20 réponses à ce sujet

[awa64]

 Product: Mass Effect (PC), purchased and installed via Steam.
System: Lenovo W510-Core i7 Q720 @ 1.6GHz-8GB RAM-QuadroFX 880M Graphics Card (tried with both Lenovo-supplied 267.21 and NVIDIA-supplied 275.33 drivers)-Conexant 20585 SmartAudio HD audio on driver version 4.95.48.0-Running Windows 7 (x64) SP1 with DirectX 11
The Problem: My system will suddenly and fully power down shortly after reaching the title screen--the hardest hard crash I've ever seen. I've occasionally been able to run as far as character creation before the crash, but it's usually right after continuing past the screen where it says "Mass Effect."
I've tried validating the Steam cache, clearing the texture cache, running as an administrator, running in XP compatability mode, and more. And it's not a performance-related shutdown issue--ME2 runs fine.
Any suggestions?

[mcsupersport]

Unless you have set it too, it is my understanding that the computer should NOT power down on a crash by software. Usually only hardware will be able to cause a power down condition unless you have set something up to do it on crashes. IF you have set it that way disable it so you can find out what is crashing and have a better chance of fixing.

[awa64]

Computer isn't set to reboot automatically on a crash, and it's still doing it.

[Moondoggie]

It's nothing to do with the game that;s for sure. Sounds like your PSU or MoBo.

Modifié par Moondoggie, 19 juin 2011 - 12:55 .

[mcsupersport]

I would almost bet on powersupply, that would be about the time it really needs to kick out the power to run all the graphics and then it fails and you get a crash. This is a laptop isn't it?? Good luck with it, but if you want to keep it, you may have to invest some money, or get a professional to diagnosis it to be sure. Or just take the money and get a new comp......hey, it is only money. Or hope you have a good warranty.

[Bogsnot1]

Download and install DX9.0c frmo Microsofts website. It should have been installed along with the game, but it wouldnt be the first time Steam installations have failed to istall the required version of DirectX.
Same goes with the 1.02 patch. Although Steam is supposed to install the patched version, there have ben reports from other users where it has been unstable until the user has manually installed the patch themselves. Link to the patch is available from the sticked thread at the top of the forum.

As a side note, the Quadro FX series is not really designed for gaming. Its designed for general workstation use, and some CAD work. 3D graphics gaming would be pushing it to its limits. The system requirement do mention you require a GeForce based card in order to play it.

[awa64]

mcsupersport wrote...

I would almost bet on powersupply, that would be about the time it really needs to kick out the power to run all the graphics and then it fails and you get a crash. This is a laptop isn't it?? Good luck with it, but if you want to keep it, you may have to invest some money, or get a professional to diagnosis it to be sure. Or just take the money and get a new comp......hey, it is only money. Or hope you have a good warranty.

I find it extremely hard to believe that starting Mass Effect would cause those kinds of issues within ten seconds, but a day-long render done on a computer graphics rendering program would cause no problems whatsoever. Especially considering every other game I've tried to run on it--Mass Effect 2, World of Warcraft, Team Fortress 2, Portal 2, Transformers: War for Cybertron, etc.--works fine too.

[awa64]

Bogsnot1 wrote...

Download and install DX9.0c frmo Microsofts website. It should have been installed along with the game, but it wouldnt be the first time Steam installations have failed to istall the required version of DirectX.
Same goes with the 1.02 patch. Although Steam is supposed to install the patched version, there have ben reports from other users where it has been unstable until the user has manually installed the patch themselves. Link to the patch is available from the sticked thread at the top of the forum.

Thanks for the suggestions; I'll go try those now.

As a side note, the Quadro FX series is not really designed for gaming. Its designed for general workstation use, and some CAD work. 3D graphics gaming would be pushing it to its limits. The system requirement do mention you require a GeForce based card in order to play it.

The Quadro graphics cards are built on the same cores as the GeForce graphics cards; the only real difference is that the firmware is a little less flexible about sacrificing accuracy for speed--and in more recent NVIDIA firmwares, they've made it pretty easy to tweak its prioritizations. Simply put, a QuadroFX shouldn't have too much trouble gaming--it's not going to be turning in the blazing-fast performance that a bleeding edge GeForce card could, but it's a lot more likely to be stable as well.

And in any case, it's a moot point because Mass Effect 1 ran just fine on my previous laptop which also had a QuadroFX card in it (and a slower one, at that).

