Guild Wars 2

OK back.

I want to discuss power supplies for a little bit.

Hopefully, all of you here with gaming computers are using good, brand name power supplies. First, I will discuss something that most people don’t even look at when deciding which power supply to buy:

Noise. Computers use high-frequency switching power supplies. This is because the components can be smaller due to the high frequency operation – otherwise PC power supplies would be about the size of the towers they fit in.

This high frequency switching generates electronic noise. Although it is filtered to be as minimal as possible; lower quality power supplies generally produce more noise and are often not able to put out the power they are rated for.

This switching noise appears on all of the voltage outputs. The more heavily loaded the power supply is, the larger this noise voltage tends to be. PC problems occur when the noise is a high enough level to affect the hardware (specifically the digital logic in the hardware that determines a logic high/low).

This can cause problems that are nearly impossible to resolve without “scoping” the power supply rails to look at the noise voltage present or changing power supplies.

This isn’t an issue very often, but it is definitely something that should be considered when building a computer.

EtonMessy.1836:

Can’t fault a man and his experience. It may well be my card then. I have an old 9600 GSO? Reckon that’d be a fair card to test on? I haven’t had a single crash for a long time by turning down my settings.

It’s saddening because it’s a pretty decent card and the fact it’s doing this is very annoying.

Definitely try it.

There’s another possibility that I will get back to you with; I’m eating at the moment.

Guns and Giblets.9308:

abomally.2694:

Guns and Giblets.9308:

abomally.2694:

Not necessarily. Different games use different resources in different ways.

Your graphics issue will occur again – it’s only a matter of WHEN it will occur.

What games use similar resources so that we can test this? Concrete examples will be helpful. Otherwise we can’t rule out a fault in GW2.

It’s irrelevant.

Because you say it is?

For example, I run BF3 and Skyrim without any problems on all manner of graphical settings. I used to run GW2 without any errors either. That was six months ago. I came back to the game a couple days ago, and now this problem occurs only in GW2.

Evidently, I have to teach some people HOW to troubleshoot. Fine, here goes:

I stopped reading there. Thanks for the “help,” but I troubleshoot my own tech problems on a regular basis, with regular success. If dealing with the unwashed masses is so difficult for you, don’t bother, especially if you ignore the information they provide.

Unwashed? I’m sure they are washed, but I could be wrong.

My apologies to ALL for being harsh.

Unfortunately, I cannot duplicate this problem, so I can only (though I am working blind) provide information based on experience and knowledge of how hardware and software works. This is based on my 30+ years of experience as an electronics and computer technician (yes, I am that old).

Certainly, it would be nice to say “do this or do that and it will fix your problem.”

Sometimes, problems with hardware only crop up under certain, exact conditions. Sure, a graphics card may work properly on the majority of applications and games out there, but develop a problem only when using ONE game or application. It happens. Perhaps there’s a BIOS issue with that particular card.

One utility I like to use (instead of prime 95) is called HeavyLoad:

http://www.jam-software.com/heavyload/

When testing, I run it for about 30 minutes, which is about right for temperatures to stabilize. Will this utility cause the problem to show up? I don’t know but it may be worth testing (in full screen).

Honestly, it seems like this video problem is some type of hardware failure. In actuality (not to be confused with TruTV), there are really very few people with this problem. As I said before, it is a fairly common issue with BGA mounted graphics chips (any BGA chip that undergoes a cycle of heating and cooling really).

Substitution is really the easiest way to troubleshoot modern computer [component] issues. Obviously, most people probably don’t have a duplicate video card laying around to substitute. However, a different or older card will be just as useful in determining what the actual problem is.

THAT is my recommendation for people having this problem. If the problem goes away, it certainly indicates an issue with the original video card (manufacturing defect?).

Good day.

It sounds like Winsock corruption. Try a Winsock reset:

http://www.hotcomm.com/FAQ/FAQ_ResetWinsock.asp

The above applies to Windows 7 also.

I’m using Nvidia drivers 314.07 WHQL. My game is fully patched.

A couple of things to try:

1) A clean boot:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/929135

2) In game, in the graphics options, set your refresh rate. In the U.S. that will be 60 hz (59.94).

