Starcraft 2 crashing and rebooting computer

[zero7kc]

Hello,

I have an 8-month old iBuyPower Gaming system...including a GeForce GTS 250, 4GB of Ram and a 2.83Ghz CPU.

At first I thought it was in cut scenes, but whenever I try to play an AI game, after about 5 minutes, the whole computer goes dead and reboots. I've downloaded the most updated video card drivers, added the one tidbit that some other forums have thrown out about the variables file, but I still have the same problem.

I've heard it's a frame-rate issue that's maxing out the video card. Some say their cards are "melting" down. Any thoughts? I got this system just for SC2!

 

[swifty_morgan]

TRUTH........... try this

The fix is easy – you just need to add the following lines to your “Documents\StarCraft II\variables.txt” file:

frameratecapglue=30
frameratecap=60

 

[zero7kc]

swifty,

Thanks for that tidbit....I did try it and the same problem is happening. I dropped it on the very end of the variables.txt file, and then moved it up a little, as the files in variables.txt seemed to be alphabetized (dropped it where it would go based on alphabetization). Both times I still had the crashing/rebooting issue.

Any ideas?

Thx,

J

 

[Neet]

Sigh, same problem here... I have following spec:

CPU: AMD X6 1055T @ 2.8Ghz (125w)
MB: ECS A890GXM-A
RAM: Kingston Hyper-X DDR3 1600, 2x2GB (KHX1600C9D3K2/4G)
GFX: Sapphire ATI Vapor-X 5870 1GB
PSU: Corsair HX650w
Screen: Samsung T240, 1920x1200 @60Hz

What happens is that I get into the main menu, start campaign...load takes couple seconds then I watch about 10 seconds of the cuts scene intro thing (guy pour glass of something) and as the camera switches to his face/mouth PC insta-turns off, then i have to disconnect the mains from the PSU and wait for the machine to lose power (psu still charged) then boot up again..no hints of windows crashing or anything upon login..

Heres little info, total wattage under load in sc2 during cutscene 275w usage...cpu around 40 degrees C, gfx 55~60 degrees C, which is all fine, ran Bc2 dx11 @ 1920x1200 everything full etc.. no problems usage ran up to around 380watts... (other games where also fine..)

what I found interesting is that I turned down all the gfx setting to low, low.. besides resoultion...looked crap but my machine didnt reboot and the game ran..., so im assuming its the game, bad coding etc or something, also ran BETA of the game didnt have this problem...
also tried the whole txt file edit to limit 60fps even tried 30fps cap...no difference.

reckon blizzard should give my money back...

also any ideas? ? soz for hi-jack just thought i might share my problem

 

[Ishkrish]

CPU: AMD X2 @ 2.8Ghz
MB: Asus M2N32-Sli Deluxe
RAM: G-skill 8gb, or 4gb OCZ both at 800mhz (both sets of ram have the same issue, decided to give it a whirl)
GFX: XFX ATI HD 5770 1GB GDDR5
PSU: 750 watt
Screen: 1920x1080 @60Hz
O/S: Windows 7 x64 Ultimate

I've Tried:
- Changing the framerate values in the ini file as suggested in this thread
- Reinstalling the game

- Reinstalled windows
- Installed latest drivers catalyst 10.7, latest audio etc
- Installed latest windows updates
- Ensured a manual installation of C++ redist, and .net framework 3.5 - Just did it out of good practice
- Reinstalled the game
- Attempted to play with the same issue. (This was prior to any antivirus software or additional applications installed, on a fresh installation of win7)

- Bios update to beta release as well as standard latest supported release.

- Rolled back drivers to catalyst 10.4, 10.6 - Same issue occuring, more frequently in my case.

- Tried the proposed fix from another forum thread to change the windows 7 TDR timing. I read this is for the video card choking recovery wait time. (Wasn't sure if i could provide links.) So I've provided the steps instead. It seemed to allow some of my crashes in single player to recover. Allowing me to get through some of the game until a proper fix can be provided.
___________
We will raise the TDR timeout period to 10 seconds. (this should be sufficient, don't go any higher as it may be bad for your video card IF an actual issue does arise.)
1. Open Registry Editior (regedit.exe)
2. Navigate to "HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers"
3. Create a new 32_BIT DWORD Key, and name it "TdrDelay" (case-sensitive) and assign it a Decimal Value of "10". (If one already exists, just change the value from 2 to 10) - I changed to 10
4. Reboot your computer

(This did not fix the issue, but allowed the crashes to recover in some cases. For me at least!)
_________________

- I was also thinking of trying to set the starcraft EXE process' affinity to single core in the task manager to see how that works. Will let you guys know if this has any effect.
- I am also going to try adjusting Catalyst A.I to off as proposed in another thread.

