Assassin's Creed Brotherhood forces PC reboot

[cups]

Hello! I just bought Assassin's Creed Brotherhood the other day and I am excited to play it, but I keep encountering a very annoying issue. I am about 2 minutes into the game, and I am running through Rome with Mario, but each time I load the game, my computer will just shut off and start back up again. I have never had this issue with any other game, and I just finished playing Portal 2 before I started playing this. To be sure, I started up and played Portal 2 again for about 30 minutes without any problems at all.

I tried running Assassin's Creed in compatibility mode for Windows XP, and I tried running it as administrator. This made no difference. I am running PC Probe and MSI Afterburner, and I have not noticed any significant changes or spikes in temperature or voltage.

What is the deal here?

I am running Windows 7 64 bit, Intel core 2 duo 3.16GHz, 8 GB RAM, nvidia 460 hawk GPU. My specs exceed the recommended.

[cups]

I reinstalled the game, and reverted the drivers to an earlier version. No luck.

[pam123]

First check out this at Ubisoft support : Ubisoft - Support

It's possible that it's the game and not your hardware and you may need the patch.

For more general information on how widespread the problem is go here : Assassin's Creed & Brotherhood General Discussion [PC] - Forum

It possible that you have a power supply problem, and Portal2 didn't push your system hard enough to show it, but check for the obvious software problems first.

[cups]

Thank you for your response! I have submitted this question to the support forum already, and have yet to receive a response. I try to post to a couple places at once in hopes that I get a multitude of possible solutions.

I do believe it is the game, as my system has always been sound. Before playing Portal 2, I played The Witcher 2 on very high settings and I never experienced a power failure. My 800w modular power supply should be (and has been) sufficient for my system.

If it is indeed the game, however, I cannot think of why. I have been able to patch it through steam before ever playing it, and I still have the problem. So, unless steam is not fully patching my game, I cannot identify the issue as software based.

I wish that my system logs would give me more information than "An unexpected shutdown occurred." I already knew that!

I shall keep you posted.

[birddog_61]

You might ask in the software section, but I seem to remember someone posting a program that would analyze the system dump logs and let you know more about what is going on.

[cups]

I have found such a program called WhoCrashed. Yet, this program is not detecting any dump logs at all, even though they are enabled. WhoCrashed suggests that the logs aren't being written because it could be a hardware issue. I feel like I'm going in circles.

Something interesting to note: I managed to play the game for about 30 minutes after turning ALL of the graphics settings down to their minimum. After a while, PC Probe alerted me that my CPU is overheating. I wonder if this is just a coincidence? Is it possible that with the settings above minimum, the CPU overheats so quickly that it trips an emergency shut down before PC Probe even alerts me there is a problem? I feel like this is unlikely.

In any case, I'm going to make sure my thermal paste is alright, and perhaps look into CPU cooling that is not stock.

[birddog_61]

Originally Posted by cups I have found such a program called WhoCrashed. Yet, this program is not detecting any dump logs at all, even though they are enabled. WhoCrashed suggests that the logs aren't being written because it could be a hardware issue. I feel like I'm going in circles. Something interesting to note: I managed to play the game for about 30 minutes after turning ALL of the graphics settings down to their minimum. After a while, PC Probe alerted me that my CPU is overheating. I wonder if this is just a coincidence? Is it possible that with the settings above minimum, the CPU overheats so quickly that it trips an emergency shut down before PC Probe even alerts me there is a problem? I feel like this is unlikely. In any case, I'm going to make sure my thermal paste is alright, and perhaps look into CPU cooling that is not stock.

I would bet that you just found the problem, apparently this game is more CPU intensive than the games you have been playing and is causing you to overheat and the CPU to shut down the computer. Is your processor overclocked? are you using the stock cooler or an aftermarket unit?

[cups]

The CPU is not overclocked, but it is stock cooling. The CPU is an E8500 though, which exceeds the minimum spec requirement.

[pam123]

You don't have to over clock a processor to have heat issues.
The fan could be failing, you might need to reseat it and apply a fresh coat of thermal paste, the case might need blowing out.
Take the side off the case and look.

[birddog_61]

I would take the fan and heatsink off and clean them thoroughly, then reapply some thermal compound and try it again.

[cups]

I'll try reseating it with fresh compound, but I don't understand how this game could cause such a ruckus, yet Starcraft II doesn't press my processor too hard.

[David M]

Using Prime95 to stress your computer, run thermal monitoring and voltage monitoring software for both your CPU and your GPU.

Then run 3DMark Vantage to stress test your graphics card and run the same monitoring software.

Don't assume there is nothing getting too hot or under-voltaged.

[jdeb]

I assume you have the latest NVIDIA drivers and not the Windows one?

