Freeze/Crash in Battlefield 3 MP

[jfelano]

I have a new problem I'm hoping you can help diagnose.

Note I never had this problem when I was running Vista, however, since I have changed over to Windows 8, I am having some issues.

I can play BF3 for a couple hours and then in the middle of playing my guy will start lagging, then freeze and then I can't get out of the screen. I control/alt/delete and end up getting a black screen, at that point I have to push the reset button on my case and re-boot. Once in a while I am able to get it back to the desktop, but then I have no mouse. After reboot, computer works fine again.

It doesn't happen everytime, but most time, usually about an hour into playing. Which seems to point to an overheating problem, but that's not the case.

I've run Intel Burn Test at Maximum and my cpu only hits 60c. I wonder if there is a similiar stress test for my video card? I keep the video card at 40% fan normally, but when I play BF3 I turn it up to 75%, which is quite loud, but it keeps the card at 90c or less.

Do you think 90c for an extended period of time would cause this? Keep in mind this NEVER happened under Vista. I have not tested any other games, as I only play BF3 right now.

Thanks for any help in advance. I'm running Catalyst 12.1

Windows8
Asrock H61
Intel i3-2100
8GB DDR3-1333
HD5850 OC (small overclock, but problem occurs even at stock speeds)
Antec EA380w 80+ bronze
22" Monitor at 1680x1050

[mlc]

90c seems borderline high... Try removing the card and blowing out any dust that may have accumulated.. Also try running with case open to see if air flow improves, keeping temps down..

I would also try removing the fan/heatsink from the gpu and try reapplying some thermal paste to see if that helps..

[AnonymouseUser]

To test if the GPU is overheating, underclock it 10% and play your game. If it crashes, it's not the GPU, but if it doesn't you'll need to reapply the TIM under the heatsink. FWIW, I have a 9600GT that hit ~130C before crashing, and after applying new TIM temps hit max ~75C.

[jfelano]

Well if you think 90c is high, I will just turn the fan up. I had a 9800GT that idled at 90c so I don't see that being the problem.

I've already blown all the dust out of the entire computer.

The cpu is only 6 months old so I'm not going to re-apply thermal paste. 60c is well under spec for this processor.

I've had this video card for 4yrs and it's always run those temps, which I thought was a major improvement from my 9800GT.

[mlc]

We're talking about the paste on the graphics card (GPU), not the processor(CPU)

[RU482]

Originally Posted by jfelano

I have a new problem I'm hoping you can help diagnose.

Note I never had this problem when I was running Vista, however, since I have changed over to Windows 8, I am having some issues.

having the exact same problem. i5-3570K, HD6870, 8GB, SSDs. cleaned the heatsinks thoroughly before installing. Temps are no higher than they were with Win7. Getting ready to install Win7 again (getting rather annoyed with Win8 anyway, guess I can't adjust to change)

Installed Win7 - no more problem

[jfelano]

Originally Posted by mlc

We're talking about the paste on the graphics card (GPU), not the processor(CPU)

Ok but like I said, my 9800GT "idled" at 90c, so I didn't think 90c was an issue. I'll run the fan speed higher and see what happens first.

[Puppies04]

Originally Posted by jfelano

Ok but like I said, my 9800GT "idled" at 90c, so I didn't think 90c was an issue. I'll run the fan speed higher and see what happens first.

How long did it last like that? with medium to heavy usage I wouldn't give any GPU much more than 12 months of 90°c at idle before something gave up.

[jfelano]

The 9800GT I had for 2 years before I sold it. It's pretty common for them to run 115c, I've heard many people say there's ran that hot.

[hondaf17]

I know what the problem is as I had the same thing when I went from W7 to W8.

Install AMD's 12.11 beta drivers. Will fix your problem. From what I learned the 12.10 drivers weren't 100% stable with W8 and caused a memory leak while playing BF3.

I have been 100% stable since I went to the beta drivers. Good luck.

[jfelano]

Originally Posted by hondaf17

I know what the problem is as I had the same thing when I went from W7 to W8.

Install AMD's 12.11 beta drivers. Will fix your problem. From what I learned the 12.10 drivers weren't 100% stable with W8 and caused a memory leak while playing BF3.

I have been 100% stable since I went to the beta drivers. Good luck.

Good news. However I can only find 12.1 on AMD's site. Below that there is a "AMD Catalyst Application Profile" that says 12.11 CAP 2, whatever that means. Is that what I download?

[hondaf17]

http://support.amd.com/us/kbarticles...etadriver.aspx

report back if this works for you.

[jfelano]

Ok I played about 3 hrs with the new beta 12.11 thinking it was all fixed and them bam. I start lagging then freeze. After about 2 minutes the computer unfreezes and I can get on the desktop but then it runs real slow and says my memory usage is 80%, this must be the problem, something is taking up all the memory.

Even as I type this it says my memory usage is 80%. I don't get it I have 8GB.

[jfelano]

So I rebooted the computer and now it says my memory usage is 15%. So I have come to the conclusion that something is randomly sucking up all my memory, which is causing my game to crash.

I'm stumped.

[hondaf17]

The 12.10 drivers caused memory leaks in BF3 MP. Updating to 12.11 beta solved it for me and lots of other people. Bing search BF3 windows 8 memory leaks and you'll find some threads.

Sorry that it didn't work for you. I'd try completely uninstalling the 12.10 and doing a fresh install of 12.11.

[jfelano]

Ok I uninstalled all the AMD catalyst and drivers and removed all AMD folders, re-installed 12.11.

Now should I also install 12.11 CAP 2 also? It says hotfix application profile exe.

[mlc]

yes

[hondaf17]

Did the OP ever find a solution, report back after the driver suggestions? I have to admit that I seem to be wrong. I thought my problem was fixed with the new drivers, but just this weekend I had two memory leaks again. Much less often and I can play a lot longer sessions before it happens, but it still happens. Makes me think it is a driver issue and will be resolved once a solid driver is released.

[jfelano]

Hey guys, it definitely was overheating, which likely is what caused the problem. I tried to play BF3 today for the first time in 11 days and it crashed right away.

So today I took the video card apart and it was completely clogged with dust inside. Canned air wouldn't even remove it I had to use a toothbrush. I also took off the heatsink and cleaned the hard gunky thermal paste off and put on fresh thermal paste.

The video card maxes at 45c now in BF3, about half what it was running. So far after 2 hours of BF3 I haven't had any crashes yet. Will keep you updated.

[jfelano]

Played a couple hours today, card up to 50C, but that's because I'm only running 55% fan speed now instead of 85%.

[hondaf17]

Nice. Good work.

[jfelano]

Well so much for that. An hour into BF3 today it did it again.

Did a hard restart, started playing again and about 20 min later, bam, crashed again.

It always starts the same way, you lag a little bit then you start freezing and then then you either just get a in game freeze screen or it crashes to a black screen.

I'm frustrated at this point.

[p0rkguy]

Locate bf3.exe and change it to Windows 7 compatibility.
EA still hasn't fixed this issue with its memory leak in Windows 8.

[jfelano]

Originally Posted by p0rkguy

Locate bf3.exe and change it to Windows 7 compatibility.
EA still hasn't fixed this issue with its memory leak in Windows 8.

I did that and so far after about 10hrs of playing I haven't had a single crash. Thanks, fingers crossed.

[jfelano]

Thanks pOrkguy, haven't had any crashes since I did that.