Windows 7 64bit instant reboot from Sauerbraten.

by TomCat39 on 04/02/2010 22:42, 15 messages, last message: 05/30/2010 04:13, 2416 views, last view: 05/05/2024 09:55

For some reason Sauerbraten almost always reboots windows after an indetermined amount of time of play.

It's the only thing that does this and I can't find anything in windows event viewer to give me any indication of what might be happening.

Is there some sort of logging that can be turned on in Sauerbraten that I could do to see why this keeps happening?

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#1: ..

by eihrul on 04/02/2010 23:16

Only thing I can guess is that maybe your GPU is overheating? If you tend to get very high fps numbers (locked at 200, or have it uncapped and getting more than that), maybe try setting maxfps lower. Otherwise, use some diagnostic tool to check GPU and CPU temperature immediately after a bit of playing and see if it is getting too hot.

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#2: ..

by SheeEttin on 04/02/2010 23:18

Yeah, it's called stdout.
Check the place you installed Cube 2 for a file called stdout.txt.

That won't help, anyway. You're probably getting a BSOD, so disable automatic rebooting.
http://pcsupport.about.com/od/windows7/ht/automatic-restart-windows-7.htm

As always, make sure your graphics drivers are up-to-date. (Or, if this started happening when you upgraded, downgrade you drivers.)

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#3: ..

by TomCat39 on 04/03/2010 04:00

I have watched GPU temp, never gets above 65. I've seen where this laptop is rated to hit high 70's with the Geforce 230M and still be stable.

I will look into the auto reboot. I had thought I turned it off, but maybe the Windows Updates turned it back on.

As for drivers, I'm stuck with NVidia forceware 186.42 being that's all Toshiba has for this new laptop (Satellite A500). From what I understand, reference drivers circumvent some safety features of the laptop or something of the like. So I stick with the manufacturer released forceware drivers for the video.

Thanks for the feedback. I'll see what I find and report back.

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#4: ..

by TomCat39 on 04/03/2010 04:02

Oh and my fps is lower than that eihrul so using the maxfps I don't think will change much. Usually my fps is between 120 and 170.

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#5: ..

by TomCat39 on 04/03/2010 04:11

Hmmm, now that's problematic.

My Windows isn't set to automatically reboot on BSOD or serious error, yet it reboots when playing Sauerbraten.

Also I looked for the stdout.txt file both in the install folder (program files(x86)/sauewrbraten) and in the users/USERNAME/appdata/local/VirtualStore/Sauerbraten and couldn't find the text file anywhere.

I don't run in admin mode, I tend to stick to a user account and just use an admin password when necessary for installs etc. Would this have anything to do with my issues?

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#6: Re: ..

by eihrul on 04/03/2010 04:14, refers to #5

Try setting maxfps to 100 or lower maybe, or just enable vsync to do the job. Perhaps 120-170 is still burning your poor laptop.

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#7: Re: ..

by Quin on 04/03/2010 10:36, refers to #5

Now see, this is what happens when you don't ask a smart question.

http://catb.org/~esr/faqs/smart-questions.html#intro

If your original post had mentioned you were running a Toshiba laptop (and other system information for that matter like the 'Bug Reports' thread asks you to do) there would have been a higher chance your question would've have been answered immediately without requiring further posts.

For the record, Toshiba laptops monitor their thermal sensors through the BIOS, once it goes over a safe upper limit it will force a reboot of the laptop; this has nothing to do with Windows' automatic rebooting and is only controllable through the BIOS (press F2 when first turning on the system and going through the Power On Self Test [POST] to access the BIOS settings).

If your laptop is getting up to 65 degrees, then it is likely your system is rebooting to protect itself based on this thermal sensor data, and it is not recommended you turn it off, as you will void your warranty should any heat damage occur.

As you are using a laptop, I assume you're using an LCD, in which case it would probably be best to turn on V-sync to lock the entire main loop to 50/60Hz without the undesirable tearing artifacts that occur usually when doing so through the maxfps command.

Additionally, you may want to go into the options and turn down most settings to minimal, to avoid any further stress on the system. Unless you get a proper gaming/high-performance laptop, there is not much you can do about this other than follow the steps suggested.

@SheeEttin: Sauerbraten is built with MSVC instead of MingW/GCC, in which SDL does not define REDIRECT_STDIO and as such does not produce an stdout.txt - instead it actually prints information to a command window.

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#8: ..

by TomCat39 on 04/04/2010 03:07

Interesting.

