Game launches with Borderlands 2 issues, frequent crashes during Hunt: Showdown, random odd items appear in web browser.
Game launches with Borderlands 2 issues, frequent crashes during Hunt: Showdown, random odd items appear in web browser.
The game launches immediately when you click "Play" in the launcher, jumping straight to the first frame of the 2K splash and then freezing for a brief moment before restarting. No issues with Borderlands 3 appear. 2K support doesn’t help at all. Hunt: Showdown sometimes stops unexpectedly—usually every few games or during a Discord VC session—without any apparent cause. Everything seems normal, but the game freezes briefly (about half a second) with no sound, then resumes on the next frame and crashes hard to the desktop. Scrolling or switching tabs in Edge often triggers visual glitches resembling jumbled pixel rectangles that appear briefly. Initially, I suspected a graphics card problem. After removing all display drivers and reinstalling, the problems continued. I swapped my GPU for an older model, but the issue remained (no audio, just freezing). Changing my cooling solution to a Noctua cooler didn’t fix it, and upgrading my power supply seemed to address power consumption concerns. Still, the crashes keep happening. Yesterday I reinstalled Windows after formatting the drive, as some suggested it might be a deep-seated file issue, but the problems persist. I’m starting to feel overwhelmed. I’ve thought about buying a new PC outright, though I’ve owned this system for over ten years and prefer not to discard it. The situation is getting frustrating. System details: OS is Windows 11 Pro; CPU is Intel i7-13700k (no overclocking). CMOS cleared recently; no CPU cooler installed. Motherboard is ASUS ROG STRIX Z690-E GAMING WIFI with default BIOS. RAM is CORSAIR VENGEANCE DDR5 64GB at 5600MHz (Task Manager shows 4800MHz). Graphics card is MSI GeForce RTX 3080; latest driver installed. PSU is Seasonic FOCUS PX-850, SSD from SAMSUNG 980 PRO, case from Cooler Master HAF X.
It’s possible you couldn’t get DOCP running after resetting CMOS. When an error occurs, Event Viewer may display details about the crash. BL2 is a dated title, and maintaining compatibility on today’s hardware can be tricky—there are many scattered online tips to try. Personally, AI tools might assist by adjusting settings like HDR/VRR to resolve similar issues.
I turned XMP back on while keeping DOCP off on my motherboard, and the RAM now shows the right speeds. BL2 still crashes, but the browser glitch hasn’t appeared recently (that one was much less frequent). I tried starting BL2 again and it crashed once more when I opened Event Viewer. I’m not very comfortable with it since I haven’t used it before, but I saw this event logged near the time of the last crash: Borderlands2.exe version 1.0.257.45254. After that, a few other details popped up: AppName, ModuleName, ModuleVersion, and so on. Then came this event: EventData Bucket 1524361292027331444. It looked like a system warning or error related to nvgpucomp32.dll. I also noticed files in temp folders and a small log file named WERInternalMetadata.xml. Everything seems to be tracking, but I’m still trying to figure out what’s going on.
It seems like the problem might be related to the GPU. This could definitely be a challenging path ahead. There are many helpful tips available online, including this discussion on Steam. A more unusual approach might be needed if this is truly the issue.
So I checked a few things after the initial suggestions didn’t help. I changed RAM one stick at a time, but nothing fixed the problem. Then I swapped my RTX 3080 for a GTX 1080 without success. I also tried using DDU with the 1080 and didn’t see any improvement. After uninstalling the Nvidia Control Panel and driver, Borderlands 2 started working again, though it was only stable after switching back to the 3080. I downloaded the latest drivers via GeForce Experience, but the game still crashed. Updating my BIOS seemed necessary, but I kept trying the same steps. BL2 only ran smoothly when the 1080 was connected with the drivers removed, and then it slowed down significantly. It’s unclear why it would work at all, but I’m guessing it might be related to the motherboard or CPU. The benchmark results were normal, so I wasn’t sure what else to try before considering replacements. My old components weren’t compatible with the new ones, so I could only swap the GPU. There’s some strange behavior about the game restarting randomly—no clear reason why it would work one moment and fail the next. That might be useful if you’re looking for patterns.
Additionally, the Z690-E motherboard includes a "feature" with a button that unlocks the PCI-E clamp. It mainly stops the clamp from securing the GPU firmly. Whenever I swapped my GPU, I could simply pull it out without unlocking it. I’m unsure if this would create any problems. I also experimented by moving my 3080 to a different PCI-E slot that lacks this button, which kept the clamp locked and caused BL2 to fail.
Sometimes BL2 really surprises you. It's unexpected but happens. I'd test swapping back to see if it works with the 3080 so you don't have to switch GPUs every time you want to play. PS, I really love BL2. I've logged over 700 hours in it. Lots of cool moments with friends.
I received a new motherboard, but issues persisted. The purchase wasn’t a big deal, though—I didn’t like the ASUS model much (lol, PCI-E latch doesn’t lock and it only partially works with Noctua coolers). Later I swapped in a 14700k CPU, unplugged all SATA drives, and booted up just keyboard and mouse. BL2 functioned better afterward. I gradually reconnected everything and everything worked smoothly again. Overall, it looks like the CPU was the problem, even though it performed well until recently. CPU stress tests passed fine before, and most games ran normally. Still waiting to test Hunt—its crashes were much more erratic, but I hope fixing this means the issue is resolved.