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Pani wrote on 2016-06-21 05:09
Hello everyone, hoping some of you guys might be able to help me.
I'm running Windows 7 64-bit and my PC is more than capable of handling Mabi, however at seemingly random times my PC completely crashes when I'm playing. It happens in both full screen and windowed modes. Sometimes when it crashes, both of my screens turn black, or sometimes one of them turns aqua or pink (?!), leading me to think it might be an issue with my GPU? It's a GTX 570, with the most updated drivers installed.
I've been searching around but I've been unable to find any fix for this specific issue.
Thanks in advance! :)
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Rydian wrote on 2016-06-21 10:04
Use the demo version of FRAPS to see what FPS you're getting.
http://www.fraps.com/download.php
If it's way over 60 (or your monitor's refresh rate if you have a fancy 120/144hz screen) then that could be the cause of overheating.
If so, set a global framerate cap (because per-profile caps tend to get overwritten).
http://www.guru3d.com/files-details/nvidia-inspector-download.html
Run the ProfileInspector, and on the default profile in section 2, set a framerate cap. Save changes in the upper-right, then restart the game and it should not go above that framerate. This significantly reduces strain on the GPU when in low-demand areas like the title screen or small maps like NPC houses.
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Pani wrote on 2016-06-21 14:43
Hey Rydian! Thanks for the help.
Fraps shows that my FPS doesn't go above 60 in fullscreen mode, but does go as high as 90 in windowed mode. I crash in both modes, so I'm not sure if that's relevant. I've downloaded ProfileInspector but I can't quite see where to set a framerate cap (sorry!). Are you able to point me in the right direction? This is what I see when I run the program:
[Image: http://i.imgur.com/7nzXjhD.png]
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Pani wrote on 2016-06-21 16:42
Sorry, I just realised my title is incorrect - it doesn't just crash to desktop, it crashes my PC completely. The screens never seem to restart, so I need to force my PC to turn off and restart.
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Rydian wrote on 2016-06-22 11:12
Nvidia Inspector is the main part, the Profile Inspector is a separate exe in the download that has the setting changes.
But it sounds like something else is going wrong. You could keep track of the clock rates with CPUZ and Nvidia Inspector to see if they change before the crach, or check your driver version versus the latest to see if you actually have it (some driver update methods will not get you the actual latest driver).
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Pani wrote on 2016-06-22 11:37
Thanks again Rydian, I appreciate the help.
I found the Profile Inspector and set my framerate to cap at 59.7, just in case. I also took your advice and checked; Device Manager seemed to think my graphics card drivers were up to date but they definitely weren't, so I'm currently downloading the newest ones from Nvidia. I'll let you know if this works. :)
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Rydian wrote on 2016-06-22 18:20
Yeah always go to the manufacturer's site for the latest drivers. The device manager pulls from slowly-updated databases and only offers "confirmed" drivers that have passed specific Microsoft testing, which takes a while and costs, so it's not done for all the updates that come out.
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Yoorah wrote on 2016-06-23 04:50
Frame rate has nothing to do with crashing in cases like these. In a stable OS like Windows 7, the key suspects are faulty hardware or driver issues.
That said, the most common sense approach to troubleshooting crashes is to look at the core dump--this is true for any platform that can generate core dumps, since it basically tells you what actually went wrong. xd I'm too [S]lazy[/S] sleepy to write a guide on this but you can find them online.
Here's a basic thing I wrote about it before.
This applies assuming the OS was able to create a dump--in your case it sounds weird, with the monitors going all crazy and all... typically you'd get a BSoD. If you find no dumps, check that the OS was set up to create them upon crashing:
http://blog.nirsoft.net/2010/07/27/how-to-configure-windows-to-create-minidump-files-on-bsod/
Apparently there's 3rd party tools that can read dumps if you don't feel like figuring how how WinDbg and Symbols work. xd Like this one here:
http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/blue_screen_view.html Maybe there are better ones too.
Some other thoughts...
I'd guess there's a 75% chance of a HW issue and a 25% chance for a SW issue.