3) I suspect that some of these issues MAY be sound related (doesn’t sound related to your video issue, but it’s worth a try). Try setting all the sound sliders to the middle or lower.

Due to the new info that Eton provided, I cannot determine that it is for sure the video card. I don’t have any problems with the game, but since my system is quite old, I have it configured to squeeze every bit of performance out of it that I can.

That means that I have as little as possible running in the background when I start the computer. I disable all unnecessary startup programs and services. I use Avast antivirus (very low on resources, no issues with gaming) – I simply don’t like AVG- it has too many compatibility issues. I have a Logitech G15 keyboard and the drivers are updated.

My CPU is overclocked, but only by 200 Mhz (runs at 2.8 Ghz). My GPU is not overclocked, nor is my RAM. My CPU voltage is manually set slightly higher than default for a stable overclock. My power supply is a Corsair CX430.

When running GW2, I don’t usually run anything else; although I’ve had no issues running Firefox and I often have Fraps running so I can monitor the frame rate (sometimes I play around with the graphics settings).

There ya’ go. Good luck with this issue. I really can’t think of anything else that could potentially cause such a strange video problem (other than hardware).

Neuroscar.4028:

We need to keep this thread busy so that Anet’s tech support can re-read tomorrow when they get to work! I’m now unable to play the game for more than 30 seconds until I get a black screen/video signal disconnect.

nvidia 8800 GT hasn’t failed me for five years and I don’t think it’s failing me just yet! ArenaNet, please help.

Well…evidently it’s the game, others have pointed this out to me.

It’s pretty strange (though) that my Nvidia 8800 GT has no problems when playing this game for several hours at a time.

In fact, I played today (still in that crazy maze inside the mountain near the Vista in Lion’s Arch).

“I can play WvW without any interruptions, this is at the factory overclocked speeds. This problem only occurs in PvE regardless of what I do.”

So now your story changes? I don’t recall reading in your posts that this occurs ONLY in PvE. It really helps to get accurate information for an accurate diagnosis.

This reminds me of ages ago repairing consumer electronics:

Me: “What’s the problem you are having with your camcorder?”

customer: “It doesn’t work.”

“Does that mean no power?”

“No, it turns on just fine, I just don’t see a picture…”

After 20 minutes of questions and vague answers

“Oh, so the viewfinder doesn’t work…”

“Yeah.”

Fathme.5216:

abomally.2694:

Eton -

If ‘downclocking’ your GPU fixes the problem, then you have found the problem. It’s one (or both) of the following:

1) Your graphics card IS defective.

2) Your graphics card is failing due to heat (which you said isn’t the problem).

I recommend replacing the graphics card.

i don’t think that’s the case… i downclocked and now my problem is solved, but really who knows it could have just resolved itself, its the kittening client, lets make that clear, not anyone hardware, all of our hardware must be broken then.

So…the way the client (evidently) works, is that it detects GPU speeds then jumps to a loop that turns off the video if the client doesn’t like the GPU speed. So you lower the GPU speed and the client says “ok I like that speed better. I won’t jump to the video disabling loop.”

Is that right?

The reason your problem is “solved” is because the video card is not able to operate at the speed it was designed for, due to some type of failure that occurs at that speed.

In other words; your video card cannot operate within its designed specifications. Therefore, you have to operate it below spec in order to prevent the failure.

The majority of players do not have to do this. If they did, this board would be flooded with posts about it. Now, why do you think that is?

It’s NOT the client software causing this issue. If you knew more about hardware and programming, you would understand why.

Edited to add:

Roughly 3 million copies of this game have been sold. If even 1% of the player base had this problem this forum would be flooded with complaints about this.

How many “no video to monitor” posts do you actually see here?

Guns and Giblets.9308:

abomally.2694:

Not necessarily. Different games use different resources in different ways.

Your graphics issue will occur again – it’s only a matter of WHEN it will occur.

What games use similar resources so that we can test this? Concrete examples will be helpful. Otherwise we can’t rule out a fault in GW2.

It’s irrelevant.

Evidently, I have to teach some people HOW to troubleshoot. Fine, here goes:

Symptom:

The video blanks out (no signal) after a certain period of time has passed. If this was a
driver issue, the driver would crash OR cause strange discolorations on the screen – the video signal would not turn off, leaving no signal to the monitor. That alone indicates one of three things:

1) The video card is bad.

