Hard crashing PC locks up

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GPython#5980 wrote:

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DomzyPrivs#5120 wrote:

This isn't just a POE2 issue. It is also happening in POE1. The exact same pc freeze, during the same actions, loading maps or the game.

I get no crashes or crazy cpu utilization during load screens in any other games. Just POE1 and POE2. This is 100% a problem on GGGs end.

Most likely has something to do with the shaders because all the crash reports people are actually able to get, show shader as the error.

Try to play POE1, you will absolutely encounter the same issue. 100%

Confirming encountering it in POE1 as well as POE2. Have had it occur for years on several old systems on every version of Windows since 7, so definitely not a Windows issue or limited to POE2. Happens almost 100% of the time when on Directx12 or Vulkan, but less with Directx11. I think that's why it seems more common in POE2, because Directx11 is Default in 1.

Only thing that "helps" is disabling 2+ cores in system affinity, but it doesn't prevent the issue just prevents it from locking up your PC entirely and requiring a hard restart.

Just set up an entirely brand new system from the ground up the week before POE2 launch, went to test it in POE1, and have the issue occur consistently, so definitely hardware and software independent. It's absolutely a problem on GGG's implementation that got carried into POE2. Numerous threads and reports of the issue have popped up over the years, but its still going strong in both games. Hopefully if they ever manage to fix it, they remember to bring the fix back to POE1 too instead of just continuing to ignore it.

Edit: Also it's been happening way more in POE2 since this last patch. No clue what's changed it sure hasn't helped.

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Echothesis#7320 wrote:

Wonder if poe built-in anticheat is responsible for this. To hard freeze windows without even ctrl alt del working you have to operate on lower levels than normal software should. I had client crashes, especially before switching from DX12 to vulkan, but never pc freezes. Windows always handled the crash.

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SerceOthar#7734 wrote:

The new patch completely borked this game for me.
It's crashed 8 times within the span of last hour. Two of the times I couldn't even load back in the instance because it would lock up the entire PC, only way to fix it was to switch to Vulkan then load in and switch back to dx12.

It's been almost 2 weeks of non-stop crashing now. I've never reported a game on Steam, but this game has earned that.

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Miyu1337#3862 wrote:

There seems to be a lot of misinformation circulating in this thread and I'm not sure if it's due to trolling, misguided advice from uneducated streamers or simply people refusing to accept that their hardware may be faulty or improperly configured.

The issue is hardware-related. Software fixes might temporarily alleviate the problem, but they only do so by reducing performance and lowering the chances of crashing, as they prevent the hardware from operating at its limits.

If you're using an Intel 12th or 13th gen CPU, it's likely defective, and you'll need to replace or RMA it through Intel. For AMD systems, the issue is almost always related to unstable RAM.

This problem can cause random crashes in other well-optimized games as well, particularly with Unreal Engine 5 during startup or shader compilation. Unfortunately, there's no benchmark that consistently reproduces the issue.

In my case, I was experiencing multiple crashes per hour. After removing my RAM overclock and updating the BIOS, I’ve had no issues for over 120h of playtime.

To address hardware instability, try some of the following:
- Lower the CPU thermal throttle point by 5-10°C
- Reduce the RAM frequency and use default timings (or try XMP (with a lower frequency))
- Lower the CPU max clock by 100-500 MHz
- Increase CPU voltage by 15-40 mV

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Miyu1337#3862 wrote:

There seems to be a lot of misinformation circulating in this thread and I'm not sure if it's due to trolling, misguided advice from uneducated streamers or simply people refusing to accept that their hardware may be faulty or improperly configured.

The issue is hardware-related. Software fixes might temporarily alleviate the problem, but they only do so by reducing performance and lowering the chances of crashing, as they prevent the hardware from operating at its limits.

If you're using an Intel 12th or 13th gen CPU, it's likely defective, and you'll need to replace or RMA it through Intel. For AMD systems, the issue is almost always related to unstable RAM.

This problem can cause random crashes in other well-optimized games as well, particularly with Unreal Engine 5 during startup or shader compilation. Unfortunately, there's no benchmark that consistently reproduces the issue.

In my case, I was experiencing multiple crashes per hour. After removing my RAM overclock and updating the BIOS, I’ve had no issues for over 120h of playtime.

To address hardware instability, try some of the following:
- Lower the CPU thermal throttle point by 5-10°C
- Reduce the RAM frequency and use default timings (or try XMP (with a lower frequency))
- Lower the CPU max clock by 100-500 MHz
- Increase CPU voltage by 15-40 mV

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Miyu1337#3862 wrote:

There seems to be a lot of misinformation circulating in this thread and I'm not sure if it's due to trolling, misguided advice from uneducated streamers or simply people refusing to accept that their hardware may be faulty or improperly configured.

The issue is hardware-related. Software fixes might temporarily alleviate the problem, but they only do so by reducing performance and lowering the chances of crashing, as they prevent the hardware from operating at its limits.

If you're using an Intel 12th or 13th gen CPU, it's likely defective, and you'll need to replace or RMA it through Intel. For AMD systems, the issue is almost always related to unstable RAM.

This problem can cause random crashes in other well-optimized games as well, particularly with Unreal Engine 5 during startup or shader compilation. Unfortunately, there's no benchmark that consistently reproduces the issue.

In my case, I was experiencing multiple crashes per hour. After removing my RAM overclock and updating the BIOS, I’ve had no issues for over 120h of playtime.

To address hardware instability, try some of the following:
- Lower the CPU thermal throttle point by 5-10°C
- Reduce the RAM frequency and use default timings (or try XMP (with a lower frequency))
- Lower the CPU max clock by 100-500 MHz
- Increase CPU voltage by 15-40 mV