Game Over! [Hardware Down!]

[Barracudastr]

Ok, so i have had the blackout screen issue. but i mostly have the issue of Blue Screen of Death. I did not get these until playing SWtOR. I'm not stating it is SWtOR's fault, but since this thread has the most posts, I figured I ask:

 

Why would I be getting muiltiple BSoDs?

 

Examples:

 

Memory Management

APC Mismatch

Service Exemption

"one other I cannot remember"

 

My SPECS:

 

Win 7 Ultimate

intel i7-870 CPU @ 2.93

Thermaltake SpinQ CPU cooler

ASUS P7P55D-E PRO motherboard

MSI N550GTX-Ti Cyclone II graphic card

Kingwin 850w Lazer Gold power supply

NZXT Phantom case

2x AOC 2243Fw monitors

Razer Imperator mouse

Logitech G110 keyboard

 

all drivers are up to date, be it intel or even network card. My system runs fairly cool with CPU @ ~55 C, and GPU ~50. I HAD MSI Afterburner for GPU fan speeds, but removed once I got the new update. It seemed it happen once I upgraded it, but the BSoD are still happening.

 

I even did a fresh Win 7 install on another 1 TB HDD, and played off of of HDD. that seemed to work for a bit, but now BSoD is happening again.

 

I have seen other people with this issue as well. Can anyone suggest anything?

 

It could be a bad memory issue to be honest.

 

I have built many computers over the years and when you start getting bsods in games its normally time to start looking at hardware. I generally start with my video card... if you have another system available put the card in there and see if you have the same problem.... if you dont then its not the card.

 

Take your memory out put in new memory if the problem stops it was probably a fault in your memory sticks or they just went bad.

 

Last resort if none of the above are problems is the cpu, take it out put it in another machine and test it or buy a new one and test it in your currrent system.

 

Dont rule out the powersupply either make sure you have enough power to run your system this could cause bsod's

 

If its a motherboard issue its generally alot more apparent as the board wont make it to the boot phase if its gone bad.

 

But if you have verified all your on board hardware is working proper then it could be a mother board fault.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Barracudastr

[Barracudastr]

Yea, I use EVGA Precision that's how I knew my card was getting to hot(have a alarm set). The does ramp up to 100% and still keeps increasing in heat unless I have the fan blowing then it stays around the 70-80 under full load. So I assume the fan on the card is not working correctly, it is about 5 years old so it's time for a new one. Just trying to get as much life as I can out of it, here in about 4-5 month's I hope to build a completely new PC.

 

Do you have vert sync on in the game options?

 

If not turn it on and check temps after awhile.

[Brickabrack]

Ok, so i have had the blackout screen issue. but i mostly have the issue of Blue Screen of Death. I did not get these until playing SWtOR. I'm not stating it is SWtOR's fault, but since this thread has the most posts, I figured I ask:

 

Why would I be getting muiltiple BSoDs?

 

Examples:

 

Memory Management

APC Mismatch

Service Exemption

"one other I cannot remember"

 

My SPECS:

 

Win 7 Ultimate

intel i7-870 CPU @ 2.93

Thermaltake SpinQ CPU cooler

ASUS P7P55D-E PRO motherboard

MSI N550GTX-Ti Cyclone II graphic card

Kingwin 850w Lazer Gold power supply

NZXT Phantom case

2x AOC 2243Fw monitors

Razer Imperator mouse

Logitech G110 keyboard

 

all drivers are up to date, be it intel or even network card. My system runs fairly cool with CPU @ ~55 C, and GPU ~50. I HAD MSI Afterburner for GPU fan speeds, but removed once I got the new update. It seemed it happen once I upgraded it, but the BSoD are still happening.

 

I even did a fresh Win 7 install on another 1 TB HDD, and played off of of HDD. that seemed to work for a bit, but now BSoD is happening again.

 

I have seen other people with this issue as well. Can anyone suggest anything?

 

Ok im glad you seem open to logic.

 

Prime 95 is a great system stress tester.. click here to find it.

 

Grab CoreTemp and SpeedFan, then calibrate your thermal monitoring according to Comp's post in CPU overclocking section. You can't always trust inital values in CoreTemp etc, you want to make sure you are reading proper values.

 

CoreTemp - http://www.alcpu.com/CoreTemp/ ***NOTE*** If you are using Vista, you must disable driver signing for it to work.

