System Rebooting while playing Schedule 1?

[Gynandromorph]

UPDATE:
Problem seems to have been caused by a failing PCIe riser cable.

Original Post:
I know, it sounds crazy, but hear me out.

Been playing Schedule 1 for about three days now. Started with the demo, became instantly hooked on the gameplay loop and decided to buy the game. While still playing the demo, my computer randomly shut down and immediately began rebooting. I didn't think anything of it at the time and figured my apartment just had a small power surge.

Proceeded to buy the full game and it ran just fine for the rest of the night.

But then the next night, it happened again, roughly an hour into my play session. Huh. If I had a nickel for every time my PC rebooted while playing Schedule 1 I'd have two nickels, which isn't a lot but it's weird that it's happened twice. Got back in game, played just fine the rest of the night.

Well, now it's happened a third time in the 8 total hours I've been playing this game. Might not seem like a terrible crash to game time ratio, but I'm started to become concern for the health of my PC as this has never happened with my current hardware configuration until I started playing this game.

The reboots seem to be completely random, I think they all occured when I was doing something with my weed farm back at base, either packaging product or mixing strains, but it's hard to say for certain.

I ran a stress test with OCCT that maxed out my CPU and GPU usage to see if it's a power supply issue since Event Viewer is listing a Kernel-Power Event 41 at the time of reboot (and the RGB on my AIO cooler keeps resetting to its default red every time it happens so it might be a power issue?). After running the test for an hour, it passed the test with flying colors; no errors or abnormal behaviors.

My next step is gonna be to test stability in other games, but in the mean time I figured I may as well reach out and see if anyone else is encountering this strangely niche issue.

Here's my setup in case the dev sees this thread:

GPU: Gigabyte RTX 4080
CPU: Intel i9-9900KF
RAM: 32GB
Motherboard: ASUS Prime Z390-A
PSU: Corsair RM1000e

[Havok]

To me, this is the signs that your PSU is degraded and probably due for a replacement or something is getting thermal throttled to unsafe temps and shutting down.

What are your GPU and CPU temps when this happens? If they are relatively safe, i.e < 70c on either, then this seems like a PSU issue.

[Beta]

While playing my screen would just go black while the computer was still on .. It was so random but only happens while playing this game . I turned down my graphics and the settings to low on the game it's self and haven't had any other issues yet. Good luck .I'm still in demo.

[simon]

It could also be bad ram. If you just do a stress test that may not show a RAM fault. You need to do a meme test.

Could also just be something as simple as a BOIS update. Have you removed GPU drivers with DDU?

[BioPhreak]

Also check your temps. Could be cooling issue causing a thermal shutdown.

[Unlucky]

Originally posted by Gynandromorph:

I ran a stress test with OCCT that maxed out my CPU and GPU usage to see if it's a power supply issue since Event Viewer is listing a Kernel-Power Event 41 at the time of reboot (and the RGB on my AIO cooler keeps resetting to its default red every time it happens so it might be a power issue?). After running the test for an hour, it passed the test with flying colors; no errors or abnormal behaviors.

RANT TIME!
Stress testing is actually meant to be done over 24 hours or longer.

1 hour or so doesn't really tell you anything. Just ask yourself this question, what is the longest you've ever spent on your PC in a single session? With practically everyone this is going to be greater than 1 hour. And with a lot of "gamers" the time spent on their PC is way, way longer than that.

And just think how much time you typically spend on your PC, as well. That number will, again, probably be well above 1 with most people on Steam.

So just think, if you typically spend more time on your PC than the amount of time you 'stress tested' the system.... How does that tell you anything at all? It really doesn't.
Just because it uses "100%" doesn't mean it is really doing anything much different than it normally does. It is just doing more work than usual, which it is designed to do. Imagine someone just being really busy - typically someone can handle it for an hour or so, but if you're busy all day long, or lets say even all week, you're going to make more and more mistakes. The same is true for stress-testing PCs... It is the 'endurance' that matters, not the stress levels.

-----

Now that my rant is over.......
It's probably not an instability issue in your case. If the problem is commonly occurring only when playing this game it is more likely that it's a software issue, like bad drivers. Driver issues are actually really common and it seems to be getting more and more of an issue these days.

Just to add: Software issues are far more common than hardware issues, by a significant degree. From my experience it is maybe >90% software and <10% hardware. And commonly when it actually is a hardware issue, it is sometimes something as simple as a misbehaving USB device. And sadly those also seem to becoming more and more common recently.

[Gynandromorph]

Originally posted by Havok:

To me, this is the signs that your PSU is degraded and probably due for a replacement or something is getting thermal throttled to unsafe temps and shutting down.

What are your GPU and CPU temps when this happens? If they are relatively safe, i.e < 70c on either, then this seems like a PSU issue.

I'm doubtful it's a PSU issue cuz I haven't even had this particular unit for two years.

Temps equalized to normal load temperatures during my stress test, it's hard to gauge what my temps are when the system reboots because, well, all my monitors go black. And again, the reboots are only occuring during Schedule 1 sessions, though I need to do more testing with other games.

