Entire computer crash during second cutscene

[Cheesesteak]

I've written a long posting on the Saints Row IV - Bugs and technical issues thread, but I decided to get a second opinion here. I simply can not figure out what is happening and I am becoming increasingly confident that it is not my fault that this is happening.


All users that I can find who have reported this problem appear to have an AMD HD 6870 in common.

Problem:
When I play this game on any graphical settings from 1080p in Ultra or the lowest possible resolution on Low, the game crashes during the second cutscene, where Pierce, Shaundi, and The Boss are talking on a helicopter. When the game crashes, the entire computer crashes with it; both of my monitors go dark and stop receiving input from the video card. The sound continues to play for a few more seconds, but then gets frozen in a loop where it repeats a few milliseconds of the audio over and over again indefinitely. The only way to escape this state is to cut off power to the computer from the power supply unit.

Steps I have taken to fix:

• When I first installed the game, I installed SweetFX 1.4 with it. I uninstalled that completely and made sure it left no traces. http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/sweetfx_shader_suite_download.html
• I had RadeonPro installed. I uninstalled that completely and made sure it left no traces. I then did a factory reset on my GPU in CCC. http://www.guru3d.com/files_details/sweetfx_shader_suite_download.html
• I assumed that the computer was overheating. I cleaned all my fans, and then ran Saints Row 3 and monitored temperatures for about half an hour, and then monitored temperatures in Saints row 4 until crash. The temperatures got much hotter after a prolonged Saints Row 3 session @1080p on Ultra without error, which ruled that possibility out.
• I updated Catalyst Control Center.
• I completely uninstalled Catalyst Control Center, and then installed AMD Catalyst 13.8 Beta.
• I verified integrity of game cache on Steam.
• I completely deleted and re-installed Saints Row IV through Steam.
• I've made sure all Windows Updates were installed.
• I've disabled all virus scanners. (Avast!)

I still have not been able to fix this error and I have run out of ideas.

Specs:
Operating System: Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit SP1
CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K @ 4.00GHz
RAM: 4.00 GB Dual-Channel DDR3 @ 666MHz (9-9-9-24)
Motherboard: MSI P67A-G43 (MS-7673) (SOCKET 0)
Graphics: AMD Radeon HD 6800 Series (ATI AIB) (Radeon HD 6870 1GB)
-Catalyst Version: 13.8
DELL U2212HM (1920x1080@60Hz), Primary, DVI
DELL 1800FP (1280x1024@60Hz), DVI
Hard Drives: 932GB SAMSUNG HD103SJ ATA Device (SATA)
Optical Drives: HL-DT-ST DVDRAM GH24NS70 ATA Device
Audio: Realtek High Definition Audio
-Audio Technica ATH-AD700 Open-air Dynamic Audiophile Headphones
- Zalman Zm-Mic1 High Sensitivity Headphone Microphone
Misc:
-PS3 as 360 Controller via XInput Wrapper for DS3 (http://forums.pcsx2.net/Thread-XInput-Wrapper-for-DS3-and-Play-com-USB-Dual-DS2-Controller)
- Logitech Webcam C500
-SR4 installed to C:\Games\Steam\steamapps\common\Saints Row IV
For a complete Speccy readout, go here.
http://speccy.piriform.com/results/oX5VcNGPqSyRykEwdjYorYI

If there is any more information I can provide to help, please let me know.

 

[zefie]

CPU: Intel Core i5 2500K @ 4.00GHz

It is important, before reporting a bug, to disable all overclocks, even if they have not caused any problems in any other application. I've had OC before (I opt not to use them anymore), in which anything I normally use (steam games, apps, encoding, ect) would work, but OCCT (stress test) would crash it. CPUs are a complex beast. I won't pretend to know WHY this happens, but it can.

At any rate, see if you can get past this area at stock clock.

 

[Cheesesteak]

Alright, I've done as you suggested. To be more precise, I went to my BIOS and purposely reset it to defaults to remove any and all changes I've made. I've also used MSI's utility "Live Update 5" to update my BIOS, Audio drivers, and other misc. Intel drivers. (http://us.msi.com/service/download/)

In addition, I've followed the following guide as posted in the "Saints Row IV troubleshooting guide to fix issues and errors" thread and done the following:
http://forums.techytohelp.com/index.php?topic=2183

• Ran game as administrator
• Ran in compatibility mode with Windows XP SP3
• Disabled windows Aero
• Set processor affinity to only one core.
• Did all of the above at once.

