Another AMD HD6970 user

Korimaru · Post by **Korimaru** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:58 pm

I realize this is my first post, but I have run into a bit of a snag while playing EM.

The first few minutes the game runs perfectly fine. However, after say, 15 minutes, the game freezes up, taking my computer with it. I can't open task-manager, ALT+Tab to exit the window. Everything is unresponsive and the only thing I can do is shut down my computer manually. I have no idea what's causing this. Also, it's the steam version of the game.

My specs are :

Windows Vista Home Premium (x64) Service Pack 2
2,50 gigahertz Intel Core2 Quad
Multi-core (4 total)
AMD Radeon HD 6900 Series
1191,60 Gigabytes Hard Drive Free Space (spread over multiple harddrives)
4GB RAM

I hope this helps you helping me.

[Edited on 8-6-2012 by Vice]

Post by **Vice** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 4:59 pm

Almost sounds like an overheating problem. What are your CPU and GPU temps at idle and while the game is running? Have you cleaned the heatsinks in your system recently?

Star King · Post by **Star King** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:21 pm

Dear Vice,

If it doesn't work After you clean your heatsinks, then lower your graphic demand in the game options.
This is what happened to me going from Legends to Mercenary. At least for me the issue was my graphic drivers. I could play every game but Mercenary perfectly. Apparently Mercenary works the graphic card pretty hard. Once I updated my graphic card and lowered the graphic demands in the game options then I could play this game perfectly. My PC runs XP and is six years old and works perfectly. You have a super PC compared to me, so it has to be the graphics drivers or card.
If it still doesn't work then keep writing the forum and don't give up on this great game, everybody helps everybody here! No such thing as a stupid question here!
Hope to see you on.

Post by **Vice** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 5:26 pm

That is a good point Star King. Another step to try would be to update the drivers for your video card.

49rTbird · Post by **49rTbird** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 6:13 pm

Hello Korimaru, Welcome to the forum and the Sim. Have fun and hope to see you in "Multi-Player" sometime.

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 7:03 pm

Hi Korimaru, welcome to the game and forum. Hope to see you out there some time once you get it working.....

Korimaru · Post by **Korimaru** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:42 pm

Thank you for welcoming me! This is probably the first community that has greeted me so with open arms, so thank you all!

To return to the problem : my idle core temperature is around the 30Â°C; that of my graphics card around 50Â°C.

I'm sure I have cleaned my heatsink, but probably not all that efficient.
On a side note, my graphic card is brand new; I purchased it before November 2011 to cope with the new games coming out at that time.

I have also turned down the graphics of the game, so far no luck with that. 15 minutes in the game and it froze up my computer once more.

Thanks for your patience.

Post by **Vice** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 8:48 pm

Is it always about 15 minutes? That would reinforce the idea that it is a temperature related issue. What program are you using the monitor your temps and what is the peak level while you are gaming? You can use Alt/Win-Tab to toggle between the game and your temp program to monitor while you play. Also, just to be sure, what is the make and model of your graphics card, driver version number, and how many watts is your power supply rated at?

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Wed Jan 18, 2012 11:05 pm

Did you built your computer system yourself? If so what is the PSU rating! Your Power supply unit might not have enough power when the graphics card gets taxed heavily!.....

Korimaru · Post by **Korimaru** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 2:01 pm

Nay, I didn't build the computer system myself, and if it is indeed the power supply unit, wouldn't that affect every game I play? So far, only EM has ever acted this way (except for Total war : Shogun II, which doesn't even wish to start(black screen). Come to think of it, according to several trouble-shooting boards, that is caused by a conflicting soundcard)

I've taken the heatsink out of my computer and gave it a good air-bath, cleaning it with compressed air. It was dusty, but nothing major really, and when gaming my core temperature never really rises above 50Â°C(with core temp 1.0), which should still be fine, though I'm not sure.

Also, it seems that I can't ALT+Tab out of the game with out it crashing. A message comes up that EM has stopped working, though I prefer that than my entire PC freezing up.

Could it be caused by a faulty-working soundcard device? When my computer freezes, it does play the last sound over and over again in a harsh stuttering way.

Starbuck · Post by **Starbuck** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 2:11 pm

Having a similar problem but my pc freezes up as soon as i press the key to talk ??

