Guild Wars 2

So, it wasn’t until a couple days after the game came out I started getting complete freezes with a loud bzzzzzzzzzzz coming from my speakers. The sound stops after about 5-8 seconds, and there’s my game frozen in place. A hard restart is required as ctrl+alt+del or alt+f4 etc. does not work. The freezes happen completely randomly, whether i’m playing 1 hour to 4 hours. Situation seems not to matter either as it has happened in huge crowds of events or simply when it’s me vs. a animal.

I have been obsessively checking my temps, and am positive heat is not an issue, resinstalled, rolled back, sweeped, and done everything possible with my drivers. reverted to stock settings, and have passed stability tests. Also, I played quite a few hours of other games, mostly BF3, and never had the issue.

In short, I have seen many related issues of freezing requiring hard restarts, but none exactly like my problem. So if anyone else is having the same issue, or knows of a possible fix, I’d like to know it’s not just me having this issue. =)

Specs:
AMD Phenom 955BE at stock
XFX 6870 at stock
Asus M4A79T Deluxe
Realtek audio drivers
Mushkin DDR3 1333

I have this same issue. My particulars are listed here.

I hope we can get this figured out, good sir!

I had a freeze issue when downloading an update. But for me it was a day after i finally got windows 7 SP1 and a bunch of other critical updates. I noticed that all my NETframework updates failed so i redid those and also got an optional driver update
for my wireless network device. This fixed my problems. Someone else tried is and it didnt fix his though… but im throwing this out there because maybe it will help one of you. And have you tried the other possible fixes mentioned in other threads?

And i just wanna say this btw.
Am i wrong or are there 2 major problems right now?
1 is the fps mayhem, but i there is also the freezing/not updating thing.
And i see people giving the same solutions to both, wich in many cases could work.
But i wonder if these issues have different causes. This freezing could be network related i mean. I may sound dumb and all but it got me thinking. So for the guys with actual computer knowledge, don’t flame if i’m being stupid just trying to help

Hard locks like that are almost always caused by old drivers, hardware instability, or software in combination with anti-cheat programs (eg. Afterburner and PunkBuster, but GW2 doesn’t use it)
1) update realtek since I remember it used to have issues. www.realtek.com.tw/downloads/ → High Definition Audio Codecs → R2.70 for your OS
2) if that doesn’t work, disable it in device manager and play with no sound for a day or two
3) uninstall (not disable) any anti-virus program you have

no no no , why do so many people try to deflect the problem by saying it is not what it is ???

I have same issue , it started 3 days ago though it didn’t happen yesterday, but yesaterday I left graphics setting on low , details in another thread

MY DEAR FRIENDS!! fear not Genezilla’s here to help.
I’ve had the exact same problem with my PC and I’ve found the solution(s).

1. Most common is the realtek driver issue. Uninstall and disable on bios. Try playing with a USB headset for a bit. This might solve the issue for you. It didn’t for me. If it does, invest in a sound card.

2. Update your graphics card drivers to the latest. This didn’t work for me either, but it could for you.

3. Check the temps of your graphics card and CPU. make sure they are not overheating. Download programs like realtemp to check ur CPU. Run prime95 to see how ur CPU handles %100 run speed. If it shuts down, u need better cooling or u need to reseat ur CPU – google it. Graphic card – open up the GPU management to see how hot ur GPU is running while gaming. If ur suspicious – run furmark and stress test the GPU to see if its crashing – mine didnt (and initially I thought I had a defective GPU).

4. Check RAM – use memtest86 to see if its a memory issue. Google it.

5. The one taht worked for me!
Update ur motherboard bios. Read ur mobo instruction carefully before doing this! You have been warned! Make sure u clear ur CMOS after updating ur bios.
Im proud to say Ive done all of the above and step 5 was the one that fixed my freezes.

I felt compelled to help you guys – as I know how frustrating this can be. All the best!!

Genezilla

Also my specs in case u were wondering:
Asus P8p67 mobo
8gb x G skill 1600 Ram
asus 6950 2gb
intel i5 2500k

Drivers are out of date.

Update GPU, sound, chipset and USB drivers.

This has happened to me at least once a play session and I’m really over it, as I mainly only PvP and this boots me, forcing me to restart a new game – very frustrating.

All my drivers are up to date and my computer has had no problems like this with any other game. Kinda disappointed the amount of bugs this game has been riddled with, not to mention the terrible lag spikes that kick in at peak hour.

