PC shuts down completely while playing the game

Halicar · April 2014

I also have these sudden PC shutdowns, and it only started after the server maintenance (on EU servers) april 15. Sometimes it's after 10 minutes, sometimes the game runs fine for hours.

Destabilizator · April 2014

If your PC suddenly shuts down while playing demanding 3D game, get monitoring app (like Aida), enable logging of power consumption of graphic card(s) and after it shutsdown, reboot and check the log. Then check how much the PSU branch can handle (BRANCH, not PSU as whole). Chances are you are overloading the branch under load, especially if your GPU requires 2x power connector, make sure each of them is on different branch.
It may work fine in some games, but that just means you are balancing on the edge and when more load demanding moment comes (mm icicles in volumetric light), then it draws more power.

Saerydoth · April 2014

PC shutdowns are either a hardware, OS, or driver issue. The absolute worst thing that can happen because of a problem with the game is having the application crash.

Putok · April 2014

Squishy wrote: »

AMD?

Putok wrote: »

BSODs can absolutely be caused by bad programming, in fact the majority of BSODs are because of driver issues. I have used BSOD analyzers. The issue is with a few different drivers related to handling multi-threaded tasks, and it only occurs while playing ESO. It also only popped up after the first maintenance this week.

The graphic cars is an AMD one?

Nope, 780ti

Squishy · April 2014

I've had no crash at all, and I also have a 780ti, Core I5 2550K, windows7. I'm using 335.23, what about you?

Halicar · April 2014

Saerydoth wrote: »

PC shutdowns are either a hardware, OS, or driver issue. The absolute worst thing that can happen because of a problem with the game is having the application crash.

Sorry, I don't believe you know what you're talking about. Stating something as a fact when it isn't, isn't helpful. I didn't change anything at my end to cause these sudden shutdowns - the changes were made by Zenimax. So - whatever I do now to counter those changes might just cause new and unforeseen problems whenever they correct the problem.

I might however try some of Destabilizator's advice and just get more information about what happens in my PC. Then at least I can give more detailed feedback to Zenimax if and when similar things happens again.

Putok · April 2014

Squishy wrote: »

I've had no crash at all, and I also have a 780ti, Core I5 2550K, windows7. I'm using 335.23, what about you?

Same 335.23, also Win 7. My crashes only started recently.

I had none during EA. After 1.02 I started having a few here and there, maybe one a night. After the most recent maintenance, I've been getting them about 30% of the time when logging into a character, and maybe once every 1-2 hours of gameplay when actually logged into the character. I've had 3 or 4 of those login crashes result in BSOD.

I've tried uninstalling and completely deleting the game and then reinstalling, uninstalling and reinstalling video drivers, closing everything under the sun including anti-malware while running the game, uninstalling addons, pretty much everything other than reinstalling windows, which I'm really not inclined to do given the issue is only with ESO, and in particular the latest version of ESO. I'm hoping that tomorrow's patch fixes things.

Squishy · April 2014

That is very odd. Since I can not see any obvious thing here, I'll ask the basic stuff, just to get them out of the way:).

Are you overclocking anything?
Have you cleaned the fans from your gfx card? (in case of overheating).
Have you setup your drivers for application control (rather than full perf or quality)?
Have you done a defrag recently (not really an issue nowadays on win7, but you never know:) ).
Has your pc got10% or more free hdd space?
Is your virtual memory 1.5 times the size of your ram?
Any kind of legacy usb options activated or deactived in your bios?
Any kind of managing software for your cpu clock speed/gpu/ram?
Are windows updates up to date?
Is the application set to run as admin for all users?
Have you added the entire eso folder to the exception of your AV/firewall?
Any virtual devices (virtual cd etc.) running?
Is the nvidia streaming option disabled?

I can't think of anything else right now

GJVah · April 2014

GJVah wrote: »

Having the same problem. Sometimes it will happen in 3-4 hours, sometimes after only 5-10 mins. It's not a heat issue. I have 3 monitors, the middle one is where the game runs, I have my VOIP app on the left screen, and CPU, GPU, RAM and HDD monitors on the right screen and I always keep an eye on them (ever since my H110 pump failed once). Anyways, this seems to be random, there's a mem leak somewhere. In my case at least, the CPU never gets over 35C (liquid cooled 1100t @ 4.2GHz) GPU never gets over 70C (6970 2GB, high tolerance card, will hit 110C before it crashes, I've tested). HDD activity is very low (normal) and ram usage is constantly about 50-60%.

P.S. Doesn't happen on any other game. DayZ for example works my CPU like a benchmarking tool, no problems. Crysis 3 works my GPU like it's trying to deliberately kill it, again no problem. I've ran Pime95 on this setup for 48 hours, it's stable.

