Whole PC sporadically crashes/freezes on loading screens - since 3.24 Necropolis League

Problem description:
> Ever since 3.24 Necropolis League, I have had the problem that the game sporadically crashes/freezes my whole PC while changing zones/loading. I was hoping that the issue got resolved with 3.25, but that's sadly not the case.
> During the crash, the PC freezes, no inputs are accepted and the audio turns into a buzzing noise. I then have to do a hard shutdown via the power button, nothing else helps.
> It only happens when a loading screen is involved, never during gameplay or idling.
> Its sporadic. I can't identify a pattern. Sometimes the game runs fine for multiple hours and then crashes. Sometimes it crashes a couple times an hour.
> Last lines from the Client.txt logfile before a crash:


What I have tried so far:
> Drivers are up-to-date
> OS is up-to-date
> Switching between Vulcan, DX10 and DX11 (i usually play on Vulcan)
> Verifying integrity of game files (Steam)
> Reinstalled the game (Steam)
> Deleted cache files in AppData\Roaming\Path of Exile
> Changed graphics settings
> Overclocked GPU, underclocked GPU and set it to default settings
> Checked Windows event viewer > no noticeable entries
> Other games and applications work fine
> Ran multiple stress tests on the whole system and individual components. Runs stable for hours on end.

My System:
CPU: Intel Core i9-11900K
RAM: 32GB DDR4
GPU: ASUS ROG STRIX RTX 3080TI O12G GAMING
OS: Windows 10 x64
OS Drive: Samsung SSD 980 Pro 500G
Game Drive: Samsung SSD 980 Pro 2TB
Mainboard: ASUS ROG STRIX Z590-E GAMING WIFI
System is connected to a UPS.

Ingame graphics settings:
(FPS is capped at 163 in the Nvidia driver)
https://imgur.com/a/k9vWpan

Any help is appreciated.
Let me know if you need more information.

Sry to hear your problems, but it seems like many people have that ATM.

Would be great you let us all know if you found a solution or got answer from the devs, because I am still stuck like you are. Game does a "hard-crash" of my system every time I try to play after app. 20-50 seconds. Tried all the things you did and even installed the game on a different SSD like it was before. Nothing changed or helps and I start to get frustrated.

My thread:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3538436

I will post if I found a solution !
Best of luck to you

I know you did check the integrity of files in Steam but the problem can be in another place of the disk, like the windows cache, as most users dont disable this feature when installing windows

You should do a read test to check your disk using HD Tune Pro. First, check the OS Drive, select the disk above then click Benchmark and Start. It will show how your disk is performing, if it reads at the correct rate in all sectors from the disk. On the graph, at left is the read rate, above are the sectors (in GB).

If the graph shows some big dips, your SSD is damaged and needs to be replaced

Here is an example: this disk got damaged from 110gb to 210gb
https://imgur.com/a/jxdB0Wf

"

Nágash wrote:

Sry to hear your problems, but it seems like many people have that ATM.

Would be great you let us all know if you found a solution or got answer from the devs, because I am still stuck like you are. Game does a "hard-crash" of my system every time I try to play after app. 20-50 seconds. Tried all the things you did and even installed the game on a different SSD like it was before. Nothing changed or helps and I start to get frustrated.

My thread:
https://www.pathofexile.com/forum/view-thread/3538436

I will post if I found a solution !
Best of luck to you

I had seen your thread before I created mine. Your problem seemed somewhat different from mine, in that the game only crashes on loading screens and sometimes runs fine for multiple hours.
I will update the thread if I find anything that helps.

Regards

"

CrisFenix wrote:

I know you did check the integrity of files in Steam but the problem can be in another place of the disk, like the windows cache, as most users dont disable this feature when installing windows

You should do a read test to check your disk using HD Tune Pro. First, check the OS Drive, select the disk above then click Benchmark and Start. It will show how your disk is performing, if it reads at the correct rate in all sectors from the disk. On the graph, at left is the read rate, above are the sectors (in GB).

If the graph shows some big dips, your SSD is damaged and needs to be replaced

Here is an example: this disk got damaged from 110gb to 210gb
https://imgur.com/a/jxdB0Wf

Thank you for the suggestion.
I had already checked the SSD via CrystalDisk and the SMART test came back OK.
Unfortunately, the trial version of HD Tune Pro seems limited in function. I can't scan the whole disk.
I will look for alternatives and perform further tests.
I will update the thread if I find anything new.

Regards

Interesting..the trial version of HD Tune should scan the entire disk, is the same version I've used. Crystaldisk will tell that your disk is ok because it only reads the bios log of the disk, there is no read rate test involved. You can use the free version of HD Tune v2.55, same test

http://www.hdtune.com/download.html

"

CrisFenix wrote:

Interesting..the trial version of HD Tune should scan the entire disk, is the same version I've used. Crystaldisk will tell that your disk is ok because it only reads the bios log of the disk, there is no read rate test involved. You can use the free version of HD Tune v2.55, same test

http://www.hdtune.com/download.html

HD Tune 2.55 worked, thank you. I tried the 6.00 Pro Version before, which was limited in function.
Interestingly enough, the benchmark fails on both of my drives with the Error "Read Error! Test aborted".
Error: https://imgur.com/a/MLkxo0S
2.55 is from 2008, so I don't know if that's an incompatibility with NVMe drives or if both have major problems.
I also tried the "Error Scan" option and both drives showed a few damaged blocks. But I guess that's just the result of usage and age? AFAIK SSD's can handle a few damaged blocks and just don't use them?
500GB: https://imgur.com/a/3LxIoG1
2TB: https://imgur.com/a/YQrcEe4

The diagnostics within Samsung Magician have the same problem, the test doesn't finish.

So 2 damaged drives? Seems unlikely, but that's the conclusion to draw, right?
I could try to swap out both drives, which is quite the hassle and will take some time.

Try:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9_L0VdQFQbc

I have been able to more consistently start replicating this hard freeze by switching windows focus between PoE and other windows during loading. Although it seems to happen sometimes even without it

"

Maselkov wrote:

I have been able to more consistently start replicating this hard freeze by switching windows focus between PoE and other windows during loading. Although it seems to happen sometimes even without it

Whenever I crash, the game is still my main window. Never happened to me when I switched to another window. But I rarely do switch, so I can't say for sure.