 

SpeedFan - http://www.almico.com/speedfan433.exe - remember to calibrate this program using Comp's guide or it will just confuse you

 

This way you can stress your system out at 100% burn and monitor the temps. A lot of people run it a long time. If your computer blue screens, you have an issue. It's not the game. A stable computer can run at 100% burn without shorting out. If you can't do it, it's your hardware.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Brickabrack

[stickyickytricky]

It could be a bad memory issue to be honest.

 

I have built many computers over the years and when you start getting bsods in games its normally time to start looking at hardware. I generally start with my video card... if you have another system available put the card in there and see if you have the same problem.... if you dont then its not the card.

 

Take your memory out put in new memory if the problem stops it was probably a fault in your memory sticks or they just went bad.

 

Last resort if none of the above are problems is the cpu, take it out put it in another machine and test it or buy a new one and test it in your currrent system.

 

Dont rule out the powersupply either make sure you have enough power to run your system this could cause bsod's

 

If its a motherboard issue its generally alot more apparent as the board wont make it to the boot phase if its gone bad.

 

 

 

I did all that trouble shooting with my previous build, would post fine and work well at some times. After replacing memory it seemed better for a couple of days and then started again. Grabbed a video card out of a old system, still had same issue, ruled out the CPU by dropping that in a old MOBO. Replaced the MOBO and never had the issue again. Not all MOBO issues will cause it not to post.

[C-Bee]

Thanks for replays, I will, of course, do some research on this and some maintenance as well.

The only thing I didn't mention - it's only SWTOR that heats up my GPU to 80 degrees, any other game never hit above 60.

I am not sure if I am allowed to mention the names of other MMOs here, but lets say, for example, Aion - it has better, more demanding graphics, still I can run it on max, and it heats up to 60 degrees only. Same with BF3.

But thank you for your input, its clear to me that the fault is all mine anyway.

 

Obviouslty your graphics card disagrees with you...

Edited January 25, 2012 by C-Bee

[MaGicBush]

Do you have vert sync on in the game options?

 

If not turn it on and check temps after awhile.

 

Thanks for the tip, actually it was turned off. I will keep an eye on it and see if that helps a little!

[LeSang]

About the VTune ->

Its also the NVidia utility that gives you manual fan speed control, you don't have to OC with it.

 

About the people who doesn't understand, that I don't care what temperature is considered dangerous - it does not matter. What matters is Swtor heats up GPU 20-30 degrees more than any other game despite the fact that its graphics are not hi-end.

[Barracudastr]

I did all that trouble shooting with my previous build, would post fine and work well at some times. After replacing memory it seemed better for a couple of days and then started again. Grabbed a video card out of a old system, still had same issue, ruled out the CPU by dropping that in a old MOBO. Replaced the MOBO and never had the issue again. Not all MOBO issues will cause it not to post.

 

Ya sometimes its hard and tedious to nail down where the issue lies..... I went through 3 mobo's building a new system once, that was through newegg, ordered through somewhere else mobo worked fine .

[senshi]

I had this problem with Skyrim, not the getting too hot but the computer freeze and reboot. What I did was open up my computer and right click the C drive and select properties and uncheck the "allow files on this drive to have contents indexed" box. This is on a Windows 7 Ult 64 machine. After doing this the game ran fine. I have no idea what was causing it because every time it happened it seemed to be a different error in event viewer. The only reason I even tried it is because we had a similar issue with an accounting program and a Windows 7 machine and that was the fix.

 

Maybe that will help you.

[BadgeredMushroom]

Obviouslty your graphics card disagrees with you...

 

Game engine optimization in SWTOR is terrible. Stop trolling. A less demanding game should not put more stress on a video card than a more demanding game.

[C-Bee]

you know what?

 

You need to ****. I'm sick of you SMUG Bioware defenders, it's DISGUSTING.

 

Perhaps what he's saying is true? Want to know why i'm saying this?

 

b/c it happened to me as well, Already lost one 6870.. it was pretty brand new as well.

 

I'm getting SICK OF the MOMENT SOMEONE SAYS ONE THING NEGATIVE about your trusty game they are in the wrong.

 

You know what? the WoW community had this VERY SAME PROBLEM.. and all the Braindead WoW defenders defended it NON STOP! all the complaints, then people saying they would cancel their accounts..

 

How about you SIT BACK and let customers (LIKE YOU) complain, and let the company listen, and respond to it.