2) The cable from the video card to the monitor is bad.

3) The monitor is bad.

Now, the OP states that lowering the GPU clock speeds allows him to play longer before the problem occurs. That eliminates the cable AND monitor as being related to the problem. Lowering the GPU clock speed has no effect on the cable or the monitor.

When the GPU speed is lowered, this results in the video card operating at a lower temperature. This also means that it takes longer for the video card to reach the temperature where it fails.

You see, the video card is actually failing at a certain temperature – just not a HIGH temperature. This is quite common with BGA (look it up) mounted components (failing video cards, the Xbox360 “red ring of death”, some HP laptops, etc.).

I have seen this exact issue many times. It’s obviously a bad video card.

Good day.

EtonMessy.1836:

No, it doesn’t fix it. It only prolonged the time between crashes for a small amount of time. Swapped it back to the settings I had before.

If the card were defective, it would happen with all the other games I play. No?

Not necessarily. Different games use different resources in different ways.

Your graphics issue will occur again – it’s only a matter of WHEN it will occur.

Eton -

If ‘downclocking’ your GPU fixes the problem, then you have found the problem. It’s one (or both) of the following:

1) Your graphics card IS defective.

2) Your graphics card is failing due to heat (which you said isn’t the problem).

I recommend replacing the graphics card.

Instead of clicking the launcher on the taskbar, try using alt-tab.

I’m not sure I completely understand what you’re trying to say because your post is difficult to read.

It sounds like the game is working normally to me.

For me, holding either mouse button allows me to rotate the camera. Holding both mouse buttons moves my character forward, in the direction the mouse points her.

The first thing you should do is restore your CPU clock to normal speed (this is a troubleshooting step). Sometimes stability issues are very hard to replicate even with thorough testing.

With the CPU at stock speeds; play the game for several hours. If it doesn’t crash; well, you have your answer. If it does crash, you have eliminated the overclock as being the problem.

Uninstall the Nvidia 3D drivers (they get installed by default).

uber -

Obviously – your motherboard and/or CPU is bad OR you did something wrong. Replacing the battery will not fix it!

Maybe you forced the CPU in the wrong way (hey, I’ve seen it)?

Honestly, we are trying to help you but you don’t seem to be paying attention. Replace the motherboard. You are just spinning your wheels and getting nowhere instead of fixing the problem.

I agree with Ilithis Mithilander.3265. Start by undoing the changes you made.

By the way, if you used a “no-cd” patch with the game you installed — some of those REALLY ARE viruses — they are not all false positives.

Yes, you can. Just copy the Guild Wars 2 folder to the new PC it will work fine.

I don’t know if it will help or not; but I think this is what you were looking for:

1. Navigate to your Guild Wars 2 installation folder.

2. Right-click on “GW2.exe” and select “Create Shortcut.”

3. Rename this shortcut to “Guild Wars 2 Port Test.”

4. Right-click on this shortcut and select “Properties.”

5. Edit the “Target” line to include /clientport 80 at the end.

Note: Please make sure /clientport 80 is outside of the quotes

Correctly Formatted Example: “C:\Games\Guild Wars 2\GW2.exe” /clientport 80
Incorrectly Formatted Example: “C:\Games\Guild Wars 2\GW2.exe /clientport 80”

6. Once completed, click “Ok” to save your changes.

If you get an error trying to save, your target line may not have the correct format. Please try step 5 again.

7. Double click “Guild Wars 2 Port Test” and try connecting again.

Open Windows Explorer. Go to Documents and open the Guild Wars 2 folder. Delete the local.dat file.

