39 replies to this topic

[Kaptain]

EDIT: Its Fixed!

Hello,

I'm working on budget upgrade for a friend and its giving me all kinds of trouble. The main problem being that MWO hard locks this system. The hard lock happens at the connection screen right after logging in. The wheel spins quickly like it normally does, then the program locks, then the mouse and finally the keyboard.

Specs:
-FX6300 at stock clocks(for now because of said issue)
-Corsair A70 air cooler (dual 120mm set at 1600rpm)
-Gigabyte 970a UD3
-8GB DDR3 1600 Kingston Hyper X
-Some old WD Caviar 400gbs
-Corsair 600w
-GTX280 (old, I know)
-Antec 300 case
-Windows 7 ult 64

Initially I had all sorts of problems with an Asus M5A97 R2.0 so I replaced it with the Gigabte 970a UD3. This board has been great so far and I much prefer it to the Asus... That said the problem remains.

-I've tried another known working power supply, an Antec 850 True Power.
-I've checked the voltages on both PSs in bios and windows.
-I've tried fresh installs on 2 other drives.
-Ive checked the HDs with SMART, WD software and HD_Tune. They are in perfect health and worked perfectly in raid zero on his old machine. (yes cmd clean, format and partition have been run on them)
-I've tried reinstalling windows with a different DVD drive.
-I've tried this windows disk on another machine, works perfectly.
-I've tried reinstalling G-force drivers
-I've tried reinstalling direct_X
-I've tried reinstalling the game, running the repair tool, the 32bit client force and copying the game files from another machine.
-I've tried another known working GTX280 and My personal known working GTX770 classified.
-I've tested the gtx280s with ATI_Tools (no artifacts, good temps)
-I've tested the gtx770 (even though I know its good) with Kombustor (no artifacts, good temps)
-I've tried disabling the green features of the board, disabling turbo mode, lowering ram speed, upping cpu and NB voltages and really anything that might make the board more stable.
-Ive run all 3 prime tests with low temps and good stability.

Beyond frustrated and at this point I really don't know what else to do. Any help is very much appreciated.

-Kaptain

Edited by Kaptain, 17 October 2015 - 12:17 AM.

[Flapdrol]

But other games do work on it?

You've tried a lot already. Maybe go to the mobo manufacturer site and download and manually install all the drivers you find on that motherboards page?

Could maybe try and install some C++ redistributable things?

What directX version did you reinstall? 11 or 9? maybe try the other one as well, or maybe you could edit a config file to have the game start in the other dx version?

That's all I got.

[Kaptain]

Flapdrol, on 14 October 2015 - 11:24 AM, said:

But other games do work on it?

You've tried a lot already. Maybe go to the mobo manufacturer site and download and manually install all the drivers you find on that motherboards page?

Could maybe try and install some C++ redistributable things?

What directX version did you reinstall? 11 or 9? maybe try the other one as well, or maybe you could edit a config file to have the game start in the other dx version?

That's all I got.

Thank you for responding so quickly.

Working on checking another game now. Earlier I tried and tried to get EAs date authentication to authenticate my physical copy of dead space 2 and it kept generating an error. Steam is installed and Contagion is downloading. I should have an answer to that question soon.

While I had not tried the drivers directly from gigabytes website I have tried reinstalling from disk. There are only 2 on the website. A 500mb chipset and the usb driver. The USB one is done and the chipset is downloading now.

Have not tried C++ or Open GL. Going to try both of those.

I reinstalled 11 and ATI tools or Kombustor reinstalled 9. DXdiag shows 11 installed and no problems detected with the gtx280.

I have emailed support the requested DXdiag and MWO log files.

EDIT: one other thing I noticed, all of the resources in resource monitor drop to Zero right before it crashed. Everything, memory cpu, disk, network... It records several seconds of zero before it hard locks.

Edited by Kaptain, 14 October 2015 - 01:59 PM.

[Kaptain]

Contagion is installed and works great. It installed C++, DirectX and several other Microsoft interface goodies.

Unfortunately my fresh install of MWO is still not working. Repair tool found and fixed errors. Same hard lock problem though.

Chipset driver has been downloaded and installed, no change.

Edited by Kaptain, 14 October 2015 - 03:30 PM.

[Flapdrol]

tried the dx9 installer in the mwo directory?

[Kaptain]

Flapdrol, on 14 October 2015 - 02:30 PM, said:

tried the dx9 installer in the mwo directory?

I have not. Just looked and I don't see it either. Can you post the path please?

[Flapdrol]

C:\Program Files (x86)\Piranha Games\MechWarrior Online\DirectX9.0c\dxsetup.exe

[Goose]

A GTX 280 was deprecated around the same time the game went into Open Beta, I think: You won't find fresh drivers for it, nor is it DX11-rated.

