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Question

My computer randomly crashes when playing a certain game.

Jun 15, 2020 9:21PM PDT

Hi there. Im hoping that someone might be able to help me out here. I recently got myself a copy of scrap mechanic because of the new survival aspect but i am really having a tough time playing it. My computer will randomly instantly shutdown and reboot itself when playing the game (Scrap Mechanic) and ONLY when playing Scrap Mechanic. I can play anything else and it will not give me any problems. I have thought that it might be Heat related but even under full load I get 64 Degrees on my GPU and 52 degrees on my CPU, (This is when running a stress test, when in game a rarely reach those numbers). At this stage I am really at a loss and would love if someone could help me out a bit, Maybe there is just something small that I miss looked or am not thinking of. Thanks a lot in advance for anyone willing to take the time to help out.

Discussion is locked

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Ran DDU
Jun 22, 2020 1:52AM PDT

Sorry about that, might have worded it wrongly, i mean to say that i disabled windows auto update, then ran DDU to remove every trace of every graphics driver on my computer. I then re downloaded the drivers from AMD and installed the fresh new drivers.

I hope that makes a bit more sense.

I still cannot for the life of me figure out how to get Bitdefender uninstalled..

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Ran DDU
Jun 22, 2020 1:52AM PDT

Sorry about that, might have worded it wrongly, i mean to say that i disabled windows auto update, then ran DDU to remove every trace of every graphics driver on my computer. I then re downloaded the drivers from AMD and installed the fresh new drivers.

I hope that makes a bit more sense.

I still cannot for the life of me figure out how to get Bitdefender uninstalled..

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Ran DDU
Jun 22, 2020 1:52AM PDT

Sorry about that, might have worded it wrongly, i mean to say that i disabled windows auto update, then ran DDU to remove every trace of every graphics driver on my computer. I then re downloaded the drivers from AMD and installed the fresh new drivers.

I hope that makes a bit more sense.

I still cannot for the life of me figure out how to get Bitdefender uninstalled..

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Answer
I worry it's not your PC.
Jun 16, 2020 7:27AM PDT
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Reply
Jun 16, 2020 11:58AM PDT

When I look at these threads all the people complaining about the issues of crashing it is just the game that crashes and they also try to run the game on laptops and such. I am running the game on a I5-6600K and a Asus Strix RX480 8GB gpu with 16GB of ram. I honestly cannot think that Scrap Mechanic uses all of this hardware more than say Witcher 3 running on Ultra everything. Just a thought.

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I would agree but
Jun 16, 2020 12:05PM PDT

It's just this one game.

Let me share an example where a client had this one (crashing) game. We dug into it and found that the game did crash under certain graphic settings. Remember I do not know the game you are crashing in so it's something you post in the game's support forums and hope for some feedback or other items to look at.

The 480 is well, what it is. That is it's next model up is known to have game issues so if this was a client here we'd pull out some shop bench test graphics card to see if it's some graphics driver plus game issue. Such work is costly so the usual effort is to post in the game's own forums to see what ideas they have.

I will look at Speccy and Userbenchmark.com reports if you share them but since this is game specific, that's where I'd look.

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Speccy
Jun 19, 2020 9:25AM PDT

Hi, Really sorry about the late reply I have been crazy busy at work and this is the first time i have been able to sit in front of the computer again. The speccy is attached here, I really hope you can find something in it that looks like it might cause the issue. I have tried contacting the game's support but I have not received an answer in almost 2 months now. So that seems like a dead end.


http://speccy.piriform.com/results/oXZRtPnoWljyJC85ooKJGo2

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Crashes
Jun 19, 2020 9:46AM PDT

Your seagate hdd is junk.
Replace asap.

Why do you have 2 AV's running?

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reply
Jun 19, 2020 9:58AM PDT

In regard with Seagate: I know it junk, Currently just used for photos and ****.

AV's??

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Remember folk.
Jun 19, 2020 11:49AM PDT

When you have a drive in that bad shape attached, Windows, AV and more will scan it and cause annoying hangs and even BSODs. What I've learned is to let the owner suffer until they figure that one out.

I'll reply below with a deeper read.

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AV
Jun 19, 2020 10:04AM PDT

I'm assuming you are talking about Anti Virus. I have uninstalled Bit defender quite a while back, don't now why it is still there. also cant find it anywhere on my PC to try uninstall again. Not showing up in control panel or windows setting.

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AV
Jun 19, 2020 10:26AM PDT

If it does not show as a program you can uninstall look at the bottom left of the screen where it says 'type here to search'.
Enter bitdefender and see if it finds anything.

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Bitdefender
Jun 19, 2020 11:10AM PDT

When i Search for it i only find the installation file and when i run it it only tried to install again.

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Bitdefender
Jun 19, 2020 1:17PM PDT

If all the scan finds is the installer I think you can just delete that.