[Moondoggie]

awa64 wrote...

mcsupersport wrote...

I would almost bet on powersupply, that would be about the time it really needs to kick out the power to run all the graphics and then it fails and you get a crash. This is a laptop isn't it?? Good luck with it, but if you want to keep it, you may have to invest some money, or get a professional to diagnosis it to be sure. Or just take the money and get a new comp......hey, it is only money. Or hope you have a good warranty.

I find it extremely hard to believe that starting Mass Effect would cause those kinds of issues within ten seconds, but a day-long render done on a computer graphics rendering program would cause no problems whatsoever. Especially considering every other game I've tried to run on it--Mass Effect 2, World of Warcraft, Team Fortress 2, Portal 2, Transformers: War for Cybertron, etc.--works fine too.

Already said it. "this works and causes no problems" is not a compelling argument. Different games,Different engines,Different demands.  A game cannot possibly ever shut down your computer ever. It's an impossibility that it anything to do with the game. No idiot would program a game to cause a shutdown.

It's a hardware issue. If you feel you know better than everyone here why did you ask for help at all? Seems like you wasted your time Mr.Computer Expert.

Modifié par Moondoggie, 19 juin 2011 - 10:35 .

[awa64]

Already said it. "this works and causes no problems" is not a compelling argument. Different games,Different engines,Different demands.  A game cannot possibly ever shut down your computer ever. It's an impossibility that it anything to do with the game. No idiot would program a game to cause a shutdown.

It's a hardware issue. If you feel you know better than everyone here why did you ask for help at all? Seems like you wasted your time Mr.Computer Expert.

I know it's some kind of  hardware issue.

What I'm doing is ruling out the specific suggestions of "Your graphics hardware just isn't up to it, no wonder it's failing" (because I know for a fact this system is capable of running it, performance-wise) and "Your hardware is failing, better send it to the manufacturer under warranty because it's dying" (because I'm doing many graphically- and computationally-intense activities on this computer on a regular and long-term basis; if it was due to a stress-based hardware failure, I'd be seeing similar symptoms on similar activities and it wouldn't crash so immediately in Mass Effect 1).

Oh, and FYI, Mass Effect 2 and War for Cybertron are both Unreal Engine 3 games, like Mass Effect 1. Different games, similar engines, similar demands. That's why I listed them.

What I'm trying to do is pinpoint what is causing the failures and find a workaround. My assumption at this point is some kind of driver issue. And the last time I tried running the game, I had audio playing in the background and it started to degrade leading up to the crash. Maybe the issue's the audio hardware--I'll try plugging in a USB headset and disabling the onboard audio drivers before firing it up.

[mcsupersport]

What we are trying to tell you is software, ie games, drivers, and the other programs running on the game will NEVER on their own shut down a computer. Some computer settings, IIRC, allow for an autoreboot after a crash allowing a "faster" recovery from problems rather than making an user do it. If as you say you don't have it set to autoreboot then the only thing that can trigger a power down condition is hardware failure and the system is trying to not go up in smoke. Most common thing to cause this is powersupply, but it can also be other hardware related issues on the MoBo, and things stuck to the MoBo.

Why is it doing this in ME and not others, don't know, but driver conflicts and the like should NEVER cause a power down situation. This is why I said get the hardware checked out, if you have NOT set it for autoreboot.



http://pcsupport.abo...t-windows-7.htm

edited to post link to how to make sure auto-reboot is disabled, and on win7 it is automatacilly enabled.

Modifié par mcsupersport, 19 juin 2011 - 06:29 .

[Moondoggie]

awa64 wrote...



Oh, and FYI, Mass Effect 2 and War for Cybertron are both Unreal Engine 3 games, like Mass Effect 1. Different games, similar engines, similar demands. That's why I listed them.

What I'm trying to do is pinpoint what is causing the failures and find a workaround. My assumption at this point is some kind of driver issue. And the last time I tried running the game, I had audio playing in the background and it started to degrade leading up to the crash. Maybe the issue's the audio hardware--I'll try plugging in a USB headset and disabling the onboard audio drivers before firing it up.

I can't speak fopr War For Cybertron since i don't have that to test it but Mass Effect  2 runs much less demanding than Mass Effect  due to a much refined and better version of the engine. Lots of people have performence issues with Mass Effect using up a lot of resources while Mass Effect 2 runs more fluidly.