I read where they took this same exact laptop and ran it at much higher temps without any instability. Doing burn in tests etc.

The independant GPU is even rated for higher tempuratures.

Also, it doesn't do it every time. Which is even more bizaare.

I will try the vsync and see if it helps.

Thanks.

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#9: Re: ..

by SheeEttin on 04/04/2010 05:28, refers to #8

Also review your BIOS settings to see if there is in fact a shutdown temperature defined.

Quin: Did not know that. When on Windows, I always compile with mingw. :P

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#10: ..

by 4~O on 04/04/2010 09:58

If it's a not activated / or beta win 7 it should reboot every 2 h ;) without saving the changes, or does this only occur during gaming? ( or on other games, or also during office use? )

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#11: ..

by TomCat39 on 04/04/2010 21:05

Okay, here is more info.

First off, the machine:

Processor

Intel® Core™2 Duo processor P7450 (2.13GHz, 1066MHz FSB, 3MB L2 Cache)

Operating System

Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium

Memory

Standard Memory: 2GB + 2GB DDR3 (1066 MHz)
Maximum Memory: 8GB DDR3
Expansion Modules: 1GB, 2GB, 4GB DDR3

Hard Disk Drive

500GB (5400 RPM); Serial-ATA hard disk drive


Optical Drive

DVD SuperMulti (+/-R double layer) drive supporting 11 formats with Blu-ray Disc™ ROM
Maximum speed and compatibility:
Read: CD-ROM (24x), DVD-ROM (8x), Blu-Ray ROM
Write: CD-R (24x), CD-RW (4x), DVD-R (Single Layer, (8x), DVD-R (Double Layer, (6x), DVD-RW (6x), DVD+R (Single Layer, (8x), DVD+R (Double Layer, (6x), DVD+RW (8x), DVD-RAM (5x)

Display System

Type: 16:9 TFT Active Matrix Colour LCD display with LED
backlight
Size (diagonal): 16.0” HD TFT with TruBrite™
Native LCD Panel Resolution: 1366x768x16.7 million colours
External Support and Max. Colour Support (dependent
On CRT): Up to 2,048 x 1536 x 16.7 million colours

Graphics Controller

nVidia GeForce G 230M
Dedicated video memory: 1024MB
up to MB (32bit OS) or up to MB (64bit OS) dynamically allocated shared graphics memory with 4GB of system memory

Sound System

Realtek ALC272-GR Software Sound, High Definition Audio Link, Built-in Harman Kardon speakers

Communication

V.92 56K Data/Fax Modem
10/100/1000 integrated Ethernet LAN,
Realtek Wireless LAN (802.11 bgn)
Integrated VGA Web Camera for Video over IP
Integrated microphone for Voice over IP


Expansion

2 memory slots – Each slot has 2GB. Zero free slots. Slots can be filled with 1GB, 2GB and 4GB modules
Ports: Express Card Slot, Bridge Media Adaptor (SD, SDHC, xD picture card, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, Multi Media Card), 3 USB 2.0, 1 USB 2.0/eSATA combo port with Sleep n Charge, RJ11, RJ45, external microphone port, headphone port, SP/DIF, RGB, HDMI-CEC

Keyboard

Canadian Bilingual Keyboard
Full sized 105 keys with 13 Function keys
Color: Flat Half Gloss Black

Pointing Device

Touchpad with Multi-Touch Control with On/Off switch

Additional Software

Toshiba Face Recognition
Toshiba ConfigFree™
Toshiba Eco Utility
Toshiba Disc Creator
Toshiba DVD Player
Norton Internet Security Trial
Microsoft Office 2007 Trial
Microsoft Works 9.0

Physical Dimensions

Dimensions (in mm): (WxDxH) 384 x 259 x 36.45/41.0
Weight: Start at 2.94kg (6.47lbs)
Color: Precious Black with Sonic Boom


AC Adapter

90W external Universal AC adapter input voltage (100 - 240V 50/60Hz Frequency (Universal), output voltage (19V, 4.74A)
Dimensions: (WxHxD) 133 x 58 x 31.1 mm
Weight: 370g

Battery

Battery Type: Removable, Rechargeable 6-cell Lithium Ion (Li-ion) 10.8V x 44Wh capacity
Battery Life: Dependent on usage
Dimensions: (WxHxD) 206 x 21 x 53 mm
Recharge Time: Up to 4 hours off / 12 hours on

BIOS

TSETUP, ACPI, PnP, VESA, SM BIOS, PCI BIOS Support

Security

Cable lock slot, power on password, supervisor password, HDD password, Hard Drive Impact Sensor