UPDATE:
This, for me at least happens only in Eastmarch. Anyone else wanna chime in what "zone" this happens in? Maybe we can narrow it down that way. Game runs without hickups in other zones (for me at least).

GJVah · April 2014

Putok wrote: »

BSODs can absolutely be caused by bad programming, in fact the majority of BSODs are because of driver issues. I have used BSOD analyzers. The issue is with a few different drivers related to handling multi-threaded tasks, and it only occurs while playing ESO. It also only popped up after the first maintenance this week.

What tool are you using? When ESO causes my system to restart, I don't even get a minidump..

o_0 · April 2014

Full shutdown without powering back on will be overheating related.

Sudden reboots will be a system failure event (classic BSOD) though most modern windows systems auto reboot and do it so far you miss the blue screen. I suggest turning off auto reboot on system failure in the system properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery. Then at least you can see what is causing the faulire.

Squishy · April 2014

I could crawl back to eastmarch if you wish. In game: Squishy

GJVah · April 2014

o_0 wrote: »

Full shutdown without powering back on will be overheating related.

Sudden reboots will be a system failure event (classic BSOD) though most modern windows systems auto reboot and do it so far you miss the blue screen. I suggest turning off auto reboot on system failure in the system properties > Advanced > Startup and Recovery. Then at least you can see what is causing the faulire.

Logically, yes. But when your CPU is at 35C and GPU is at 60C overheating becomes unlikely. Hell, it even happened to me once at fresh boot, CPU at 28C, GPU at 50C. No BSOD, just shutdown. No dump files, nothing. I have extensively benched the hardware after that as well, can't reproduce the crash, even while stress testing both the CPU and GPU at the same time with 2 separate bechmarks running simultaneously.

(Prime 95+FurMark for 4 hours straight)

Putok · April 2014

Squishy wrote: »

That is very odd. Since I can not see any obvious thing here, I'll ask the basic stuff, just to get them out of the way:).

Are you overclocking anything?

The CPU. Been using the same overclock on it for over a year now without issue.

Have you cleaned the fans from your gfx card? (in case of overheating).

No, but the card is less than two weeks old, they shouldn't really need cleaning (and GPU temp is fine).

Have you setup your drivers for application control (rather than full perf or quality)?

Yes

Have you done a defrag recently (not really an issue nowadays on win7, but you never know:) ).

It's an SSD, so no defrag, but I run Samsung's tool once a week.

Has your pc got10% or more free hdd space?
Is your virtual memory 1.5 times the size of your ram?

Yes to both.

Any kind of legacy usb options activated or deactived in your bios?

I've never touched USB setting in the bios, but now that you mention it, I've needed to restart upnphost a couple times lately as it was pushing 50% CPU usage. I'll poke around in the bios as make sure everything is kosher.
[/quote]Any kind of managing software for your cpu clock speed/gpu/ram?[/quote]CPU is OCed through the BIOS. RAM is not OCed. GPU is not set for 106% power target using EVGA's Precision X (it's an EVGA factory OCed card). I've never seen it push much more than 50% on ESO though.

Are windows updates up to date?

Yes

Is the application set to run as admin for all users?

Now that you mention it, no. I'll try this.

Have you added the entire eso folder to the exception of your AV/firewall?

Yes. I've tried turning both off completely just to make doubly sure as well.

Any virtual devices (virtual cd etc.) running?

No.

Is the nvidia streaming option disabled?

Yes.

I can't think of anything else right now

Thanks! I'll double check everything and see if I've missed anything. I'll set to program to run as admin, and make sure USB ports are all configured correctly in BIOS.

Putok · April 2014

GJVah wrote: »

Putok wrote: »

BSODs can absolutely be caused by bad programming, in fact the majority of BSODs are because of driver issues. I have used BSOD analyzers. The issue is with a few different drivers related to handling multi-threaded tasks, and it only occurs while playing ESO. It also only popped up after the first maintenance this week.

What tool are you using? When ESO causes my system to restart, I don't even get a minidump..

I use whocrashed. I'm only getting CTDs or BSODs, never restarts without a BSOD.

selixjm_ESO · April 2014

HenryH3894 wrote: »

Put a fan next to your vents... helps, trust me.

The fans on the inside of your computer are supposed to be pushing hot air out. A fan on the outside is pushing it back in. If you have a heat problem add more fans, fix the air conditioning in the room or try a case with better ventilation.

felixgamingx1 wrote: »

Leave your case open if playing on desktop

And you should most certainly not do that. You're disrupting the air flow inside your case.

Mikeyd0577 · April 2014

My friend and I have the same issue. PC restarting at random.

Started after the Monday patch.

