Crash - Reboot Twice

[Roger Wilco Jr]

So I'm still randomly crashing out of the game to the launcher. It won't start unless I reboot. When I reboot, the time is 12/31/1899 and nothing works (TrackIR won't start, GeForce Experience won't load, and etc). If I reboot a second time, then everything seems to work fine.

Anyone else having a problem like this? - or have any ideas?

It's a new system with Windows 7 and an SSD with almost nothing else installed except Firefox and Thunderbird and VLC. I recently added a HDD for ShadowPlay, but this problem has been going on for a long time.

The good thing is that with the SSD it only takes 3 seconds to shut down and 7 seconds to start up.

[M. Kowalsky]

You mean that when you reboot, the system clock is set to 12/31/1899 ?

If that's the case, I would start by clearing the CMOS data from the real time clock on the motherboard.
Since it's a new PC, it probably won't help to change the clock battery but you never know.
If it doesn't help, see if your BIOS has a backup copy of itself (most new BIOS do that these days) and re-flash the main BIOS from that copy.

You'll need to find the motherboard manual on the net and make sure you follow the instructions on how to clear the CMOS, replace the battery and re-flash the BIOS
It may involve changing some jumpers (little plastic dongles used to short pins on the motherboard) to clear the CMOS data.

If you've never done that, it might sound a bit daunting but it's not very difficult. I'm sure you can find videos on youtube that will show how it's done.

EDIT: Before doing anyone of the things I suggested, try simply to reset the internal clock inside the BIOS and see if that isn't enough

[Somerled]

If your bios date is resetting to 12/31/1899 after the crash (you sure it's not 12/31/1999?) something is very wrong with your hardware. I'ts not likely to be anything to do with your OS or Elite, or any other software installed.

One of the symptoms of hardware causing a crash is the bios gets reset. What you notice is just one part of that - the system time and date. You could try a bios flash - check the manufactures website for the latest bios update.

Other than that, if the PC is new, check what warranties you have on it.

Good luck!

[Roger Wilco Jr]

I misspoke. I'll have to wait for another crash to get the exact dates, but after the crash it says 1799 or 1899 for the year (I'm almost positive it wasn't 1999). After the first reboot it says 2014. Then after the second reboot the date is correct and everything works fine until another crash. The whole process only takes 30 seconds, so it's just a hassle.

I'll check for a bios update to see if that solves the problem. Thanks.

[Roger Wilco Jr]

I didn't have a FAT drive available so I couldn't update the bios right away. Then I didn't have a crash for 4 days, including all weekend. Then last night it crashed again. I did the bios update and then it crashed again tonight. It's still 1899 after the crash & 2014 after the first reboot, but I think that may be because I'm using the internet to set the time. But there is still a problem after the first reboot because the notifications window has empty icons and stuff doesn't work until I reboot again.

Oh well, I'm not too concerned. I was just wondering if others were having a similar issue with crashing and after. I think I'll change the way time is kept and then see if this still happens.

[WolfRaven]

I've been having the occasional crash as well, maybe once a week.
You could install Speccy, it's a free System Information tool and monitor the temps you are getting in-game,
in particular the CPU & GPU temps.
Oddly enough I've noticed I get the highest temps when docked in a station, it might be worth alt-tabbing out of game and checking what you are getting.

That date issue does sound like a bad CMOS battery, but that usually only happens on older systems (6+ years old) but I suppose it's possible it is gone.
They are easy to replace though, the motherboard manual will have the details.

[Somerled]

Cmos battery is only used when the PC is switched off - it retains all the bios settings, including date and time.

You would know that its a battery failure if it lost settings overnight, and it will repeat this everytime it is switched off for more than 30 mins or so.

If your PC crashes and it resets the cmos, then that is a hardware issue - likely something to do with the motherboard. What is strange about this case is the fact its resetting (if that's what its doing) to 1899. Bios chips are loaded with a date range - ie, 1999-2099.

What Wolfraven suggests is a good idea, it might give some pointers.

[Roger Wilco Jr]

What Wolfraven suggests is a good idea, it might give some pointers.

Yeah, thanks guys, I'll check it out. I suppose it could be a temperature issue, but I'm not overclocking anything, but then I'm not using extra coolers either.

[Nicolagnak]

Hello,

I'm actually having pretty much the same issue but without the reboot. I explain.

Since the last patch (1.106?), I'm having this issue. I never had it in any other game and not in Elite Dangerous before the patch since I've started a few weeks ago.

It occured at several occasions (Spatioport, during FSD travel, during normal flight) and here is what happened :

Game freezes for a sec and then I'm back to the desktop without any error message such as "Program has stopped working etc...". And immediately, I notice that my system clock is setup as 01/01/1900 00:00:00. I can immediately set the good actual date or I can also reboot and the good date is also set correctly.

I'll check my temperatures too and will also report the bug to Elite Dangerous team directly (I'm currently at work and I was looking if anybody had the same issue.)

My computer is not so old and is from December 2013 except for the Graphics card :
Processeur INTEL Core i3-4130
2x4Go CRUCIAL DDR3 PC3-12800
Motherboard Gigabyte B85M-D3H
SSD Crucial MX100 - 256 Go
Card ATI RADEON HD 6870
Windows 8.1

So I would be surprise to have an Hardware issue if no other game causes that and that it is only since the last patch and that somebody else has a similar behavior.

[Roger Wilco Jr]

Hmmm, we both have a Gigabyte MB and a Crucial MX100 SSD.

The next time I crash, I'll try to reset the date before rebooting to see if that saves needing to do it twice. I've found that after my first reboot, if I wait 1-2 minutes, the date will self correct, whether I'm using the internet to set time or not, but I still need to reboot again to get TrackIR to work.

I used Speccy and the bios tools to monitor temps. Speccy was reading 6C higher on the CPU, which is strange. Maybe the bios is reading the socket instead? I don't have the exact numbers with me, and I don't think they were anywhere near a major problem, but I did order a CPU cooler and a couple extra 140mm fans for the top of the case. If I don't have any problems after that, then I'll know it was the temps.