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Windows 8.1 Blackout


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#1 Dirkfall

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Posted 27 October 2013 - 02:34 PM

I have installed windows 8.1(previous I had win7). Sometimes I have "total slowdowns", e.g. game quits, and OS works like a turtle. Only system restart helps.

My environment is:
OS: Windows 8.1 Pro x64
MB: Gigabyte P55-UD3L
CPU: Core i5-760
VIDEO: Gigabyte GV-N550OC-1GI
PSU: Chieftech 700W(80+)

I have read that some of games work bad with windows 8.1, perhaps this is related? Any advices?

Thank in advance.

#2 Sen

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Posted 28 October 2013 - 04:40 AM

I've been on 8 since beta, and 8.1 since the preview was first released. I have 0 issues.

When was the last time you ran Antivirus + anti malware [malwarebytes] and antispyware [spybot search and destroy], took a can of compressed air to your machine, ran disk cleanup and defrag [Ccleaner is also a nice cleanup program]

Also, how much stuff do you have running? How much ram? If it's 4 gig or less, that could cause an issue.

I'd start with the above, verify everything is cleaned up, then report back.

#3 Dirkfall

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Posted 28 October 2013 - 02:56 PM

4gb ram, almost clean installation of win 8.1 pro, no viruses or malware.

#4 Bootsock

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Posted 28 October 2013 - 03:13 PM

8 and 8.1 are perfectly fine for me when it comes to gaming.

As annoying the the Windows 8.x interface can be, I've found it actually outperforms 7.

#5 Sen

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Posted 28 October 2013 - 03:51 PM

Before launching MwO:

Right click on your taskbar (the bar on the bottom)

Select task manager

Click more options

Leave it open to the processes tab

This will tell you what programs are using what resources on your computer.

Play as normal. When game crashes/runs slow, check the task manager, see if there's something specific taking up a bunch of memory/CPU cycles.

Write it down.

Get back to us :blink:

While you're at it, download a copy of hwmonitor

http://www.cpuid.com.../hwmonitor.html

Install that [it's free] and run that before launching as well. Leave it open. Hwmonitor RH column holds highest temps. keep an eye on that when the issue occurs as well, note the max temps reached, and include those as well.

On a side note, I'd strongly recommend picking up another 4 gig of ram [for a total of 8 gig]. 4 gig SHOULD be enough, but when you start getting into running multiple apps + gaming + everything that loads at startup you can hit the proverbial rev limiter. Another 4 gig will eliminate that possibility for most people. It also doesn't have to be overly expensive if you order from an online retailer like newegg.com

Edited by Sen, 28 October 2013 - 03:57 PM.


#6 Dirkfall

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Posted 29 October 2013 - 01:14 AM

I haven't experienced such problems using wndows 7 and 8, only when performed clean install of windows 8.1.
I understand, that 4gb is not enough and will upgrade my pc soon.

I'll try to dig it with hwmonitor, thanks.

BTW: I love Modern UI and WP :)

#7 Sen

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Posted 29 October 2013 - 03:32 AM

I'm just trying to work through it one step at a time. I know several ways a situation like this can come about, but it's really difficult to troubleshoot when one is not physically in front of the machine.

#8 focuspark

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Posted 29 October 2013 - 11:25 AM

If the game worked in 8, there's no reason it would fail with 8.1 since there were virtually no changes to the desktop mode between Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

One thing that has caused me some issues with 8.1 is the integrated Skydrive. Disabling it has reduced lag and HDD spin, making my whole system feel better

#9 Dirkfall

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Posted 30 October 2013 - 01:41 PM

Performed clean installation of NVidia drivers, updated DirectX via web installer. Outcome - no system slowdown anymore, BUT game still sometimes hangs(hang - black screen - back to normal, like when updating drivers). Looks like video driver restart, but no such message in windows events. Seems like something happened to my video card. May be an advice of a software diagnosis tool? If it fails - I must take my card to hw servce. =(

Edited by Dirkfall, 30 October 2013 - 01:43 PM.