Are there drivers available for your monitor?

[birddog_61]

After a little looking, it seems that the game is very cpu oriented, while starcraft 2 is not. Starcraft is using mainly your graphics card and not so much your cpu, brotherhood is the other way around and that is why your just now noticing this problem.
Assassins Creed: Brotherhood PC Performance Analysis - DasReviews

[cups]

Originally Posted by David M Using Prime95 to stress your computer, run thermal monitoring and voltage monitoring software for both your CPU and your GPU. Then run 3DMark Vantage to stress test your graphics card and run the same monitoring software. Don't assume there is nothing getting too hot or under-voltaged.

Instead of 3DMark Vantage, will MSI Kombustor suffice? It's the stress test software that came with my GPU.

I shall continue testing, but I've ordered a market heatsink and cooler for my CPU, and I'm just going to wait until it comes to reseat the unit.

I assume you have the latest NVIDIA drivers and not the Windows one? Are there drivers available for your monitor?

I do have the latest NVIDIA drivers. I downloaded one through windows update recently, but have since reverted and then updated again from NVIDIA's website (in an effort to troubleshoot). I believe my monitor is a simple plug and play device, but I will check to see if drivers are available.

Will update when the time comes. Thanks everyone for your help so far.

Update: Primer95 tests are experiencing FATAL ERROR now due to expected hardware failure. It tells me to reference "stress.txt file," but I cannot find this file.

Kombustor, although this has never happened before, crashes my computer exactly as if I were trying to play ACB.

What. Up.

[pam123]

And what did thermal and voltage monitoring show (David's suggestion.) when the crash happened?

[cups]

It's difficult to say. Everything seems normal, but then again, I cannot see what changes may occur the split second it happens.

I'll report what my baseline readings are from PC Probe:

Vcore: 1.17v
+3.3v: 3.22v
+5v: 5.04v
+12v: 12.10v
SB: 1.06v - 39C
SB2: 1.52v
FSBT: 1.17v
DRAM: 2.16v
NB: 1.33v - 53C
CPU: 35C
MB: 32C

I am doing a small FFT test right now that has not failed. My CPU is maxing at 79/80C. The blended test seems to be the test experiencing failure.

Usually when I run Kombustor, my 12v rail voltage doesn't change, and my GPU heat peaks at 70C. It idles at 32.

[pam123]

The results file should look like this one : 1 error, 0 warning - prime 95

Use search to find it.

[cups]

Originally Posted by pam123 The results file should look like this one : 1 error, 0 warning - prime 95 Use search to find it.

Did you intend for that to be a hyperlink? I searched for "1 error, 0 warning - prime 95" and found 0 results. I did not have to install Prime95, it is just running from the .exe. Is this how it should be?

I managed to run the small FFTs and the in-place large FFTs for a couple hours each with no problem. However, the blend test fails in seconds. It says "rounding was 0.5, expected less than 0.4." Is this a RAM instability?

Update: I ran three instances of MemTest simultaneously for four hours to see if it was a memory issue. 0 errors, over 100% coverage.

[Tabooo]

Hmm, this sort of happened to me when I recently got Brotherhood, except it would just freeze on me, couldn't even get past the opening sequence.

What happened to me was that it had vsync automatically on though my pc couldn't do it. Took me awhile to find that problem. So you might want to check to see if that is on. If it is, turn it off and see what happens. (I have an EVGA 460)

[cups]

Originally Posted by Tabooo Hmm, this sort of happened to me when I recently got Brotherhood, except it would just freeze on me, couldn't even get past the opening sequence. What happened to me was that it had vsync automatically on though my pc couldn't do it. Took me awhile to find that problem. So you might want to check to see if that is on. If it is, turn it off and see what happens. (I have an EVGA 460)

Thank you for your tip! However, I did try this to no avail. I had turned all of the graphics settings off/to minimum to troubleshoot if one of them had been the issue. Even though I could play normally for a little while, the game began to overheat my CPU.

My new heatsink/fan should be in today, so I'm going to reseat it with better cooling and then maybe push the vcore voltage up a little. Maybe 1.13-1.20 and see how it's running. That should solve any heat or voltage issues if the CPU is truly the issue.

Update:

I installed my new Arctic Cooling Freezer 7 and my CPU is running 20-30C higher while idling. I have taken it out and reinstalled it three times to make sure I have applied the AS5 correctly, and nothing has changed. It jumped up to 100C during a stress test today.

Additionally, my computer still crashes when I try to play ACB.

I just want to drop my computer off a building at this point.

