Vantage crashes and freezes computer after couple of minutes

[gabriel_chahouddealmeida]

Hi, guys!

I'm preparing some lessons about Chaos Vantage for my students, but lately, I've been having this problem that is completely preventing me from using Vantage.

The problem is that every time I open Vantage and start working on a scene - being it one 3D scene of mine or one of the Vantage sample scenes - Vantage just stops working and freezes my computer completely, in a way that is only possible to use the computer again if I turn the pc off directly on the button.

More details:

• It started happening after I installed the latest updates (2.2.1), but now even if I change it back to older versions, it keeps occurring
• Most of the time it freezes when/after changing resolution or denoiser parameters, but sometimes even if I don't do that
• I tried completely removing the Vantage installation (using Revo Uninstaller) to install it again, but it didn't work as well
• I've updated the NVidia driver to the latest one (546.33 ^WHQL, studio version)
• So far, the same problem hasn't happened with other programs

PC specifications:

• Windows 11 (it's up-to-date)
• Memory: 32Gb RAM
• Processor: Threadripper 1950x (32 threads, 3.4Ghz)
• Card device: RTX 3060

Do you guys know what could be happening, and how to solve that problem?

All the best,
Gabriel Chahoud

[vladimir.nedev]

Vantage just stops working and freezes my computer completely, in a way that is only possible to use the computer again if I turn the pc off directly on the button.

Can you open regedit and take a screen-shot of the values under :

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Control\GraphicsDrivers

I suspect you don't have TDR (timeout detection and recovery) activated and that's why you have to restart your PC when Vantage gets stuck.

Once you setup TDR, you will be able to record a clip of the crash happening, so we can try to reproduce it here.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[gabriel_chahouddealmeida]

Thank you for your quick response, Vladimir!

Here are my updates on this case:

• TDR: it seems to be activated, is this correct?

• Test 01/02. Changing Nvidia Driver to an older version: after I posted this issue here, I remembered seeing this warning about the driver, so I installed the 517.40 version.

After doing that, I was able to use Vantage (2.1.1) without the computer freezing problem. On the other hand, the navigation was quite slow, with drastic performance decreases, specially after changing resolution and denoiser parameters (even I changed them back to default, the performance was still really awful).

Also, I got these other warnings about performance after changing the Driver version to the 517.40:






Test 02/02. Re-update Vantage to 2.2.1 and the Nvidia Driver to 5433.33: After the test above, I decided to update the driver again to the latest version, to check if the computer freezing problem would come back. It didn't, but the performance was still quite slow, and the GPU usage was at 99% by just moving the camera on Vantage. So I decided to uptade Vantage also. The conclusion was that the performance increased a lot, and so far I didn't have that freezing problem again. But I'm still worried it'll come back at any time because I didn't really change anything. The one thing I did was to not use my computer for two days because I was on a short trip.


Well, that is my report.

What do you think? Is there anything I should do in order to investigate this issue further and prevent that problem from happening again?

Best,
Gabriel Chahoud

[vladimir.nedev]

TDR: it seems to be activated, is this correct?

It's not activated on that screenshot. The value of TdrLevel needs to be 3.
You can read more about it here : https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/wi...-registry-keys

Also, I got these other warnings about performance after changing the Driver version to the 517.40:

Looks like lack of support for DLSS, you are better off with the latest drivers.

I remembered seeing this warning about the driver, so I installed the 517.40 version.

Untested drivers are usually not problematic and we've removed this warning in future versions of Vantage.

The conclusion was that the performance increased a lot, and so far I didn't have that freezing problem again. But I'm still worried it'll come back at any time because I didn't really change anything.

Maybe there was an issue with the drivers and the multiple reinstalls fixed them.

You should probably install GPU-Z or a similar program and monitor your GPU and memory temperatures, as well as the clock frequency.

and the GPU usage was at 99% by just moving the camera on Vantage.

That's quite normal actually.

It didn't, but the performance was still quite slow

What was the FPS reported in Vantage ?

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[gabriel_chahouddealmeida]

Hi, Vladimir!

I went off for a few days and got back yesterday. So first of all, I wish you, your family, and all Chaos members an amazing 2024.


About the issue we've been discussing: thank you for your detailed answer. After your reply, I was able to enable the TDR correctly. Also, as you said, the drivers multiple reinstalls seemed to solve the freezing problem. I'm able to use Vantage again (in fact, I've already recorded a new lesson).