Meron.1829:

I just downloaded the game in my laptop and tried to open the setup file. the file opens up and starts to load till 10423 and then the kb speed is going down till zero.
after that it closes and then opens up again showing 0 kb/sec and then closes again. it shows the guild wars 2 icon down at the tools bar but without the name “Guild wars 2” or anything else. just the icon. how do i fix it? i really want to play this awsome game… please help me i’ve tried any solution i found on the internet but nothing helps…

I also attached NCSOFT’s game advisor file for this lap top if it helps

I’m seeing a whole lot of packet loss in the game advisor log. Also, you have a ton of LSPs in Winsock. It’s impossible for me to know exactly what the issue is (I can’t see your PC), but there are some things you can try:

1. Disable Windows Defender – it doesn’t usually play nice with antivirus programs.

2. Configure AVG as shown in this sticky:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/Configuring-AVG/first#post3961

3. Reset Winsock (sometimes it gets corrupted and will cause all kinds of strange network issues). The following also applies to Windows 7:

http://www.mydigitallife.info/repair-and-reset-windows-vista-tcpip-winsock-catalog-corruption/

4. Perform a clean boot to eliminate possible software conflicts – you have a lot of unnecessary startup programs:

http://support.turbine.com/link/portal/24001/24001/Article/88/How-do-I-perform-a-Clean-Boot-of-Windows

5. Power cycle your router.

Hopefully the above will clear up this issue for you.

Pillowpants.5296:

I am having the same issue when I load the client and ingame. I can get to the character select screen and that ooks fine, but my client and ingame graphics are messed up. I have attached my dxdiag.

In your case, your graphics card IS failing…it’s only a matter of time. The HP DV series is known for this issue. In fact, I have a DV7 in the junk pile that the onboard (AMD) graphics have completely failed. The customer didn’t want to buy a new motherboard and I can’t say I blame them.

If you are under warranty with HP I recommend that you get it in for service asap.

I bound dodge to mouse button 4. Auto-run is mouse button 5.

Cruz.4052:

I believe I have finally fixed my Crashing / Out Of memory/ cannot access memory issues. I tried ALOT at first ; Checking my drivers, updating my graphics card, Ran Memtest, but still kept getting error reports. I final just went into properties tab of the game exe and set the compatibility mode to Windows vista (service pack 3) And BINGO! No more crashes. I finally went 4 hours playing without a single crash. (I have 64bit Windows 7 running btw.)

That’s interesting. I’m not having any crashes, but compatibility mode might be something people could try to solve their issues.

That looks like a software conflict issue. Please see section 5.1 in the thread below. Also, shut down ANY program that uses overlays (Fraps, game recording software, etc.):

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/FAQ-Frequently-Asked-Questions-Compilation/first#post1095890

Teiko.3846:

I have the newest and no change..seriously this is forum where GMs are supposed to HELP people?! I posted it before 24 hours and no sign of interest from support side seriously?!

That’s not a problem with the game. That’s texture corruption which usually means your graphics card is failing and/or overheating.

If a power supply is failing and shutting down – it’s likely that removing hardware from your system will not make any difference.

You have two options here:

1) Substitute a known good working power supply.

2) Take a chance that it is for sure the PSU and replace it.

“3rd party Application can also cause errors. Especially ones that use overlays.”

Please see Part 5 on this thread:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/FAQ-Frequently-Asked-Questions-Compilation/first#post1095415

You can try and repair Winsock. Here’s a program that works very well for that (yes, I have tested it – it works and is safe):

http://www.freewarefiles.com/Rizone-Winsock-Repair_program_56451.html

Make sure to use the “FreewareFiles Mirror” as the first mirror is dead.

Azure Prower.8701:

abomally.2694:

“It’s not stereo mix. I have it disabled also. So you’re misleading people with this information.”

Did you not see the word Sometimes in my post?

Furthermore; I don’t get paid to attempt to help people here – I volunteer my time. Of course, instead of doing that, I could simply play the game because I don’t have any issues with it.

That would be preferred than to mislead people with information not relevant to the issue at hand.

Here’s a cool music video just for you:

Please look at section 1.1 under Basic Troubleshooting (clean boot):

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/FAQ-Frequently-Asked-Questions-Compilation/first#post1095389

It’s ALWAYS a good practice to disable unneeded startup programs (and sometimes services too) to avoid possible software conflicts – especially when gaming.

I don’t know of a way around it other than changing the user account to have admin privileges or asking for the password (which kinda’ defeats the purpose). Windows implements permissions quite poorly compared to Linux.

“It’s not stereo mix. I have it disabled also. So you’re misleading people with this information.”

Did you not see the word Sometimes in my post?