 

[Ishkrish]

^^^^ No luck with any of the above mentioned sugguestions I had

 

[Neet]

solved me issue, was psu was under powering the rest of the machine, my replacment 650w is working 100's now

 

[lazyperson17]

Theres the above option, but before you get to that point, try opening the computer case up, leaving the side off in an open good air flow area and then trying to run the game. It could just be overheating.

 

[PaulAustin]

I thought over heating was the case since it seemed to run a little longer before overheating but I looked at a temperature log and it would reboot sometiems at 70 and sometimes at 94.
I'm running on
Processor Intel(R) Core(TM) i7 CPU X 980 b 3.33GHz, 3334 Mhz, 6 Core
6 GB of Ram
and 2 xfire linked Radeon 2gb 5970

The weird thing is it runs just fine on ultra on my older computer with quad core, 3 gb of ram, Geforce 280.

To get it to run on my new pc, I have to turn down to medium.

I've done all the above things except chaging the timeout.

Spent two plus hours on the phone iwth computer tech support and been trading emails with blizzard support for two weeks.

My computer should have no trouble running the game.

 

[trying2fish]

I'm glad I found this posting. I was ready to spend on a new vid card, but from what I can see, it appears to be more of an ATI issue than anything else. Everyone that has posted thus far is using an ATI card, including myself. I'm running a x1900GT, never had any issues with any other 3D games DX9/10. I'm not looking for great frame rates from my dinosaur but from what I've read SC2 scales very well, but a reboot at the intro vid or just barely into the mission is rather disappointing.

I was thinking the PSU suggestion by another but that should really only pertain to users that have a new vid card in an older system 450W PSU and below ( also depends on what you've got in the computer too). Many of these new cards draw 250w+ during load...which could cause a system crash.

Guess I'll just have to give an Nvidia card a try...GTX 460 here I come. I'll repost my findings.

 

[bobington]

I have looked for the SCII.ini file and the variables.txt files, but can't find them. are they packed into something? They are NOT in my SCII folder.

 

[Neet]

I have looked for the SCII.ini file and the variables.txt files, but can't find them. are they packed into something? They are NOT in my SCII folder.

C:\Users\<username>\Documents\StarCraft II\Variables.txt

 

[Neet]

@PaulAustin sounds like you had the same issue as me, what psu you running?, also try take out one card and run with 1x 5970

 

[bobington]

C:\Users\<username>\Documents\StarCraft II\Variables.txt

well I'll be buggered. I put SCII in a separate partition and it never occurred to me to check in my documents. thanks.

 

[b1uef1ame]

im using a nvidia geforce 9400gt 1gb vid card and my sc2 keeps crashing when im playing camp and muti but when i take my card out it works but very slow

 

[Neet]

im using a nvidia geforce 9400gt 1gb vid card and my sc2 keeps crashing when im playing camp and muti but when i take my card out it works but very slow

be more specific, does the machine restart, bsod, or just sc2 just exit/crash with Windows crash window or dont send error as I call them, what is your PSU wattage?, also does it do it in the same place, im assuming you have onboard gfx card, also get the temptures of the card+cpu at the time of running

 

[Manxome]

See: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/248105993?page=27#539

and: http://us.battle.net/sc2/en/forum/topic/374941708

Browse through Blizzard's Technical Support forum and look for the largest threads. The game is obviously at fault for a large number of unexplained system crashes and lock ups. Some of the problems were probably caused by old drivers or overheating issues - simply because those things can cause problems for any game - but there are hundreds of users who have clearly shown that the crash errors they are seeing are due to a problem with the game, not a problem with their computers.

Despite this, Blizzard's official response is to blame the users and deny that there is any problem with the game. It is a bizarre and reprehensible response, but it is right there in the post from Blizzard CS rep Davidedl.