Does bitdefender show in task mgr?

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June 19, 2020 Speccy reading.
Jun 19, 2020 12:09PM PDT

1. Two AVs active. Just don't.
2. The Seagate is toast. Can cause issues even when attached and the games are not installed there. Yes it could be something else but here we are.
3. The machine hasn't been booted in 2 days. Too long.
4. GPU Tweak II. If you change any setting you may find out why many of us never use these apps. Nearly impossible to diagnose crashes.
5. BIOS is far out of date and since Windows expects the CPU microcode to be more current, you should do this work.
https://www.asrock.com/MB/Intel/Fatal1ty%20Z170%20Gaming%20K4/#BIOS
6. RX 480 is getting old. I'm seeing a lot of random crashes due to old GPUs. Clients always want the GPU "tested." The test is to fix the PC.
7. Before we swap GPUs go get DDU (see google) and do this after you update BIOS and it's still crashing with the BIOS and Seagate done/gone to clean off and install the latest drivers for the graphics card. And test again.
8. More than one monitor. Reduce to one. It does not matter it worked before. You want stability first.

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Reply
Jun 19, 2020 10:46PM PDT

Thanks for all the trouble man.

1.) I cannot find bit defender anywhere on my PC i have no idea why it is still running in the background.
2.) I have unplugged it for now, seeing as i only use it for pictures and stuff I could always make it an external at some point.
3.) I have work.... What can I say lol. Will it help to just boot it and then switch off again in like 5 min before bed everyday?
4.)Uninstalled it. Tried using it for temp readings when the **** starting hitting the fan.
5.) BIOS has been updated.
6.) Would really love a new card (hint hint) but that will not be very possible in the near future :')
7.) Latest Drivers for GPU installed.
8.) I unplug the one monitor when playing the game to minimize the crashing (has not seemed to work though)

I have done mostly everything and have run the game for about an hour with no crash, But i will leave it on for a while today as i have a lot to do and give some feedback later. Lets hope for the best.

Thanks a lot for all your trouble though, Really appreciate

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IT WORKED (I Think)
Jun 20, 2020 10:17PM PDT

Hey guys.

So I ran the game for the entire day yesterday with no crashes. I was however not really playing the whole day I just ran it to stress the PC a bit. Played for about 4 hours last night and all seemed fine. So one of the many thing done actually might have worked. I am however going to give it about a week to just make sure that everything works fine before my heart will be at ease, But thanks so much for all the help.

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I spoke too soon
Jun 21, 2020 6:06AM PDT

So I have been running the game for HOURS now with no crashes aaaand then it crashed. Im really lost for words at this stage.

I took another speccy as soon as my PC rebooted itself, don't know if it will help but I am posting it here: http://speccy.piriform.com/results/6KzqbilzZtG7tSnMWN050aB

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I see much of the same.
Jun 21, 2020 8:49AM PDT

Two Antivirus running, an older GPU that we know can be problematic. In fact my son's GTX 970 started BSOD'ing his PC and yes he argued that could or could not be it.

Swapped in a new GTX 1060, ran DDU and installed the drivers and no more crashes. He wanted more proof (push off mate!) so I told him that and how to test. He didn't want to do the work which meant a day of not gaming to him.

I am not writing it's the GPU but it's highly likely. The only way to tell is to change it.

-> That said you still have two Antivirus and I can't tell if you completed other work on this PC I noted in this discussion such as DDU etc.

I also see more than one monitor on the GPU. Pushing that old GPU (again) is not a good thing.

So let's sum it up.

1. More than one Antivirus running. Can't find it to uninstall? Try the FREE VERSION of REVO UNINSTALLER.
2. An old GPU. At the office, shop or home we swap in a new one after we complete other steps, cleaning, new heatsink compound and fan checks.
3. DDU. I don't write what is or how to use since we have the web but this is a terrific tool to be sure I have only the new graphics driver installed without some old bits hanging around.

NONE of this is a sure thing but there's another thing here. It's pretty normal for a perfect Windows gaming PC to crash now and then. I wish it wasn't this way. You may have done most of what you can. Nod again about TWO antivirus and DDU as I can tell you didn't clear one up and the other (DDU) I can't tell.

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Bitdefender
Jun 21, 2020 10:37AM PDT

Hi.

I have tried my utmost best to find Bit defender to try and uninstall but I cannot seem to uninstall. I am considering just redo-ing my windows at this point. Not even REVO can pick it up anywhere on my computer.

In regards to the GPU, I am going to try and swap in a friends card next week and see if that might solve the issue, I do want to get a new one but they are quite pricey this side at the moment so i will first try and swap out with friends and see if that works.

I ran the DDU to remove all the older drivers and I also removed all of my other HDD's. Currently only running the one drive with the OS on.

