Computer crashes and reboots [Please help!]

[Rico]

When ever I run the game, at a random moment (usually within a few minutes of playing time) the entire computer will crash as if there had just been a power cut (which there isn't, because every other appliance is fine) and will automatically start the boot up sequence. This only happens for Europa Universalis IV, and no other game. Has any one else experienced similar issues? If so, do you know how to fix them?

P.S. I do not have the Rights of Man DLC (although I have all of the other expansions and most of the DLCs [thanks hallowed e'en sale!]) and am running the latest patch of the game.

[equinox1911]

This almost 100% has nothing to do with the game, or to be precise the game is fine, your PC isn't. This sort of behaviour points towards a temperature problem with a bit older machine.
The CPU reaches ~100 C and then resets to protect itself. Get a temp monitor like CPUID and watch it while playing.

[Rico]

My PC is actually fairly new. And it doesn't sound like a jet engine when playing. Again, I have more demanding games than EU IV and it doesn't crash during them, so I think it may be a compatibility problem. I will try the game with CPUID now to check what's going on. Will get back to you shortly.

[equinox1911]

You would be surprised how much EUIV taxes your CPU. The only game that comes even close to it is Elite but that one taxes more the GPU so it's a bad comparison.
What you hear in those games is most likely the GPU cooler going ham, which is different from the CPU cooler. Most out of the box CPU coolers are bad. Without specifics there isn't much that can be said though. Opening the case and hoovering/cleaning the fans might solve the issue.
Just test if it is the temp, anything above 90 C is alarming and needs to be adressed.
CPU-Z i think is the free programm from CPUID.

[Rico]

The temp has peaked at 52C so far, and you are right about it not really being GPU heavy but rather CPU heavy. The CPU fan is now a an audible level... :/

[equinox1911]

Your testcase should be a start in the 18th century speed 5. Tab out and watch temps. If this reliably crashes your pc there are easy and free things to do or at least pretty cheap options.

[Rico]

I played as Scotland for a bit in 15th Century and it hasn't crashed. I checked my PC and it appears there were some registry errors yesterday. I had them fixed yestereday but still it crashed and today it is fine... Really confused over that one :P Thanks for your time and help!

[Rico]

It just crashed after a lot of progress again... I thought it was fixed, but alas. I am starting to think it may be compatibility issues between my PC and EU IV, since the temperature stayed around 55C.

[equinox1911]

You can spam delete to go to your bios next time this happens, you should get a relativly accurate temp reading from that. But considering <60°C temps this might not be relevant.
Scratching my head what else it could be but there are not many options if the crashes are limited to eu iv. See the thing is that software like games usually lack the ability to force a reboot. So these types of failure are usually idicative of another problem.

I would probably set up a memory test at this point, aka the route of ruling out issues.

[Rico]

I uninstalled the game (temporarily) and the computer hasn't died, although it kept on crashing and restarting while I was booting up to uninstall it. I may reinstall it, and if the computer doesn't crash, then great, and if it does, I will have just lost nearly £40.

[lukas]

In your situation I'd probably follow equinox1911's advice and test the RAM.

After that I'd go ahead an contact their official support[www.paradoxplaza.com].

[Viper]

Games do not cause PCs to reboot themselves. That is a hardware issue, cooling issue, or a driver issue. Your either getting a BSOD, or a bios PC shutdown.

[Brauny]

Well i am late but this has just started happening since i instaleld the latest patch my temperature is fine, it was fine before this its just this recent patch so IDK

[Rico]

Weird. My issue in the end was a failing power supply (I got a prebuilt and replaced the GPU), these problems often do not show up for months or even up to a year as the power supply is gradually destroyed. I actually haven't played EUIV in a few months, may start getting back into it.