Constant crashes

[FeanBlicker]

Hi,

New here so please go easy on me - don't really know what I'm doing! Have bought a new laptop purely to play 7 days on and I'm struggling to get performance. Below are the specs and the latest crash log (I think)

I know the unit is not amazing but I bought it to cover all the minimum specs I believe. I have only been playing single player so far, Random Gen, and I'm getting crashes in low performance moments, i.e opening inventory at night after zombie spawns, rather than during hectic gameplay.

Crash Log - https://pastebin.com/mJammYm9

Specs:

Operating System
            Windows 10 Home 64-bit
        CPU
            AMD Ryzen 7    81 °C
            Renoir 7nm Technology
        RAM
            16.0GB Dual-Channel Unknown @ 1596MHz (22-22-22-52)
        Motherboard
            Dell Inc. 0JT83K (FP6)
        Graphics
            Generic PnP Monitor (1920x1080@144Hz)
            6128MB ATI AMD Radeon RX 5600M Series (Dell)
            512MB ATI AMD Radeon Graphics (Dell)
            CrossFire Disabled
        Storage
            476GB BC511 NVMe SK hynix 512GB (Unknown (SSD))
        Optical Drives
            No optical disk drives detected
        Audio
            AMD Realtek Audio

Please help and let me know if there is any thing I can do to resolve. I have launched game without Anti Cheat, don't run any background programs and have verified the system files. Th crashes have happened in at least 4-5 playthroughs

Cheers

 

[Jugginator]

Hmmm, first thing I notice is your CPU is already at 81C which is really warm, especially if you ran the spec report from your desktop without any games running, so it may be a thermal throttle issue. You may have bad cooling that may be a manufacturer issue, but you can try limiting your FPS by using Vsync or through the console (settarget fps 60 for example), but again 81C at the desktop is very very hot for that.

 

[FeanBlicker]

Hmmm, first thing I notice is your CPU is already at 81C which is really warm, especially if you ran the spec report from your desktop without any games running, so it may be a thermal throttle issue. You may have bad cooling that may be a manufacturer issue, but you can try limiting your FPS by using Vsync or through the console (settarget fps 60 for example), but again 81C at the desktop is very very hot for that.

Thanks for the speedy response - I just ran coretemp on it and it peaked at 94C sitting in game at night... It is a noisy dell laptop and the fans go crazy within seconds of entering game. Do you have any tips to manage this (keep it very basic I'm a PC noob!)

 

[Jugginator]

Thanks for the speedy response - I just ran coretemp on it and it peaked at 94C sitting in game at night... It is a noisy dell laptop and the fans go crazy within seconds of entering game. Do you have any tips to manage this (keep it very basic I'm a PC noob!)

You're welcome. Ooof yeah that is very hot I would say even for a laptop. In all honestly you may want to contact Dell or whatever place you purchased it from in case you have faulty CPU cooling or other fans. Other tips would be to make sure it's on a desk and not on carpet/other soft surfaces. You can also get a laptop cooling pad, which it really depends on how your laptop is buit. For example, if you have intake vents on the bottom of it get one that has fans that blow into it, or if it has a side-exhaust they sell blowers that suck the hot air out. Just check your laptop for compatibility.

 

[Beelzybub]

@FeanBlickerAnother player recently fixed a crashing problem with an AMD cpu by updating the bios. Dunno if that's an option for you.

Also, try updating your graphics driver, I think the one you have is old.

As for heat, I've found that limiting frame rate works well. AMD has, in their software, an option to limit fps. Just try 60 or 65 as a test to

see if it helps anything. Using Vsync to limit your framerate may not help due to your 144 Hz monitor. Plus, vsync sucks.

Also, about the heat, it shouldn't cause a crash. The cpu will throttle down to a lower speed, which might cause some fps

drops, but generally not a crash. I'd look elsewhere for a cause.

Your windows event viewer may have information about the crash which could be helpful.

Does the computer shut down/reboot when it crashes, or just crash to desktop?

 

[FeanBlicker]

You're welcome. Ooof yeah that is very hot I would say even for a laptop. In all honestly you may want to contact Dell or whatever place you purchased it from in case you have faulty CPU cooling or other fans. Other tips would be to make sure it's on a desk and not on carpet/other soft surfaces. You can also get a laptop cooling pad, which it really depends on how your laptop is buit. For example, if you have intake vents on the bottom of it get one that has fans that blow into it, or if it has a side-exhaust they sell blowers that suck the hot air out. Just check your laptop for compatibility.

