SWTOR randomly freezes entire pc during play, requires hard reset

tl; dr - My WIN 7machine crashes during play and freezes the whole computer even though it meets minimum reqs and has no issues with other games.

@Malquidis I am sorry to see SWTOR causes freezes on your PC. Impressed with the info you are already providing. 

First thing I want to point out: The 'Can you run it' minimum spec is from 2011 and is not reflecting the current minimum spec you can find on swtor.com or Origin. However, even with the new min spec in mind your rig should be okay(ish).

I cannot find Windows error reporting in your Dxdiag. My advice is to test it after a clean boot to make sure you don't have a software conflict (or memory leak): https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/help/929135/how-to-perform-a-clean-boot-in-windows

If it still freezes could you show us your windows error reporting? It might (!) be visible there. The Windows error reporting is also part of the MsInfo: https://help.ea.com/en-ca/help/pc/how-to-find-and-attach-your-msinfo/

@Tonfu -Thank you for your response.  I'll work on getting that clean boot and error reporting over the weekend.

Okay, so- last night, I performed a clean boot as per the instructions (the second time. The FIRST time, I turned off too much. oops), started up SWTOR, made sure all the settings were at the minimum, and got to play for about 20 minutes before the whole system froze.

Here's the msinfo32 export: https://1drv.ms/t/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbA8LbYJs5-Ad6FURw

I don't really know how to read it, but I didn't see anything in the Windows error reporting with a timestamp that would correspond to the freeze.

I have my fingers crossed that there is something in there that will help.

Thanks again for trying to assist!

-Malquidis

@Malquidis 

First be sure this is not due to heat . see this link to look at what thermal margin you have under load 

Now there are no crash reports for swtor , however there are crash reports over the last few weeks for dxmedia, pid.dll, Saitek_Cyborg3D_Force_SD6_64_Drivers, wmplayer.exe and StarFleetOP.exe

There is also component corruption (WindowsWcpStoreCorruption), so maybe addresss this while checking temps

open a command prompt as administrator and type 

sfc /scannow 

then press enter and see if that alone fixes all corruption issues.

Greetings Proxos666!  Thanks for your assistance.

I'll look into the heat possibility. I did look into teh heat possibilities to deal with what turned out to be an issue with my PSU. You are referring me to a tool that I didn't try, though, so I'll look at it. 

Heat hasn't been an issue with any other game I have tried to run, even on higher settings than SWTOR. I have been running Warframe, Civ 5 and others on high settings, getting the fan up there, without freezing.

The crash reports that you saw were (I think) due to the power supply issue I was having, which has since been addressed by replacing the PSU. Even in those cases, the behavior was totally different- the machine would shut down totally, as if unplugged, instead of the full freeze that happens with SWTOR and no other game.

 Lastly, I did the sfc /scannow as one of my first troubleshooting steps, and it did not solve the issue.

I wll post back with more info.

Hello All-

Thank you all for your assistance.

This evening, I played SWTOR for 3 hours with no issues. I even upped the character settings and textures to high.

I used AMD OverDrive to monitor the system temperature, and the Thermal Margin never got lower than 6° C.

Aside from rerunning scf /scannow, I have changed nothing, not even any windows updates since the last failure.

For now, I will go on, and play SWTORas and when I can.  If and when I have more troubles, I will pop in again to see if you all have any insights.

THANK YOU ALL for your guidance.

Okay Everybody- It happened again.

I have had about 8 - 10 hours of successful play on SWTOR, until this morning, when it froze. Twice.  The only thing I did differently when the freezes took place, was that I had disconnected my Turtle Beach Recon 60P USB headphones, and was instead running on regular computer speakers, plugged into the main 3.5mm audio output jack, and connected to USB external power. After this post, I am going to go back to playing with the headphones connected, and see if I get longer play time. Wouldn't it just be insane if that was somehow relevant?

The second time it froze, I was able to get pics of the various monitors that I had running.  I have uploaded them to Onedrive, and they are here for your perusal:

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBKq4YKvUvG-jx6aA

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBLlh0WCMD8MkoEyg

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBMkKx8y2NKXid9dg

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBN7vzg24BglA8gAg

https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBOrNLntePkYLCXZw

Sorry for potato quality screenshots- I had to use my tablet to take pics of the frozen screen where I crammed as many monitors as possible.

Also, here are today's AMD Overdrive logs: https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBPKhRA8AWN4jSYJw  and https://1drv.ms/u/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBQqbhDIY9Tgw-YpA

Also also, here is the log file from EVGA Precision: https://1drv.ms/t/s!Aub0xdbyxUblhbBRO9n3xeQdvDEkBA

Again, More, I thank everybody who is even remotely putting brain cells on this issue. I would say something like U da real MVP, but I take your assistance more seriously than that.

@Malquidis 

At present I think looking closer at the temperature of the CPU is worthwhile, maybe put new thermal paste and ensure the cpu cooler is seated correctly just to be certain.

6deg thermal margin is way too close to the limit in my view on a out of game test, also the reported temps need checking as they are way exceeding 100c

Edit - while checking the CPU temps the official allowable max temp is 72.4°C  per https://www.amd.com/en/products/cpu/860k

I suspect the temps reported above are wrong but as you look closer with other tools knowing the allowable max temp is handy.

The 6°C margin I mentioned was with SWTOR running, and the game in full swing. My non-load thermal margin is usually in the 38°C to 42°C range. (EDIT- don't know what I was thinking with my originally posted reply)

I'll look into the CPU cooling, though, since the temps are going above the allowable max temp.

In OTHER news, I have had several more hours of successful SWTOR play with the USB headphones plugged in instead of using the speakers. I am about to see what happens when I start with headphones and switch to speakers. At this point, I would bet real money that a freeze follows shortly thereafter.