Environmental Specifications

Temperature: Operating 5° 35°C (41° 95°F);
Non Operating –20° 60°C (-4°149°F)
Thermal Gradient: Operating 15 C per hr. max;
Non Operating 20 C per hr. max
Relative Humidity: Operating 20% to 80% non-condensing;
Non-Operating: 10% to 90% non-condensing
Altitude (relative to sea level): Operating: 0m to 3,000m;
Non-Operating: 0m to 10000m.
Shock: Operating: 10G; Non-Operating 60G
Vibration: Operating 0.5G; Non-Operating: 1G

So, I instituted the vsync and the gpu temps never breached 55C but it would still reboot at times.

Here is a burn in test with the same machine with one difference, it uses an ATI HD GPU instead of an NVidia.

Same case, screen cpu etc etc. the A500-15H (mine is the A500-02J)

"Let's take a look under the notebook's hood. The graphic card always stays within a limit in both idle mode (approx. 52°C) and under full load (around 83°C). There is nothing to criticize about the CPU, either. Thus, it reaches approx. 40°C in idle mode. Furthermore, it's about 60°C under full load. In order to examine the general stability and temperature development on the long term, we have put the A500-15H to a stress test and let it run in full load with Prime95 and Furmark for 12 hours. The GPU temperature established itself at about 77°C and the CPU temperature at about 56°C. We didn't record one single crash during our entire test. There wasn't even a sudden throttling of various components to be noted at any time."

So as you can see, the laptop is designed for high GPU tempuratures.

Initially my first thought was overheat reboot so using speedfan to log, I saw I never breached 66C gpu before, and now 55C and it will still reboot.

I checked bios and there is no options to turn on or off heat sensors or levels or rebooting.

Being there is next to no information in Windows event viewer beyong the "The system was restarted unexpectantly" is making things peculiar.

The one aspect I have noticed is that it only happens after I play a beta web game called Warstorm on facebook. It's a flash 10 based game. After the reboot happens I can go back in and play Sauerbraten for any length of time withouth issues so far.

Can flash 10 lock up certain things the Sauer may need at some point, thus causing a reboot?

I'm stumped, and think anytime I wish to play Sauer, I'll just reboot manually prior to play and see what happens.

It acts like an overheat but the temps are not getting anywhere near danger levels. And BIOS doesn't give me any options to test that idea.

The only reason I posted is that maybe one of you knew of some issue.

And Quin, this is a multimedia/gaming notebook thus the independant NVidia G 230M GPU with 1 gig of Video Memory. It may not be the top of the line 5 grand notebook, but it's not a low end one either. I won't turn off features because there is some sort of conflict that's not heat related.

Thanks for all your responses. It looks like this is just something I will have to deal with and figure out a work around for (such as manual rebooting prior to play).

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#12: ..

by TomCat39 on 04/04/2010 21:08

Sorry, doesn\'t have blue ray, jsut the DVD/CD multidrive burner.

And it\'s an NVidia GT 230M Turbo Cache GPU with 1024 DDR3 dedicated Video Memory.

*Wish there was an edit option* :p

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#13: ..

by TomCat39 on 04/11/2010 22:40

Well, I don't believe the beta flash 10 based web game has anything to do with it. I rebooted, played for about an hour or more and the laptop rebooted.

I think it might have to do with the 186.42 drivers.

I just installed the latest reference notebook drivers from NVidia web site.

Version 197.16. I will see how it goes and let you know if it doesn't fix it.

I read there is a class action lawsuit against NVidia for certain chipsets. I have no idea of the GT 230M gpu chipset is one of them.

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#14: ..

by TomCat39 on 04/18/2010 08:39

I haven't got to play a whole lot, but what I have, I've had zero problems with reboots and the fan still kicks in without issue. No Vsync and my temps barely hit 60C for GPU. So I really think it's the drivers Toshiba supplied. I haven't had to reboot nor has it auto rebooted.

The 197.16 reference notebook drivers from NVidia seem to be doing the job well.

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#15: ..

by TomCat39 on 05/30/2010 04:13

Sadly, it did reboot once 61C was maintained on the GPU.

Toshiba did an update on a PC Health Monitor driver and I've held 62C and even hit 63C GPU temps without issue so far.

It looks like it was a Toshiba monitor driver bug.

It's nice to be able to play with 100+ fps again without being kicked out in the middle of a heated match.

Gotta love software bugs.

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