Thanks for the comments, I've performed a googlectomy and it appears my specific model is known for running hot often over 90C when gaming, so it may not be connected. I have also found that others have replaced fans and thermal paste and managed to get them running lower so it's been worthwhile looking into! Apparently dell are pretty pants at laptops so wish I'd have seen this in the reviews before purchasing!

@FeanBlickerAnother player recently fixed a crashing problem with an AMD cpu by updating the bios. Dunno if that's an option for you.

Also, try updating your graphics driver, I think the one you have is old.

As for heat, I've found that limiting frame rate works well. AMD has, in their software, an option to limit fps. Just try 60 or 65 as a test to

see if it helps anything. Using Vsync to limit your framerate may not help due to your 144 Hz monitor. Plus, vsync sucks.

Also, about the heat, it shouldn't cause a crash. The cpu will throttle down to a lower speed, which might cause some fps

drops, but generally not a crash. I'd look elsewhere for a cause.

Your windows event viewer may have information about the crash which could be helpful.

Does the computer shut down/reboot when it crashes, or just crash to desktop?

I believe I do have the latest drivers for each, managed to work out how to update and it said I already have the latest versions. 

For refresh rate, it doesn't give me other options to the default setting. Is there another way to change this?

When it crashes, screen and sound freeze, and then after 4-5 seconds it reboots. Doesn't let me go to windows or anything, so could well be graphics related. After I posted this I got through the rest of the game day just fine, but it's done it intermittently on other saves too. Happy to try uploading event viewer logs, do I do this via pastebin as well?

Thanks

 

[Beelzybub]

I believe I do have the latest drivers

Your GPU driver is from last year, the latest is from July 2021, here. But on the dl page, AMD has a special (old) driver for a

Dell G5 SE 15 laptops. Is that your model? What is your model?

What does windows event viewer say about the reboot?

 

[Jugginator]

I am kind of speaking bluntly here, but those temps are really unacceptable even if they claim that's "normal for the model". I still would bet you're thermal shutting down, I've seen some laptops do that but those were with busted CPU cooling. Reduced lifespan and all, such as the plastic warping and cracking around the hot zones.

When it crashes, screen and sound freeze, and then after 4-5 seconds it reboots.

That sort of sounds like the system throttled the CPU so much the system couldn't run anymore.

 

[The_Great_Sephiroth]

That chip in a laptop runs hot normally. Dell saying it is "normal" is true in this situation. It's the primary reason my laptops are Intel-based. We order almost exclusively Dell systems and have experience with both AMD and Intel in laptops (Latitude, Inspiron) and AMD chips ALWAYS run hot. Dell is predominantly an Intel user, so maybe their cooling setup is insufficient for AMD chips. This opinion is based on twelve years of experience with them.

Also, if you enable v-sync in-game UNity will use your desktop refresh rate (normally 60Hz) instead of 144Hz (I have  a 144Hz G-Sync monitor) due to Unity being a tad behind the 90's in tech. In other words, if your desktop is at 60Hz and you enable v-sync, you get silky-smooth gameplay at 60fps without the need for external software.

 

[FeanBlicker]

Your GPU driver is from last year, the latest is from July 2021, here. But on the dl page, AMD has a special (old) driver for a

Dell G5 SE 15 laptops. Is that your model? What is your model?

What does windows event viewer say about the reboot?

Thanks - it's that model yes - Dell G5 15 5505 I think is the full model. I'll do the event viewer next time it crashes and post it. When I was having the crashes in a row the laptop was on a leather mat, but i've put it on a stand now (just basic non cooling) and it's not crashed in the last 24 hours through another couple of days gameplay, so perhaps it is heating after all. Once I exhaust (no pun intended) all other routes I'll get a better fan put in and get it re-pasted, and maybe invest in a cooling stand too. Would be good to get the fan decibels down so that I can hear footsteps over the fans!

That chip in a laptop runs hot normally. Dell saying it is "normal" is true in this situation. It's the primary reason my laptops are Intel-based. We order almost exclusively Dell systems and have experience with both AMD and Intel in laptops (Latitude, Inspiron) and AMD chips ALWAYS run hot. Dell is predominantly an Intel user, so maybe their cooling setup is insufficient for AMD chips. This opinion is based on twelve years of experience with them.

Also, if you enable v-sync in-game UNity will use your desktop refresh rate (normally 60Hz) instead of 144Hz (I have  a 144Hz G-Sync monitor) due to Unity being a tad behind the 90's in tech. In other words, if your desktop is at 60Hz and you enable v-sync, you get silky-smooth gameplay at 60fps without the need for external software.

I've just checked the VSync and it's already on, now starting to learn what alot of the settings actually mean!

Just wanted to say generally thanks for everyones help with different suggestions, it's really helping