abomally.2694

That's an indication of hardware failure. I would start by substituting a known good working power supply, if possible.

"I'd disable the automatic update in services..." This no longer works in newer versions of Windows 10. If you disable the service, Windows will turn it back on the next time it checks for updates. You MUST disable updates in the registry (or Group services). Heather.4823 - The desktop flashing issue has been happening for me for a long time. I don't worry about it because the game seems to work properly.

Limodriver.4106 - This file looks very suspicious - try removing it or disabling it from running, then try running the game: \Temp\sizer_dev482\sizerhook64.dll

Exstazik.5847 - Glad you got the issue resolved. Take care.

It happens here as well and seems to have started a few patches back. It doesn't seem to affect the game, so I'm not concerned about it.

Hmm very true, might be the VRAM. Well, I just reinstalled gw2 and I'm not getting those anymore. Could it possibly be a in-game issue and not hardware related? Maybe. Usually bad VRAM will cause colored blocks/lines all over the screen - not generally in one spot like your picture shows. I would be concerned about what may have caused a file to be corrupt though.

Both an unstable overclock and bad VRAM can cause those artifacts.

Let's review - "1. a hard freeze, typically with looped sound, requiring a hard reboot (Reset button won't work)...probably the most common type for me" Probable causes - GPU, RAM, CPU overheating, motherboard or power supply. The one thing that stands out to me here is that the reset button won't work. Both 'power' and 'reset' are motherboard functions. They work even if no CPU has been installed (yes, it's true, you can test it yourself). They do require a functioning power supply to work though. The reset function is usually controlled by a watchdog/reset chip on the mobo. All processors, RAM and ROM chips have a reset pin that is activated by the reset function. All RAM data and addresses are reset to zero (cleared). The same occurs with the CPU and its registers. "2. an instant reboot as if the reset button was pressed" This is probably the result of a BSOD - Windows will reboot unless the setting has been changed. Certainly could be a power supply issue. "3. a complete shutdown that required the computer to be started twice, first restart start seems to reinitialize hardware, then the PC shuts back down after a few seconds, the second start starts up the PC." A complete shutdown is usually either power supply failure OR overheating. But it can be almost ANY piece of hardware, including the motherboard or hard drive. Yes, code exists that can shut a computer down, but why would ArenaNet include it in Guild Wars2? Why would any game maker do that? If they did, this would occur for everyone that plays the game. That makes no sense at all. Since they did not do that - this is a hardware problem. There is no question about it. A bad power supply could be the problem, or there could be other hardware that's loading down the power supply when the failure occurs. I'm leaning towards the latter in this case because of everything you've mentioned about the problem. Generally when power supplies start to fail they just get worse until they die completely. I thought that you stated earlier that the issue starts "within a few minutes"; but later you said that you can play for hours without the issue occurring. Maybe I'm confused about which computer you're referring to (yours or the kid's). OK - some things to try: When the game is running - use the [plastic] back of a screwdriver to tap on the RAM. Do the same for the GPU (top). I mean, don't hammer on them but don't be too light either. If the failure happens, restart and try it again. If tapping on the RAM does it - be very careful - it can corrupt data on the hard drive. One reason it took me a long time to diagnose the physically intermittent RAM problem on my friend's computer was because I booted with Hiren's Boot CD every time, so that I could avoid potentially corrupting data on the hard drive: hiren's boot cd download With the machine off; I would make sure that all of the screws are tight (motherboard, power supply, etc.); all cables are tight and the GPU screw(s) is firmly tightened down - this way everything is properly grounded. If you have heat sink compound (such as Arctic Silver), redo the CPU paste, clean all the fans and make sure they seem to be working properly. Remove and re-seat ALL cards - GPU, RAM, network and sound cards (if you have them).

