Spontaneous Data Repair?

I opened up the client today and it immediately started a data repair without prompting. Has anyone else has this happen?

Nope - just opened it for the first time today and nothing new for me.

If you go to your GW2 folder, you will see a HUGE 15g .DAT file. It got corrupted. I'd recommend running a disk scan, too, as soon as you can. Just click the folder icon on your task bar, depending on what hard drive you have GW2 installed to (I have just one drive), right click that drive, click Properties > Tools tab. Under Error Checking, click Check Now and ensure both boxes are checked (Scan for and attempt recovery.. is the main purpose here) It will alert that it needs to run on the next reboot, so confirm that and then when you are going to be away from your computer for a couple of hours, reboot and let it run. For my drive, about 400g, it takes roughly 2 hours, so base around that depending on the size of yours. Once you do that, if it ever happens again, holler on here again, because someone will need to walk you through a memory test. (of note, the most common cause of data corruption is a failing or underpowered power supply, but the other checks are easy and will tell if there is a problem with the HDD or RAM first, because those failures are permanent. A random error would be indicative of power supply problems and require more complicated means of diagnosis.)

» Edited on: 2013-01-23 14:51:15

Thanks Sekkerhund, I already know I have a hardware issue with this PC. It's just very daunting trying to nail down the culprit. I suspect it's bad ram, but memtest86 always comes back clean and I can't say I'm looking forward to opening the case and taking the sticks out one by one, just in case I compound the problem. I tend to stick the PC into hibernate, rather than shut it down. (Old habits die hard). If I cold boot now, sometimes I get no task bar and no applications showing and the only way to fix is to log off/on and then hibernate. That usually kicks the PC into action when I next boot.

» Edited on: 2013-01-23 16:07:27

Do you have a DC voltmeter and know how to check for power supply problems? I would honestly suspect that, based on what you just conveyed. Interestingly, a failing power supply will also cause sectors on your hard drive to fail, as well as start corrupting RAM sectors. Power supply is one of the most common sources of problems, yet the most often overlooked. (reason is people will buy crappy PSUs or underpowered wattages)

Err... no and no, but I do have a spare PSU that I can swap out, as well as some spare RAM. (Thanks for the suggestions). The occasional BSODs I get always seem to coincide with the browser (and too many tabs open) or some other intensive activity (though, it's nearly always the browser) and it's always a 0x8E with Win32k.sys (Windows is oh so helpful!).

Not seen it on my machine, but Alorra's was corrupted at one point. For that, the repair never actually worked, took a reinstall.

Err... no and no, but I do have a spare PSU that I can swap out, as well as some spare RAM. (Thanks for the suggestions). The occasional BSODs I get always seem to coincide with the browser (and too many tabs open) or some other intensive activity (though, it's nearly always the browser) and it's always a 0x8E with Win32k.sys (Windows is oh so helpful!). No problem, hope some of it helps. Windows is not helpful with diagnosing BSODs, but thankfully Bing is.

Now go wash your mouth out, Sekkerhund! :P For anyone else that happens to stumble across this thread, Avast+Chrome causing 0x8E BSODs is not uncommon. JFYI. Google Discussion MS Hotfix

» Edited on: 2013-01-24 18:31:05

LOL I use Bing exclusively, and its not because I used to work for Microsoft and MSN. ;)

I've tried Bing (yes, I did at least give it a try) but I wasn't that impressed. I guess you get comfortable with what you know. :) *Hands Sekkerhund some soap*

For Sekkerhund... Ah the PC Blue Screened again when I tried to close my browser. So, while it was turned off, I took a look at the PSU. It's a ThermalTake PurePower W0129RU 600-Watt [ATX 2.2, 120mm Fan]. So should be more than adequate for my rig.

Adequate isn't necessarily what's in question, its whether or not its transformers are going bad and giving improper voltages and what not to your components. Usually, that is the result of going "bargain" with PSU (unarguably the most important part of a computer system, since it provides the "blood" so to speak) because they perform poorly or wear out faster, due to craptastic parts. If you are getting that same BSOD, then its just software, wouldn't worry about it, but the BSOD's can cause HDD corruption, when the memory pages are not dumped back to disk, or if the HDD is in middle of a write operation, sometimes even a read operation, if a voltage spike occurs. That might be how your game file got corrupted, especially if you were logged in and alt-tabbed when it crashed. GW2 client is constantly loading and unloading assets from that huge 15g .DAT file, so ... heh What operating system are you using? The searches indicated it was a common problem with XP, but I didn't dig very deeply, since I don't know the specifics of your system, what you have installed, what's running when the error occurs, etc. edit: iirc ThermalTake isn't a bargain brand, forgot to mention that, but doesn't exempt it from problems. I've had a pair of Antec PSUs go bad on me, one just literally quit working. I forget what I use now.

» Edited on: 2013-01-25 01:16:37

The client CTDs were always while porting from one area to another (not usually map travel, but portals). Yes, I'm still on XP. The reason being, I eventually intend to move from Windows to Ubuntu or Mint, but that is a big task. I need to work out compatibilities etc.

Since you're using XP, then there is a hotfix for your issue. I'd recommend downloading it. If you use Bing and search for what I said in the above post, you should find the Microsoft hotfix KB page just a couple of links down.