 

 

/rant

 

Theres a difference in showing misplaced loyalty and pointing out the obvious. In this case it's quite obvious that the software did not kill anyones system, since software does not directly do that... If the system is overheating then there is an underlying issue with your hardware.

[Barracudastr]

About the VTune ->

 

 

About the people who doesn't understand, that I don't care what temperature is considered dangerous - it does not matter. What matters is Swtor heats up GPU 20-30 degrees more than any other game despite the fact that its graphics are not hi-end.

 

Turn vert sync on.

 

The reason its heating up is because its fps shoot through the roof in some areas. This creates a huge temp increase on most cards.... mine runs 15c hotter with it off.

[Barracudastr]

Air cooled fan at 50%-

 

Im at 60c if the game was causing the temps it would be an issue with everyones cards. But its not. Theres very few people with the issue and its generally because of card drivers, fan speeds not ramping up, or your card is chomping through high fps increasing heat in this case you need to enable vert synce ..... you dont need 100+ fps lol.

 

The people with black screen issues sound like its mostly ATI users.... that right there says its most likekly a driver issue.

http://img38.imageshack.us/img38/3328/screenshot2012012511573.jpg

Edited January 25, 2012 by Barracudastr

[skyvortex]

Anyone who says software cannot kill your PC is dumb.

Lets try this, go instal furmark, start it right before you go to work, then get back with me in a day or two to see how your PC is holding up.

[Chaffery]

What.. You cant use your GPU manufacturers FPS limiters? NVidia got one built into driver and Im pretty sure ATI has one too, though not sure how easy it is to access.

 

For those who dont know how hardware works... Overheating is not caused by demanding software.. all that causes is slow frame rates. Overheating comes from non-functioning cooling and nothing else. If you get a minimum spec. card and it's properly cooled, I gurantee you, it wont blow up. It might be too slow to enjoy the game, but it wont overheat just becose it's under stress.

Where do you taking this garbage? Ok, I have been computer engineer since C64 and Zx80.

 

Overheating is not caused by demanding software..

So what for then cooling is needed? If software can not beak a sweat billion transistors inside GPU core.

[txfeinbergs]

Wait a second...

 

Do you think that this is the ONLY VIDEO GAME the OP has ever played on his video card?

 

What about me? ever ask what games i've played on my 6870 perfectly?

 

Try Skyrim, BF3.. League of legends.. etc etc.. card ran perfectly fine for those...

 

Why is everything so black and white? there's literally 100's of variables that could be involved, the one common thing that has happened is, other games fine? then all of a sudden SWTOR crapped out the card.

 

Use logic.

 

I could code up the most inefficient piece o crap SW load that is incredibly worse than SWTOR that runs your video card at 100% utilization all day long and you only get 3 frames per second and it still should not burn out your card if your card is cooled properly. Why don't you try logic?

[Stormnut]

Game engine optimization in SWTOR is terrible. Stop trolling. A less demanding game should not put more stress on a video card than a more demanding game.

 

Optimized or not, SWTOR will not cause hardware to fail based on faulty code alone.

[BadgeredMushroom]

Air cooled fan at 50%-

 

Im at 60c if the game was causing the temps it would be an issue with everyones cards. But its not.

 

That's not how software works.

 

Theres very few people with the issue and its generally because of card drivers, fan speeds not ramping up, or your card is chomping through high fps increasing heat in this case you need to enable vert synce ..... you dont need 100+ fps lol.

 

Check the support forums. It's happening to a lot of people, and ONLY with this game, which is less graphically demanding than many other titles out on the market.

 

I have v-sync enabled, which caps my FPS at 60. I have the latest drivers from nVidia. This game (and ONLY this game) makes my GPU run 20 degrees warmer than it does with...

 

• Rift
  
• StarCraft II
  
• Witcher
  
• League of Legends
  
• Civilization V
  

 

... all on maximum settings. I could go on, but you get the picture. The problem is with this something in this game, probably the poorly optimized engine, and not with my system.

 

Optimized or not, SWTOR will not cause hardware to fail based on faulty code alone.

 

Incorrect. Faulty code will cause hardware to act strangely, which is exactly what happened with StarCraft II when it came out. It fried a lot of people's GPUs in systems far better equipped (both in hardware and cooling) than mine.

 

This is entirely BioWare's problem and they aren't acknowledging it because they could be held liable for ruining people's equipment with terrible, terrible code.