System restarts are not usually caused by a failing power supply - system shut-downs, on the other hand, can be caused by several things; but the most common cause is a failing power supply. Temperature problems, bad RAM, a failing motherboard and (yes) even a defective hard drive can cause a system to shut down. Most likely, an error is occurring that would normally result in a bluescreen (BSOD), but your system is set to reboot when that happens. You need to change a setting so you can take a look at the error message. Make a note of the stop code and file name (if listed). This info may help you do that: https://www.tenforums.com/tutorials/69012-enable-disable-bsod-automatic-restart-windows-10-a.html General info regarding GPU's: Sometimes manufacturers make mistakes (like the recent EVGA GTX 1070's with overheating voltage regulators): https://www.kotaku.com.au/2016/11/evga-prepares-fix-for-overheating-nvidia-gtx-1070-and-gtx-1080s/ Sometimes, a factory overclock is done incorrectly on a GPU - right from the start. This is why I would prefer that companies stop offering overclocked graphics cards at all. In the past, I've avoided purchasing overclocked GPU's like the plague. Last time I bought a graphics card I made an exception to my rule and went for the overclocked GTX 1060. The reason I did that was because I couldn't find a non-overclocked version that had the same specs I wanted (small size, dual fans, dual DVI connections, good price). Non-overclocked graphics cards are becoming somewhat rare. When it comes to troubleshooting particular failures - software is [often] not very useful at diagnosing hardware problems. However, if I was going to test for a graphics card failure that occurs only when running a DirectX 9 game, I would use software that runs DX9 tests - not DX10 or DX11 tests. Yes, different versions of DirectX will test different internal transistors of a GPU. This is because instruction sets are hard-coded into microprocessors. Sometimes hardware failures can behave very strangely. This is why; if you have certain spare components handy (ALL reputable PC repair shops will), it's best to substitute parts when diagnosing failures that are difficult to nail down. Some people might spend a lot of time trying to resolve these issues because they haven't seen some of the weird failures that I have.

I had no issue with it. I unchecked the box though, because I don't need it (running 1080P) and it makes no difference for me either way. Some others have reported that unchecking the box didn't 'stick' for them, so I tested this by exiting the game and restarting it. The box remains unchecked for me.

Leamas.5803 - "...They have long acknowledged that their software can have crashing problems with overclocked hardware." I'll tell you this again: Anet is wrong. Software does NOT work that way. You, of all people should know that. What happens with unstable overclocked hardware is that the data becomes corrupted - randomly. If the hardware is stable - the data does not change. Software does not change data because hardware is overclocked. Hardware corrupts data when it is unstable. That causes software that relies on that data to crash. "The problem with this issue is that even professional techs can't reproduce the problem with any of their testing tools." The graphics card manufacturer can. They have special test jigs and software that can test for a variety of failures. All electronics manufacturers have advanced testing methods for the equipment they manufacture that are not available to the public. The problem with testing for hardware failures using software, is that the software is often not very accurate. Take Memtest for example. It simply loads data in memory addresses sequentially with some standard data patterns. That works great for finding RAM that is bad; but it usually won't find RAM that is intermittently failing. That's also not a very stressful way to test memory. Hardware Monitor (even the latest version) is often wildly inaccurate in regards to power supply voltages. It can even vary with different versions of HM. However, using a meter to measure the voltages with the PC running will show the real values. Sometimes, you have to approach the problem differently in order to solve it. One issue that is a fairly common problem on older electronics is bad solder connections (I'm not referring to computers here, but it does happen with them as well). Sony TV's had a serious issue with this back in the 1990's because of a flaw in how their [solder] reflow process worked. Instead of spending hours with an oscilloscope and meter trying to pinpoint the exact connections that were failing (which is nearly impossible to do); it was better to simply resolder any connections that looked bad and even those that "might" be bad that were nearby. This solved the problems and the repairs went much faster. Back to your issue: If this was a code problem - this board would be flooded with complaints because most people these days run overclocked GPU's. Instead, there are very few people with this problem. If you can work around the problem by lowering clock speeds - great - whatever works. The fact is, the overclock is unstable. That's really not unusual if the hardware is old. It could be any number of electronic failures from bad capacitors on the board to one of the millions of transistors inside the GPU itself. We'll never know. Good day.

