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(Not sure if I am asking at the right site, as it might be software/hardware related and not exactly gaming. I guess I'll post this question on Arqade too.)
I have been having this problem since 2 days now. While playing the game, everything works fine, on ultra settings, with no overheating (max temp. 70). It has been working fine since the game as been released, and I have had no issues till recently. Nothing has changed on my PC since then.
Now, while playing the game, my PC just restarts. There are no errors, no lags, no game hang, etc. It just restarts as if some one pressed the hard restart button. Once the PC restarts, I start the game, and as soon as my previous save loads, the PC restarts again. (It restarts as soon as I enter play mode, has no problems while its showing the cut-scene while loading the game). I have tried starting and loading the game for 7 times now, my PC restarts as soon as it loads, every single time.
This happens only with Witcher 3 at the moment. It has rendered the game unplayable, as it restarts my PC immediately on starting to play. I do not think it is a hardware issue, as the game has been working flawlessly before the last 2 days. This PC restart problem is completely new, and pretty continuous in occurrence. I was thinking these sudden restarts might be because of the PSU, but I just got this PSU a month ago, and have been running Witcher 3 on it without any issues, till this happened.
My System Info:
CPU: i5 4690k
Motherboard: MSI Z97 Gaming 5 (BIOS version 1.9)
GPU: MSI GTX 970 (NVIDIA Drivers: 353.06)
RAM: Kingston Hyper X 8GB RAM
PSU: Cooler Master V550w Gold Class
OS: Win 8.1 64 bit
This is what I have tried so far to look into the issue, with no luck in solving the issue unfortunately.
- Detached and re-attached all cables from my PSU to the PC components, to ensure they are properly attached.
- Tried other games to see if the problem persists (other games work fine)
- Did a fresh clean installation of nvidia drivers, latest version (353.06)
- Did a fresh clean installation of older nvidia drivers (Witcher 3 Game Ready Drivers)
- Uninstalled and reinstalled the game
- Used registry cleaner to check registry for any errors etc, cleaned if there were errors
- Used System Restore to restore to a time when it was normally working (which is 2 days ago)
- Turned of cutscene ubersampling in game visuals.ini file
- Uninstalled MSI Afterburner and Riva Tuner (I was just using these to monitor and for OSD, no overclocking etc.)
- Tried running the game on varying settings - Low, Med, High etc.
- Tried running the 1.04 patch version, in case the issue was with patch 1.05
- Tried running New Game instead of loading off a save, still had the same issue.
Any help would be much appreciated.
[EDIT]
On checking event logs on windows, I found out that at the exact moment my PC restarts, Critical Kernel Power (event ID 41) error.
Not sure if this gives more clues about the error.
Also, when I am playing, my GPU TDP is around 98-99%. I just started measuring TDP. Is that normal?
2Please avoid asking a question twice on 2 sites. Ask once, if it gets migrated, let it be and not having a dupe question. – Universal Electricity – 2015-06-12T06:59:57.253
Thank you. I am trying to find out where it would be relevant for the above question. Could you advice? Based on that I will remove the question from one of the sites immediately. Thanks. – har00n86 – 2015-06-12T07:01:06.013
Don't delete it. Let the mods figure out which one is better and delete the other one. Just don't do it again – Universal Electricity – 2015-06-12T07:02:06.710
Check Event Viewer (I'm assuming this is a Windows machine) and see if there are any error just at the time of the shutdown? – Darius – 2015-06-12T07:10:07.190
Often the drivers you updated are not enough, also make sure that the chipset driver is also updated. +1 for a good clear question (although it probably deserves +10) :) Does the game offer settings before it loads, such as defining the graphic quality/sound quality etc. If so, make it as low as possible to test it and confirm if this still crashes? – Dave – 2015-06-12T07:18:07.267
Thanks Dave. :) Yeah I am planning to re-update all my drivers, although I recently updated everything. – har00n86 – 2015-06-12T07:19:24.623
Thanks for editing the question @Dave. Yeah, as mentioned, I have tried in various low-med graphic settings, but no luck. – har00n86 – 2015-06-12T07:22:08.107
You say it crashes as soon as it starts - as soon as what starts? As soon as the game loads (Where you see the manufacturer logos) or after you click the 'start the game' button (or continue/load saved game)? – Dave – 2015-06-12T07:25:13.617
As soon as the game finishes loading. The manufacture logos, title screen etc., are all fine. I can stay on that screen forever and it wont have an issue. The PC reboots after I load game, after the loading is done and when I am about to start playing. – har00n86 – 2015-06-12T07:28:32.020
What happens if you start a new game? – Dave – 2015-06-12T07:35:19.650
Same issue. Go into gameplay, walk around a bit and pc restarts – har00n86 – 2015-06-12T09:23:52.203
So this was the better site. The one on [gameing.SE] is now removed – Universal Electricity – 2015-06-12T10:08:32.600
1Power supply, 'nuff said. – AStopher – 2015-06-12T10:45:17.717
2Have tried starting a new game, to see if perhaps, the save file is just corrupted? I see you answered this question already. You need to update your question. – Ramhound – 2015-06-12T11:28:30.003
I have to admit, this does sound like a power supply issue. Borrow/ beg a known good off a mate. Expect hardware to fail shortly after purchase or after a few years. – Immortal Blue – 2015-06-12T11:38:37.540
What other games have you tested? Have you tried something as demanding as The Witcher 3? Try running some benchmarking software that really taxes your system. If it poofs, it's probably the power supply, as others have said. – Ben Sampica – 2015-06-12T16:18:32.230
I have tested other taxing games like GTA V, COD: AW. However, this problem seems to be the most frequent only on Witcher 3. I am confused because the Witcher 3 has been working well for me till recently, and I have changed no settings in this time. – har00n86 – 2015-06-13T00:38:56.913
try to check the directories where the game is installed and see if there are any log dumps that could provide insight. – AlanZ2223 – 2015-06-13T01:34:29.233