Originally posted by simon:

It could also be bad ram. If you just do a stress test that may not show a RAM fault. You need to do a meme test.

Could also just be something as simple as a BOIS update. Have you removed GPU drivers with DDU?

Next step if it happens again is a full GPU driver reinstall, though I'm certain I've recently done a clean install within the last month or so.

Originally posted by Unlucky:

Now that my rant is over.......
It's probably not an instability issue in your case. If the problem is commonly occurring only when playing this game it is more likely that it's a software issue, like bad drivers. Driver issues are actually really common and it seems to be getting more and more of an issue these days.

Just to add: Software issues are far more common than hardware issues, by a significant degree. From my experience it is maybe >90% software and <10% hardware. And commonly when it actually is a hardware issue, it is sometimes something as simple as a misbehaving USB device. And sadly those also seem to becoming more and more common recently.

Lots of helpful info actually, thanks for the input. When I have time, I'll run a more extensive stress test in addition to smoke tests with Schedule 1 and other games.

[Maximus]

check your GPU driver version. If it's 572.XX, then roll back to 566.36

[MightyMonte88]

If your running any mods, make sure you're not running the "increased stack size" mod, sadly the mod authors account was sold/ hacked, and the mod was re-uploaded with malicious code present.

[simon]

Originally posted by Gynandromorph:

Originally posted by Havok:

To me, this is the signs that your PSU is degraded and probably due for a replacement or something is getting thermal throttled to unsafe temps and shutting down.

What are your GPU and CPU temps when this happens? If they are relatively safe, i.e < 70c on either, then this seems like a PSU issue.

I'm doubtful it's a PSU issue cuz I haven't even had this particular unit for two years.

Temps equalized to normal load temperatures during my stress test, it's hard to gauge what my temps are when the system reboots because, well, all my monitors go black. And again, the reboots are only occuring during Schedule 1 sessions, though I need to do more testing with other games.

Originally posted by simon:

It could also be bad ram. If you just do a stress test that may not show a RAM fault. You need to do a meme test.

Could also just be something as simple as a BOIS update. Have you removed GPU drivers with DDU?

Next step if it happens again is a full GPU driver reinstall, though I'm certain I've recently done a clean install within the last month or so.

Originally posted by Unlucky:

Now that my rant is over.......
It's probably not an instability issue in your case. If the problem is commonly occurring only when playing this game it is more likely that it's a software issue, like bad drivers. Driver issues are actually really common and it seems to be getting more and more of an issue these days.

Just to add: Software issues are far more common than hardware issues, by a significant degree. From my experience it is maybe >90% software and <10% hardware. And commonly when it actually is a hardware issue, it is sometimes something as simple as a misbehaving USB device. And sadly those also seem to becoming more and more common recently.

Lots of helpful info actually, thanks for the input. When I have time, I'll run a more extensive stress test in addition to smoke tests with Schedule 1 and other games.

This sort of issue can be hard to diagnose. I had the same issue with Doom2016. Every other game i played ran fine except Doom2016. Would play for a random amount of time then blue screen. It was a bad stick of RAM in the end.

[Gynandromorph]

Originally posted by MightyMonte88:

If your running any mods, make sure you're not running the "increased stack size" mod, sadly the mod authors account was sold/ hacked, and the mod was re-uploaded with malicious code present.

I heard about that. Thankfully, I didn't even know the game had mods lol

Originally posted by simon:

This sort of issue can be hard to diagnose. I had the same issue with Doom2016. Every other game i played ran fine except Doom2016. Would play for a random amount of time then blue screen. It was a bad stick of RAM in the end.

I'll try reseating/swapping my RAM sticks when I get home. Honestly, I *wish* I was getting a BSOD cuz then I'd at least have an error message I could research. All that happens here is my monitors go black as if I lost power and my computer starts back up a few moments later. No error messages upon signing back in aside from Wallpaper Engine saying it didn't shut down properly.

[Gynandromorph]

CASE CLOSED it is definitely not a problem with Schedule 1 cuz now it's happening while my PC is effectively idling. Thanks for the comments all, I've been due motherboard upgrade for a few years anyways.

[simon]

Originally posted by Gynandromorph:

CASE CLOSED it is definitely not a problem with Schedule 1 cuz now it's happening while my PC is effectively idling. Thanks for the comments all, I've been due motherboard upgrade for a few years anyways.

Bad luck. Hope you can get it fixed.

[ˢᵈˣ FatCat]

go ahead buy new Mobo, i bet it will Blackscreen crash too

[Piamond Dickaxe]

Any other errors or just the Kernel-Power Event 41? All that means is the PC shut down when it wasnt expecting to

[Pedro7]

I’m getting this exact issue when playing schedule 1. Doesn’t happen with Kingdom Come Deliverance 2 or any other game I play for hours on end.
Just keeps happening randomly either 30 mins in or a few hours in.