Guild Wars 2

I recently built a new PC, and I’ve installed the bare minimum of programs such as google chrome, messenger etc, plus Guild Wars 2.

Everything was running fine until a few days ago. Whilst running around in blazeridge steppes in a pretty calm area, I got an incredibly brief 1 second or so freeze on screen. What’s strange is that the num pad light on my keyboard turned off, I was unable to input any keystrokes, and my mouse cursor was also unresponsive. After this one second period, whatever key I happen to be pressing “Sticks” in the game. For example, say I’m running forward with the W key, I get the freeze, the key then sticks resulting in automatic running which I have to stop by holding W and S.

This has since happened probably every day at seemingly completely random times
It’s only a minor issue, but sometimes happens several times quite close together, and I don’t want it to happen half way up a jumping puzzle or in WvW or something. I should stress that I have not seen this happen in any other game, and indeed GW2 was also running fine until about 3 days ago when this started happening. The general performance has remained the same at a comfortable 59-61fps.

I thought maybe the halloween update may have corrupted my install and so yesterday did a complete reinstallation which does not seem to have solved the issue (though it has only happened once today, while talking to a merchant)

Any input would be greatly appreciated – Sorry if my question seems long winded and strung out, but it’s a hard thing to explain, and I wanted to give an accurate representation. I’m at a loss.

My PC specs are:

Intel i5 3570k
Sapphire HD6850
8GB Corsair Vengeance RAM
Gigabyte Z77-D3H Motherboard
Corsair 600W PSU
Thermaltake Frio Cooler
Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200RPM
4 Case fans

Temperatures for the CPU are typically 40-50c while in game, and the GPU probably around 60c, everything is completely stable other than my stated issue.

Thanks! let me know if I’ve forgotten anything.

Use the USB 2.0 port instead of the 3.0 port,if your using it that is..

I’m using a monitor with USB ports, which itself is plugged into a USB 3.0 Port…
I’ll try that, thanks. Just out of curiosity though, why do you suggest this?

Because ive read an article some time ago explaining loss of keyboard signal when using a 2.0 keyboard on a 3.0 usb port,same for mouse or any other 2.0 hardware on a 3.0 usb port.Doesnt have to happen offcourse,but it is likely.And actually ive had the same with a webcam and an older keyboard,constant loss of usb signal it got me crazy untill ive read the article switched to 2.0 and my issue was resolved.

Hello again.

Just here to say this doesn’t appear to have solved the problem. The last time it happened, it was immediately after exiting a story instance, this would suggest to me it’s happening whenever the game is loading something. This makes sense, as from memory, it’s done it when entering a dialogue scene, and also when entering a story instance.

Can anyone tell me what the problem might be? It sounds like it could possibly be a harddrive issue, since it appears to be related to loading – It’s also gotten better since I reinstalled my game, but I’m not sure of that. It’s just really baffling to me, since as I said, it’s only this game I’ve seen it in so far. Any help would be great – I’d really like to nip this in the bud before it potentially gets annoying.

Thanks

things to try if you suspect a HDD problem

1) run the Check Disk to look for and fix faults/bad sectors on the drive (http://windows.about.com/od/maintainandfix/ss/CHKDSK_all.htm)

2) optional disable indexing on your HDD (slows down search functions but stops windows thrashing your HDD creating index list all the time) with your HDD I wouldnt have though this to be a major consern however.

3)optional Enable advanced performance on your HDD (device manager/properties for you HDD/Policies Tab/ check the enable Advanced performance. With your HDD i wouldnt have though this to be a major consern however.

4) Try a disk defragment, although if its a new build with hardly anything install its probably not going to be an issue yet but should be run regularly anyhow.

5) Controversial? Make sure there are no sharp bends/kinks in your sata cable, try another one if you have one. Reports of this causing data corruption/performance issues. eg if you unplug your Sata cable while windows is running it freezes and resumes again when you plug it back in, bent sata cables are bad.

Hi Gaz, thanks for your suggestions, I’ve tried them all but to no avail.

Is it possible this could be a PSU issue? I have noticed the PSU has started to occasionally make a whining and buzzing noise which I can only assume is coil whine, but is it possible that my system is periodically losing power for a split second, resulting in these freezes?

I should clarify what actually happens. The screen freezes for a very short while, and as I said before, the USB devices seem to turn off for a split second also. However, audio does seem to be uninterrupted, for some reason. I’ve tried playing other games for long periods to reproduce it, and browsing the internet too – but nothing has triggered it so far but Guild Wars 2. I’m pulling my hair out over this.

I’ve made sure I have all the latest drivers, doesn’t appear to have made a difference. What’s annoying is that everything appeared to be fine before the halloween update, and I don’t think I’ve made any other changes software-wise. It’s either the game or (unlikely) a piece of my brand new hardware has decided it doesn’t like this game specifically.

Again though, is it possible that for some reason GW2 puts a little bit of extra pressure on my system, and my power supply has gone bad? The buzzing and whining annoys me anyway.

Thanks for your time

I don’t suppose your ISP is Virgin Media is it?

It is actually.. Any reason you ask?