Get a copy of DDU from Guru3d and double-check what drivers you are installing.

[Kaptain]

Flapdrol, on 14 October 2015 - 03:41 PM, said:

C:\Program Files (x86)\Piranha Games\MechWarrior Online\DirectX9.0c\dxsetup.exe

The DirectX9c\dxsetup.exe does not exist on either of the machines here. That is, it is not present on both my personal gaming rig (known working machine) and my friends problem child build.

[Kaptain]

Goose, on 14 October 2015 - 04:00 PM, said:

A GTX 280 was deprecated around the same time the game went into Open Beta, I think: You won't find fresh drivers for it, nor is it DX11-rated.
Get a copy of DDU from Guru3d and double-check what drivers you are installing.

Kaptain, on 14 October 2015 - 11:03 AM, said:

-GTX280 (old, I know)

In all seriousness I will try that. The GTX280 should play it fine. I have 3 friend playing the game on 260/216/275 series cards and used a gtx280 myself for years. 5 minutes before I pulled this problem child computer apart for its upgrade I tested the game at 30ish fps on one of the gtx280s. All that said it is possible its some kind of driver issue I suppose... that does not explain (in my mind) why a GTX770 is having the same problem on that machine, nor does it explain (in my mind) why the problem child is able to play other 3d games and 3d stress tests without issue.

[Golrar]

Link to the DX9 installer straight from MS:

https://www.microsof...s.aspx?id=34429

Uninstall MWO completely (use Revo uninstaller to make sure it is all gone: http://www.revouninstaller.com/), run DDU to remove all video drivers, reinstall the latest drivers (you can get them at geforce.com still), then install the DX9 and reinstall MWO fresh. In that order. See what happens.

I know all that will take a lot of time, but all I can think of.

My brain keeps telling me it is either RAM or CPU that is the issue. Perhaps Contagion doesn't stress either of them enough to show a problem? I am not familiar with the game. When you ran the Prime95 tests, did you just run the default or did you change it to Small FFT (you want that option). Also, make sure your Prime is version 25.6 or newer.

[Kaptain]

Used DDU to remove the driver (verified latest version from nvidia) while in safe mode. Upon reboot windows auto detected the gtx280 with a driver from 2009... That driver appears to work (aka plays contagion and stress tests) fine. Will try another driver from the nvidia site (again) here soon.

I also pulled 4gb of ADATA ddr3 1600mhz from a friends computer. I set the voltage manually (again) and checked the timings in cpu-z (again) Problem persists.

Golrar, on 14 October 2015 - 08:40 PM, said:

Link to the DX9 installer straight from MS:

https://www.microsof...s.aspx?id=34429

Uninstall MWO completely (use Revo uninstaller to make sure it is all gone: http://www.revouninstaller.com/), run DDU to remove all video drivers, reinstall the latest drivers (you can get them at geforce.com still), then install the DX9 and reinstall MWO fresh. In that order. See what happens.

I know all that will take a lot of time, but all I can think of.

My brain keeps telling me it is either RAM or CPU that is the issue. Perhaps Contagion doesn't stress either of them enough to show a problem? I am not familiar with the game. When you ran the Prime95 tests, did you just run the default or did you change it to Small FFT (you want that option). Also, make sure your Prime is version 25.6 or newer.

I ran the default for 4 hours today and an hour here or there in the past. I also ran blend for an hour today and several times in the past. (basically anytime I walk away I set a test of some kind to run). I will try small FFTs to stress the chip. Starting to think the proc myself. I also agree on the install order and everything. Going to try a fresh install on one of my personal drives (can always clone it) followed by your suggestion in the order specified... Might try swapping in another AM3 cpu first if i can convince the roomy to loan it out.

Thank you everyone for the help, I feel slightly less frustrated

EDIT: Just tried a known working 3.2ghz dual core AMD AM3 cpu. This was the primary CPU (unlocked at the time) that my roomie was running for the last several years before upgrading to a FX8350... That said it is very much so a known working CPU... Just to be sure though I did try some small FFT on it and Contagion.... It tests fine in this board/system but............. The problem persists.

I also disconnected everything not mission critical from the motherboard and uninstalled non mission critical drivers like the sound card. The problem persists.

Perhaps I have had the very unfortunate luck of getting 2 bad boards in a row. Reviews of pretty much all the 970 chipset boards on newegg and amazon are split %60 love them and %25 think they are trash.

Tried to save some money with an AMD build to help this buddy out. Never. Again. Ever. Ever. Ever. My 6600k was a breeze. Build system, install windows, overclock, install game, enjoy 125fps on high.