I know his PC is not overheating, we just built it 4/3/14, all new parts running i7 CPU GTX700 series card, liquid cooled with 7 fans. I know it's not overheating.

Mine is running i3 cpu with gt440 and 5 fans

My PC was built about a year ago and although overheating "could" be the cause with mine, there is no way it is with his and both of us started having this issue after Mondays patch. Seems to happen 1-2 times every game play session.

Squishy · April 2014

Another thing that could be the cause then, would be a RAM error.

I think there's a Sandra soft for memory tests.

If you OC your ram, some games do not look kindly on this (Yeah, I'm looking at you oblivion

).

zibnaf · April 2014

this game does make my tems go really up a lot, i run most games in ultra settings and sure it will raise the temp by about 10 degrease C but this game make me worrie if it wont destroy my rig.

running battlefield 3 in a full multiplayer game with maxed out graphics tems are 40c on cpu and 50c on gpu, with eso the go up to 70c on cpu and 75c gpu and all the fans kicking in even turning down the graphics doesnt do a whole lot.

tems are still in save range but still make me wonder why they just spyke for this game and my rig having nu heat issues with other game that run on ultra setting with no problems

radbluepreub18_ESO · April 2014

Food4Thought wrote: »

The biggest cause of equipment overheating is dust bunnies.
The second cause is the fan(s) giving out.

Both problems can impact PC performance.

I always keep a can of compressed air around for such things and I pop the hood of the PC and check the fans about 4 times a year.

A little 30 seconds of inspection and maintenance can keep your baby purring for years.

I went 1 step further and picked up a small compressor for 80 bucks.cans can cost 10-12 bucks a shot and I was spending over $100/yr on them.

Brakkar · April 2014

I have a sli gtx 780 and had this problem.
I noticed my card temp rising overtime.
I am playing on maximum possible settings.
What I did to control the situation was:
Download PrecisionX software from evga homepage
PrecisionX have the ability to monitor your card temp in realtime and show it on screen when you play, so I had this running and my gpu's temo would go up to 65 C within 30 minutes with fan on auto.
Then I switched the fan to manual, 55% speed and problem stopped.
Now temps never go above 50 C.

Other things that may cause problems:
Ambient temp inside the case/outside the case.
Make sure there is enough airflow in your pc.

If you have old psu, it may not provide enough power to your gpu, thus resulting in pc reseting/shutting down.

Make sure you have enough system memory.
4 gb may have been enough some time ago, but current mainstream gaming pc's have 8 gb as standard. Some older pc's use triple channel memory and have 6 gb memory - these should be fine as well. If you have less than you need to upgrade. I've been minitoring memory usage and it goes above 2 gb easily.

Squishy · April 2014

Brakkar wrote: »

I have a sli gtx 780 and had this problem.
I noticed my card temp rising overtime.
I am playing on maximum possible settings.
What I did to control the situation was:
Download PrecisionX software from evga homepage
PrecisionX have the ability to monitor your card temp in realtime and show it on screen when you play, so I had this running and my gpu's temo would go up to 65 C within 30 minutes with fan on auto.
Then I switched the fan to manual, 55% speed and problem stopped.
Now temps never go above 50 C.

Remmeber, each card makers has a different cooling solution, hence, some cards, eventhough they are the same model, will deal with heat differently. I have a 780, from gainward, and I have 0 issue with heating

.

Brakkar wrote: »

If you have old psu, it may not provide enough power to your gpu, thus resulting in pc reseting/shutting down.

Yep, they advertise 450W mini I think, however this is not taking into consideration other elements present in your rig. If you have like 12 fans, 3 HDD's, 1 or 2 dvd/bluray, 450 is more than tight, especially if the psu date from before SLI. Nowadays, it is safer to buy a psu built for SLI, they are a lot more robust and performant than their previous models.

Brakkar wrote: »

Make sure you have enough system memory.
4 gb may have been enough some time ago, but current mainstream gaming pc's have 8 gb as standard. Some older pc's use triple channel memory and have 6 gb memory - these should be fine as well. If you have less than you need to upgrade. I've been minitoring memory usage and it goes above 2 gb easily.

Indeed, 4gb is really the minimum these days, however, even with the right amount of RAM, remember to check the optimal clock speed for your RAM, as the incorrect one can result in weird results. Overclocking it is also a risky thing as far as stability goes, and the RAM is also an element that can overheat

.

CoUsT · April 2014

v3ggie wrote: »

CoUsT wrote: »

Be sure to never ever have 110C. Maybe your computer can work with that high temperature but it drastically decrease PC components life.