Virgin Media is currently having an issue which is causing dropped packets every couple of minutes. I have been unable to play GW2 for the last couple of days because of this issue.

On the Virgin Media forums they refer to it as being an issue with their Tier 2 hosts, Telia and most people reporting it are reporting it causing issues with League of Legends, but I’ve noticed it also effects GW2.

http://community.virginmedia.com/t5/Computers-Gaming/Possible-League-of-Legends-Latency-Issues/td-p/1445330/page/9

Above is the relevant VM thread- if you try running the suggested trace route (to a league of legends european server) and get the same results displayed in the above thread (unreachable hops), then you are indeed suffering from this issue.

Would that cause my USB devices to turn off, though?

Thanks for letting me know about this!

EDIT: Completely forgot to mention, but around the time the halloween update hit, I actually upgraded to a virgin media 60mb a second connection.. I’m not sure about the usb devices being affected, but at least it’s a something to think about.

The USB’s may be a symptom – maybe GW2 trys to reset mouse + keyboard if it feels its not receiving any signal from them, while the internet is dropping packets?

Hey Syphirr and all,

Reading through the thread so far has been quite interesting.

In particular the points about USB3 and USB2 incompatibility hit home for me as I have a USB2 web cam that refuses to work on USB3 (though it is seen in device manager as working ok). USB3 is supposed to be fully USB2 compliant but there do seem to be some issues!

As for the ISP issues and (maybe) GW2 presenting problems because of a communications drop or error, this seems perfectly plausible.

The HDD checking suggestions are good too.

So what could the issue be?

To be truthfull, it is hard to tell what is causing the issue! I will suggest the following though – even if some of it sounds blatantly obvious;

• Disconnect all none essential hardware such as printers, joysticks, usb hubs, external drives etc and use only the bare minimum you need to operate the PC. If the problem goes away then (maybe) consider it as a power consumption or PSU fault issue.

• Use USB2 devices plugged in to USB2 slots only.

• Run a windows memory diagnostic (find out how to do so for your OS from the many online guides). If nothing shows as faulty then it is likely there is no fault but do not simply assume this is so. Is your memory 1 stick or a balanced pair? If using more than one stick, try using each of them seperately and see if the problem persists!

• I have a 1.5TB(1.36 according to windows) Barracuda as my tertiary internal drive – mostly for vids and photos. The Barracuda drives seem to be very good! The only option I can suggest altering is S.M.A.R.T in your BIOS. This will likely not make any difference though. Do of course triple check cabling is not kinked and is correctly seated (the amount of problems I have had to deal with on other peoples compters just because a cable was badly plugged in is unreal!)

• As to your keyboard and mouse, do you use generic devices? I’ll assume that if you are using non generic devices that you have installed the latest device drivers for them! The thing is, I currently use a Hama ‘uRage Evo’ mouse that is great for my needs and runs perfectly well as a generic device and a ‘ZBoard’ keyboard which is also great for my needs and (in windows 8 ) works perfectly well from setup – default download! Thing is, In windows 7, the ‘ZBoard’ initially and only from time to time threw a ‘wobbly’ and would be unusable until I restarted the PC. This was rectified by installing the correct ‘ZBoard’ drivers that I eventually found!

Other than that little lot, I can not think of any other suggestions just now. I hope you find a solution soon.

Hello again!

So, after some exhausting testing of what seems like every possible avenue, I THINK I have found the problem (and have been able to replicate it)

I’ve been using a cheap logitech keyboard I got from tesco for £5 for quite a while – This is root of the problem. It seems over time the wiring in the cable has become separated at the join where it meets the keyboard. The way in which I have my computer set up requires me to have the keyboard resting on my lap, and it seems when the cable shifts it breaks the connection and thus the keyboard turns off.

Now the weird part.

As you may know, you can take usb devices out and plug them in without any adverse effects to Guild Wars 2 whilst it’s running. What was happening in my case was that the disconnect wasn’t adversely affecting the game, but the reconnect was causing the game to freeze, including the mouse, for the brief second or so whilst it does so.

This seems like a pretty solid explanation, and I think the problem is solved, but you never know – Stranger things have happened. I’ll update further down the line and let you know how it goes.

The moral of the story is; don’t buy tat from Tesco.

Syphirr.3512:

I’ve been using a cheap logitech keyboard I got from tesco for £5 for quite a while …

The moral of the story is; don’t buy tat from Tesco.

Glad you got sorted.

The old computing term GIGO (Garbage In Garbage Out) comes to mind but not entirely accurately!

Sometimes the ‘Garbage’ is actually ‘good enough for now’ until it breaks and becomes proper ‘Garbage’ and needs to be binned but that eventually happens to premium gear too!

I have had many Logitech devices in the past and still have some in use – Wingman FFB joystick, headphones with mic and 5.1 audio speakers added to that, I have had many a good item from the supermarket in question.

All that said and done though, I do often say to people “Don’t buy tat from anywhere and don’t come crying to me for a fix if you do buy tat and it fails!”.

—+—

(Yeah the three Logitech devices are getting a bit long in the tooth – but they still work fine.)