Acer Nitro 5 laptop random freezes/hang ups

[Claymix]

Nitro AN515-54 (i5-9300 & GTX 1650) running Windows 10

 

 

At certain moments in City of Heroes and only City of Heroes, the game will hang/freeze up for a second or two, during which time the game sound will repeat itself. It never crashes and it never freezes for more than three seconds, but it happens every time I play the game and somewhat regularly. It's crazy annoying, because it always seems to happen right when I need to click a certain power or use an inspiration to keep myself from dying.

 

I have not been able to replicate it in ANY other program. Only City of Heroes!

 

The only way I can seem to get it happen on purpose is in the character selection screen: sometimes selecting a different character will cause the game to hang up.

 

With NitroSense open, the moments it freezes up are obvious: GPU activity plummets to 0% or close to it! It's like the GPU stops working for that second or two and then is right back to normal. I have attached a screenshot showing a typical City of Heroes session. Each time the GPU usage plummets is when this happened in game. It's at 0% at the time of the screenshot because I have closed City of Heroes at this point.

 

I do a lot of things with this laptop: web browsing, video watching, Civilization 6, Remnant: From the Ashes, etc. Absolutely nothing else has caused this issue.

 

Per chance, is anyone else using this laptop and experiencing this issue? Any thoughts or suggestions? 🤔

[Ura Hero]

First thing I would do is make sure all of the drivers are up to date.  Check for viruses and malware.  I like malwarebytes myself.  Lastly it could be some other program that is eating up your GPU cycles.  I had an app install a crypto miner without telling me.  Took me a couple of days to find it.  Task Manager can be your friend.

[Olly]

The best way to test is to minimize as many concurrently running apps as possible then start to layer then in one-by-one.  I'd first try running CoH without having any nvidia or gpu apps running. It may be that some of the gpu app optimization functions are causing conflicts with CoH, who knows. 

 

 

[Claymix]

On 12/23/2020 at 9:39 AM, Olly said:

The best way to test is to minimize as many concurrently running apps as possible then start to layer then in one-by-one.  I'd first try running CoH without having any nvidia or gpu apps running. It may be that some of the gpu app optimization functions are causing conflicts with CoH, who knows. 

 

 

I did a very brief test due to lack of time, but disabling everything except City of Heroes seems to have fixed it. I'll report back when I have more time to test things. The only things open in the background, which I exited out of, were Steam, GeForce Experience, Discord, and Zoom. 

 

Now, Steam, Discord, and Zoom don't utilize the GPU at all, so if I had to guess what was messing things up, I'd say it's GeForce Experience. 

 

(Edit: the problem continues. See below)

 

Like I said, I'll play around with it and report back when I have the culprit identified, if for no other reason than for posterity.

Edited December 27, 2020 by Claymix

[Claymix]

The problem persists. I was able to get some good testing in tonight by playing for a couple of hours. The brief freezes/hang-ups remain, even with everything else closed and nothing open in the background. Every time it happens, you can see in the Task Manager that the GPU usage plummets to 0%. 

 

It seems that the GPU just... shuts off for a second or two or three and then turns on again and is right back to it. Everything else is steady in the performance tracker. Nothing abnormal about CPU/RAM usage and the integrated Intel graphics do not engage during these hang-ups.

 

I will also say, in response to Ura Hero, that I have no malware or viruses on this laptop.

 

The problem solely exists while playing City of Heroes.

[Hyperstrike]

1: Run a full system AV scan.
2: Run a full boot-time AV scan.
3: We're going to run the System File Checker.

 

• Shut down as many extraneous program files as you can.
• Run a Command Prompt as Administrator

• DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth

   

• Let it finish.
• Reboot

• sfc /scannow

   

• Let it finish
• Reboot

 

4: Again, if you have not ACTUALLY done so, load up the latest Windows drivers.  Do a "clean load" if the option is at all available.

5: You CAN uninstall GeForce Experience if necessary.  It's not required.

 

If your system is a "dual GPU" Optimus style graphics card, try this app:

https://github.com/jobeid/TrayPwrD3
 

It works by pinging the dedicated GPU at short intervals preventing the system from shutting it down and trying to swap back to the Intel solution.

[Claymix]

Thanks for the suggestions, Hyperstrike. 

 

Did everything you suggested. No viruses or other issues found. System is healthy. Even tried TrayPwrD3.

 

I should mention, as multiple people have said this: all drivers are up to date. Just to be safe, I even reinstalled my graphics drivers.

 

Issue persists as it did before. I'm able to replicate it by going into the tailor and messing around. At some point, it will end up locking up for 1 - 3 seconds, and always when something is clicked - either to finish with the costume or switch a piece or change a color. 

 

Each time, the same thing happens: GPU usage plummets. It's hard to tell exactly, because this doesn't happen every time, but it seems the CPU usage will spike briefly after. But this may also be because I'm switching from the game window to Task Manager to view it right after it happens.