#10 focuspark

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Posted 30 October 2013 - 03:48 PM

View PostDirkfall, on 30 October 2013 - 01:41 PM, said:

Performed clean installation of NVidia drivers, updated DirectX via web installer. Outcome - no system slowdown anymore, BUT game still sometimes hangs(hang - black screen - back to normal, like when updating drivers). Looks like video driver restart, but no such message in windows events. Seems like something happened to my video card. May be an advice of a software diagnosis tool? If it fails - I must take my card to hw servce. =(

open the side of your case, see if the problem continues. Might be a cooling problem.

That said, MWO hangs on me frequently. Can you ALT+Tab out of the game?

#11 Dirkfall

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Posted 31 October 2013 - 11:07 AM

No cooling problems, everything in cool. Perhaps my daughter damaged it, once she poured a glass of juice on case(but it's InWin case, as for me - juice have't touched hardware). But still, it was year or two ago.


I can alt-tab; Can't say MWO hangs always, it's quite random event. I can play for few hours and nothing happens, on the other side - I can play for 10-20 mins and hang happens. Will investigate and report.

#12 cSand

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Posted 31 October 2013 - 11:17 AM

View Postfocuspark, on 29 October 2013 - 11:25 AM, said:

If the game worked in 8, there's no reason it would fail with 8.1 since there were virtually no changes to the desktop mode between Windows 8 and Windows 8.1.

One thing that has caused me some issues with 8.1 is the integrated Skydrive. Disabling it has reduced lag and HDD spin, making my whole system feel better


Actually that's not entirely true..
8.1 has a bunch of under the hood changes, and many 8 drivers don't work with 8.1. So it is very picky in many cases about how it is set up! Intel graphics drivers on my laptop caused a black screen until I got the latest ones which were specifically for 8.1 (not 8!!!). Same with my chipset and WiFi drivers (both Intel, the Win 8 version won't work with 8.1!!!)

So I would make sure you have the latest, 8.1 supported drivers for every piece of hardware in that machine. Also save them somewhere so if you reinstall you don't have to {Richard Cameron} around online gathering them again.

Open up device manager, and look for anything with a exclamation by it, or unrecognized devices. Disconnect any printers or extraneous USB devices and that may even be enough to stop the crashing!

Also, if you haven't done it in awhile, clean out the machine with some canned air

8.1 is a nice OS but its newness means people will have some issues with it for awhile as support for things slowly grows

edit: forum inserted Richard Cameron up there, lol. I think I'll leave it

Edited by cSand, 31 October 2013 - 11:20 AM.


#13 Dirkfall

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Posted 10 November 2013 - 06:56 AM

Problem is about my video card, it's Gigabyte OC series, overclocked, I've made clocks down to reference spec, now ok, e.g. from 970/4200(chip/memory) to 900/4100. Thanks for conversation and advices.

#14 focuspark

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Posted 15 November 2013 - 11:33 AM

View PostDirkfall, on 10 November 2013 - 06:56 AM, said:

Problem is about my video card, it's Gigabyte OC series, overclocked, I've made clocks down to reference spec, now ok, e.g. from 970/4200(chip/memory) to 900/4100. Thanks for conversation and advices.

So then it was a cooling problem? Sounded like one. Had one myself about four months ago, with a borrowed Radeon, and the GPU wasn't even overclocked.

The freeze, most likely, comes from corrupted memory address in the GPU due to the effects of temperatures. Basically, the app attempts to use memory at XYZ but the real value is at ABC. This causes the app to hang because it's now in "unexpected territory". The fact that your OS was still alive, and responsive, leads me to believe this. Had it been an actual hardware lock up the system bus would have frozen and the OS with it. Had it been an actual app problem the OS would have likely killed and we'd see more report here on the forums.





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