On another matter. I have been playing the game (Scrap Mechanic) for the entire day with not one crash. And just after about 6 o'clock the crashes started, Its like the game doesnt like running at night (which i know cant be a thing, but i mean really. Not a single crash all day and now I cannot even play for 5 mins without it crashing my entire computer.

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If it continues to follow that pattern
Jun 21, 2020 10:50AM PDT

Of plays ok during the day but fails at night get you volt meter out and see if anything odd is happening at the wall outlet.

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See reply to top post (NEW).
Jun 21, 2020 10:57AM PDT

To avoid this being buried. Look for a new top reply.

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Not full reply sorry
Jun 16, 2020 12:03PM PDT

I also wanted to say that it is not just the game that crashes it is my entire PC. if it was just a game crash i would completely understand but it is my entire computer. It also just happened while alt-tabbing out of Dota for the first time. But it happens every day on Scrap Mechanic. I can play for hours and it wont crash and then all of a sudden it crashes every time I load the game. Just happened 3 times in a row again after playing for the entire day with no issues.

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Alt-tabbing.
Jun 16, 2020 12:13PM PDT

Has turned out to really stress drivers. And when you see a driver crash, it can and does crash the entire PC. I see nothing wrong about that.

Well, that's not entirely true. I do see something wrong about driver quality and am unhappy that we have to test with other cards as well as try the usual pass of DDU (see google) then install the card's latest or recommended version of the drivers.

-> As to play for hours that reminds me of another game that a client that we tracked down to one scene for a consistent crash. That one had the game maker tell us to reduce settings in the game to get through that area as they knew about the bug but weren't ready to issue a patch. So only a workaround.

--> Again. Drivers and the OS can work for a long time gaming then crash. Causes are usually traced to memory leaks but this doesn't mean it's your PC at fault. Games can cause this. Drivers can cause this. And game settings can help get more time between crashes.

Don't think I've seen crash free PC gaming yet. In fact, those consoles suffer similar game crashes now. Nod to say, the Fallout series which I hear a lot about.

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Answer
How to share those reports.
Jun 16, 2020 12:38PM PDT

Post was last edited on June 16, 2020 12:49 PM PDT

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Answer
Let's put this into TWO replies. One for Bitdefender.
Jun 21, 2020 11:07AM PDT
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Bit Defender
Jun 21, 2020 12:58PM PDT

So I ran every last one of the uninstallers. Not one of them worked, Speccy still says that it is installed and active...

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Next up.
Jun 21, 2020 1:05PM PDT

1. AUTORUNS can remove items I've found troublesome. Google it up. It's a Microsoft tool which I find useful in hard to kill situations.

2. Manual removal. Too advanced. Use AUTORUNS and then delete the app's program folder.

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Answer
Here's the number TWO. Wow, that's awful.
Jun 21, 2020 11:27AM PDT

The fact it worked after what I'm assuming for a time after you completed advice here about using DDU and getting the driver from the maker which at no point you didn't write "I didn't do that" I now turn to an issue Windows has with drivers.

Awful things they are, when they are good you never want to change them but here's Windows 10 with it working like a typical Engineer. It's working now, thanks. (Windows Driver Updater) "I'll fix that."

So it worked for a while. This leads me to think that either there is still bum old hardware (the GPU is old and not one I'd push more than one monitor with) but hey, we have DDU but then Windows will undo our work.

Let's fix that.

Google up "How to disable Windows Driver Updates" and get that done. Now run DDU again, clean it all out, install the driver you think works and begin testing.

Part Two: Section Two:
Given the age of the PC and more I would by this point have replaced all the heatsink compounds on GPU, CPU and motherboard chips then the fan tests. Fans must work like new or they are replaced. I take no quarter or prisoners here since we can't have clients come back with a failed fan in a few weeks.

Get that driver work done after you disable Windows auto driver update disabled.

Post was last edited on June 21, 2020 11:36 AM PDT

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DDU and Windows auto driver update
Jun 21, 2020 1:06PM PDT

I just disabled Windows auto driver update and ran DDU again. Still no help, Launched the game and crashed again about 4 mins in.

Part Two: At the start of the whole lockdown story I was quite bored one day and re-did my entire PC. Heatsinks on cpu and gpu was replaced, All the fans cleaned Thoroughly. Entire Computer cleaned with not a spec of dust left. took me a day but it was worth it as my temps came down by roughly 5-15 degrees. (It was quite dirty) All the fans were checked as well, all in good working order.

Just a little extra: I went into my event manager and looked at some of the errors, there was quite a few regarding malwarebytes, (which i uninstalled a long while back). Decided to try and install it again and uninstall using Revo (to remove all the files there could possibly be) NOW malwarebytes is also showing up in speccy ( say not active but it does say its there).