Fallout New Vegas makes my computer fucking restart.

[Forest Dweller]

Goddamnit. Obsidian really outdid themselves with this one. It doesn't just crash to desktop, it actually restarts my fucking computer. It seems to happen randomly as I play; I can only go an hour or so before it happens. When it does I get a brief blue screen which I don't have time to read and then it restarts. I've looked online and there doesn't seem to be any clear solution. I've updated my graphics and audio card drivers, and also disabled ffdshow, two of the suggestions I saw online. I'm pretty sure it's not an issue of heat either. Does anyone here know what I'm talking about?

 

[Luzur]

sounds more like graphics card failing or overheating..

have you tried other graphic intense games?

 

[Gord]

Agreed, a system reboot seems more like a driver, overheating or hardware problem.
Not that I would completely rule out that Bethesdas infamous version of the Gamebryo engine may be at fault.

How about memory? Have you tried running a memtest?

 

[Zarniwoop]

Sounds like a hardware problem to me too, most likely graphics card or RAM. Check the event viewer for something like "display driver has stopped responding". Try swapping them out or something.

 

[Andyman Messiah]

It's an overheating issue, the blue screen actually says so (if it's the same error).

 

[Angthoron]

Yeah, it does sound like either a failing GPU or a failing PSU affecting the GPU in a fail way.

 

[kmnWolfman]

Before you installed the new video card driver, did you use Driver Sweeper to purge the old drivers? This is because what you describe does sound like a corrupted driver and just by installing a new driver on top of it will not fix the problem.

Edit: The bookmarked link I had was no longer usable.

 

[Tel Velothi]

When I tried NV, it CTD in 12 minutes. All the time.
With HDR enabled there was white squares flashing almost everywhere. I searched it on google and a lot of people have this issue.
Oh, did I mentioned I'm not having ANY problems with running nowadays games? Expept that.
This game brings "tech problems" on a new level.

Why Stalker - east europe game is stable as fuck and this "high end product" is so fucked up?
It's retarded.
And don't worry. NV is shit anyways.

 

[Forest Dweller]

sounds more like graphics card failing or overheating..

have you tried other graphic intense games?

I played Crysis 2 recently.

 

[King Crispy]

Download and run MemTest86 for a few hours. If any of your RAM modules are bad, it'll tell you.

 

[Ruprekt]

Do you have Windows XP with the 3gb switch?

 

[kmnWolfman]

sounds more like graphics card failing or overheating..

have you tried other graphic intense games?

I played Crysis 2 recently.

Because you didn't respond to my question I'll reiterate. This is typical odd behavior indicating more likely video card drivers corruption, rather than that the video card suddenly started overheating or the RAM throwing a fit.
I know that it might seem intimidating, especially for the first time, but try using the Driver Sweeper to fully remove the old video card driver before installing the newest version.

Off topic: Why is it that nobody else is backing this up? I know for a fact that it's at the very least a possible solution.

 

[King Crispy]

Why is it that nobody else is backing this up? I know for a fact that it's at the very least a possible solution.

Because video driver corruption will rarely result in a BSOD. That's usually the exclusive domain of a hardware issue, and 9 times out of 10 it's RAM.

One thing that would help us isolate the issue is if DickSmacker clarified a little more about the timing of the problem; he said it's basically random but it may only be happening when a certain video effect is taking place or when a certain type of creature is on the screen. If that's true, then I'd agree it's possibly a driver problem. If it's truly random, then it's definitely a hardware problem.

 

[Gord]

Why is it that nobody else is backing this up? I know for a fact that it's at the very least a possible solution.

Because video driver corruption will rarely result in a BSOD. That's usually the exclusive domain of a hardware issue, and 9 times out of 10 it's RAM.

He won't lose much by trying.
Although I thought the newer drivers were removing old versions quite efficiently nowadays.

 

[Mortmal]

yeah its not fucking obsidian fault, its probably a fucking hardware failure , now you should give us more details, hardware specs, when exactly it happens etc...
Could be powersupply failing as well , could be anything , video card failure, or just a simple driver isssue. At worse try a clean reinstall wit the bare minimum, no shit int he background, especially the stuff you fished on pirate bay and rapidshare.
If its the only game doing that then just try driver sweeper and reinstall video drivers and directx. If its not working, clean reinstall of OS.

 

[4m3rica]

Have you overclocked your CPU or any other hardware? If so, tune it down. I agree that it's a hardware issue, something is overheating or failing. I've never had a game restart my computer unless it was my hardware not being able to handle it efficiently.

 

[Forest Dweller]

Okay, I told Steam to check integrity of the files and it said one file needed to be replaced. Just now I got my first CTD. Will keep updated.

 

[Nael]

Why is it that nobody else is backing this up? I know for a fact that it's at the very least a possible solution.

Because video driver corruption will rarely result in a BSOD. That's usually the exclusive domain of a hardware issue, and 9 times out of 10 it's RAM.

One thing that would help us isolate the issue is if DickSmacker clarified a little more about the timing of the problem; he said it's basically random but it may only be happening when a certain video effect is taking place or when a certain type of creature is on the screen. If that's true, then I'd agree it's possibly a driver problem. If it's truly random, then it's definitely a hardware problem.

I've had an overheating video card force my computer to shutdown before. Of course I had a thermocouple that was tied to the emergency circuit for ambient overtemp issues like this so it wasn't actually the video card itself forcing a shutdown.

 

[Tycn]

What are your specs and what is your PSU? Have you tried running memtest as Crispy suggested?

 

[Micmu]

I recommend you systematically start replacing components. In best case you will end up with two computers!

 

[Forest Dweller]

Happened again. This time there was a lot of speaker popping before it went blue. I have a 5.1 setup, so probably sound card? I had heard the popping before but not as dramatic as this time. I've been planning on getting a new sound card for a while now so I'll see how that goes.

 

[Mister Arkham]

Just to clarify: have you just gotten the game and are playing it for the first time? If it's a new problem with a title you've had a while, then I suppose it's possible you're seeing an issue that came with the latest patch (I know BSOD/reboot occurrence makes this unlikely, but I wouldn't put anything past Gamebryo).

 

[Forest Dweller]

Yeah, first time.

 

[Mister Arkham]

Yeah, first time.

Okay. In that case, I'm also going to back up the idea that it's probably a hardware issue.

 

[Clockwork Knight]

Once my pc was acting up like this because it was caked with dust around the fan, so it overheated on some games. You said that you played Crysis 2 recently, does it run normally if you try it right now?