PC Totally Freezes

[Kermit.3759]

Hey guys,
  I've been searching a lot of answers for my problem, but I have yet to find an answer. Since a couple weeks ago my GW2 game started to freeze, the whole PC freezes but the sound is still on. Most of the anserws I found were: you need a better power supply / you need better cooling for your CPU.  So I changed them both, a new power supply and a water-cooler (sorry I don't know the name in english) for my CPU. The game still freezes everything on 10-12 min playing. I have:

  

1.  Checked all my drivers (and updated them)
2. Updated windows
3. Repaired the client
4. Deleted bin64 folder
5. Tried playing with lower graphics / higher graphics
6. Used a logging system (results in this drive spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11HO8rL9mcBRZeGjdVY7q2hOFDqvS2s5VwuqaFqXSPkw/edit?usp=sharing ), found no overtemp (55°C on processors)
7. Im not using overclock (that I know...)
8. I could play without troubles before

PC specs are as follows:

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
MB: AsusTek Primer X570-P
32 GB Ram DDR4
Raedon RX 580 2048

Hope anyone can point me in the right direction, 😞  thanks!

 

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

did you do a full test of your memory and hard disk? the game is 60gb and will easily trigger disk and memory problems whereas most other games wouldn't, due to its large size and how often this data gets loaded in and out of memory from its nature as an mmo.

 

did you also check the temperature on the rx580? online information says it can't go over 90c, but its not recommended to go over 80c. benchmarking shows that the video memory chips start to build up too much heat past that point (even though the gpu can handle it), and start to fail. this will happen even at stock clocks if for some reason the card runs hot in your machine even without overclocking, like if you have a plastic case.

 

edit: i checked your document and it looks like your gpu is fine temperature-wise, however the card should have a physical switch on it for "silent mode". try enabling or disabling that and seeing if it changes anything.

Edited July 6, 2023 by SoftFootpaws.9134

[Shazzrah.2496]

I have similar issue with RX 6800XT Powercolor Red Devil. Picture freezes completely, I can move the mouse and I hear the background sound (I can even move character). I alt-tab and it unfreeze the game. It is EXTREMELY annoying. The interesting thing is that after I close the game, for a brief moment, the snapshot of the last moment when my game froze is displayed.

Things I've tried (with no luck so far):

1. Switched to Vulkan API;
2. Underclock / Overlock / Default GPU settings;
3. -usecoherent -ignorecoherentgpucrash in the shortcut;
4. -Repair the game;
5. Rebuild cache;
6. Disable Enhanced Sync in AMD Adrenaline;
7. Switch bios of the GPU to Silent;

Absolutely nothing helps. Every 10-15 mins I got a freeze and I need to alt-tab to unfreeze.

[KrHome.1920]

According your posted log your GPU is not even fully utilized (which is normal for GW2, the game is CPU bound for most people).

Your GPU numbers (tempeature etc.) are as expected / normal. That said: High temperatures do not cause a PC freeze. That is a common misunderstanding of people. Current hardware does not freeze / crash when overheating, it simply throttles.

What specific power supply do you have?

Quote

i checked your document and it looks like your gpu is fine temperature-wise, however its consuming nearly 300 watts for a 225 watt board.

Where do you get that information from? The GPU peaks at ~185 watts (a few not problematic overshots to 192 watts), which is exactly its specified TBP.

Edited July 6, 2023 by KrHome.1920

[Chaba.5410]

What do you mean by you checked the drivers?

Did you scan your filesystem and Windows installation for corrupted drivers?

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

9 hours ago, Shazzrah.2496 said:

I have similar issue with RX 6800XT Powercolor Red Devil. Picture freezes completely, I can move the mouse and I hear the background sound (I can even move character). I alt-tab and it unfreeze the game. It is EXTREMELY annoying. The interesting thing is that after I close the game, for a brief moment, the snapshot of the last moment when my game froze is displayed.