Star King · Post by **Star King** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 3:00 pm

Dear Star Buck,

I had that happen to me and then I replaced my SoundBlaster soundcard with a Yamaha soundcard and I have been perfect for 5 months. For some reason this game seems to be more demanding then other games, thus any weakness in your system is magnified:

1. Soundcard and drivers
2. Graphic Card and drivers
3. Power Supply (my PC came with a 300 watt power supply which worked great until I started playing this game.

Being human I blamed the game. In reality, when you combine all of your PC power needs; External sound card, joy stick, one gig graphic card, etc.... your PC needs a minimum of a 450 watt power supply (I installed a 580 watt power supply).
So Maarschalk is right. Starbuck soundcards are cheap and easy to replace.

[Edited on 12-25-2008 by Star King]

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 4:27 pm

From post: 124282, Topic: tid=8351, author=Korimaru wrote:Nay, I didn't build the computer system myself, and if it is indeed the power supply unit, wouldn't that affect every game I play? So far, only EM has ever acted this way (except for Total war : Shogun II, which doesn't even wish to start(black screen). Come to think of it, according to several trouble-shooting boards, that is caused by a conflicting soundcard)

I've taken the heatsink out of my computer and gave it a good air-bath, cleaning it with compressed air. It was dusty, but nothing major really, and when gaming my core temperature never really rises above 50Â°C(with core temp 1.0), which should still be fine, though I'm not sure.

Also, it seems that I can't ALT+Tab out of the game with out it crashing. A message comes up that EM has stopped working, though I prefer that than my entire PC freezing up.

Could it be caused by a faulty-working soundcard device? When my computer freezes, it does play the last sound over and over again in a harsh stuttering way.

I noticed you have a 1 TB Hard drive! Also it looks like your computer is set for sleep mode. So that is why after 15 minutes or so depending on the time set that your computer crashes.

There has been reports of 1TB hard drives when computer goes in sleep mode that the computer crashes. Some games somehow allow your computer to go into sleep mode in the middle of the game if you have sleep mode enabled and can not wake up the 1TB harddrive fast enough and causes the computer to crash in game. My son had a similar problem with a different Game I Racing. I turned sleep mode and hybernate of and he had no problem since.....You can search online for this problem! Hope this helps.....

Also the powersupply might still be an issue some games tax the graphics card harder then others and your card will need more power!. Ussualy when you upgrade your Graphics card depending on your powersupply unit you might need to upgrade your PSU as well that is what they recommend ussualy when you buy a new graphics card!....

[Edited on 1-19-2012 by Maarschalk]

Post by **Vice** » Thu Jan 19, 2012 5:20 pm

Could be a sound issue also, yes. So those would be the top 3 things to go through, power supply, heat (including GPU), and sound.

Korimaru · Post by **Korimaru** » Fri Jan 20, 2012 10:22 am

Alright, a quick update on how matters are.

I didn't build my desktop myself, and the power supply has an output of 750Watt, which should be adequate I think.

My heat sink works fine, overall temperatures of my core while gaming never rise above the 55Â°C, while my GPU Hovers around the 40Â°C to 55Â°C when idle. I'm not sure whether that is good or bad, but I can increase the fan speed of my GPU to lower the temperature.

I'll try monitor my GPU temperature while playing the game, but since ALT+Tab causes the game to crash, I won't be able to give you any correct readings.

I mentioned not being able to start up Shogun II due to my soundcard. Yesterday I fiddled with disabling and enabling my sound devices, and I made some progress. The game now wants to start, so perhaps an issue has been resolved. Maybe with some more fiddling, I can finally get EM to work and enjoy this great game.

Also, to Maarschalk : Thank you for the advice, however hibernation mode and sleep mode were already turned off, though I will look into matters further.
Thank you everyone for the advice you have so far given.

mattbazz · Post by **mattbazz** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 4:05 pm

Hi everyone.

Also new to this forum, registered not 10 minutes ago.

I'm having the same issue as Korimaru. My system is locking up, requiring a whole system reset.

I've updated GPU driver to the latest, removed HD Audio drivers and (because I'm running steam version) verified and defragged game cache.

I'm almost certain it's not a GPU temp related issue, as catalys AI is meant to increase fan speeds when certain temp limits are reached. My fans don't speed up prior to the lockup.

I will keep trying to find the cause myself, but any help will be greatly appreciated.

Sys Specs:
i-7 2600 @ 3.4ghz
12gb DDR3 RAM
ATI 6970 2gb
Windows 7 64-bit (perhaps a 64-bit compatability issue??)

