Crash to the Desktop

[Guano]

FOr the past several days the sim has been switching to the desk top.  Sometimes I can just click the icon in the task bar and everything returns. Other times it tries but return to the desk top, the screens flicker and I hear the sim noise for a second, but then the desk top shows up. Here are my particulars:

Processor Intel(R):COre(TM) i5-96000 CPU@ 3.70GHZ
RAM  32 GB
64 Bit operating System
Windows 10 Home
Version 20H2
OS build 19042.985
Drive c: 223 GB
Drive D 1 TB
sim installed on D:

If you need more info, let me know

Thanks

[Bizman]

Before going to the depth of studying your Dxdiag output here's a couple of things to do:

- Shutdown your computer so that you keep the Shift button down while clicking Shutdown. Doing that on a weekly basis is good practise to avoid corrupted settings.

- Check the temperatures of your components, including the video card. https://www.cpuid.com/downloads/hwmonitor/hwmonitor_1.44.zip links to the download for no-install HW-monitor which is a decent tool, however it seems to read my mainboard wrong: Logically thinking if my CPU runs at 40 C then the mainboard can't be 116 C... Speccy https://www.ccleaner.com/speccy/download/standard is another nice tool, among other things it tells the temperatures. And as it shows that you can't necessarily trust one single tool, two tools can tell the truth.

- If it appears that your video card is running way too hot, MSI Afterburner can be of help in making the video card fans run faster: https://www.msi.com/Landing/afterburner/graphics-cards

[Guano]

Another aspect is that I can't ALT TAB to get the cursor to another screen(3 Screens).  Once I TAB out, I can't get back...have to use task manager to shut down the game.

Thanks

[Bizman]

Then the first trick to try is even more important. Shift + Shutdown.

What that does is to force Windows boot from scratch instead of using saved, potentially corrupted settings.

[Puma44]

Then the first trick to try is even more important. Shift + Shutdown.

What that does is to force Windows boot from scratch instead of using saved, potentially corrupted settings.

For those of us who can’t remember to press the SHIFT key at shutdown, is there a way to automate this?

[Bizman]

For those of us who can’t remember to press the SHIFT key at shutdown, is there a way to automate this?

They say that unchecking Fast Boot in Advanced Power Management settings should do the same but I don't trust it. I uncheck that on every computer I lay my hands on, but I still do the Shift trick as a first thing to try. I also do it on my own computer whenever I remember. Unless your system is severely corrupted, using Shift at Shutdown on a weekly basis should be plenty sufficient and much more than an average Joe ever does. But if you do it every time you'll learn to remember it in a few months. Shutting down your computer for the time you're sleeping is another thing I recommend despite having a million continuous "on" hours being a "thing" for some.

[mikeWe9a]

You can also, if you aren't shutting down the computer overnight, etc., simply select restart, which will do a "clean" shutdown and restart.

[Bizman]

You can also, if you aren't shutting down the computer overnight, etc., simply select restart, which will do a "clean" shutdown and restart.

I've heard that as well. If that's true, shouldn't an update restart do the same? I must admit that mostly my customers may choose the 'Update and shutdown' option - which nowadays actually does a restart before shutting down, but is that restart clean is beyond my knowledge. 

Have I already mentioned that I don't have much trust in how Microsoft does things?   

[Puma44]

In the spirit of computer health and a little cross pollination from another thread, I downloaded the MSI Afterburner and have tweaked it a bit.  Does anyone have suggested speed vs temp curves or ratios?  Thanks!

[Bizman]

I haven't used any special curves or values, I've done it simply by ear.

Assuming the current curve is designed with maximum silence in mind, anything that makes the fan spin earlier and faster is an improvement in cooling. It'd be totally safe to raise the entire curve flat on the top, making the fans run at 100% all the time. That was common practise before they started using temperature controlled fans most everywhere. However, as you know, that much cooling is not needed for tasks like reading the forums so some adjustment would be nice to save your ears.

So let's say the current curve stays at 0 below 50 C (convert to F if needed) and only runs at 20% up to 60 C, 50% at 70 C and 100% (full speed) past 80 C. That'd be quite hot! So if you make it to 20% all the way below 40 and make it spin 100% past 65 C you'd still have it relatively silent until you put your earphones on and start playing.

Or simplified, just move the curve one notch up and one notch left.

[Puma44]

Those are pretty close to the same values I’ve come up with.  With the headset on, there’s some added background noise but, not an issue if it’s cooling the rig down.  Sounds kinda like a landing gear door hanging in the wind when it should be closed.  Thanks! 

[wrench]

Here's the profile I use on all my computers.

The dotted line represents the minimum fan speed for this GTX 760 (43%). So this video card's fans never go below 43%, but if I change the video card I won't have to change the fan curve.

Most video cards run below 40C for normal tasks, so if you have a newer video card that can idle the fans, it'll be quiet and the fans will kick on when it warms up.

My GTX 960 video card fans will shut off under 40C making things quiet for everyday tasks.

If your video card still runs hot with this profile you can try moving the 100% point to a lower temp. For example, my R9-380X video card runs hot, so that profile is set to 100% at 75C. My R9-380X has a poor cooling solution even with 2 fans.

If your video card still runs hot after that, you may need to adjust case fan speeds to move more air past the video card.

[Puma44]

Thanks wrench!  How did you you determine the card’s minimum speed?  What value would be considered running “hot”?  I wasn’t aware the fan case speed could be adjusted.  How is that done? 

[wrench]

Afterburner got the minimum fan speed on it's own, nothing required from me.

I consider anything over 80C hot, but really the manufacturers determine what is hot for their product. When the programmed max temp is exceeded, the video card will start to slow down to reduce heat, affecting performance. I don't remember any of my video cards throttling themselves if I kept the temp below 80C.

My R9-380X runs at 77C under a full load (like when running a video card benchmark) when video card fans are 100% at 75C. Some of my games get it close to that.

I think most motherboard makers provide software to monitor and possibly control case fan speeds if they're plugged in to the motherboard. If fans are plugged directly in to power supply they most likely run at 100%, though some of those fans might have a switch to control speed.

You might also be able to control case fan speeds and possibly set profiles for them in the BIOS.

Bizman might have a good recommendation for 3rd party software to control case fans.

[Puma44]

Thanks!  Great information for my “I don’t know what I don’t know” status on the subject.