Crashing to desktop at random times

• Pani wrote on 2016-06-26 17:50
  I updated to Windows 10 on a whim, figured the free upgrade was available anyway and I had low hopes that it might fix the issue. I can now run Mabi using the onboard graphics, but the FPS is awful and it freezes a lot so I can't really tell if it resolves the issue. I've been searching around online for the same issue and found people do tend to have the same problem (graphics card drivers stop responding only in certain games, requiring a hard reboot), but there doesn't seem to be any universal fix.
  
  I've tried doing a complete clean reinstall of the graphics drivers (including a registry clean before reinstalling) - no dice.
  
  The crashing has actually gotten worse since upgrading to Windows 10. I can't even play for 5 minutes before a crash. It'll recover more often, but after about 5 simultaneous crash/recovers, it 'black screens' (or chooses a colour! It was pink last time) and I'm forced to hard reboot.
• Yoorah wrote on 2016-06-26 18:26
  Yeah, Intel graphics don't give you the best gaming experience. XD But it was more to test whether it's an issue with your NVIDIA GPU. By "it freezes a lot," you mean you get the exact same problem as before? If yes, then at least you know the NVIDIA card isn't to blame. And since you upgraded to a new OS, which installed a new set of drivers for all your hardware, it's most likely not a software issue, either. There might be something wrong with your CPU, RAM or motherboard. :(
  
  You can test the CPU and RAM separately, with the tools mentioned previously.
  
  As a side note: This is probably not that relevant to your issue but I must say that Windows in-place upgrades have always sucked, and you should do a format/clean install instead. The only time you should do an upgrade is for the free upgrade promotion from 7 to 10, because it registers your system with Microsoft. From now on you would be able to do clean installs of Windows 10 on this PC without requiring a serial key, thanks to that. But after that, I'd recommend backing up all your important files (if you haven't already!) and wiping the whole thing, deleting old system partitions, etc. Let the Windows 10 installer recreate everything as needed.
  
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/windows10
  Follow the clean install steps.
• Pani wrote on 2016-06-26 18:43

  Quote from Yoorah;1296470:

  By "it freezes a lot," you mean you get the exact same problem as before? If yes, then at least you know the NVIDIA card isn't to blame. And since you upgraded to a new OS, which installed a new set of drivers for all your hardware, it's most likely not a software issue, either. There might be something wrong with your CPU, RAM or motherboard. :(

  
  Oh, no, the graphics drivers weren't crashing, it was just super low FPS and essentially unplayable.
  
  Is it still likely to be a hardware issue if it's just Mabi? I just played a bunch of Overwatch without a single issue. It's so strange that this is the only game causing it to crash.
  
  

  Quote from Yoorah;1296470:

  As a side note: This is probably not that relevant to your issue but I must say that Windows in-place upgrades have always sucked, and you should do a format/clean install instead. The only time you should do an upgrade is for the free upgrade promotion from 7 to 10, because it registers your system with Microsoft. From now on you would be able to do clean installs of Windows 10 on this PC without requiring a serial key, thanks to that. But after that, I'd recommend backing up all your important files (if you haven't already!) and wiping the whole thing, deleting old system partitions, etc. Let the Windows 10 installer recreate everything as needed.
  
  https://www.microsoft.com/en-au/software-download/windows10
  Follow the clean install steps.

  
  I'll do this. My project over my next days off. Thanks! :)
• Pani wrote on 2016-06-27 16:46
  lol I have no idea what's happening anymore, the game just freezes up completely after character selection now, can't force-close the game or move any windows in front of it or behind it, so I'm still forced to hard reboot.
• Yoorah wrote on 2016-07-05 22:34

  Quote from Pani;1296471:

  Is it still likely to be a hardware issue if it's just Mabi?

  
  I can't say "likely," it's more that we've exhausted the other possibilities to the best of my knowledge. Someone else might know better. Other people run Mabi just fine. Your Intel GPU runs Mabi just fine (except slowly.) Crashing like that is very unusual, especially after you reinstall the OS. Different games could stress GPUs differently, and yours could have a specific defect that gets triggered only by certain conditions. As mentioned before, GPU stress test software like FurMark can be another tool you could use to verify if the GPU is not defective, as GPUs that survive FurMark without glitches appearing on the screen or system crashes are usually OK. Not sure if you've had the chance to try it. Have you tried verifying the RAM?
  
  I am assuming you tested the above after fully wiping and re-installing Windows 10 clean (not a repair install or something)? Because that would pretty much eliminate any software conflict that could be causing this... meaning the culprit has to be hardware.