very often after that. To my knowledge, though, this update is neither optional nor can it be undone. Is there any truth to this? Could the update be interfering with the game?

I have Windows 10 as well and installed this update probably a month or so ago. I personally haven't had any issues with my pc crashing while playing Guild Wars 2 after installing this update. I'm not saying it can't cause issues, but just saying I personally haven't after installing this update. If it was the update causing the issues and not a hardware issue, wouldn't all Windows 10 users who updated with the Creator update be having restart issues?

[Silmar Alech.4305]

That quoted thread is wrong. The operating system of a PC is built in a way that an application cannot crash the PC. The more recent the patch level of the OS, like the Windows 10 creator's update, the more stable the OS is. Always update and use the most recent patch level of the OS.If the whole PC does crash, some hardware driver produces the crash and makes the PC restart. Only a hardware driver can mess with OS kernel internals and produce the crash. An application cannot do this. Now, if a driver produces a crash, it is either badly programmed, or the hardware behaves in a way the driver doesn't expect. If you install current drivers for your hardware, you can rule out the drivers and you are left with the hardware.If the hardware is defective, it usually behaves in a way even the best written driver doesn't expect, so it crashes the PC. This may happen with your PC.There is hardware that doesn't have driver software and may make the PC restart on their own: the power supply, and the memory (RAM).If the power supply is bad, the PC may crash any time when the power demand is high, such as a game with 3D graphics.If your RAM is defective, it doesn't always make the whole PC restart. It will also happen moderately often that applications simply crash. Your browser, your email program, games, your spreadsheet app... random and sudden crashes. If they crash more than once a month, it is possible that this is related to bad RAM.It's also possible that your PC overheat. An overheated CPU usually throttles, but there may also be some CPUs that simply stop and make the PC restart.

tl;dr:If your game is bad (badly installed/badly programmed), the game crashes. But only the game. The computer will continue to run.If the whole computer crashes and restarts, [some hardware part of] the computer is defective.

[ST Babaganosh.3745]

Based on what you described. A couple things come to mind, Weak PSU, Bad RAM, or overheating maybe even a bad motherboard/cpu

I suspect PSU not only because of your error message about the short but because there is always a spike in the processor usage just as you enter a map and if it is pulling a "boost" the PSU might have a bad rail and can't accommodate the extra pull even as small as it is. You could go to advanced power settings and place your performance to high and CPU to 100%. This will stop any spikes and draws on that rail.Here is how to do that : https://www.laptopmag.com/articles/use-maximum-cpu-power-windows-10Best test however would be to test your PSU with a PSU tester.It could also be a weak rail on the Graphics cards shorting things out as well.

As mentioned above it could also be a bad stick of ram. GW is a pig when it comes to RAM so when running other applications you may never reach that bad sector but GW2 does. To test this you can use a tool like this https://www.memtest86.com/ again get it replaced if it detects bad ram.

Again mentioned above overheating could be an issue, open up your bios right after the crash and check your temperature and see if any auto shut down options are set. If the safety threshold is set too low that could be why it shuts down.

Finally it could also be a bad motherboard or CPU chances are it would be the MOBO you can test using this http://www.sisoftware.eu/download-lite/ just watch where you click as they started freemium model but it is free without signing up for anything for the "Lite" version once installed run a burn in test and make sure you select save the log file so if it crashed while you are sleeping you can go back and see what caused the problem.
This will actually test your temperature and RAM as well.

I would start with PSU based on your error message, if it is as new as it sounds like the shop should replace it.

Now all that said.... It could something as silly as a loose power connection inside the case. (You used your bike to bring it home all that shaking might have bumped something loose) I take it all back check the connections first :)

[abomally.2694]

Take it back to the campus IT and make them fix it.

[onevstheworld.2419]

The guys above are correct. An application cannot power down your system when it crashes. At worst you may need to restart your system to get it working correctly, but it shouldn't be able to restart the system by itself.

You can try stress testing your system to see if it can be replicated. Just run Prime95 and Furmark simultaneously.

It could be something as simple as a heatsink that's not seated correctly or a loose power cable, or it could be a faulty component. But if you're not experienced enough to do your own trouble shooting, bring it back to the shop.

[Ok I Did It.2854]

Most people that get a new system don't want to believe there new system is faulty, but honestly like its been said, complete shutdowns just scream that the power supply unit is faulty and or not strong enough, without know your exact specs of your system its impossible to start troubleshooting,

Again like its been mentioned, take it back to where it was bought/built and tell them its randomly turning off, and make them fix it.