You know what would be awesome in this or any of the other technical support threads? A reply from the developers/admins/tech support dudes.

So far I see a lot of threads with a grocery list of problems and not one single solution. Is this the level of service to be expected from a non-subscription based game?

This is nothing but a driver / software issue. Are you absolutely sure that your sound drivers are up to date? That you have the latest chipset drivers?

What programs do you have running in the background?

I literally just downloaded the latest Realtek Audio driver today. I downloaded the latest Nvidia Geforce drivers yesterday. As for the rest, I checked for updates in Device Manager and all said they had the latest drivers.

And the only programs I run are iTunes, Skype, and Windows Messenger, although I don’t always have iTunes running.

Bad RAM. Burn memtest onto a CD and run it for at least an hour.

Ow and about the “invest in better hardware” i know you are trying to help but if the issue only happens with one game it is a bit fast to throw money at it. Game isn’t even out for one month…. May i suggest playing something else until stuff gets cleared up.
I mean how many posts are there from people with new rigs getting same old issues. What would be better, putting this game away for a month (or 2) or swapping hardware and later finding out that it wasn’t necessary. I know that some people may have flawed hardware but not all of them. This happened with SWTOR also. I find it hard to believe that hundreds of people suddenly turned clueless overnight and there systems instantly reduced to rubble. Also the amount of people only having issues right after a patch is confusing (im talking about freezing and not the FPS thing)
I do have to agree with Genezilla and MDK in a way that you have to eliminate the possibility of your rig being the problem. My issues were caused by faulty windows update, would have been really embarassing if i had first posted rants and “F this game” threads, only to find out it was on my side It’s to easy to yell “Anet your kitten is wack, fix asap”. We are all trying to help each other out here right? Just keep your hand on your wallet a couple of weeks longer mate :p

There has been a lot of misunderstanding about this. Crashing issue is not always related to GPU but it is more into CPU heat related. Check your CPU temp as you play and make sure they don’t get beyond 70 degree, it may lead into crash/black screen/any following of repetitive buzzing sound with glitching graphic.

Agreed, Rudeboy. It is definitely trial and error, and considering the game crashes at the oddest moments means that you cant definitely tell what the issue is. It took me over 4 days off research and mucking around to get a fix.

Hang in there guys!

Just following up on what Reinth said, there is a safe temp in which CPUs should run at load. Mine is around 72-73c. If its going over that temp frequently, perhaps its time to invest in a better CPU cooler.

However – my detective work leads me to believe that it might not be a CPU overheating issue. The reason I say that is when I run the CPU on full load on prime95 – my PC just turns off (instead of freezes) to avoid any more overheating. The game symptoms were freezing and loud static noise, so it doesn’t coincide.

That being said, my CPU was running close to 100c at max speeds! Funnily enough, after I updated my mobo bios, it runs at max 75C on full load – which I am happy with for the time being.

You’re right that CPUs overheating is commonly followed with a force shut down to prevent it from frying your components. But oddly enough, I’ve found that the game’s engine is somehow unpredictable and unstable that in certain zones/instances it may push the CPUs usage way too much, which is why various issues occur.

memtest is also a good idea. No need to run it for hours on end, if there’s a problem it’ll be very obvious in the first couple minutes. Overheating will throttle the card and/or CPU, giving drastically worse framerates long before you get a black screen (GPU / PCI) or complete shut off (CPU / ACPI).

Fatal.7136:

I literally just downloaded the latest Realtek Audio driver today. I downloaded the latest Nvidia Geforce drivers yesterday. As for the rest, I checked for updates in Device Manager and all said they had the latest drivers.

99 times out of 100 the drivers on windows update are older than what the manufacturer has. If 2.70 realtek’s didn’t work, disable it in BIOS.

Genezilla.3412:

That being said, my CPU was running close to 100c at max speeds! Funnily enough, after I updated my mobo bios, it runs at max 75C on full load – which I am happy with for the time being.

Your rig has some serious cooling/ventilation issues if software can get your temps that high. If your heatsink isn’t getting hot, probably means the paste dried up and cracked (remove, scrape off old layer, reapply, etc.). If it is, add more fans or crank up the A/C. Some sandy and ivy boards also like to turn on automatic OC’ing, namely asus, so make sure its not setting your vcore too high either.

Reinth.1498

You’re right that CPUs overheating is commonly followed with a force shut down to prevent it from frying your components. But oddly enough, I’ve found that the game’s engine is somehow unpredictable and unstable that in certain zones/instances it may push the CPUs usage way too much, which is why various issues occur.