During my random troubleshooting, I discovered the following:
Using F4UBCD V4.61 (http://falconfour.wordpress.com/) I used Memtest86 v4.1 and discovered the following:

It appears to be failing the memory test, whilst passing my BIOS' built-in memory test. I've tried rotating the DIMM, using one at a time, and using different slots, and each time I got the same result. I fear that I may have fucked up my motherboard somehow, possibly when I updated the BIOS. I find it highly unlikely that both DIMMs have fried in the exact same fashion so the more likely candidate is that the motherboard is faulty. That said, I find it suspicious that SRIV is literally the only application or game out of dozens, if not hundreds, to run into any errors as a result of these memory failures. This error also existed before I did any BIOS updates, so if the BIOS update caused the memory test failure then this application suffered from a separate error. Finally, I find it unlikely that those two other folk are suffering the same memory error. I will attempt to contact them and get them to run tests to help rule out any problems.

This is my exact RAM.
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820231425

Unfortunately at the moment I am at a loss of spare parts with which to test this theory and I am also at a loss for ideas. I've decided that my best course of action would be to bide my time and watch as Volition starts implementing the inevitable patches in the coming weeks. If these patches don't help, then I will first try to re-install Windows. Should that fail, I will replace my RAM. (I've been planning to do this regardless of any errors.) Finally, if that fails then I shall replace my Motherboard, and continue on in this fashion.

If nothing I do works then I will probably drown my sorrows with copious amounts of alcohol. I'm fairly confident that there's nothing you guys can do at this point so I thank you for your time.

 

[zefie]

If you come across some cheap spare RAM, try it, but you said you have an MSI board, and my MSI board likes to throw memtest errors too, though usually around 3gb. I've used all my RAM before with no corruption, so I think its an issue with memtest86 and MSI. So all may not be lost. That, and if your RAM really was failing as low as 8MB, I don't think Windows would boot at all.

Did you try SR4 again after resetting the bios, and removing the overclocks, despite the errors?

 

[Cheesesteak]

Yes, to all of the above. I've even done a CMOS reset to ensure that all was default.

I've followed a friend's advice. I let Memtest86+ on Hiren's CD run twice, different from Memtest86 on F4UBCD.

Then, I used HCI memtest as suggested by this thread to be sure.

Both times, the memory didn't fail after running through at least twice, to be sure. Given how early the memory test failed in the other test and I am not running into any other problems I find it likely that the original memory test was faulty.

I cleaned up the drivers on my computer, and tried to run the game. (At this point, the game had downloaded an update.) This did not work. (To be more precise, I ran a backup of all my drivers and then used the "Remove All Non Present Drivers" function as found in Hiren's from within my normal OS.)

I underclocked my GPU as much as CCC would let me, and that did not work. I am going to continue to run more stress tests to find potential weakness in my machine, in accordance to that AnandTech thread I linked earlier.

 

[Cheesesteak]

I played a coop game with my friend for about 15 minutes before crashing. Bypassing the opening cutscene somehow made the game more stable. We ran around, did a Death Tag activity, and left and entered the ship a couple of times before I crashed.

I even beat him thanks to the quirky scoring system!

 

[Cheesesteak]

In addition to this, as I mentioned before I followed this guide to stress test.
forums.anandtech.com/showthread.php?t=2195063

I have passed every single test without incident on at least the bare minimum.
LinX: Ran for 20 cycles on 4 threads.
Prime95: Ran for 10 hours on blend.
HCI: Ran on four threads for at least 200% coverage.
OCCT GPU: Ran for 20 minutes.
memtest86+: Ran for 2 cycles.

 

[Cheesesteak]

So I decided to take more extreme measures. I downloaded MSI Afterburner and underclocked my GPU's Core Clock and Memory Clock even further than CCC would allow. From 900 MHz and 1050 MHz, respectively, I lowered it to 764 MHz and 892 MHz, or roughly 15%. Now the game appears to be running beautifully. I don't know what to make of this. I don't know if my card is faulty or not, because it has survived literally every stress test I've thrown at it on stock settings with absolutely no trouble, and every game I've ever played has always run just fine.

 

[SgtEzio]

So I've been having the same problem for a couple days now. The most recent fix by the kind Cheesesteak has worked for me.....kind of. Before, my game would crash right in the beginning, as the helicopter appears. After the fix, I was able to get up the "shoot up terrorists" part. But sadly, it crashed again. I've tried multiple times afterwards, gradually underclocking my gpu until it was at a solid 25% underclocked. I don't know what else to do. (Oh, and my gpu is the same as Cheese's.)


Fix your damn game, Volition.

 

[[V] IdolNinja]

Fix your damn game, Volition.

I understand that you're upset, but let me take a moment to remind you of our forum rules, especially rule #1.

Don't be a dick.

Volition is here posting on this forum and asking for bug reports and patch requests. They have also already released a patch two days after release to fix one of the mission problems. They are doing more than most companies to support both their game and our modding community.