If you have an Intel based system, there's a good chance your motherboard and CPU have integrated graphics support. If this is the case, remove the NVIDIA GPU for a while and use it on integrated graphics just to see if this makes the crashes go away.
There are also hardware testing tools available--they basically work by stressing the hardware in an attempt to detect errors and/or make the system crash. Prime95 good for testing the CPU, Memtest86 can be used to test your RAM and FurMark could test your GPU. Memtest can be left running overnight, but I'd be careful with FurMark--I'd only run it for ~10 mins in you case, though do monitor the temps as you do this.
You can also run
sfc /scannow in cmd to check your system files for corruption. Probably not the root cause but it's an easy check, so why not do it. xd
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Rydian wrote on 2016-06-24 09:38
Quote from Yoorah;1296390:
Frame rate has nothing to do with crashing in cases like these.
Before knowing all of the details, I suspected it because Mabi doesn't cap FPS, causing unwanted stress on the GPU which could have lead to overheating (especially as, from the initial description, it sounded like some sort of artifacting until we got more details).
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Yoorah wrote on 2016-06-24 23:59
It's not something to worry about within reasonable limits, though. If you want to see what insane FPS looks like, try checking the uncapped FPS you get during the login screen (i.e. the one where the engine loads.) xd
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Osayidan wrote on 2016-06-25 00:12
Quote from Yoorah;1296435:
It's not something to worry about within reasonable limits, though. If you want to see what insane FPS looks like, try checking the uncapped FPS you get during the login screen (i.e. the one where the engine loads.) xd
I think I once got something retarded like ~4000 FPS on the minecraft main menu screen.
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Pani wrote on 2016-06-25 08:09
I did notice FPS higher than 2k on the loading screen. Had no idea what was going on!
After updating my graphics card drivers the issue has definitely gotten better, but I'm still crashing 1-2 times a day.
It doesn't look like they're generating minidumps, either.
Quote from Yoorah;1296390:
If you have an Intel based system, there's a good chance your motherboard and CPU have integrated graphics support. If this is the case, remove the NVIDIA GPU for a while and use it on integrated graphics just to see if this makes the crashes go away.
It doesn't look like Mabi will run with just the integrated graphics. It gives me an error saying the card is unsupported, I click to proceed anyway, but I get another error when the client launches and it closes itself.
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Yoorah wrote on 2016-06-25 15:38
That's odd. Did you install the latest Intel graphics drivers after switching? Which Intel GPU do you have? Mabi always complained about "incompatibility" but it actually runs quite decently, unless this changed recently.
It sucks that no dumps are generated. :( Check the settings to make sure it's set up to create them.
You can also try looking at the built in Reliability Monitor to see if it says anything interesting about the days where you've experienced crashes.
Another Windows tool you could check for info on what happened is Event Viewer. Windows Logs > System > look for things that match the timestamp of your crash, Errors, etc.
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Pani wrote on 2016-06-25 16:52
Ah, no, I didn't install the graphics drivers for the onboard card. That was a dumb move. I'll give that a shot.
EDIT: Having a hell of a time with this. All the files I've downloaded to update keep saying that my system is not optimised to install the update.
My PC is now set up to generate dumps but it's still not creating it. :(
I've noticed that every so often when it black screens it temporarily comes back with a popup saying the graphics card drivers crashed, so I'm just about certain it's something to do with the GPU. It doesn't always happen, though.
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Yoorah wrote on 2016-06-25 17:46
Try running Windows Update after switching to the Intel GPU. It should find a decent enough driver, even if it's not the latest one.
Alternatively, you could try the Intel Driver Update Utility:
http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/support/detect.html?cid=cim:ggl
Another thing you can try is to download the zip package from the Intel site that's appropriate for your GPU and and then manually update the driver by telling Device Manager to update it with the one in that folder. For example:
[Image: http://i.imgur.com/2IdZjcH.png]
[Image: http://i.imgur.com/7erqD6w.png]
A fun key combo you could try if the display freezes: Ctrl + Shift + Win + B. I recall hearing somewhere that it refreshes the screen, but can't recall the specifics.