Things I've tried (with no luck so far):

1. Switched to Vulkan API;
2. Underclock / Overlock / Default GPU settings;
3. -usecoherent -ignorecoherentgpucrash in the shortcut;
4. -Repair the game;
5. Rebuild cache;
6. Disable Enhanced Sync in AMD Adrenaline;
7. Switch bios of the GPU to Silent;

Absolutely nothing helps. Every 10-15 mins I got a freeze and I need to alt-tab to unfreeze.

if you can spare the time, try using dxvk and enable full logging. its pretty good about reporting any problems.

[Shazzrah.2496]

9 hours ago, SoftFootpaws.9134 said:

if you can spare the time, try using dxvk and enable full logging. its pretty good about reporting any problems.

Good point, I just enabled logging (there is no full logging option, I will try to use debug parameter) for dxvk. Later today I will play and we will see what are the results. Funny thing... with AMD drivers in order for me to just play normally I feel like I've became a developer. Now with this game just to play it normally I have to be a senior QA.. By the time I finish the main story I will be full stack

[KrHome.1920]

This is not an AMD driver issue - neither for the OP nor for the poster above me.

Freeze and complete PC lockup / restart => most likely PSU failure; maybe CPU or RAM failure; unlikeliy GPU failure

Freeze and GPU driver reset => most likely game bug or unstable GPU hardware (mostly too much OC (including factory OC) or UV)

[Chaba.5410]

He really should run "sfc /scannow" to find corrupt files and/or use dism.  If his computer is locking up, there's a good chance for corruption.

Also there's some other search results which indicate the need for checking the BIOS and any DCOP/XMP settings:
 

https://forum.level1techs.com/t/help-needed-with-instability-issues-on-recently-flashed-uefi-x570-motherboard/183355

Edited July 7, 2023 by Chaba.5410

[Ashantara.8731]

Check your BIOS settings. It could have to do with overclocking, or certain settings don't work well together and need to be adjusted. Google your motherboard and check recommendations.

[Kermit.3759]

Hello guys,
  Thanks for your recommendations, I had to do a quick trip and Im away from my machine, as soon as I come back Ill try every suggetion and document the results, probably on sunday!

[Enduronex.4865]

Did you turn on AI overclocking or overclocking on the CPU at all?  That has caused me issues in the past with system stability that didn't seem predictable.  You can get away with overclocking RAM, but CPU is a lot more sensitive to stability.  Same thing for GPU - I would turn up my clocks on it, and it would just soft lock a particular game. 

[Shazzrah.2496]

2 hours ago, chromodynamix.2495 said:

Did you turn on AI overclocking or overclocking on the CPU at all?  That has caused me issues in the past with system stability that didn't seem predictable.  You can get away with overclocking RAM, but CPU is a lot more sensitive to stability.  Same thing for GPU - I would turn up my clocks on it, and it would just soft lock a particular game. 

Yes, I'm using Intel Extreme Tuning - but with OC and without OC it still freezes.

HOWEVER!

I have an update - When playing the game in window mode - where you can see the white bar on top, and the windows taskbar - the game doesn't freeze. I played 4-5 hours last night and had zero freezes. For me the issue is somehow related to fullscreen and windowed fullscreen. Really weird. I will continue with the QA.

Kermit.3759 try to play the game in window mode for some time and see if you will get any freezes.

[SoftFootpaws.9134]

29 minutes ago, Shazzrah.2496 said:

Yes, I'm using Intel Extreme Tuning - but with OC and without OC it still freezes.

HOWEVER!

I have an update - When playing the game in window mode - where you can see the white bar on top, and the windows taskbar - the game doesn't freeze. I played 4-5 hours last night and had zero freezes. For me the issue is somehow related to fullscreen and windowed fullscreen. Really weird. I will continue with the QA.