[Khalil]

I would like to stress that your E8500 Processor is more than capable of handling ACB, after reading this thread I asked my brother who is playing the same game and he has had no issues, Your processor smokes what he got in his machine, only difference is he is using an ATI 6870 video card and you are using Nvidia.
His processor by the way is an AMD tricore 445 Rana which is nowhere near as powerful as your C2D E8500.
I think the issue you are having could be related to the game install, so it could be a bad disc the game came with.
Have you heard back from UBSOFT? They are a good company and they should be able to help you with this.
From everything you have said and the tests you have ran I am certain it is not a hardware issue.

PS, just to be sure, have you checked if you have the latest motherboard and sound drivers?

[birddog_61]

If your hitting 100C during stress test, you obviously have some cooling issues. Did you take the motherboard out to install the cooler? If not you need to, its the only way to get the clips to snap in completely. This would explain your high temps after installing a much better than stock cooler.

[pam123]

Originally Posted by birddog_61 If your hitting 100C during stress test, you obviously have some cooling issues. Did you take the motherboard out to install the cooler? If not you need to, its the only way to get the clips to snap in completely. This would explain your high temps after installing a much better than stock cooler.

Ditto.
Something ( your heatsink/fan) isn't sitting right and the probable cause.

[Khalil]

Originally Posted by pam123 Ditto. Something ( your heatsink/fan) isn't sitting right and the probable cause.

I agree too.

[cups]

Originally Posted by Khalil I would like to stress that your E8500 Processor is more than capable of handling ACB, after reading this thread I asked my brother who is playing the same game and he has had no issues, Your processor smokes what he got in his machine, only difference is he is using an ATI 6870 video card and you are using Nvidia. His processor by the way is an AMD tricore 445 Rana which is nowhere near as powerful as your C2D E8500. I think the issue you are having could be related to the game install, so it could be a bad disc the game came with. Have you heard back from UBSOFT? They are a good company and they should be able to help you with this. From everything you have said and the tests you have ran I am certain it is not a hardware issue. PS, just to be sure, have you checked if you have the latest motherboard and sound drivers?

Thank you for your input! I am using software that I downloaded through Steam, so the install could not be at fault due to a disc. Just to be sure, I redownloaded/reinstalled it from the server. The problem persisted.

I will, however, see about removing the motherboard in order to install the heatsink. I had not done that previously. I JUST tried to reseat the heatsink on the CPU according to arctic silver 5's instructions, do I need to reapply thermal compound when I remove the motherboard to make sure the clips are snug? Also, it's a tight fit on my board. Would it be a problem if the fan is right up against my RAM, or should it not make a difference?

I shall check to make sure my MOBO and sound drivers are up to date.

Ubisoft's response, while lengthy and full of things to try, did not prove helpful.