Edited January 25, 2012 by BadgeredMushroom

[Superawesomerman]

What.. You cant use your GPU manufacturers FPS limiters? NVidia got one built into driver and Im pretty sure ATI has one too, though not sure how easy it is to access.

 

For those who dont know how hardware works... Overheating is not ca

 

used by demanding software.. all that causes is slow frame rates. Overheating comes from non-functioning cooling and nothing else. If you get a minimum spec. card and it's properly cooled, I gurantee you, it wont blow up. It might be too slow to enjoy the game, but it wont overheat just becose it's under stress.

 

No you cannot. Hence third party.

 

This overheating problem varies among patches, hell, it seems to vary among reboots. Every patch brings changes to my fps.

 

I only noticed the 106 post 1.1, if that helps. Geforce 260 gtx, fresh win7 home install, updates, nothing else.

 

It is not a cooling issue airflow issue. Only happened in low pop areas with 60+ fps. Any other times cpu naturally bottlenecked it.

 

Anyone else notice that windowed runs smoother than fullscreen?

 

 

No aa, low aniso, no shadows no bloom, everything else high.

[NuanceNW]

Still sounds like the power supply might be on it's last leg. I say this from the remark about the screen going black and the rise in temperatures.

 

Any chance you have access to another power supply rated for the load of all your components to test this with?

[Mr_MartY]

I'm not going to complain about bugs and all other stuff, I am a very patient player, I know the game will get better and better, it's just how it works.

But the fact that this is the only game heating up my graphics card to 80 degrees © made me worried for some time already. And today I have reached the end of the line - after playing the game for 3-4 minutes my pc goes black screen (screen off to be precise), system is down yet something is still running, not sure what exactly. The only thing I can do is restart my pc, then it turns off and on again normally.

After years of waiting, since the day you announced the swtor, I could forgive you any and all bugs, but destroying my PC? Thanks, was nice month of playing with you.

 

Your post demonstrates a complete lack of understanding of hardware issues.

 

Your computer is the problem. TOR did not break your machine. Sounds like your old or poorly taken care of hardware gave out.

[Griminal]

So you blame BioWare because you have a crap system?

 

My system runs at 31-35 degrees. If your system has issues and the majority don't then it's you, not the game

 

Wow, fanboy response of the day. This one takes the cake. I guess you've never heard of a term called poor optimization.

[Arkimor]

So you blame BioWare because you have a crap system?

 

My system runs at 31-35 degrees. If your system has issues and the majority don't then it's you, not the game

 

Well known issue; this game is poorly optimized and on a dated engine.

 

While the OPs case is extreme, even those with beastly rigs notice a substantial hit from this game when compared to any other bench-mark game out there.

 

Nuked PCs aside, this was a very poorly designed game.

Edited January 25, 2012 by Arkimor

[txfeinbergs]

Wow, fanboy response of the day. This one takes the cake. I guess you've never heard of a term called poor optimization.

 

Poor SW optimization does not burn out graphics cards that are implemented with self-protection mechanisims as dictated by Nvidia's and AMD designs. Improperly maintained systems however do cause this.

[Brickabrack]

you know what?

 

You need to ****. I'm sick of you SMUG Bioware defenders, it's DISGUSTING.

 

Perhaps what he's saying is true? Want to know why i'm saying this?

 

b/c it happened to me as well, Already lost one 6870.. it was pretty brand new as well.

 

I'm getting SICK OF the MOMENT SOMEONE SAYS ONE THING NEGATIVE about your trusty game they are in the wrong.

 

You know what? the WoW community had this VERY SAME PROBLEM.. and all the Braindead WoW defenders defended it NON STOP! all the complaints, then people saying they would cancel their accounts..

 

How about you SIT BACK and let customers (LIKE YOU) complain, and let the company listen, and respond to it.

 

 

/rant

 

You need to *********** listen instead of running off on half cocked rants about something you obviously need schooling on. The reason it's not BW's fault is because it's impossible for ANY program to overheat your hardware. ALL a program can do it make the Hardware run at 100% ; if your hardware fails at that, it's the hardwares fault.

 

Some people stress their hardware at 100% burn for 12 hours straight just to be sure they have a stable system. And that's 100%. TOR does NOT use up 100% of anyones processing power. On my machine, it barely uses 30% of my CPU and my GPU is at 50% fan speed. If you can't do it, check your computer.