Maarschalk · Post by **Maarschalk** » Sun Jan 22, 2012 7:33 pm

Hi Mattbazz, welcome to the game and forum...Hope to see you out there some time!....

I know that the ATI Catalyst can cause problems. With Windows 7 you do not realy need ATI's Catalyst. I let Windows 7 use the best Driver and I do not use the Catalyst. The Catalyst use to cut my performance in half.
So I use windows Aero drivers for my ATI XTX1900 Graphics Card.

Also what is the Rating of your Power Supply Unit?....

Post by **Vice** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 2:29 am

I'm almost certain it's not a GPU temp related issue, as catalys AI is meant to increase fan speeds when certain temp limits are reached. My fans don't speed up prior to the lockup.

I will keep trying to find the cause myself, but any help will be greatly appreciated.

That is a very high end video card you are running (processor also). Have your checked that your power supply is sufficient to keep up with what your system requires? Freezing is often caused by either overheating or insufficient power.

mattbazz · Post by **mattbazz** » Mon Jan 23, 2012 3:40 am

Power Supply is 750w, and the GPU recommends 550+. I'm not sure what the system as a whole requires, I bought the system pre-built from a retailer.

http://www.hisdigital.com/un/product2-577.shtml

I can run many newer games on high specs, BF3 and Witcher 2 come to mind as real system kickers. Although GPU temp and fan speeds have climbed ridiculously high with these games, they've never caused a system lockup like this.

That said, I've played around with some EM graphics settings, It's possible the lockup is related to V-Sync or resolution issues. My native res is 1680x1050 16:10.

Catalyst AI may be interfering with my ingame visual choices, which I have seen cause crashes on older ATI cards.

Korimaru · Post by **Korimaru** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 6:11 pm

I feel your pain, mattbazz.

I've tried several things now, including shutting my soundcards off, monitoring the CPU temperature and GPU temperature which all seem rather okay. So I honestly don't know what causes the crashes. Honestly, I'm starting to get afraid of simply starting the game, because crashes seem to occur at random when I timed it the last time. Messing with the in-game graphic options doesn't do much either.

I have a question for you mattbazz : the Catalyst AI, would that be the catalyst control center you are referring to? Since I have that program installed on my computer as well, it may be that it indeed causes the crashes to our games. As you said, you've seen it crash before, even though it was in situations with older ATI cards.

I'm honestly at wit's end. I hope I'll manage to play this game soon nonetheless.

Post by **Vice** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 7:15 pm

Since the common attribute between both of your systems is an ATI card (6900 series even), this section of their site might be of some help: http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles/Pa ... ssues.aspx

I would also add to that, once everything else has checked out, if the problem still occurs, to unplug the video card (clean it if necessary) and carefully reseat it.

tlolell · Post by **tlolell** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:38 pm

Hi everyone, im also new here. I have a similar problem to Korimaru . pc the packs up as soon as the game starts to get into it, but mine takes 5 mins sometimes even quicker than that . I tried the cff explorer fix, updated drivers and increased my page file so far nothing has worked.. here are my system specs:
win7 home basic32bit
amd athlon 64 X2 dual core processor 5000+. 2611 mhz 2 cores
4g ram
amd radeaon hd6950
11g free space (lol i know)

Post by **Vice** » Tue Jan 24, 2012 10:40 pm

Interesting, that's another confirmation from a Radeon 6900 users. So it seems there are at least 4 or 5 users with that attribute in common encountering the same problem. Have any of you tried rolling back your driver and/or installing an older driver to test on? I'm noticing some similar comments from other 6900 users posted recently in other game forums describing the same kind of problem.

mattbazz · Post by **mattbazz** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 7:21 am

I'm not sure what I've done right, or even if I've done anything, but the issue may have been sorted.

Steam downloaded 1.808 version two nights ago, but before that I'd played around with Catalyst Control, changing everything to performance over quality.

Also forced Evochrons resolution to native, and locked v-sync on rather than using 'optimised' defaults.

So far I've been able to play for an hour before being interrupted by other real life matters, but the game hasn't frozen on me like it did 20 minutes into the tutorials.

But again, I don't know if I did anything, or whether or not it was the 1.808 update.

tlolell · Post by **tlolell** » Wed Jan 25, 2012 9:38 am

cool matt will try it nd let u know if i havew similar results... thanks guys this is a great nd very helpfull forum