The type of problem you are having is usually resolved by updating your video card driver, and updating your Directx files. I've written details for doing this below, as well as other ideas to try if updating these files still doesn't solve your problem. - Updating your video drivers: Please visit your sound, video, and 3D card manufacturer's websites for the most recently available drivers for the components in your system. Major video chipset manufacturers web sites: Welcome to NVIDIA - World Leader in Visual Computing Technologies - GeForce models Global Provider of Innovative Graphics, Processors and Media Solutions | AMD - Radeon models Welcome to S3 Graphics - Create world-class graphics and video cores - All Savage model cards Welcome to Matrox - G200/G400 models Once you have downloaded and installed these drivers according to the manufacturer's suggestions then follow the next step: - Updating your Directx: Download and install the latest version of DirectX from Microsoft DirectX. For more help with this, please search the Ubisoft Database for how to update drivers. - Please check to see if there is a patch available for your game at Ubisoft - Patches Below I've written some other ideas for you to trouble-shoot and try if updating the video driver Directx was unsuccessful. - Is your video card / 3D card supported for the game? Check the game box to see if your video card meets or exceeds the minimum video requirements for the game you are playing. Also, check our FAQ to see if it is listed among the supported video cards for the game you are playing. If your video card is not on the supported video cards list, you may have trouble playing the game. If it is supported - Get the latest reference driver available from the chipset manufacturer (ATI Radeon model chipsets at Global Provider of Innovative Graphics, Processors and Media Solutions | AMD and Geforce model chipsets at Welcome to NVIDIA - World Leader in Visual Computing Technologies) If your video card is not a supported one - You may want to consider upgrading your video card to a more capable and powerful 3D accelerator. - Scan your system for viruses Even if you normally use Norton or McAffee virus scanning software, visit HouseCall - Free Online Virus Scan - Trend Micro USA or Avira AntiVir Personal - Free Antivirus to get a free online virus scan. - Try running the game from the executable Instead of starting the game from the start menu or the Autorun menu, try running the game directly from the executable file in the game's installation directory. - Close all programs running in the background (Windows XP / Vista) Go to the Start menu, and choose Run. Delete anything on the Open line that you'll find there, and type in the work MSCONFIG. Click on OK, and that will bring up a program called the System Configuration Utility. Look down the list of startup items (not the tab labeled Startup), and choose Selective Startup (if it is not already selected). If you don't see this, make sure you've clicked on General, near the top of the window. Once you've chosen Selective Startup, uncheck 'Load Startup Items', and leave 'Process System.INI file' and 'Process Win.INI file' checked. Once you're done here, click OK, and let it reboot your computer. Your Windows environment may look different and you may get an error relating to your sound device not working (ignore this for now). Try running the game again. If the game loads and seems to be working, the problem is most likely related to one or more programs you have scheduled to load with Windows. You can then revert the settings back the way they were, and in a trial and error fashion, disable some programs using the startup tab (in the msconfig utility) to try to find the culprit. (Windows 95, 98, ME) 1. Reboot the PC 2. Once you are back to Windows, press ctrl-alt-del. 3. From the "Close Program" window that opens, the only two items that should appear in this list are Explorer and Systray. 4. To temporarily disable all other programs, highlight the first item in the list and click end task. 5. Continue this process until you have closed all programs except Explorer and Systray. 6. Start the game again. - Run Scandisk (Windows 98/XP) 1. Click Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools 2. Select Scandisk 3. Select your hard drive. If you have more than one, you should scan each drive individually. 4. Click Standard 5. Check Automatically fix errors. 6. Click Start - Run Defrag (Windows 98/XP/Vista) 1. Click Start->Programs->Accessories->System Tools 2. Select Disk Defragmenter 3. Select the hard drive you wish to defrag and click ok. - Remove files from the temp directory 1. Reboot the PC 2. Once back in Windows, Right-click My Computer 3. Left-click Explore 4. From the right pane of Windows Explorer, double click C:\ 5. Double-click the Windows Folder, then find and double click the TEMP folder. 6. Remove all files from this folder. 7. Restart the Computer 8. Empty the Recycle bin and run the installation again. - Uninstall and reinstall the game? 1. Uninstall the game by clicking uninstall from the Start menu, the Autorun menu, or from Windows Add/Remove programs. 2. Explore your hard drive for the game's installation folder 3. Delete this folder, then empty your recycle bin 4. Reinstall the game, then install any patches available. _Please_ go through these suggestions as they very frequently solve these types of issues. If you continue to have problems, then feel free to reply and we'll try other ways to fix your problem. Thanks.

[Khalil]

The fan being close to the RAM is no problem as long as it is not touching the memory sticks.
I have seen this happen a lot with new games when the sound drivers are not up to date.
If you already have thermal paste, you dont need to clean and reapply it just make sure it does not get disturbed too much when you remove the heatsink. The heatsink needs to be completely locked in place or the CPU will over heat like crazy.
Hope you get your situation resolved.

[cups]

The fan's housing does indeed touch the RAM. I had the case open to make sure that the fan was running properly, though.

I'm certainly going to make sure the bracket is fully clipped to the botherboard, because I also noticed that the heatsink is actually not hot when I touch it. I downloaded a couple drivers to install to make sure they're up to date.

Will update in time.

Update:

I feel a wave of relief rush through my body. I took my entire computer apart, and put it back together, cleaning my NB and SB and applying new thermal paste and, for the final time, reseating my heatsink and fan.

New temperatures:

CPU- 34C
GPU- 25C
MB- 26C
NB- 38C
SB- 35C

And they shall continue to go down as the paste breaks in. I'm awesome.

I have not checked to see if my game problem is fixed, but I really have no reason to believe these few degrees in cooler temps have solved the problem. I'll be updating drivers to see if the issue is resolved.

[jdeb]

Nice job cups

[cups]

Originally Posted by jdeb Nice job cups

Hey thanks! The drivers I downloaded said they were not compatible with my hardware. Weird. I installed driver detective, because I used to have it before I upgraded to Windows 7. Can't remember my registration key, unfortunately. It said I had about 24 outdated drivers. I tried driverdoctor, which updated my chipset and ethernet drivers, among some other things, but it did not report nearly as many out of date drivers. Curious!

In addition, my computer is refusing to recognize that I have any sound hardware or drivers at all and I am having trouble resolving this issue.

Previously, I was able to simply take out and put back in my Supreme FXII card and this fixed it, but previously I had not been told that I had no sound drivers installed.

Update: "The audio driver files do not support your computer hardware." What? I downloaded the driver directly from the rampage formula section on the asus website.

Looks like it's a structural problem with my case. The sound card plugs in to the first PCI slot at a slant because the back of my case looks wider than the card is long. I can't secure the card with a screw without partially unplugging it from the pci slot.