Kermit.3759 try to play the game in window mode for some time and see if you will get any freezes.

i suspect the game isn't actually freezing but your system just stops updating the screen for some reason. try running the game in fullscreen (or windowed fullscreen) with the following compatibility options enabled on the command-line before starting it:

-dx9 -usecoherent -ignorecoherentgpucrash -log

 

you might also playing at  a lower-than-native resolution to see how that affects it.

 

on newer operating systems, fullscreen was completely changed (read: mostly removed), especially with the graphics card manufacturers including their own ai-based screen scaling. this means you can run into some really weird problems unless you're on windows 7 or earlier.

Edited July 9, 2023 by SoftFootpaws.9134

[Enduronex.4865]

4 hours ago, Shazzrah.2496 said:

Yes, I'm using Intel Extreme Tuning - but with OC and without OC it still freezes.

HOWEVER!

I have an update - When playing the game in window mode - where you can see the white bar on top, and the windows taskbar - the game doesn't freeze. I played 4-5 hours last night and had zero freezes. For me the issue is somehow related to fullscreen and windowed fullscreen. Really weird. I will continue with the QA.

Kermit.3759 try to play the game in window mode for some time and see if you will get any freezes.

This might be a mismatch between 59.97 fps on monitor and 60 fps in game refresh of unlocked.

[Chaba.5410]

7 hours ago, Shazzrah.2496 said:

I have an update - When playing the game in window mode - where you can see the white bar on top, and the windows taskbar - the game doesn't freeze. I played 4-5 hours last night and had zero freezes. For me the issue is somehow related to fullscreen and windowed fullscreen. Really weird. I will continue with the QA.

Oh boy. Are you using any overlays? They may get confused about the game resolution depending upon which screen mode you select. Like on my system, Nvidia Shadowplay reads a slightly smaller resolution than 1080p as if the game canvas is inside a bordered window rather than borderless window. Then Shadowplay never updates to the full 1080p height and width after the game reinitializes its canvas space.

This may be relevant.

https://devblogs.microsoft.com/directx/demystifying-full-screen-optimizations/

 

[Shazzrah.2496]

I think I'm starting to narrow down the root cause of this issue.
@Chaba.5410 No I'm not using any overlays, I've disabled AMD overlay as well.

First of all sorry that I'm using this topic to discuss my issue as well but I really think that the author can also relate and try some of the fixes that we discuss.

I tested few more graphic settings, here are the results:

1)Window mode - Uncapped fps (ingame) - Capped FPS RTSS 141 FPS - AMD Enhanced Sync ON - No freezes
2)Fullscreen Windowed (or Fullscreen 1440p) - 60 FPS Capped (ingame) - AMD Enhanced Sync OFF - Monitor FreeSync OFF - No freezes
3)Fullscreen Windowed (or Fullscreen 1440p) - 60 FPS Capped (ingame) - AMD Enhanced Sync ON  - No freezes
4)Fullscreen Windowed (or Fullscreen 1440p) - Uncapped fps (ingame) - Capped FPS RTSS 58 FPS - AMD Enhanced Sync ON - No freezes
5)Fullscreen Windowed (or Fullscreen 1440p) - Uncapped fps (ingame) - Capped FPS RTSS 141 FPS - AMD Enhanced Sync ON - Game freezes

Tested both under Vulkan API and DX11 API - same results apply.

So... it looks like there is an issue when game is running higher fps (Higher than 60fps). At least for AMD GPUs. I will continue experimenting.

[Aeon.4583]

If you have game on HDD, move it to SSD and check your HDD. And RTSS not good thing at all for GW2. Use Vertical Sync to limit the FPS usage.

[Kermit.3759]

On 7/6/2023 at 8:16 AM, Shazzrah.2496 said:

I have similar issue with RX 6800XT Powercolor Red Devil. Picture freezes completely, I can move the mouse and I hear the background sound (I can even move character). I alt-tab and it unfreeze the game. It is EXTREMELY annoying. The interesting thing is that after I close the game, for a brief moment, the snapshot of the last moment when my game froze is displayed.