Furthermore; I don’t get paid to attempt to help people here – I volunteer my time. Of course, instead of doing that, I could simply play the game because I don’t have any issues with it.

Well, there’s only about a thousand things that can go wrong in Windows networking…

One thing to try is to disable ALL checksum offloading features on your network card.

1. Go to Device Manager and right-click your network adapter.
2. Go to the Advanced tab.
3. Disable each instance of “Large Send Offload” and any “…Checksum Offload” you see and click OK. Your network will drop for a few seconds then reconnect itself.

Another way to do this:

http://www.windowsreference.com/windows-vista/slow-network-copy-and-connection-drops-in-windows-7/

If you want to reverse the website step above, use this command (in a Command Prompt [cmd]):

netsh int ip set global taskoffload=enabled

Adding RAM won’t necessarily make your computer faster. Unused memory is simply “overhead” to insure that you have enough to run what you need to.

“Been having this really annoying bug/glitch/error, whatever you wanna call it, where all of a sudden while playing, I start hearing this annoying “ooooOOOOOooooOOOOOoooooOOOOOooooooOOOOOO” sound which loops infinitely until I shut down the client.”

Sometimes “Stereo Mix” causes this issue. Do the OPPOSITE of what’s shown in the link below to turn it off:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/39532/how-to-enable-stereo-mix-in-windows-7-to-record-audio/

Remote desktop isn’t designed to use the mouse in a 3D axis; there is no solution that I am aware of.

Try going to your audio properties and making sure your sound is set to stereo (not wide or surround).

Lol…I didn’t catch that kitten. Change kittenml to s html without a space.

I’ve tested that program on several machines (XP, Vista, 7 32 and 64 bit) and it works very well. Yes, sometimes you have to download and manually install a driver. However, it’s all pretty-much contained on a DVD – makes new Windows installs much easier.

If it’s at the exact same spot every time, take a close look at the disk.

That sounds like what happens when a CD/DVD has a small crack.

7:11:3:189:101 means that there’s a network connection problem from your PC to the GW2 servers.

Maybe this thread will help:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/error-code-7-11-3-189-101/first#post6332

“drivermax is worth a look in those cases……”

I really don’t like ANY of the popular driver updating software. However, after much searching, I FINALLY found a really great one – and it’s free! (BIG download but handy):

http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/DriverPack-Solution-Professional.kittenml

Main site:

http://drp.su/

Talonblaze.3175:

Why there isn’t a ‘common solutions’ thread is beyond me. I never would have figured out something so simple would fix the issue. I had to dig in another thread to find it.

Actually there is, but it’s a bit tricky to find:

https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/support/tech/FAQ-Frequently-Asked-Questions-Compilation/first#post1095890

That doesn’t mean anything. If the PC is right on the edge of crashing, it make take certain conditions to make that happen.

The fact that it doesn’t crash when not overclocked means that the overclock is unstable and no code changes are going to fix that.

I don’t know what you mean by “it stops at 10422…”.

I recommend that you perform a “clean” boot, then try again. Here’s how to do that:

http://www.freebits.co.uk/cleanboot.html

Judging by your log file, it appears to be a RAM issue.

Try removing one of your memory sticks as a test. If that seems to solve the issue, you could try re-seating all the RAM sticks. Of course, if the issue returns, then one of the sticks is probably bad.

If the game is crashing because your overclock is unstable, how do you expect ANYONE to fix it?

Are you overclocking your CPU? If so, return it to normal settings. Also, you should probably check the CPU temperature as well. Hardware Monitor (free) will show temp and other things:

http://www.cpuid.com/softwares/hwmonitor.html

Most likely you aren’t using matched pairs of RAM or the timings are different between the two.

Sometimes BIOS will incorrectly detect memory timings and you have to set them manually. If the newer RAM is a different brand or has different timings that’s probably what is happening.

Older DDR memory was a bit more flexible in that you could often mix and match RAM. DDR2 and DDR3 are not – RAM sticks need to be closely matched to be stable.

If the GPU on that laptop is replaceable (mini PCI-E), you could actually do it yourself. Just look around the internet for videos for your specific model. You can also check if it has become partially dislodged.

If the GPU is built onto the motherboard, then you would need to replace the motherboard.