 

I got rid of absolutely everything in the background, but that hasn't made a difference either.

[Hyperstrike]

Maybe run HWMonitor in the background.  And periodically check GPU temps when you get these slowdowns/lock ups.

[Claymix]

Tested it more today. GPU temperature is pretty solid. Never exceeds a normal temperature. The lock ups don't seem to be temperature related, at any rate.

 

I appreciate everyone's attempts to help me out. It seems to be a ghost in my machine. 👻

[SuggestorK]

Sometimes it can be Windows itself if the minimum/maximum % of CPU isnt both set to 100% (done in Energy Options).

 

Had that once on a PC where he used only half of the Processors and those he didnt use was at 0%.

 

For a Laptop i can see Power saving reasons there, have u checked the Power settings for windows, if u have connected the Laptop to Power Source try to run it at the maximum Power/Efficiency setting. But be sure to monitor temp when u do that.

 

Also Windows 10 by default does not really do a "shutdown", it goes just to a deep hibernate mode, so u need either to do a restart to have a fresh clean system or have to deactivate the fast boot in Energy Options, by deactivating Win10 does the shutdown we are used from previous Windows OS.

 

Greetings

Edited December 28, 2020 by SuggestorK
typo

[Claymix]

Power options were the first thing I checked when this happened. I only ever play while plugged in (the battery life while using the GPU on this laptop is... not great). I have it set to maximum performance. I've been keeping an eye on GPU and CPU temperatures, but they never get too high, so that doesn't seem to be the issue.

 

I'll try your suggestion of setting the minimum state of the CPU to 100% and also deactivate fast boot.

 

I'll report back when I have time to test things.

[Claymix]

Adjusting the minimum state of the CPU and turning fast boot off (along with a real restart) did not change the issue at all. 

[Claymix]

I'm sorry to resurrect this, but this problem persists and it is driving me a little crazy. I have tried every setting imaginable in the NVIDIA Control Panel and the ingame settings. I even tested it by lowering the game graphics settings to absolute minimum and it did not improve. I have uninstalled and reinstalled the game and my graphics drivers. Nothing works. The game regularly freezes but never crashes. So, I call out again on the off chance that someone new finds this and has a miracle for me.

 

To recap, everything that has not helped:

 

• Full restart (without fast boot)
• Checking for viruses
• Closing every single background program while running CoH
• Adjusting power options to maximum performance
• Monitoring GPU/CPU temperatures (they are never high)
• Uninstalling/reinstalling both my graphics drivers and CoH
• Adjusting the graphics settings (including turning V-Sync off/on)
• Adjusting settings in the NVIDIA Control Panel (max frame rate, power management, pre-rendered frames, etc.)

 

[starro]

probably not too much help, but get rid of tequila if not done and go to HC client. 

 

Install to a brand new directory with HC client.

 

Use 64 bit instead of 32 bit client.

Edited April 25, 2021 by duane
clarity

[Claymix]

On 4/25/2021 at 7:41 AM, duane said:

probably not too much help, but get rid of tequila if not done and go to HC client. 

 

Install to a brand new directory with HC client.

 

Use 64 bit instead of 32 bit client.

 

I appreciate the response! I was using the updated launcher and 64 bit client. I'll try installing to a new directory - in fact, a different hard drive - and see if that helps. At this point, I'm willing to try anything. I will report back with results!

 

[starro]

best of luck.  I had awful, awful game play until I ditched windows 8 (good), moved to 64 bit client (better) and then the last hop to HC client (99.999% best). 

 

I used to crash up to 3-4 times an hour when COH first came back spring 2019. 

 

A lot of times it was <fill in the blank COH file name> has run out of memory or <fill in the blank graphic file> is not responding.  Monthly or more the client just would not start.  

[Claymix]

EDIT: I can confirm that the issue is fixed!!! It was vertical sync after all. The solution was to disable it in the game settings and enable it in the NVIDIA control panel! 

 

Once again, thanks to everyone who responded with help and suggestions. It's good to have City of Heroes back. 😃

 

 

An update, for posterity's sake (cue Ludwig Goransson music).

 

I seem to have fixed the issue. Maybe. I don't want to get my hopes up, but the game is running noticeably better now and I have yet to encounter a single freeze or hang up! Here is what I did:

 

• In the NVIDIA control panel, I changed the Power Management Mode to NVIDIA Driver Controlled
• I disabled Vertical Sync in the game settings and enabled Vertical Sync in the NVIDIA control panel

 

...that's it...

 

I read somewhere deep in the forums that vertical sync can cause some issues with City of Heroes for some reason and somehow that was my issue...?

 

All around performance is better by switching the power management mode to NVIDIA Driver Controlled as well, but I credit vertical sync to my ongoing issues.

 

If the problem returns, I will post here.

 

Thanks SO MUCH to everyone who helped!

 

 

Edited May 12, 2021 by Claymix
Posterity