Things I've tried (with no luck so far):

1. Switched to Vulkan API;
2. Underclock / Overlock / Default GPU settings;
3. -usecoherent -ignorecoherentgpucrash in the shortcut;
4. -Repair the game;
5. Rebuild cache;
6. Disable Enhanced Sync in AMD Adrenaline;
7. Switch bios of the GPU to Silent;

Absolutely nothing helps. Every 10-15 mins I got a freeze and I need to alt-tab to unfreeze.

Thing is, I cannot alt-tab. The whole thing dies. I'm not using vulkan API.

On 7/6/2023 at 12:49 PM, Chaba.5410 said:

What do you mean by you checked the drivers?

Did you scan your filesystem and Windows installation for corrupted drivers?

I did a SFC scan, I dont know how to read the results but I'll attach the log file (I cannot pastebin them, too big). Powershell says "Windows Resource Protection found corrput files and successfully reparied them"

LOGS https://drive.google.com/file/d/1q4a8-BjnN1VZPLUtLRrOZMuVlvDWJx7C/view?usp=sharing

This is the result in the PowerShell command prompt: https://ibb.co/Y0P80jp

On 7/7/2023 at 6:13 AM, KrHome.1920 said:

This is not an AMD driver issue - neither for the OP nor for the poster above me.

Freeze and complete PC lockup / restart => most likely PSU failure; maybe CPU or RAM failure; unlikeliy GPU failure

Freeze and GPU driver reset => most likely game bug or unstable GPU hardware (mostly too much OC (including factory OC) or UV)

I did run a test whose results are on my previouse response, it doesn't seem to have a power spyke nor a downstream. I don't know if it is of any help, but I  have used a much intense resource consumption software without hassle.

On 7/7/2023 at 10:30 AM, Chaba.5410 said:

He really should run "sfc /scannow" to find corrupt files and/or use dism.  If his computer is locking up, there's a good chance for corruption.

Also there's some other search results which indicate the need for checking the BIOS and any DCOP/XMP settings:
 

https://forum.level1techs.com/t/help-needed-with-instability-issues-on-recently-flashed-uefi-x570-motherboard/183355

Did it, results on previous quote, as per the post, the OP changed the whole MB and CPU 😐!

On 7/7/2023 at 10:32 AM, Ashantara.8731 said:

Check your BIOS settings. It could have to do with overclocking, or certain settings don't work well together and need to be adjusted. Google your motherboard and check recommendations.

This is what Im gonna try next, I'm a bit lost because I have never tweaked my MB / CPU settings, so Im trying everything else first.

If I can narrow the error or find a solution Ill post it ASAP

[Kermit.3759]

18 hours ago, SoftFootpaws.9134 said:

i suspect the game isn't actually freezing but your system just stops updating the screen for some reason. try running the game in fullscreen (or windowed fullscreen) with the following compatibility options enabled on the command-line before starting it:

-dx9 -usecoherent -ignorecoherentgpucrash -log

 

you might also playing at  a lower-than-native resolution to see how that affects it.

 

on newer operating systems, fullscreen was completely changed (read: mostly removed), especially with the graphics card manufacturers including their own ai-based screen scaling. this means you can run into some really weird problems unless you're on windows 7 or earlier.

 

18 hours ago, Shazzrah.2496 said:

Yes, I'm using Intel Extreme Tuning - but with OC and without OC it still freezes.

HOWEVER!

I have an update - When playing the game in window mode - where you can see the white bar on top, and the windows taskbar - the game doesn't freeze. I played 4-5 hours last night and had zero freezes. For me the issue is somehow related to fullscreen and windowed fullscreen. Really weird. I will continue with the QA.

Kermit.3759 try to play the game in window mode for some time and see if you will get any freezes.

This one was the one, it seems.
Could play a full hour without problem; will keep testing and edit the main post with the solution if it was.