Basically, try the obvious driver and bios updates, close background applications, and make sure your video card is not overheating. If none of those solve the problem, you are running into a bug in the game which Blizzard apparently has absolutely no intention of fixing. You can try running the game on a different computer and cross your fingers, or you can return the game.

 

[lazyperson17]

I am not a spokesperson for Blizzard, nor do i want to be seen as one, but i figured that following the above post, i could put my 2 cents in. (I currently work for a Property Management Company that is completely unassociated with Blizzard)

About 4 years ago, i worked for Blizzard in the QA (Quality Assurance/Testing) sector. The reason they are saying that it is the users fault is because unlike other companies, where they go to someone like Dell or HP and order 100 of the same type of computer, same configuration, same everything, Blizzard has basically either built, purchased or worked out just about any normal gaming (or non gaming) system out there. They build their computers in house a lot of times using old and new parts, rearranging different settings, etc. So because of this, they do have some merit behind their statements of its "users error" and not theirs.

But in defense of the users, it is odd to see so many people have been having issues.

 

[b1uef1ame]

be more specific, does the machine restart, bsod, or just sc2 just exit/crash with Windows crash window or dont send error as I call them, what is your PSU wattage?, also does it do it in the same place, im assuming you have onboard gfx card, also get the temptures of the card+cpu at the time of running

it goes black and i cant do anything i have a amd athlon x2 4450e dual core processor 2.30ghz

 

[Shirosaki]

The overheating thing bugs me. Apparently quite a few people have gotten burnt out video cards playing the game. And I don't really understand it. Are all these people system builders, or did they purchase their PCs from other companies like Dell? Do these companies have a history of creating PCs with bad airflow and cooling or is it a video card/driver issue? I'm just curious who's responsible here, because Blizzard says it's not their fault, but I'm just curious how it isn't. I don't know. If I see someone say they've ran Furmark on their computer and been fine then I'll think it's their fault for sure because something wouldn't add up. I ran SC2 on the menu screen that runs my card at 400 fps. After about 15 minutes I think it got into the upper 50's, but running Furmark my card gets into the mid 60s Celsius.

 

[b1uef1ame]

******* blizzard bitches i want my money back or to play my damn game whos with me >.<

 

[slggrsrus]

The overheating thing bugs me. Apparently quite a few people have gotten burnt out video cards playing the game. And I don't really understand it. Are all these people system builders, or did they purchase their PCs from other companies like Dell? Do these companies have a history of creating PCs with bad airflow and cooling or is it a video card/driver issue? I'm just curious who's responsible here, because Blizzard says it's not their fault, but I'm just curious how it isn't. I don't know. If I see someone say they've ran Furmark on their computer and been fine then I'll think it's their fault for sure because something wouldn't add up. I ran SC2 on the menu screen that runs my card at 400 fps. After about 15 minutes I think it got into the upper 50's, but running Furmark my card gets into the mid 60s Celsius.

I've run Furmark for about 2.5 hours with my ATI HD 4870 and it NEVER went past 83*C, had no errors/glitches. Thing runs like a dream.

I can't play SC2 for longer then 2 minutes before there is a full system lockup at which point the GPU is generally around 80*C but upon locking up the GPU starts heating up beyond control of the PC and has gotten as hot as 90*C+ but at that point I shut the machine down because I thought their might be damage occurring at any moment.

This is most definitely a Blizzard coding problem and it is obviously their fault for cards burning up. Take my situation for example, I was testing my internal heat (with the case wide open) with a point and shoot thermometer (so I can only gauge air temp not card temp). Let's say I had gotten up from my PC for 10 minutes to grab food or take a bio break or such, by the time I'd gotten back I would imagine the card would heat well beyond 100*C and burn out.

Somehow when there is a full system lockup the hardware keeps working past capacity and there is the overheating problem. The game cannot be run even on medium settings, must all be at low which leads to many peoples crashes and heaven forbid they be away from the PC at the time.