Better CPU usage is what everyone wants. If your rig can’t handle the extra heat, upgrade your cooling. Not a game issue.

Ok, lot’s of different issues I see…I have tried almost all of the above, except reinstalling/clean sweeping my realtek drivers (which I thought of when making this thread lol), which have caused many problems in the past, as someone else said. Haven’t had much time to play, but I haven’t had a freeze yet.

And I guess I didn’t say it specifically enough, I have passed all stability tests, and i’m stable. Also have been watching temps, CPU doesn’t go over 50c GPU stays under 60c.

I followed Genezilla’s advice and updated my system BIOS, using the program @Bios for Gigabyte motherboards. Played for quite a bit tonight and I haven’t had this error occur once, fingers crossed it stays that way.

Now to just fix all these other stupid errors I’m encountering and I might be able to finally play Gw2 in peace XD.

Thanks, Genezilla! Glad someone is carrying the slack of ANet.

Fatal.7136:

I followed Genezilla’s advice and updated my system BIOS, using the program @Bios for Gigabyte motherboards. Played for quite a bit tonight and I haven’t had this error occur once, fingers crossed it stays that way.

Now to just fix all these other stupid errors I’m encountering and I might be able to finally play Gw2 in peace XD.

Thanks, Genezilla! Glad someone is carrying the slack of ANet.

Maybe I haven’t had enough sleep, because I can’t figure out how not keeping your system updated is ANet’s fault.

Because my system has worked fine on every single other game I’ve ever played – all currents included. I literally have a brand new computer, I shouldn’t have to update every single little thing for one game. That’s why it’s their fault. It’s obviously a bug that every other game could handle removing, but Anet couldn’t. And they had HOW MUCH beta testing?

I have the same problem though my BIOS is up to date so I wouldn’t count on flashing your mobo too much. :/ Oddly enough, underclocking your GPU fixed the crashing previously but the problem has returned.

Fatal.7136:

Because my system has worked fine on every single other game I’ve ever played – all currents included. I literally have a brand new computer, I shouldn’t have to update every single little thing for one game. That’s why it’s their fault. It’s obviously a bug that every other game could handle removing, but Anet couldn’t. And they had HOW MUCH beta testing?

Eh, yes you do need to keep your system up to date for new games. You absolutely have to – it’s your system, not Anet’s – you look after it.

If you can’t be bothered to keep it up to date then you’re not going to get much help from tech support.

Try underclocking your GPU with MSI Afterburner. -50-100 MHz should do the trick.

So far haven’t seen tech support jump in to help either me or any one else’s problems so your argument is somewhat invalid.

That comment is doing nothing but shifting blame away from yourself. And you haven’t looked very hard. And it has nothing to do with what I said in the first place.

Christ can people stop blaming this on out of date drivers and overclocking?
After reading god knows how many of these threads (and being a current victim myself) a couple of things are obvious:
1. Its not a 32bit windows problem as there are many 64bit users having the same problem
2. Its not an OC or temp problem. Those who have overclocked are as affected equally as much as those at regular clock speeds. And almost no one Ive seen has claimed any temp values outside the norm.
3. Its not out of date drivers or BIOS. 99% of people have been running the latest drivers and still encounter this error. It is possible a new driver will fix it but there isnt one.
4. Its not dodgy or outdated graphics cards. These people can still max other intensive games such as BF3 and benchmarks like Unigine

Their advice for turning of AA in CCC would be great if that option still existed in the latest builds. Also the troubleshooting exe they are sending round would also be a wonderful idea if it actually was built for GW2 or could locate it. I take that last comment back, their latest game advisor build seems to ahve fixed this problem.

The one thing common between all those experiencing this problem is simpy the fact that they run the game. And Arenanets unwillingness to aknowledge the problem is really starting to get on my nerves. I didnt pay $80 bucks for a broken piece of software. Nor will I stand for this weak attempt of tech support that they are offering currently.

I understand that they are busy with bots, gold sellers and hackers and thats fine. I would just like an aknowledgement of the problem by them.

that felt good to get out

Perhaps this is a lower priority problem than hacking because crashing clients can still make microtransactions, hacked accounts cant.

