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Malquidis's avatar
Malquidis
7 years ago
Solved

SWTOR randomly freezes entire pc during play, requires hard reset

Repost- original post marked as spam, though I don't know why. tl; dr - My WIN 7machine crashes during play and freezes the whole computer even though it meets minimum reqs and has no issues with ot...
  • Malquidis's avatar
    Malquidis
    7 years ago

    Hello All who have been following my own personal Star Wars Saga.

    I don't understand it, but I can now confirm that my issue is somehow related to the usage of speakers vs. USB headphones.  I still have not tested different speakers, or having the speakers draw power from another source, so I can't narrow it down further yet, but I can confirm that I can play for HOURS on SWTOR at med-high settings with no issues at all, as long as I am using the USB headphones.

    If I use the external speakers, the whole system will freeze within an hour of play or less.

    I intend to eventually experiment with the above-mentioned ideas of different speakers, a different power source for the speakers, as well as replacing the audio drivers on the machine (since I don't really see how power draw would cause a freeze and not a shut-down or restart.

    I will update this thread with the results of these experiments when I eventually perform them, but for now, I am considering the problem solved, albeit with a workaround.

    Lastly, I have not yet addressed the thermal putty suggestion mentioned in a previous post, but I have a tube now on order from amazon, and will be taking care of that as well.

    Thank you all for your help, analysis, and suggestions. I don't know if this thread will help anyone else, but I know that the information and tools that came up in this thread will likely help me in the future as well.

    May the Force be with you all.

Malquidis's avatar
Malquidis
7 years ago

Okay Everybody- It happened again.

I have had about 8 - 10 hours of successful play on SWTOR, until this morning, when it froze. Twice.  The only thing I did differently when the freezes took place, was that I had disconnected my Turtle Beach Recon 60P USB headphones, and was instead running on regular computer speakers, plugged into the main 3.5mm audio output jack, and connected to USB external power. After this post, I am going to go back to playing with the headphones connected, and see if I get longer play time. Wouldn't it just be insane if that was somehow relevant?

The second time it froze, I was able to get pics of the various monitors that I had running.  I have uploaded them to Onedrive, and they are here for your perusal:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBKq4YKvUvG-jx6aA

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBLlh0WCMD8MkoEyg

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBMkKx8y2NKXid9dg

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBN7vzg24BglA8gAg

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBOrNLntePkYLCXZw

Sorry for potato quality screenshots- I had to use my tablet to take pics of the frozen screen where I crammed as many monitors as possible.

Also, here are today's AMD Overdrive logs: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBPKhRA8AWN4jSYJw  and https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBQqbhDIY9Tgw-YpA

Also also, here is the log file from EVGA Precision: https://1drv.ms/t/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBRO9n3xeQdvDEkBA

Again, More, I thank everybody who is even remotely putting brain cells on this issue. I would say something like U da real MVP, but I take your assistance more seriously than that.

proxos666's avatar
proxos666
Hero+
7 years ago

@Malquidis 

At present I think looking closer at the temperature of the CPU is worthwhile, maybe put new thermal paste and ensure the cpu cooler is seated correctly just to be certain.

6deg thermal margin is way too close to the limit in my view on a out of game test, also the reported temps need checking as they are way exceeding 100c

Edit - while checking the CPU temps the official allowable max temp is 72.4°C  per https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/860k

I suspect the temps reported above are wrong but as you look closer with other tools knowing the allowable max temp is handy.

  • Malquidis's avatar
    Malquidis
    7 years ago

    The 6°C margin I mentioned was with SWTOR running, and the game in full swing. My non-load thermal margin is usually in the 38°C to 42°C range. (EDIT- don't know what I was thinking with my originally posted reply)

    I'll look into the CPU cooling, though, since the temps are going above the allowable max temp.

    In OTHER news, I have had several more hours of successful SWTOR play with the USB headphones plugged in instead of using the speakers. I am about to see what happens when I start with headphones and switch to speakers. At this point, I would bet real money that a freeze follows shortly thereafter.

  • Malquidis's avatar
    Malquidis
    7 years ago

    Hello All who have been following my own personal Star Wars Saga.

    I don't understand it, but I can now confirm that my issue is somehow related to the usage of speakers vs. USB headphones.  I still have not tested different speakers, or having the speakers draw power from another source, so I can't narrow it down further yet, but I can confirm that I can play for HOURS on SWTOR at med-high settings with no issues at all, as long as I am using the USB headphones.

    If I use the external speakers, the whole system will freeze within an hour of play or less.

    I intend to eventually experiment with the above-mentioned ideas of different speakers, a different power source for the speakers, as well as replacing the audio drivers on the machine (since I don't really see how power draw would cause a freeze and not a shut-down or restart.

    I will update this thread with the results of these experiments when I eventually perform them, but for now, I am considering the problem solved, albeit with a workaround.

    Lastly, I have not yet addressed the thermal putty suggestion mentioned in a previous post, but I have a tube now on order from amazon, and will be taking care of that as well.

    Thank you all for your help, analysis, and suggestions. I don't know if this thread will help anyone else, but I know that the information and tools that came up in this thread will likely help me in the future as well.

    May the Force be with you all.

  • EA_Kipling's avatar
    EA_Kipling
    Icon for EA QV Team rankEA QV Team
    7 years ago

    @Malquidis Glad the puzzle seems to be solved! Game crashes related to the Realtek audio chipset isn't unheard of, but still quite rare nowadays. I think the first I came across a handful of cases with BF3, where the workaround was the same, just use a different internal or external soundcard (a USB headset is technically an external soundcard).

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