IMHO Blizzard owes a lot of people at least an apology and this denial bullsh*t is shady and corrupt.
To the guy earlier who said Blizzard tests their stuff on in house built machines I have this to say

"I don't care if they test it on supercomputers and typewriters. It is OBVIOUS this is their problem. Google search SC2 crashes and you'll find hundreds of different system specs and cards, both ATI and Nvidia that are crashing and overheating. Me and a good friend of mine built IDENTICAL computers and his PC runs the game fine, mine however crashes and burns everytime. I've reformatted and reinstalled windows and everything, it's just my PC somehow doesn't cope. We're talking bad coding here to work occassionally and then other times crash and to consistently not work on thousands of users PC's. Even if it isn't the coding directly think about this... if it doesn't work on thousands of buyers machines... WHAT GOOD IS IT?"

 

[bobington]

1.) Yes, it sounds like it is probably a direct result.

2.) No, the fact that you were running the game doesn't PROVE it was the game. Correlation does NOT imply Causation.

Just because the two are related, does not mean the 1 causes the other. You can prove that drinking water and violent crimes are related. 100% of all criminals will consume something with water in it at some point during the day that they commit the crime. this does not prove that water makes people commit violent crimes.


I don't expect you to see reason on this issue. Your zealous and dogmatic statements at the end of your post show you have no intention of hearing anything that doesn't help your preconceived notions of what is happening here. You yourself just said your friends identical computer doesn't have the issue and this has not changed your opinion in the slightest.

 

[b1uef1ame]

I've run Furmark for about 2.5 hours with my ATI HD 4870 and it NEVER went past 83*C, had no errors/glitches. Thing runs like a dream.

I can't play SC2 for longer then 2 minutes before there is a full system lockup at which point the GPU is generally around 80*C but upon locking up the GPU starts heating up beyond control of the PC and has gotten as hot as 90*C+ but at that point I shut the machine down because I thought their might be damage occurring at any moment.

This is most definitely a Blizzard coding problem and it is obviously their fault for cards burning up. Take my situation for example, I was testing my internal heat (with the case wide open) with a point and shoot thermometer (so I can only gauge air temp not card temp). Let's say I had gotten up from my PC for 10 minutes to grab food or take a bio break or such, by the time I'd gotten back I would imagine the card would heat well beyond 100*C and burn out.

Somehow when there is a full system lockup the hardware keeps working past capacity and there is the overheating problem. The game cannot be run even on medium settings, must all be at low which leads to many peoples crashes and heaven forbid they be away from the PC at the time.

IMHO Blizzard owes a lot of people at least an apology and this denial bullsh*t is shady and corrupt.
To the guy earlier who said Blizzard tests their stuff on in house built machines I have this to say

"I don't care if they test it on supercomputers and typewriters. It is OBVIOUS this is their problem. Google search SC2 crashes and you'll find hundreds of different system specs and cards, both ATI and Nvidia that are crashing and overheating. Me and a good friend of mine built IDENTICAL computers and his PC runs the game fine, mine however crashes and burns everytime. I've reformatted and reinstalled windows and everything, it's just my PC somehow doesn't cope. We're talking bad coding here to work occassionally and then other times crash and to consistently not work on thousands of users PC's. Even if it isn't the coding directly think about this... if it doesn't work on thousands of buyers machines... WHAT GOOD IS IT?"

anybody gt a lawyer

 

[slggrsrus]

1.) Yes, it sounds like it is probably a direct result.

2.) No, the fact that you were running the game doesn't PROVE it was the game. Correlation does NOT imply Causation.

Just because the two are related, does not mean the 1 causes the other. You can prove that drinking water and violent crimes are related. 100% of all criminals will consume something with water in it at some point during the day that they commit the crime. this does not prove that water makes people commit violent crimes.


I don't expect you to see reason on this issue. Your zealous and dogmatic statements at the end of your post show you have no intention of hearing anything that doesn't help your preconceived notions of what is happening here. You yourself just said your friends identical computer doesn't have the issue and this has not changed your opinion in the slightest.

Ok, what is your "reason" then.

Why does every other graphically intensive game I have run fine, why do all benchmarking programs run with success, why do full reformats and reinstalls not resolve the issue for me or thousands of paying customer?

What is your reason?
You're saying that this product doesn't work because of magic?
You're saying that this product doesn't work because of some issue with my hardware?

You sound like a Blizzard fanboy who doesn't want to hear his favorite company sucks.