EDIT: After 1,5 hours of gameplay, the game crashed again 😞
EDIT 2: After hard reset, I could play for less than 10 minutes and everything crashed again. Very sad, I though the resolution fix was it.

Thanks!

Edited July 10, 2023 by Kermit.3759

[KrHome.1920]

16 hours ago, Shazzrah.2496 said:

I think I'm starting to narrow down the root cause of this issue.
@Chaba.5410 No I'm not using any overlays, I've disabled AMD overlay as well.

First of all sorry that I'm using this topic to discuss my issue as well but I really think that the author can also relate and try some of the fixes that we discuss.

I tested few more graphic settings, here are the results:

1)Window mode - Uncapped fps (ingame) - Capped FPS RTSS 141 FPS - AMD Enhanced Sync ON - No freezes
2)Fullscreen Windowed (or Fullscreen 1440p) - 60 FPS Capped (ingame) - AMD Enhanced Sync OFF - Monitor FreeSync OFF - No freezes
3)Fullscreen Windowed (or Fullscreen 1440p) - 60 FPS Capped (ingame) - AMD Enhanced Sync ON  - No freezes
4)Fullscreen Windowed (or Fullscreen 1440p) - Uncapped fps (ingame) - Capped FPS RTSS 58 FPS - AMD Enhanced Sync ON - No freezes
5)Fullscreen Windowed (or Fullscreen 1440p) - Uncapped fps (ingame) - Capped FPS RTSS 141 FPS - AMD Enhanced Sync ON - Game freezes

Tested both under Vulkan API and DX11 API - same results apply.

So... it looks like there is an issue when game is running higher fps (Higher than 60fps). At least for AMD GPUs. I will continue experimenting.

My 6700 XT and 7900 XTX run the game without any issues for hours at 144 fps (I have a 144 Hz monitor and VSync set to Always On in the driver).

When you limit your fps your GPU draws less power, generates less heat and runs at lower clock speeds -> more likely a stability issue of your system than an engine or driver issue.

Edited July 10, 2023 by KrHome.1920

[VaegaVic.6394]

16 hours ago, Kermit.3759 said:

 

This one was the one, it seems.
Could play a full hour without problem; will keep testing and edit the main post with the solution if it was.

EDIT: After 1,5 hours of gameplay, the game crashed again 😞
EDIT 2: After hard reset, I could play for less than 10 minutes and everything crashed again. Very sad, I though the resolution fix was it.

Thanks!

On 7/6/2023 at 6:55 AM, Kermit.3759 said:

Hey guys,
  I've been searching a lot of answers for my problem, but I have yet to find an answer. Since a couple weeks ago my GW2 game started to freeze, the whole PC freezes but the sound is still on. Most of the anserws I found were: you need a better power supply / you need better cooling for your CPU.  So I changed them both, a new power supply and a water-cooler (sorry I don't know the name in english) for my CPU. The game still freezes everything on 10-12 min playing. I have:

  

1.  Checked all my drivers (and updated them)
2. Updated windows
3. Repaired the client
4. Deleted bin64 folder
5. Tried playing with lower graphics / higher graphics
6. Used a logging system (results in this drive spreadsheet: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/11HO8rL9mcBRZeGjdVY7q2hOFDqvS2s5VwuqaFqXSPkw/edit?usp=sharing ), found no overtemp (55°C on processors)
7. Im not using overclock (that I know...)
8. I could play without troubles before

PC specs are as follows:

AMD Ryzen 7 5700X
MB: AsusTek Primer X570-P
32 GB Ram DDR4
Raedon RX 580 2048

Hope anyone can point me in the right direction, 😞  thanks!

 

Ello.
Just going to through my thoughts in here. 

I think your GPU is to blame for this cheeky behaviour. 
Everything you've said so far sounds hardware related, and whilst I 100% think you were still right to replace aging parts like CPU cooler & PSU, I've been looking at your logs and you frequently hit 100% GPU usage. I suspect your RX 580 is running too hot and heavy for too long, causing a trip somewhere and a shut down to occur.

