GTA 5 ghost booting?

[Spartanwar]

So my GTA5 keeps booting on its own and it wont close through Task Manager, restarting my PC closes it however the moment i try to play the game it says its already running. Ive reinstalled it and hard restarted my PC several times. Anyone else having simillar issues and been able to fix it?

[pipe.surgeon]

Call a priest, immediately.

[Johnny Rico]

I haven't seen it but I do take this threat seriously enough. Check your antivirus and malware. Keep it updated and do a severe system scan. I don't wish to jump to assumption so I'll leave it there. If you want decent malware protection, malware bytes is a good malware seeking software. In my mind, I'm thinking this is the first stage of remote control but don't have evidence. Just keep your internet searches on the down low and secure your computer. I have a firewall software, a malware defense software, and regular anti virus on my machine. It's a tripple line defense system. Just check your computer for anything suspicous. You have to be IT wary today or you will be like a grandpa/grandma sending money to a prince.

[psykoteky]

Likely is not booting on its own but getting stuck when you attempt to launch it. This could be steam not having permissions, R* launcher not having permissions (or even starting with pc), lack of admin, problems with vcredists, my docs / rockstar games, other background isues.

You could look in taskmanager after a clean boot to see if it is there. You can also try to close any R* / social club related process before the restart to see if that helps. Some users have reported even need to use tasklist and taskkill via cmd prompt to see the processes at one point.

Not saying there are not other potential causes - just that this is also a problem that has been around for many since the launcher was rolled out - that had fits of changing/mutating with updates to it making it more/or less of a problem. Info I've used to fix this/similar R* related issues 100's of times. Perhaps something can be of use -
https://steamcommunity.com/app/271590/discussions/0/2253434652389187525/#c2253434652389483301

/goodluck

[Spartanwar]

Originally posted by psykoteky:

It likely is not booting on its own but getting stuck when you attempt to launch it. This could be steam not having permissions, R* launcher not having permissions (or even starting with pc), lack of admin, problems with vcredists, my docs / rockstar games, and other background isues.

You could look in taskmanager after a clean boot to see if it is there. You can also try to close any R* / social club related process before the restart to see if that helps.

This really is a problem that has been around for many since the launcher was rolled out - that had fits of changing/mutating with updates to it making it more/or less of a problem.

Info I've used to fix this/other R* llauncher/already running problems 100's of times -
https://steamcommunity.com/app/271590/discussions/0/2253434652389187525/#c2253434652389483301

It Isnt there when i first boot the PC, however after a few minuites Steam says the game is launched when i havent even touched my PC. Ive restarted it then walked away for a few come back to steam saying the game is running when it isnt. Its strange cause ive not had issues since i bought the game christmas eve but the last week or so its been this way.

[psykoteky]

Would have to see it to believe it - granted I can think of quite a few ways that gtav could 'auto start' after a pc restart. I'd find a tool/app that can show you all your startup processes or tasks and see if there is anything there - can also see most of it yourself via msconfig, startup tab, and within task scheduler. Then you have other forms of automation - to which you could try clean booting via msconfig (this means no steam, no r* apps opening automatically) and seeing if it still continues to self boot. Can also open R* launcher / go to settings and disable it from loading when computer starts to rule that out.

I haven't tested a sleep/hibernate/restart of windows with gtav open to see if steam just claims it is open after a few minutes. Of course, do your diligince, scan, clean, whatever - but I'd certainly start with attempting to clean boot windows.

This is certainly -not- a common occurence.

edit - for giggle you could even uninstall R* launcher and social club from c / program files / rockstar games (or wherever you installed them). As well as rename gta5.exe to -test or something to see if steam is actually triggering on any of those and not something else.


edit - so it doesn't autoboot now - but steam is saying its already running when you launch - then I would definitely take a look at the link I posted above. Includes things to uninstall/clean/reinstall, vcredists clean/reinstall, running R* launcher as admin/or steam as admin - or even removing those - tasklist//taskkill into to test and more.

[Spartanwar]

Originally posted by psykoteky:

Would have to see it to believe it - granted I can think of quite a few ways that gtav could 'auto start' after a pc restart. I'd find a tool/app that can show you all your startup processes or tasks and see if there is anything there - can also see most of it yourself via msconfig, startup tab, and within task scheduler. Then you have other forms of automation - to which you could try clean booting via msconfig (this means no steam, no r* apps opening automatically) and seeing if it still continues to self boot.

I haven't tested a sleep/hibernate/restart of windows with gtav open to see if steam just claims it is open after a few minutes.

This is certainly -not- a common occurence.

Yeah, i spent a few hours over the last few days looking to see if anyone else mentioned similar. some did but almost all of em just said use Task manager to close it which mine didnt seem to do that. Gonna test the MSConfig rq and let y know what it does. just turned off all the automated boot apps so we shall see

[Spartanwar]

Originally posted by Spartanwar:

Originally posted by psykoteky:

Would have to see it to believe it - granted I can think of quite a few ways that gtav could 'auto start' after a pc restart. I'd find a tool/app that can show you all your startup processes or tasks and see if there is anything there - can also see most of it yourself via msconfig, startup tab, and within task scheduler. Then you have other forms of automation - to which you could try clean booting via msconfig (this means no steam, no r* apps opening automatically) and seeing if it still continues to self boot.

I haven't tested a sleep/hibernate/restart of windows with gtav open to see if steam just claims it is open after a few minutes.

This is certainly -not- a common occurence.

Yeah, i spent a few hours over the last few days looking to see if anyone else mentioned similar. some did but almost all of em just said use Task manager to close it which mine didnt seem to do that. Gonna test the MSConfig rq and let y know what it does. just turned off all the automated boot apps so we shall see

OK, it doesnt self-boot anymore, however upon trying to launch the game it fails saying it is already running and still wont close through Steam or Task Manager

[Drarider]

Originally posted by Spartanwar:

So my GTA5 keeps booting on its own and it wont close through Task Manager, restarting my PC closes it however the moment i try to play the game it says its already running. Ive reinstalled it and hard restarted my PC several times. Anyone else having simillar issues and been able to fix it?

I would advise not playing until RS puts the supposedly fix out, But you can go to your Documents/Rockstar and delete then reload the game, see if that helps. It does for some, but i still wouldn't risk playing right now, I been off since this all started and its only getting worse. So yeah play at your own risk atm. Goodluck.

[Spartanwar]

Originally posted by Drarider:

Originally posted by Spartanwar:

So my GTA5 keeps booting on its own and it wont close through Task Manager, restarting my PC closes it however the moment i try to play the game it says its already running. Ive reinstalled it and hard restarted my PC several times. Anyone else having simillar issues and been able to fix it?

I would advise not playing until RS puts the supposedly fix out, But you can go to your Documents/Rockstar and delete then reload the game, see if that helps. It does for some, but i still wouldn't risk playing right now, I been off since this all started and its only getting worse. So yeah play at your own risk atm. Goodluck.

Yeah, i dont plan on playing online at all till its fixed, but id still like to know my game is playable for once it is. Rn that doesnt seem to be the case but eventually i hope to fix this crap