I never said anything about buying new components. I explicitly stated to SUBSTITUTE known good components with potentially bad ones in order to pinpoint the issue. Another thing that people don't seem to be aware of, is that the BIOS of a graphics card controls the clock speed - UNLESS you manually set it with software. For example, I'm not running the Gigabyte Extreme Gaming Engine software in the background because it frees up 2 to 5% of my CPU, which may be needed for recording. The card automatically adjusts itself without the Gigabyte software running in the background. I also explained that an overclock is stable or it isn't and that components can degrade over time. This means that a factory overclock may have worked fine when the card was new, but DUE TO COMPONENT DEGRADATION the hardware fails with the factory overclock - this means that it is, in fact, a hardware problem. Very often, the GPU failures will continue to get worse until the card becomes unusable. I know this from experience. Yes - you can usually lower clock speeds to make an unstable overclock stable. You and the other poster I've been addressing come here looking for answers as to why your graphics cards are crashing when the factory overclocks kick in, then when the answer is given, you blame the problem on everything under the sun except the obvious. There is also the falsehood of software being "sensitive" to overclocked hardware. Go ask some hardware engineers and they will tell you the same thing that I have. I hope that was clear enough. Have a good evening.

"If Arenanet says GW2 is sensitive to over clocking, then it is..." Nope. They are wrong. There's no such thing as software that is "sensitive" to overclocking. Either the hardware works properly or it doesn't. No need to explain how hardware or software works to me, but thanks anyway. I used to write software and am an electronics technician with a great deal of experience. I also do circuit design on occasion. There's no point explaining all of this to you again - you just refuse to listen. I've been doing this for 35 years. Good luck to you.

"In practice that may or may not be the case and may be more a matter of opinion than anything." That's incorrect. Software doesn't care if the hardware is overclocked or not. There's a reason it's called OVERclocking. The hardware is being run beyond it's design limits. Yes, this often works; but over time components can degrade due to being run at specs they aren't designed to run at. Heating and cooling cycles add to the issue. The game doesn't know or care about this. Once the overclock begins to fail, the hardware starts producing corrupt data. The processor (GPU) in this case hangs because the code it was running is now random garbage. Windows detects this and resets the GPU due to TDR (Timout Detection & Recovery). The fact that down-clocking the GPU fixes the problem tells you that the hardware is failing at the higher clock speed. The game doesn't measure, know or care about the GPU speed. Now, is it the card itself or another piece of hardware in the system? One thing is for sure - it IS NOT the software "refusing" or "being sensitive" to working at the higher clock rate. That is not how software works. If the software runs fine at one GPU frequency, but not another - it is not the software that is failing. Unfortunately, in order to determine the exact hardware component that is failing, you need to substitute parts. Software testing is not perfect and it's often not reliable. I have two sticks of RAM in the junk pile that will pass Memtest without a problem - until you tap on them with a screwdriver - then they start throwing errors or freeze the system. Yes, they are physically intermittent and they were pain to track down in a friend's computer that had four sticks of RAM in it. I wish you and DeWolfe good luck in solving these problems.

"Arenanet has stated that GW2 is sensitive to overclocked hardware. " There's no such thing. In this case, Anet is wrong. An overclock is either 100% stable or it isn't.

"Failed to Load \Driver\WUDFRd for Device ACPI\PNP0A0A\2&daba3ff&0" This is probably just a Windows timeout error and can be safely ignored. You can test this by setting the computer to sleep or hibernate. If sleep/hibernate work - then the ACPI driver and associated hardware is working.

