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Video game crash -> Freeze -> Missing Boot MNGR

rivethead

rivethead

Platinum Member
Hi All,

I have been playing THQ's Titan's Quest lately and have run into a strange problem. Randomly the game will freeze. CTRL+ALT+DEL does nothing. The only way to recover is to hold down the power button for 10 seconds (Reset doesn't work either).

After holding down the power button, the computer re-boots but displays the "Missing Boot MNGR" message. Holding down the power button one more time causes the computer to re-boot and then things are back to normal.

But when I go back to the game.....my entire character/game progress is gone.

Any ideas how to trouble shoot this? I thought maybe my RAM was going bad, but Windows Memory Diagnostic didn't find anything.

Could it be a hard drive issue?

Or could it be an issue with the game? This doesn't feel like a game issue to me, but its hard to tell.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, advice, or thoughts.
 
Assuming the PC in your sig is the PC in question, the first thing you should do is to reset your overclocked components to stock. If it stops crashing then one of those components has degraded, maybe even your motherboard.
 
Sounds like it is indeed a bad stick of memory. Memtest doesn't always catch these either. Try running the game with one stick at a time. Probably will be slow, but would be a good tester.
 
If you had to raise CPU voltage for that o'c, you are exceeding the wattage capability of the motherboard.
 
rivethead said:
Hi All,

I have been playing THQ's Titan's Quest lately and have run into a strange problem. Randomly the game will freeze. CTRL+ALT+DEL does nothing. The only way to recover is to hold down the power button for 10 seconds (Reset doesn't work either).

After holding down the power button, the computer re-boots but displays the "Missing Boot MNGR" message. Holding down the power button one more time causes the computer to re-boot and then things are back to normal.

But when I go back to the game.....my entire character/game progress is gone.

Any ideas how to trouble shoot this? I thought maybe my RAM was going bad, but Windows Memory Diagnostic didn't find anything.

Could it be a hard drive issue?

Or could it be an issue with the game? This doesn't feel like a game issue to me, but its hard to tell.

Thanks in advance for any suggestions, advice, or thoughts.
Click to expand...

Missing Boot MNGR and losing data all point towards the hard drive. Sounds like your older 40GB SSD is starting to go south.
 
^ But then why would it only do that on first reboot after a freeze, and then otherwise it boots windows, runs apps, etc? I'm thinking CPU or motherboard, otherwise even with a dead HDD or SSD the reset button should work.
 
AnonymouseUser said:
Assuming the PC in your sig is the PC in question, the first thing you should do is to reset your overclocked components to stock. If it stops crashing then one of those components has degraded, maybe even your motherboard.
Click to expand...

This first,

Then Memtest86+ at stock settings for 12+ hours.

Try a different hard drive for the os disk.

1. your overclock is unstable
2. memory on the fritz
3. ssd on the fritz
 
mindless1 said:
^ But then why would it only do that on first reboot after a freeze, and then otherwise it boots windows, runs apps, etc? I'm thinking CPU or motherboard, otherwise even with a dead HDD or SSD the reset button should work.
Click to expand...

My theory is that your overclocks are stressing something which could cause one of the components to be overheated, thus on immediate reboot it's still too hot to function properly. On the second reboot it has had time to cool down enough to boot properly. If you wish to test this theory, then next time it hangs just power it down and let it rest for a few minutes before powering it back on.
 
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Missing MBR "would" be a harddisk problem however a bad stick of ram or an unstable overclock can cause all kids of strange problems including a MBR errors. Rule out the easy stuff first. Ram, overclock, another faulty device like a DVD drive.
 
Actually it is a missing boot mngr and in any case it won't do harm. Okay they say it might at sevenforums, but I digress. 🙂

edit
okay mate I did my part..
 
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It's not a missing boot manager if powering off and on again fixes it, if it only happens right after a system freeze. However, I'd wonder if the southbridge is overheating (or overclocked?) since it handles SATA.
 
AnonymouseUser said:
My theory is that your overclocks are stressing something which could cause one of the components to be overheated, thus on immediate reboot it's still too hot to function properly. On the second reboot it has had time to cool down enough to boot properly. If you wish to test this theory, then next time it hangs just power it down and let it rest for a few minutes before powering it back on.
Click to expand...

Yes, that's my suspicion as well. I would ignore the missing boot mgr message and focus on the freezing because that happens first.
 
Last edited:
Hi all,

Thanks for the responses!

First off, I thought about the OC but my system has been OC'd for so many years without a hiccup.....I suppose the stress could finally be catching up, but still.

However, In digging around I noticed that my RAM score and Primary Hard Drive speed scores in the Windows Experience Index dropped to 5.9.....everything used to be in the 7s before.

So I thought maybe RAM.....I swapped my RAM with my sons (he basically has the same thing....9-9-9-24 1.5V Gskill.....only his are Ripjaws X. Oddly my system refused to boot with his RAM! It got stuck on the "Initializing AHCI..." screen. My RAM in his system (a newer Intel i3 system) dropped his RAM and Video scores into the 6's (from high sevens).

So right now the old RAM is back in my system....I'm running..... nothing seems to be problematic (WEI is back to 5.9 for RAM and primary disk for me...7s everything else) at the moment. Basically I'm just as confused as before.

Although now I'm thinking motherboard.......
 
Unless you remove the overclock and confirm the problems remain/go away, I don't see that there is anything else we can do to help you. Maybe you just want people to keep guessing.
 
ketchup79 said:
Unless you remove the overclock and confirm the problems remain/go away, I don't see that there is anything else we can do to help you. Maybe you just want people to keep guessing.
Click to expand...

Understood. And I certainly don't want to keep people guessing. This weekend I will remove the OC and try the RAM swap again to see what happens.
 
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