[solved] [SM] Crashes - PC reboots after around 10/15 mins

[haydxn]

The game runs really nicely for a little while on my home PC, but before long the performance becomes noticeably worse for a minute or two, and then cuts directly from gameplay to a black screen; some existing audio playback can still be heard for a few seconds (it doesn't sound like anything new is triggered), and then my system reboots itself.

As it's such a hard crash, the app doesn't get a chance to generate a log

I do, however, have a log from an earlier (presumably unrelated) crash, which at least includes some system spec info, so I'll paste that part here (obviously not all of it is relevant):

Code: Select all

[Sys] Windows version = 8
[Sys] Os = Windows 8 Pro(9200.win8_gdr.130108-1504) 64b
[Sys] Cpu = Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU         920  @ 2.67GHz @ 2 660MHz (bench)   (Nb=8)
[Sys] SSE2 = 1
[Sys] Physical memory = 6 136 Mb
[Sys] Windows GDI resolution = 1 920x1 080x32b
[Sys] ExeChecksum = 0x9ADCE2F1
[Sys] ---- GlobalMemoryStatus(Startup) ----
[Sys] MemoryLoad = 26%
[Sys]                Total Mb  /    Free Mb
[Sys]   Physical =   6 136 Mb  /   4 526 Mb
[Sys]   PageFile =  12 280 Mb  /  10 063 Mb
[Sys]   Virtual@ =   4 096 Mb  /   3 986 Mb
[Sys] ----------------------------
[Sys] ---- GlobalMemoryStatus(Now) ----
[Sys] MemoryLoad = 27%
[Sys]                Total Mb  /    Free Mb
[Sys]   Physical =   6 136 Mb  /   4 436 Mb
[Sys]   PageFile =  12 280 Mb  /   9 649 Mb
[Sys]   Virtual@ =   4 096 Mb  /   3 777 Mb
[Sys] ----------------------------
[Sys] Largest committed free block size = 832 Kb
[Dx9] D3DX SDK 9.2, DirectX SDK 9.0, Runtime 9.0Ex, using HAL device on
[Dx9] "NVIDIA GeForce GTX 650 Ti"(0x10DE,0x11C6) with 9.18.13.697(nvd3dum.dll) DDI9 driver.
[Dx9] Gpu Memory MBytes = 982
[Dx9] Agp Memory MBytes = 2.81e+003
[Dx9] Device created in Fullscreen.

I have tried reducing the resolution, and using non-HD mode, and I've updated my graphics drivers.

single admin user
Wired connection to DSL router
No antivirus or software firewall
-Network (type of connection, speed, specific network configuration)
-Default browser (ie, firefox, chrome, opera etc.)
-Built-in Windows firewall and Windows defender are the only firewall/av things running
- MSN/Steam are the only other things running

[TGYoshi]

This is probably a "blue screen of death" even though you don't see it. (audio playback is something nearly always happens then, and an instant restart)

First try to update your graphic drivers.

If that doesn't fix it, check if there's a log in C:\Windows\minidump .
If not, enable logging: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/235496 and see if it appears after another crash.

[haydxn]

Already up to date with latest drivers - nothing newer to try

Also, there are no windows dumps (it's set to dump to %SystemRoot%\Minidump, but that doesn't exist even after further crashes).

It's a shame I don't have any more to report, but alas it just dies hard.

It is clear when it is going to, though; I can play fine for a few minutes, but it has never gone directly from smooth play to a crash - it always starts to run with noticeably poorer performance for a minute or two before bombing out. If I [Alt-F4] quit while it's like this, I can reload the game and play for a few more minutes... but obviously that isn't very good for taking part in a match!

I wonder if perhaps there's something I can do to manually trigger some kind of report while it is in this 'struggling' state to give some clues about what is going on..

[targetbsp]

You got any temperature monitoring software? I would say something is overheating (probably the graphics card?) and is slowing down to try and cope before it eventually overheats.

[Demented]

My PC did something similar the day after my latest last update, however I wasn't playing the game at the time. I booted my system but hadn't even touched it yet and was working on my other pc when my Game PC rebooted after about 15 minutes with out any warning. This may or may not be related but that system (in five years) has never done that before. Yes, it is likely just a coincidence and I never would have even written about the problem had I not read this post. BTW I do not have SM installed. I do have the Staduim Beta installed but not into a station.

[haydxn]

It's definitely overheating!

I'd mentally ruled that out, since I've been playing other games recently on much higher settings with no problems. However, checking temperature monitoring software, I saw that yup it's climbing to 100c pretty quick. Just fired up Dark Souls again to see what happens and *pow* it dies too.

I think a cat must have crawled into my GPU in the last couple of weeks while i've been busy at work.

[TMarc]

Would you be able to clean the GPU ventilators?
How old is it? Is it still worth to renew the thermal grease?

[haydxn]

The card is only about 3 months old!

However, the vents on the GPU did have a comprehensive covering of fluff; after pulling it all out, everything is running just fine. Ventilation is always a bit of a pain for my particular case, since my motherboard only has one PCI-E3 slot right near the bottom, giving the GPU fan a whopping 1cm clearance from the floor still, it's enough (when the vents are clear, at least!).

All is now well, and I had a good blast on ShootMania this afternoon.

[TMarc]

perhaps you need some special dust filter outsie which you can clean more easily

[Demented]

It's a good reminder for everyone to keep their vents, filters and cooling fans clear. A can of air is much cheaper than a new CPU or GPU. Dust is Death!