Yep, and I just discovered I’ve still got this problem. I no longer get the annoying buzz but my game still freezes randomly, with a hard reset required. Seems to happen more often than not right as I’m about to win a match in PvP. Really over this and I’ve only been playing for like a week. Thought waiting for the game to be out this long would give the devs a chance to smooth everything out that was wrong in the beta. Apparently not. So yes, I am still shifting the blame to them, because it’s their fault.

Also as, Tsukaka said. Any form of acknowledgement at least would be nice. But, there’s not even that.

Sorry to hear that Fatal. Everyone’s machine is different so I guess the bottom line is that’s difficult to find a solution for everyone. I think it’s best to hope that at some point arenaNet addresses some of these technical issues – instead of you guys ripping out ur hair trying to figure out what’s wrong with the system.

One thing I did learn from all of this tho – as soon as you buy and put together a new PC system, update all the necessary hardware, run tests on memory, CPU and GPU to make sure they are all working fine. Make sure the temps are within safe limits and make sure there is plenty of ventilation to ur PC.

Good luck everyone.

So far so good, but I have had this long of a streak before…No work the next couple days, so i’m going to put a good amount of hours in to be sure. Although the responses here don’t give me much hope lol. Seems like the problem is simply a complication between too many things, that you can’t really do anything about. (unless you want to build a whole new system of known compatible components)

Fatal.7136:

Yep, and I just discovered I’ve still got this problem. I no longer get the annoying buzz but my game still freezes randomly, with a hard reset required. Seems to happen more often than not right as I’m about to win a match in PvP. Really over this and I’ve only been playing for like a week. Thought waiting for the game to be out this long would give the devs a chance to smooth everything out that was wrong in the beta. Apparently not. So yes, I am still shifting the blame to them, because it’s their fault.

Also as, Tsukaka said. Any form of acknowledgement at least would be nice. But, there’s not even that.

Yea definitely, happens to me most of the time during structured pvp, and right when it’s about to end too, so frustrating.

Too many derails. Jbeasty – I’m getting nearly the same freeze and loud buzzer and I also have an m4a79t deluxe. Any luck yet?

I have the same problem. My screen takes it to the next level tho by deciding to crap out too but when I switched to a spare it looked exactly like this. Playing on the lowest graphics settings cures the crash for me completely but doing so leaves me feeling dead inside. Never had this problem in any of the betas or at all really until the end of last week. Updated all my drivers as suggested in this thread and many many others and the crash still occurs.

My system spec:
Graphics: AMD Radeon 6700 series
Processor: intel core i3 2100 CPU
OS: Windows 7 64bit
Memory: 4 GB ram, 7 GB virtual

The crash doesn’t seem to happen when I play on low but I know that my graphics card is capable of much more than running guild-wars as I use 3D modelling and have to render animations and stuff for my studies. Honestly playing this game on low is heartbreaking. Updating hardware not an option as a: was new only a year ago and b: I’m not made of money.

Quick edit: Happens WAY more on my guardian than any other character.

I also am experiencing this problem. I have to do a hard reset every time.

I updated all my drivers and the problem persists so while it may be driver related, it’s not because they are out of date.

It seems totally random but I had it happen constantly while trying to get through the quest “A Light in the Darkness.” That quest is absolutely miserable and having to do it 8 times from the beginning due to lack of checkpoints is all the worse.

i5-3570K (No overclocking)
Graphics: Radeon 7950
OS: Windows 7 64 bit installed less than a month ago.
16 GB RAM

screenshots of Hwmon please.

have any of you ried the ‘last resort’ of completly formating your hard drives and reinstalling Windows + drivers + Gw2 only. ?

On my old 5year old Q6850X CPU rig i used ot get random freezes exactly as you lot re describing ..though this wasnt on GW2 sincei t wasnt out at the time.
i tried everything i could think of short of reseating the CPU.

In the end i reformated my drives, installed windows ..up to date drivers. .and installed the games i was playing . .And vwala no more crahsing.

Buzzing sound then game locks up, lower your sound options in game.

Lowering sound options in game had no effect.

Formatting and reinstalling windows had no effect.

first, you dont need to disable your audio to test if its your audio causing this
http://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Command_line_arguments
use the -nosound augment it will remove sound from the game fully taking that out of consideration.

second, you should dust your system out regularly, and keep an eye on system temps, anything above 60c isnt a good thing, most amd chips I have owned become unstable above 60c.

read this
https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/Suggestions-To-Clear-up-Alot-of-errors-with-GW2-and-other-games-apps/first#post431255

post on that thread if it helps you.