[Malice.8439]

Thank you, everyone, for your imput! I'll try some of these benchmark software you're mentioning, and then take it back to the store if it turns out to be iffy. :)

[deff hunter.4512]

i have tried all of these Evan put new silicon paste on my gpu's but still have have the same problem at seemingly random intervals i have Evan reinstalled windows on 2 different drives bu still the same issue. what do i need help

[Ben K.6238]

If you're running multiple GPUs, and silicon paste is involved, I'm guessing they're overclocked and you have an additional cooling system for them...

Do you have a power supply with enough wattage to run that?

[Red Saboteur.4753]

For gtx 1070 rog strix video card users,

just download original overclock software (for my asus card I used Gpu Tweak 2) (also I used other overclock softwares they doesn't work) andin professional user section lower power target (not gpu voltage do this to power target) to minimum.

Problem solved.

I tried bios setting, I try to open ticket, I changed all power plan of my computer, I try change power plans in operation system, I try second operation system on my computer 2 months I try everything but solution is downgrade power target on Gpu Tweak. For sure you also downgrade gpu clock mem clock. In my case just power target ok.

If this helped to you just say good wishes to me :)

[Aeroica.2165]

@Red Saboteur.4753 said:For gtx 1070 rog strix video card users,

just download original overclock software (for my asus card I used Gpu Tweak 2) (also I used other overclock softwares they doesn't work) andin professional user section lower power target (not gpu voltage do this to power target) to minimum.

Problem solved.

I tried bios setting, I try to open ticket, I changed all power plan of my computer, I try change power plans in operation system, I try second operation system on my computer 2 months I try everything but solution is downgrade power target on Gpu Tweak. For sure you also downgrade gpu clock mem clock. In my case just power target ok.

If this helped to you just say good wishes to me :)

This post was actually very helpful, albeit convoluted, in solving the problem I had with GW2 and spontaneous PC rebooting. Hopefully this post will clear up some of the information that is trying to be stated.

When I first started playing GW2, no issues were noted with performance. The game ran as expected and my computer was speced enough to run the graphics on the highest setting with no issues. The first evidence of a problem was presented after I decided to upgrade to the two expansions (HoT and PoF) at the same time. A few days after downloading the expansions, my computer would spontaneously reboot itself and bring me back to a desktop. There were no pre indicators that this would happen (no lag, no performance issues) and my PC would simply powerdown and then automatically reboot itself back on. I would log back into Windows, log back into the game, and again the system, for seemingly no apparent reason, would again shut the computer down and reboot it at some random point during my gameplay.

During my troubleshooting phase I narrowed it down to two possible components which might be causing the problem, the power supply unit (PSU) and/or the graphics card (GPU). I arrived at this conclusion because I noted that whenever I made changes to the graphics settings in GW2, going from high to low or low to high quality levels, the computer would again immediately reboot itself although more frequently and consistently in the latter alteration. I also noticed the rebooting when I would open up the map in the game or attempt to clickaway point to travel to some other location in the gaming world. This led me to believe that the stress of higher quality graphics of the new expansions may have been too much for the PSU to handle or that the GPU was overheating or had some other electrical problem. I am running two EVGA GTX 660 in SLI mode. I thought perhaps the two cards were drawing too much electricity from the PSU but disabling one of the cards did not resolve any issue and card temperatures were normal.

Using a multimeter while the PC was under load, the rail supplying power to the GPUs and to other components of the computer tested within normal limits. This lead me to focus more on the GPU itself and I began to look at my drivers.

Upon inspecting the date of my drivers for my graphics cards , I came to the realization that they were out of date by approximately 5 years. Additionally and ironically, there had been a new driver released a few days before this post and I updated the drivers. I would recommend that anyone who is considering upgrading their drivers remove any and all previous installations of drivers as this has been known to cause conflicts with graphics cards. There are programs specific for GPU driver removal like DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) which clears the software and the registry. That being said,updating my drivers made things horribly worse. The reboots were nearly instantaneous and I had issues just logging in to the character selection screen. I then rolled my drivers back two (2) steps and the only Improvement was a reboot frequency returned to what I had before I tried to update the GPU drivers to the 2018 version..I then came across the post which is quoted above and would seem to indicate that using the overclocking tool, which most newer graphics cards come with nowadays, could be used to solve the problem. The original poster of that recommendation indicated that lowering the power target for your card stopped his rebooting problem. At the time that I made the adjustments to the power target setting of my graphics card, I did not have any predefined understanding of how those numbers would correlate to performance nor did I have any notion about what setting would be appropriate. I simply used a short trial-and-error method. I lowered my power Target from 100 to 90 but still noted the same rebooting problem. However, I also adjusted the voltage of the card and increased it from 960 to 1100. This has created a stable gaming environment thus far and no crashes or reboots have been noted. Additionally and against the advice of the original poster, I did not underclock my graphics card. I only manipulated the power target setting by lowering it and increased the voltage slightly.