Starting on the fresh install on a known working drive (my old primary before upgrading to ssd just a couple weeks ago) From there I will update windows completely, manually install the latest version of direct x from the microsoft page for my 770gtx(just to be sure) update the sound and chipset drivers from the Gigabyte website and install MWO... with restarts in between. Wish me luck, I'm going to need it.

Edited by Kaptain, 14 October 2015 - 10:47 PM.

[Golrar]

Yes, good luck. Make sure you let us know how it pans out.

I know there were some 970 boards that didn't like the newer FX chips, but if it still does it in a dual core, then I can't see that being the issue, or at least not alone.

[Flapdrol]

If you're desperate maybe try out a different screen? Might as well try everything right?

Edited by Flapdrol, 15 October 2015 - 08:38 AM.

[darqsyde]

I had a similar problem.

Simple solution, force 32-bit, DX9 mode for MWO, once it runs, switch back over to 64bit.

http://mwomercs.com/...14#entry4507114

[Oderint dum Metuant]

Couple of things.
Are there any other expansion cards in the machine? Wifi card or such?

secondly, go here http://sharewareonsa...-pro-iobit-sale
grab that free, run it make sure all the drivers are fully up to date.

My gut feeling is the drives, but we will get to that.

[Kaptain]

Golrar, on 15 October 2015 - 01:26 AM, said:

Yes, good luck. Make sure you let us know how it pans out.

Thank you

Flapdrol, on 15 October 2015 - 03:23 AM, said:

If you're desperate maybe try out a different screen? Might as well try everything right?

Funny you mention that. I actually swapped the keyboard and mouse out suspecting something about trying to play mwo in my living room vs bedroom. Ill swap the displays if this latest install attempt doesn't work.

darqsyde, on 15 October 2015 - 09:43 AM, said:

I had a similar problem.

Simple solution, force 32-bit, DX9 mode for MWO, once it runs, switch back over to 64bit.

http://mwomercs.com/...14#entry4507114

Thank you, but...

Kaptain, on 14 October 2015 - 11:03 AM, said:

-I've tried reinstalling the game, running the repair tool, the 32bit client force and copying the game files from another machine.

That said it has now been suggested twice to force dx9... I guess I need to learn how to make config files if this re-install doesn't work.

DV McKenna, on 15 October 2015 - 11:25 AM, said:

Couple of things.
Are there any other expansion cards in the machine? Wifi card or such?

secondly, go here http://sharewareonsa...-pro-iobit-sale
grab that free, run it make sure all the drivers are fully up to date.

My gut feeling is the drives, but we will get to that.

There was a wireless card in the machine... that I swapped out for another same make/model... a make and model I know is playing nice with the game (but not necessarily this chipset) in friends computers.... that said I pulled all extra motherboard header cables, extra drives and the wireless card last night and ran 75 feet of cat 5... (working on a fresh install in this config.... will report back how it goes)

Thank you for the driver tool.

Maybe drive incompatibility but I seriously doubt its drive heath. Hell i've tried 4 known working ones so far and I'm trying a 5th now just to be sure.


Current Status: The problem child is plugging away on downloads right now. I have taken the GTX280s and tested each one of them in my gaming machine with the default driver from a non updated win 7 ult and both of them play mwo fine... despite some obnoxious coil whine that I did not notice before. Its probably normal though as all of the system I have under my care with gtx2XX series cards are fairly noisy and my new gaming rig is very quiet.

Edited by Kaptain, 15 October 2015 - 12:18 PM.

[Goose]

By "testing GTX 280s," did you mean Kombuster/ FurMark?

[Kaptain]

Goose, on 15 October 2015 - 12:31 PM, said:

By "testing GTX 280s," did you mean Kombuster/ FurMark?

Hello Goose (thanks again for helping me with suggestions for new parts in my gaming rig, the 6660k@4.5 is awesome!)
Kombuster will not run on a gtx280 as kombuster requires Open GL 4.3 and gtx280s only support Open GL2.1. That said both GTX280s have been tested with ATI_Tools (very similar app to kombuster and evga oc scanner) and no artifacting was detected. I did notice that ATI_Tools did not stress the memory much so maxed out the indie game Contagion (source engine) and that filled the video memory and then some, worked fine. Since then I have also tested both gtx280s in my personal gaming rig (as my gtx770 is in the problem child atm) and both gtx280 play MWO on medium @1080p (no AA, no blur, no glass) in the green.

Edited by Kaptain, 15 October 2015 - 12:57 PM.

[Goose]

OK: Grab an earlier version from teh laundry list …