Thanks again!
All the best,
Gabriel Chahoud

[vladimir.nedev]

I went off for a few days and got back yesterday. So first of all, I wish you, your family, and all Chaos members an amazing 2024.

Thank you, same to you.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[gabriel_chahouddealmeida]

Hi, Vladimir!

I'm here again with not-so-good news.

That problem I reported a couple of weeks ago is back. Today while I was recording a lesson about how to use the Vantage link, the computer just froze again.

It looks like it was out of the blue because I've been using Vantage for a few days with no problem. In fact, right before I record a lesson I always review it a couple of times, doing what I'll do in the lesson, simulating the step-by-step I want to show my students. So, everything I was doing at the time the computer froze I did it two or three times before with no problem (which makes the whole problem more confusing to me).

What exactly I was doing right before my computer froze:

• I was with the project opened on SketchUp
• I had activated the Chaos Vantage link and it was already running
• I noticed that some Skatter groups (created with the extension Skatter) weren't visible on Vantage, so I was trying to regenerate them
• After I did that, the whole computer just stopped working

I needed to manually turn off my computer directly on its physical button. After the computer restarted, I tried to record the lesson again, but Vantage would stop and freeze the computer every time.


P.S¹.: I tried reinstalling the NVidia driver but it didn't work.
P.S².: TDR Level is already set to 3.

Can you help me with that issue again?

Best,
Gabriel Chahoud

[vladimir.nedev]

This freezing happens every time you repeat some particular steps ?
Can you send us the scene and the steps to reproduce the freeze (even better a short clip that shows it, if that's even possible due to the freezing) ?

It's rather strange that TDR set to 3 is not helping with the complete freeze.
Can you show me a screen-shot of the TDR values again ?

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[gabriel_chahouddealmeida]

Not exactly. After it occurs the first time, it starts to happen even when I'm working with the sample scenes, for example.

Here is the video and the screenshots:

• Video with the exact moment the computer got frozen: computer freezes while using Vantage
• System usage info during the computer freezing:
  • CPU: 11% / 53º
  • RAM: 67%
  • GPU: 97% / 72º

[vladimir.nedev]

Video with the exact moment the computer got frozen: computer freezes while using Vantage

Did you manage to change the resolution or it froze before that ?

Can you find some online or offline GPU stress test and try running that ?
It's very strange that the TDR is not working and you have to physically restart the PC.

Also, can you attach the Vantage log file after the freeze ? Maybe there is something in there.

Greetings,
Vladimir Nedev

[gabriel_chahouddealmeida]

• The computer froze before I was able to change the resolution (another time I was able to change the resolution, and 1-2 minutes after the computer froze again).
• After you mentioned it, I looked into it and did a test with Heaven Benchmark. After a couple of seconds (barely one minute) of running the stress test, the computer froze with 99% of usage and a temperature of 78ºC.
• Could you tell me where can I find the Vantage log file? I'll try to recreate the problem - which unfortunately is very easy right now - and attach the file.

[npg]

If your computer freezes with other benchmarks, we don't need the Vantage log file. The issue is not caused by Vantage. It may be difficult to find which component is faulty, but those that are getting stressed are suspect: mainly the GPU, but also CPU, RAM, maybe even power supply. Check your cable connections, slot connections (RAM, GPU), run a CPU stress test and MemTest86 to rule out the components one by one.

[gabriel_chahouddealmeida]

Update: after talking with an IT guy I know, he suggested I swap the memory sticks. When I was doing that, I realized that the memory sticks weren't placed as said in the motherboard manual (one on A1 and the other on C1; instead they were on A1 and D1). So I changed them to be placed according to the manual, and now it seems that the problem is gone.

I ran the GPU stress test again, and the same one that couldn't run for one minute was now able to run for more than 30 minutes till I closed it. Also, I tried doing everything I remembered that was causing Vantage to crash (use Live link with a heavy project, change resolution to 4k or 8k, use DLSS denoiser set to the higher performance, and so on), and until now, nor once did the problem happen again. Actually, not just the problem didn't happen as the navigation is currently a lot smoother when I use higher resolutions and denoiser settings.

I'll keep an eye on it to see if that unfortunate problem will be back again in the near future, but I'm optimistic that this time it really has been resolved.

Thank you, Vladimir and Nikola for all the attention on this thread.

I'll be posting some other questions Vantage related soon, but each one in its specific thread to keep it organized.

All the best,
Gabriel Chahoud