If it were a driver issue it would crash the program not shut the computer down. Stick with hardware faults and work your way around. I still say something is knocking out your PSU.

[awa64]

Well, I tried it your guys' way, had them replace the system board on the laptop.

Fired up Mass Effect, and hard crash within about a minute.

Any other ideas? Other than "I got a bad system board twice?"

[Gorath Alpha]

You really have said nothing when you use the phrase you have: "hard crash" is meaningless without context. I would have borrowed a brick from someone you know with a similar laptop to see about eliminating the power supply (which for laptops is separate, in a small device referred to as "the brick", for the participants in this thread so far).

[awa64]

Gorath Alpha wrote...

You really have said nothing when you use the phrase you have: "hard crash" is meaningless without context.

awa64 wrote...

My system will suddenly and fully power down shortly after reaching the title screen--the hardest hard crash I've ever seen.

Reading comprehension. It's for winners.

 I would have borrowed a brick from someone you know with a similar laptop to see about eliminating the power supply (which for laptops is separate, in a small device referred to as "the brick", for the participants in this thread so far).

Don't have any friends with a similar laptop power brick nearby. I'll ask the tech to bring one around. Thanks for the suggestion.

Modifié par awa64, 27 juin 2011 - 09:07 .

[Bogsnot1]

awa64 wrote...

Gorath Alpha wrote...
You really have said nothing when you use the phrase you have: "hard crash" is meaningless without context.

awa64 wrote...
My system will suddenly and fully power down shortly after reaching the title screen--the hardest hard crash I've ever seen.

Reading comprehension. It's for winners.

 I would have borrowed a brick from someone you know with a similar laptop to see about eliminating the power supply (which for laptops is separate, in a small device referred to as "the brick", for the participants in this thread so far).

Don't have any friends with a similar laptop power brick nearby. I'll ask the tech to bring one around. Thanks for the suggestion.

The irony here is delicious. Have you looked at the System Requirements for Mass Effect, especially the part which states;

Graphics: DirectX 9.0c compatible, ATI X1300 XT or
greater (ATI X1300, X1300 Pro, X1600 Pro, Radeon 2600 HD, and HD 2400
are below minimum system requirements); NVidia GeForce 6800 or greater
(7300, 7600 GS, 8500 are below minimum system requirements) Note: Laptop versions of these chipsets may work but are not supported.

[NVW8OO8]

I have the exact same problem with the w510 just turning off. It will happen very quickly and I can't even play the game. I have only experienced this with one other game. Star Craft 2. The only difference is that I can play SC2 for random amounts of time. It may be 5 minutes or as long as 45. The machine isn't abnormally hot either. I have access to multiple w510's and this is the second one I have tried to play on. Both have shown the same problem. It is very frustrating.

I have never seen a machine just turn off (hardest of hard crashes - awa64). SC2 should be compatible with this setup.

Does this give anymore insight?

[Bogsnot1]

Actually, it does. We've recently had a bit of a marathon troubleshooting session in this thread, about why a Lenovo laptop would work fine when running off battery, but would get choppy and unplayable when when connected to mains power. OP managed to solve it in the end, and it turned out to be caused by Lenovo's proprietry power management software.
If you have had multiple W510's doing teh same thing with ME1 and SC2, I'd put few bucks down on the odds either the power management software, or some other proproetry Lenovo software, is doing the same thing on the W510.

[Bogsnot1]

Actually, it does. We've recently had a bit of a marathon troubleshooting session in this thread, about why a Lenovo laptop would work fine when running off battery, but would get choppy and unplayable when when connected to mains power. OP managed to solve it in the end, and it turned out to be caused by Lenovo's proprietry power management software.
If you have had multiple W510's doing teh same thing with ME1 and SC2, I'd put few bucks down on the odds either the power management software, or some other proprietry Lenovo software, is doing the same thing on the W510.

[JackBlack]

Hello,
I have this issue as well. Does anyone figure out how to solve that problem?

[Gorath Alpha]

mcsupersport wrote...

Unless you have set it too, it is my understanding that the computer should NOT power down on a crash by software. Usually only hardware will be able to cause a power down condition unless you have set something up to do it on crashes. IF you have set it that way disable it so you can find out what is crashing and have a better chance of fixing.

This message thread is too old to dig out of the graveyard, and it was too specific to one particular system's particular problems to try playing "me too" with it.  Consider six months as the oldest thread to add comments to.