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AbC2563a9120374's avatar
AbC2563a9120374
10 years ago
Solved

Mass Effect 3 keeps rebooting my system

So, I never had that issue before installing Mass Effect 3 or Origin. I'm not sure, if the client or the actual game is causing the problem. My specs are: Win 7 Professional 64 AMD A8-6600 APU, 3,...
  • EA_David's avatar
    EA_David
    10 years ago

    @AbC2563a9120374 I suspected it was hard drive related due to the stated issues with the install process, and I'd recommend running the chkdsk anyway, to at least discount HDD issues. 

    Thanks for the extra info though, the videos you mention are stored at C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect 3\BIOGame\Movies and are in the binkmedia format (.bik)

    I suspect there's an issue with the video player used, possibly due to the previous install issues.

    As a test, and if you're familiar with changing filetypes and using different media players, you could copy some of the .bik videos from the location mentioned above. Convert them to .mp4 and check if they play in wmp without issue. I suspect they will, but it's an easy enough way to discount issues with the actual video files themselves. 

    If the videos themselves are corrupt, right-click the game panel in Origin and choose the repair option, let this run and hopefully it will do so with issue. 

    If this has no effect, or you encounter a problem while repairing, please uninstall the game (you can try backing up the entire Mass Effect 3 folder to save on a redownload) then uninstall Origin using the steps in this article: https://help.ea.com/nz/article/manually-uninstalling-origin/

    Restart with a Clean Boot then freshly reinstall Origin. If bandwidth usage isn't a concern I'd then redownload the game, being sure to keep an eye open for any prompts from Windows' user account control or your security software. 

    Let us know how you get on, thanks again. 

AbC2563a9120374's avatar
AbC2563a9120374
10 years ago

You know, I go with a damaged install as one possibility.

As I said, my system runs very stable with every other application. Not once was I forced into hard reboots.

And, as I said, it only happens at cutscenes. Not during player controlled action. That's just fine for hours.

Let me give you a quick rundown. Character creation in ME3 leads to an extended cutscene. First try is almost always a hard reboot. Second, cutscene approaching mars. Somtimes a hard reboot. Third time and always a hard reboot at first try, approaching the Citadel for the first time. Things go fine, until the ship approaches it's docking position, where the game always reboots the system.

So, mmy guess is, it has to have something to do with the format of the cutscenes. But without knowing what format they're in, it's hard to lay my finger on the issue at hand.

  • AbC2563a9120374's avatar
    AbC2563a9120374
    10 years ago

    Update.

    It definetely only happens at non interruptable, non interactive cutscenes. Everything else is fine. And by cutscenes, I also mean the ones with Normandy docking somewhere, but not exclusively.

    • EA_David's avatar
      EA_David
      Icon for Community Admin rankCommunity Admin
      10 years ago

      @AbC2563a9120374 I suspected it was hard drive related due to the stated issues with the install process, and I'd recommend running the chkdsk anyway, to at least discount HDD issues. 

      Thanks for the extra info though, the videos you mention are stored at C:\Program Files (x86)\Origin Games\Mass Effect 3\BIOGame\Movies and are in the binkmedia format (.bik)

      I suspect there's an issue with the video player used, possibly due to the previous install issues.

      As a test, and if you're familiar with changing filetypes and using different media players, you could copy some of the .bik videos from the location mentioned above. Convert them to .mp4 and check if they play in wmp without issue. I suspect they will, but it's an easy enough way to discount issues with the actual video files themselves. 

      If the videos themselves are corrupt, right-click the game panel in Origin and choose the repair option, let this run and hopefully it will do so with issue. 

      If this has no effect, or you encounter a problem while repairing, please uninstall the game (you can try backing up the entire Mass Effect 3 folder to save on a redownload) then uninstall Origin using the steps in this article: https://help.ea.com/nz/article/manually-uninstalling-origin/

      Restart with a Clean Boot then freshly reinstall Origin. If bandwidth usage isn't a concern I'd then redownload the game, being sure to keep an eye open for any prompts from Windows' user account control or your security software. 

      Let us know how you get on, thanks again. 

      • AbC2563a9120374's avatar
        AbC2563a9120374
        10 years ago

        Thanks, David.

        It seems to be some kind of issue with the video player, not the videos. I do some more fiddling, but thanks for your support.

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