No. Windows 10 has been out long enough that the drivers are stable, provided that your hardware isn't 10 years old. In fact, that's one thing Windows 10 got right. Yes, sometimes graphics drivers have issues, but Nvidia is pretty good about including that information in the release notes. If the problem was caused by a combination of incompatible drivers, the system would crash as soon as they were installed - not cause random black screens. A "bad" audio or network driver won't cause this. The Nvidia errors in the log files are a dead giveaway that it's the GPU failing. Good luck.

"It's an Nvidia driver/Windows/GW2 issue that'll we'll have to wait for them to fix." No, it isn't. I've been running the Windows 10 [64 bit] creators edition since before it was even a public release. I have a Gigabyte factory overclocked Nvidia GTX 1060 (3 GB). I'm running the Nvidia 382.53 drivers. I have dual 1080P monitors, but I only use one for gaming. I run the GW2 graphics settings all on highest with the following exceptions: Shadows: LowReflections: Terrain and Sky onlyCharacter Model Limit: LowCharacter Model Quality: LowLight Adaptation: Off I can play GW2 for hours. I have no crashes, no black screens, no shut-downs - ever - with GW2 or any other game. BTW, if you have to down-clock your GPU to make your system stable - you have a hardware failure problem.

The card MAY still be defective - despite what your testing shows. I do understand the doubt though. For one thing, GW2 uses DX9 and that benchmark will be using DX11. It's similar in the way that RAM can be defective and Memtest will show it as passing all tests. For example, a DX9 function that GW2 uses could be broken at a hardware level, which causes the hardware to hang, the screen to go blank and result in the error in the Event Viewer. Things like this DO happen in electronics. Provided that you have already tried different drivers, removed game injection software (SweetFX, etc.) and checked for incompatible software running in the background - the ONLY way you are going to find the answer is by substituting components. You can do every software test under the sun and I will still tell you that you need to test with different hardware to find the answer. If you have (or can even borrow) another video card - try it. That's what I would do; but I may have a bit of an advantage because I have a few older video cards laying around that I know are good. A close second for substitution is power supply. Next in line is RAM; then the last component would be motherboard - but a mobo failure like that is pretty rare. Good luck.

Thank you for the suggestion. Already tried that month or so ago and swapped from one of the HDMI ports on the card to the Display port. Could always try a 3rd cable. Though again, I just stress tested the card at 100% load for over 4 hours a couple days ago. The game itself never stresses the card near that level, not even 50%. Out of everyone having issues, are we all running Nvidia cards? One other thing I noticed on one of the crashes was that the CPU load suddenly started increasing for maybe a second or two before crashing the system. It's why I'm still thinking its software issue. Especially when the game resource requirements have increased substantially the past 3-4 months. That much added is more chances for errors. Since you are seeing "Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered" in the Event Viewer (taken from the other thread) - it means that your graphics card is failing. It isn't the driver crashing the card; it's the card crashing the driver.

I've been doing electronics and computer repair for 35 years. Trust me - it's a hardware issue. And yet it only happens in one map, in one game. That seems oddly specific for it to be a hardware issue. Regardless, it's apparently stopped again after the latest patch, so....You are, of course, free to believe whatever you want.

DeWolfe.2174 - I would start by trying a different video cable. I do, in fact, have a video cable with an intermittent internal short that does that exact thing (with the exception of restarting the system - it just randomly makes the monitor go blank). If that doesn't solve the problem, your GPU is very likely dying. There are other possibilities such as power supply or motherboard (bad RAM can even cause it), but it's best to start with the most likely suspect. Unfortunately, you'll have to substitute components to pinpoint the problem. "...So, if it's hardware, even after 3-4 months, it certainly should have broken fully by now." Not necessarily. Electronic failures can be completely unpredictable in how they behave.

I've been doing electronics and computer repair for 35 years. Trust me - it's a hardware issue.

The first thing you should do is substitute a known good working power supply, then work from there. It's the only way you are going to resolve this problem. Electronics can have a variety of failures whether or not it's overheating. Yes, there are other components that can cause this, but it is a definitely a hardware problem.

Most likely = power supply. A bad motherboard is another possibility, but pretty rare.