I know, i have enough fans and cooling in my computer. But for some reason the Fan of my video card was not functioning correcly. So i unplugged it all and reinstalled it then set the fan manually to 90%. Then it seemed not to go over 50 degrees anymore. So just lowerd the fans speed little bit so it does not get broken fast
I think i was lucky to discover the problem early else it would have been a disaster i think

Haha, I had the same issue! One (of two) fan stopped working and temperature increased from ~50-55 to 80-85 on GPU and mobo chipset. Now I always run HWiNFO after starting computer. I set alarms here when temperature hit above X degress. You should try it to be sure that all fans are working properly!

And be sure to turn off option that track values. When you turn it off then RAM usage don't increase.

Brakkar · April 2014

I have evga 1000w platinum psu, so enough for 2 780s, 4770k and plenty of fans, hdd's etc Its running in 'green' mode so its not pulling 1000w out of the wall.
Ddr 3 memory is getting cheaper these days because ddr4 is behind a corner.
And you can get good psu's for close to nothing.
You can further improve your gaming experience by buying a ssd.
Ssd drives are already a mainstream storage solution for some time and they can greatly reduce your loading times and improve your sydtemspeed and stability.
I have one for my OS and second for few frequently used programs and games, including eso.

D34thly · April 2014

For those that are totally crashing (system reboot) will it power back up without having to unplug PSU? Also run furmark and tell us what happens.

Pmayojrb14_ESO · May 2014

I have this same issue and it has only started since this last patch...sometimes I can play for an hour sometimes for only 10 minutes...Its not a thermal issue I have redone all my heat sinks with new HQ compound...Its the game not my system..Would really like some help on this..

Saerydoth · May 2014

Squishy wrote: »

Brakkar wrote: »

I have a sli gtx 780 and had this problem.
I noticed my card temp rising overtime.
I am playing on maximum possible settings.
What I did to control the situation was:
Download PrecisionX software from evga homepage
PrecisionX have the ability to monitor your card temp in realtime and show it on screen when you play, so I had this running and my gpu's temo would go up to 65 C within 30 minutes with fan on auto.
Then I switched the fan to manual, 55% speed and problem stopped.
Now temps never go above 50 C.

Remmeber, each card makers has a different cooling solution, hence, some cards, eventhough they are the same model, will deal with heat differently. I have a 780, from gainward, and I have 0 issue with heating .

Brakkar wrote: »

If you have old psu, it may not provide enough power to your gpu, thus resulting in pc reseting/shutting down.

Yep, they advertise 450W mini I think, however this is not taking into consideration other elements present in your rig. If you have like 12 fans, 3 HDD's, 1 or 2 dvd/bluray, 450 is more than tight, especially if the psu date from before SLI. Nowadays, it is safer to buy a psu built for SLI, they are a lot more robust and performant than their previous models.

Brakkar wrote: »

Make sure you have enough system memory.
4 gb may have been enough some time ago, but current mainstream gaming pc's have 8 gb as standard. Some older pc's use triple channel memory and have 6 gb memory - these should be fine as well. If you have less than you need to upgrade. I've been minitoring memory usage and it goes above 2 gb easily.

Indeed, 4gb is really the minimum these days, however, even with the right amount of RAM, remember to check the optimal clock speed for your RAM, as the incorrect one can result in weird results. Overclocking it is also a risky thing as far as stability goes, and the RAM is also an element that can overheat .

"Watts" is a completely meaningless figure when it comes to power supplies. If you are using this to try to determine if your power supply can power all of your components, you are doing it wrong, and this is likely the cause of the system shutdowns (the power supply not being able to handle it).

I've seen cheap power supplies that claim to be "1000w", and it turns out the max they could put out was around 250 (and the person I talked to with this issue had a 200w/16 amp video card). In this particular case, the power supply had 4 separate 12V rails, each putting out 15A (the rest of the "1000w" was on 5V and 3.3V which are irrelevant to the video card). Turns out both of the extra connectors for the video card were on one rail. The video card needed 16A, could only get 15. This wasn't a problem *most* of the time, since components don't usually run at 100%, it was ok a lot of the time. But fire up a heavy game that actually used the video card, system would shut down every time.

This person (on another forum) ended up getting a 450w power supply, but a reputable one, that had ONE 12V rail putting out 30A, and this ran the system just fine.

So in short, if you are measuring your power supply by anything but 12V amps, you are doing it wrong, and are not getting the right information. I personally am running a power supply with one 12V rail putting out 75 amps, and it does just fine with a 4770k and a 780ti.

I can just about guarantee that the OP's problem is that the power supply can't handle the load the components are putting on it, and is shutting down. Instant power offs like that are either caused by overheating or a bad power supply. NOT software.

If you post the ACTUAL specs of your power supply, the math to determine if it can handle your components is pretty easy. Meaning, not watts...need to know how many 12V rails it has (good power supplies only have one), and how many amps per rail.