Please bear in mind that I have not put any serious time into playing the game since the changes so I cannot tell if this is the long-term solution but for now, this seems to have solved the problem. I would make minor changes to these areas of your graphics cards to see if you can resolve the problem. Go slow, take your time, and hopefully things will work out for you as well.

Hope this helps. Good luck!

[SlippyCheeze.5483]

@Malice.8439 said:First of all, I apologize in advance for my lack of knowledge of all things technology; hardware or software or otherwise. I've recently bought a new computer.

Statistically, there are two big spikes when hardware problems show up: just after you first get it, and after three to five years. Basically, sometimes things come from the vendor, to the shop, to you, faulty. Maybe they work well enough to pass basic testing at the shop, but they fail in the real world, or maybe they had a fault that took a little while to trigger.

Statistically speaking, of course. Individual cases can vary outside that rule of thumb, but on average across millions of parts, that is the pattern of hardware failures.

@"Aeroica.2165" said:I then came across the post which is quoted above and would seem to indicate that using the overclocking tool, which most newer graphics cards come with nowadays, could be used to solve the problem. The original poster of that recommendation indicated that lowering the power target for your card stopped his rebooting problem. At the time that I made the adjustments to the power target setting of my graphics card, I did not have any predefined understanding of how those numbers would correlate to performance nor did I have any notion about what setting would be appropriate. I simply used a short trial-and-error method. I lowered my power Target from 100 to 90 but still noted the same rebooting problem. However, I also adjusted the voltage of the card and increased it from 960 to 1100. This has created a stable gaming environment thus far and no crashes or reboots have been noted. Additionally and against the advice of the original poster, I did not underclock my graphics card. I only manipulated the power target setting by lowering it and increased the voltage slightly.

Note: the NVIDIA control panel features a debug mode option that will disable the factory overclocking done my an increasing number of video card vendors; this should work for any factory OC. Testing that is a useful start to the process.

Regardless, yeah, as others say, if you have reboots you have a hardware level issue. It is possible that drivers and/or OS upgrades expose this where it was hidden before, but ultimately, it is a hardware level problem. Right now power supply issues, and marginal overclocking are the most common root causes for these sort of problems, in my experience.

[TheQuickFox.3826]

@abomally.2694 said:Take it back to the campus IT and make them fix it.

This. Let them fix your computer under warranty. It can be anything (power supply unit, overheating issue, bad memory, video card problem, driver problem). This is quite hard to test yourself if you cannot swap out components.

[murdog.6589]

@Malice.8439 Hey Malice, can u tell me what was wrong? Bcuz i have a simular problem. My PC shutdown only during Gw2.

[GeraldBC.4927]

I've got frequent forced pc restarts too since the latest update. Didn't have anything like it before. It's usually only when running gw2 but the weird thing is during high usage windows like open world metas, or strike missions it works perfectly fine. It happens at random moments outside of that like when running around or crafting in ebonhawke or in 2 cases entering a fractal. One time it happened during the startup after a previous forced restart.

It has to be some software/driver issue, if it was just overheating or the power supply, there would be a clear pattern to it, namely big crowd/big battle = crash, but that's not what is happening.

[Ashantara.8731]

@"Malice.8439" said:At occasion, whenever I enter a zone (Timberland Falls and Ember Bay in particular) my entire computer will just power off and restart itself.

That is the PSU trying to protect your hardware from damage, most likely due to overheating. When you have a 3D application running (e.g., a game), the hardware is more stressed out than normal, hence it produces more heat. Check the temps and report back.

Edit: If it is indeed a power supply shortage, get a new PSU with more power:https://outervision.com/power-supply-calculatorhttps://www.bequiet.com/en/psucalculatorhttps://www.asus.com/microsite/power_supply_calculator/