If your display completely freezes and you can't interact with it, I would usually say that's either a CPU or a GPU issue. 

This would also explain why you can run windowed for longer. 

The fix? Limit your frames. 

Run it at 60fps and see if that make a difference. 

[Kermit.3759]

7 hours ago, VaegaVic.6394 said:

Ello.
Just going to through my thoughts in here. 

I think your GPU is to blame for this cheeky behaviour. 
Everything you've said so far sounds hardware related, and whilst I 100% think you were still right to replace aging parts like CPU cooler & PSU, I've been looking at your logs and you frequently hit 100% GPU usage. I suspect your RX 580 is running too hot and heavy for too long, causing a trip somewhere and a shut down to occur.

If your display completely freezes and you can't interact with it, I would usually say that's either a CPU or a GPU issue. 

This would also explain why you can run windowed for longer. 

The fix? Limit your frames. 

Run it at 60fps and see if that make a difference. 

Ok so,
  Yesterday I tried this: -dx9 -usecoherent -ignorecoherentgpucrash -log which was @SoftFootpaws.9134 suggestion. It did work util I went to bed.
So, in order: I played for an hour or so with windowed screen, and then the PC collapsed. Then, I edited the direct access as per softfoorpaws recommendation and could play for like two more hours in fullscreen mode.

Today the game PC died within the first 10-15 minutes; I did tried  @VaegaVic.6394 recommendation, lowered the FPS down to 30 (because it was already fixed at 60), used less than native resolution. PC collapsed within 5 minutes.

I don't know what else to do, my GPU and CPU are less than a year, cooling system is brand new, I can play other newer games at maximum without hassle; so I'm pretty sure keep changing parts cant be the only way ...

Tomorrow Ill try to tweak again my CPU / MB settings.

Sad part is, because yestarday I could play a lot, I was confident about finding the root cause and my 15 minutes of live today were used to get all the expansions, and then, crashed. I hate murphy's law.

If aynone elses have another idea, I'll try it.

[MrFayth.3546]

I had this problem with my RX580 years ago. 
If you look closely at the logs(line 31 and 32) the GPU core clocks hit "idle" speeds of 300mhz, which drops his PCI-E speeds to x2(instead of x8) and I suspect that's where the problem starts. It's part of AMD's idle power consumption profiles. When it ramps back up to full power is when the freezing kicks in.

Since you're already running RTSS, i suspect you have Afterburner as well?
Create a "3D" profile with your desired GPU clock speeds, it doesn't matter if its manufacturer speeds or overclocked based on your reported temps, and create another "2D" profile set for idle clocks, I had decent results with 150/300.

That will stop your Core clocks from fluctuating, which happens when windows applications take priority over your running application, and that happens often.(memory clocks will continue to be variable)

I'm almost certain that will resolve your issue. If not report back with more logs like you've given and I will analyze.

Edited July 11, 2023 by MrFayth.3546

[Kermit.3759]

14 minutes ago, MrFayth.3546 said:

I had this problem with my RX580 years ago. 
If you look closely at the logs(line 31 and 32) the GPU core clocks hit "idle" speeds of 300mhz, which drops his PCI-E speeds to x2(instead of x8) and I suspect that's where the problem starts. It's part of AMD's idle power consumption profiles. When it ramps back up to full power is when the freezing kicks in.

Since you're already running RTSS, i suspect you have Afterburner as well?
Create a "3D" profile with your desired GPU clock speeds, it doesn't matter if its manufacturer speeds or overclocked based on your reported temps, and create another "2D" profile set for idle clocks, I had decent results with 150/300.

That will stop your Core clocks from fluctuating, which happens when windows applications take priority over your running application, and that happens often.(memory clocks will continue to be variable)

I'm almost certain that will resolve your issue. If not report back with more logs like you've given and I will analyze.

Thanks! I'll give a it a shot right now and let you know