Random Black Screen / Freeze + Crash
Platform:
Windows 10
ISP:
Comcast
Type of Internet Connection:
Cable
Internet Connection Speed:
400 megabits down, 10 megabits up
Date & Time:
8/6/19 6:19PM PST
Frequency:
Always, approximately every 5-30 minutes
Character Name:
Tuko
Race:
TarutaruM
World:
Asura
Main Job:
BLU
Support Job:
RDM
Area and Coordinates:
Aht Urhgan Whitegate
Party or Solo:
Solo
NPC Name:
None
Monster Name:
None
Steps:
No specific steps necessary to repeat. At random, my character will encounter a black screen and the entire client, in windowed or fullscreen, then no longer respond and must be forced closed.
Periodically a brief error message will display stating that there is not enough memory. Yet my system is operating fine otherwise.
My specifications of the computer encountering problems.
1. OS: Win 10 Pro
2. CPU: i7-8700k
3. Mobo: Asus Maximus XI Hero
4. RAM: 32GB Corsair 2400Mhz
5. GPU: EVGA RTX 2070 XC Ultra
6. Drive: Samsung 512GB 970 Pro M2 SSD
http://puu.sh/E2RND/02b0b0802e.png
I'm fairly knowledgable with pc's and oftentimes friends come to me for help with their problems. Yet this issue has me stumped. My system is not operating beyond its capacity by any means.
1. Average CPU usage of various idle tasks howevers around 25-30%.
2. RAM usage around 30% average, I'm guilty of leaving multiple tabs open on chrome.
3. M2 drive has 236GB free.
4. Speccy and system monitor both report normal numbers.
5. CPU temps runs from 60-65c.
6. GPU temps runs from 55-60c.
7. Motherboard temp averages 35c.
8. No restrictive power settings, no screen saver etc.
I've done extensive searching online but haven't run across anyone else having this issue. These are the steps I've taken.
1. Rolled back Nvidia drivers. Tried previous builds dating back a few months. I used DDU, fresh reboot etc each time.
2. Clean install of Final Fantasy XI.
3. Clean install of Windows 10 (three times now).
4. Swapped GPU from my other system (similar specs) for a day.
5. Checked dump files using WhoCrashed, event viewer logs etc. No other system issues occur during these pol.exe crashes.
6. Took 24 hours to run MemTest86 without any issues.
7. Ran 3DMark, PCMark 10 etc to make sure it wasn't something overloading.
8. Swapped in a backup SSD, Samsung EVO 860 250GB
9. Purchased the exact same hardware as the machine encountering this problem and swapped the components out one by one. I planned on building an extra system anyway and this just forced my hand. It's a preference to have two of the same build for me in the event one goes down.
10. Alternate system, an Asus ROG Strix Scar II has the same problem with Final Fantasy XI. This uses Win 10.
11. Other alternate but older system using Windows 7 runs fine. Yet this computer runs intensive applications in the background for work and is not ordinarily a gaming pc I can use.
Speccy of other desktop computer using Windows 7
http://puu.sh/E2SHb/128a072a8c.png
Note: Yes this occurs with the official PlayOnline / Final Fantasy XI client.
I often use a couple of Adobe products for work purposes, both After Effects and Premiere. These are incredibly resource intensive and I do not encounter any system problems while using them. No app hangs, no driver crashing, no system freezing. In terms of games I also play Final Fantasy XIV -- this is not loaded while playing Final Fantasy XI. I run XIV in maximum settings and recently played without any issues.
My only thought is that this is something software related with Windows 10 since some updates in July. This when the problem started to occur. Plus as mentioned under my Windows 7 system this doesn't happen at all. I can't rollback some of these Windows 10 updates. I've tried using Shutup10 to prevent updates as much as possible after a clean install. Yet some slip through as I must download some drivers else Final Fantasy XI will not load at all (Direct3D -1 error even with the legacy driver enabled etc). As seen above I've done numerous tests and ran other apps to ensure it's not something hardware related.
I'm truly baffled at this point and wonder if anyone else is having this same issue and just hasn't spoken up about it. Or if I'm somehow uniquely troubled by this, perhaps due to something I'm overlooking. Though as mentioned this occurs on the notebook that also had an up-to-date Windows 10 Pro.
Any help would be greatly appreciated since I have no idea what else to do at this point. I've simply resigned to just 'dealing with it' and logging back in whenever it happens. Which is upwards of a few times per hour and as you can imagine this doesn't make for a great experience.
Edit: The alternate system, the Asus notebook, previously used Windows 10. I've resorted to downgrading it to Windows 7 just to play Final Fantasy XI. This still needs to be reported though since it should not be an issue. It doesn't really make sense that I can't use my primary machine that's having this problem. :confused: