Xbox 360 - Game Keeps Freezing on Franklin's 1st Mission

[gtajonno]

Been running all night

 

I use the xbox for a couple of hours most nights but not usually in this state...

wow thats extreem lol thats how big they should of made the xbox lol..but good job aslong as it works lol..

[gtajonno]

Lol btw guess what xbox said to me after i asked em if they tested gta on all xbox models....

.

Gave me a link to book my box for a repair lol

[TalkingBeard]

@guchy2ndfloor, Go for it mate, basically it would freeze up after 15 minutes or so without the 'fan mod' - had it running since I got home after work and still going strong

Edited September 26, 2013 by TalkingBeard

[gtajonno]

@guchy2ndfloor, Go for it mate, basically it would freeze up after 15 minutes or so without the 'fan mod' - had it running since I got home after work and still going strong

im gunna try this tomorow i dont have that kins of fan but i have a big un lol

[MeatButcher]

Crist xbox are getting in on the cash pig now telling me i should send my xbox in for repair...lol yeh ok im gunna send in something that isnt broke for repair wtaf lol...

 

This is what MS was telling me to do last Thursday when this issue was first starting to get noticed.

 

Now that I'm hearing and seeing that some of us are able to play GTA V after opening up the boxes and improving air flow over the chips, this really makes me wonder... There's no way in hell I'm going to pay MS to fix something that is clearly their error. Maybe MS should do a recall and fix their defective product once and for all.

 

Who would have thought that the first generation of Xbox 360s would be biting MS in the ass as they prepare to launch their first generation of Xbox One. Really makes you stop and think...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

hesselgren, TalkingBeard, and Sigals, Thanks for posting!! Please keep us updated!! Let us know how long this "solution" continues to work. Almost gives me the courage to open up my own box.

 

If anyone else attempts this, please post pictures and let us know how your attempt works out. Video postings of before and after would also help sell!!

 

Maybe it's about time we finally get some answers from MS and R*.

[BadUsername]

well im starting to get noticed now by other people lol on twitter

me too lol getting a lot of RT

[purplebunny]

Should I post gutting your console as a known fix?

 

I still haven't had any sort of response from R* support after multiple messages sent. No reply on twitter, nothing from email, can't get through to them on the phone. What's the average turnaround time for a reply? Surely less than a week?

 

EDIT: Well, speak of the devil. As soon as I post this I get an auto-reply. I wonder if they're reading this.

Edited September 26, 2013 by purplebunny

[gta5isbroken]

I didn't think of this but I wonder if R* is overclocking the gpu to squeeze out every bit of performance.

If so its their responsibility to do full and deep regression testing because something like this could potentially damage hardware.

That would explain why gta v would freeze while other Xbox games run fine

[MeatButcher]

Should I post gutting your console as a known fix?

 

It's not a valid fix/solution to this problem. But gutting the consoles like this is the type of troubleshooting that needs to be done to finally determine if this is a software or hardware issue.

[BadUsername]

alright guys im in the process of converting an old cpu fan into a desk fan to try this idear out, ill report back soon.

 

Edit: actually first im gonna call rockstar support and see if i cant get anywhere.

Edited September 26, 2013 by BadUsername

[purplebunny]

I didn't think of this but I wonder if R* is overclocking the gpu to squeeze out every bit of performance.

If so its their responsibility to do full and deep regression testing because something like this could potentially damage hardware.

That would explain why gta v would freeze while other Xbox games run fine

I think you were closer with the installer being one of the many issues, as a number of people (including myself) are able to play after reinstalling/performing drive maintenance. It doesn't help that this happens on both consoles, all models, at different points. It would help if there was something we could pinpoint (apart from freezing on the first mission) like the audio still playing after a freeze, but there was a reply after your post stating their audio locked-up, too.

Edited September 26, 2013 by purplebunny

[gta5isbroken]

Yea and the problem with race-condition bugs are they can be non-deterministic, which would explain the varying degrees of things that happen previous or during a crash.

I do remember on one of the many times I replayed that first mission (that mission will forever haunt my dreams) I went through it really fast and fell through the floor, which would lead me to believe a specific mess collider wasn't loaded in time.

[gta5isbroken]

Mesh* collider

[BadUsername]

ok guys just got off the phone with R* support and i have some GREAT NEWS!!! the guy i talked to (justin) said that this has been a very big problem. BUT he also said that overheating has not been brought to their attention before this point. I told him about you guys that have been opening your xboxs and cooling the system down, and the game is working. He was VERY surprised and put me on hold. when he came back he said that he had passed the info i gave him onto a higher level of management. what i got from it is that they are taking this problem very seriously but have been unable to find the solution. PLEASE CALL R* SUPPORT AND TELL THEM WHAT HAS BEEN GOING ON IN THIS FORUM! We might be getting somewhere guys! R*'s # is 1(866)-922-8694

 

Edit: he also put in a recommendation for me at R* studios lol, and sent me a link to contact someone for a job. As you cant tell this might have been a breakthrough. They were very happy with this info!

Edited September 27, 2013 by BadUsername

[Rouncer]

Hi all,

 

I have a black xbox 360 slim brand new almost, less than a few months old and rarely used. (completed halo 4/forza horizon)

and had no issues with either of those games,which i played for lengthy periods.

 

I have the gta freezing problem, i managed to get to around 19% completion, with it freezing rarely.

 

Now that i have unlocked all 3 characters, the game is constantly freezing solid, and forcing me to restart my xbox.

 

I have a 12v fan mod with a bigger fan than standard, so cooling surely isnt my problem? i played for around 6-7 hours solid. And it didnt freeze. but as i say, now im further into the game its freezing completely. maybe my problem means its not just old xbox360s' but newer ones to?

 

My suspicion is the optical drive thats causing the problem, i read somewhere the dvd drive can only transfer 4mb's?

[MAKA427]

Hi all,

 

I have a black xbox 360 slim brand new almost, less than a few months old and rarely used. (completed halo 4/forza horizon)

and had no issues with either of those games,which i played for lengthy periods.

 

I have the gta freezing problem, i managed to get to around 19% completion, with it freezing rarely.

 

Now that i have unlocked all 3 characters, the game is constantly freezing solid, and forcing me to restart my xbox.

 

I have a 12v fan mod with a bigger fan than standard, so cooling surely isnt my problem? i played for around 6-7 hours solid. And it didnt freeze. but as i say, now im further into the game its freezing completely. maybe my problem means its not just old xbox360s' but newer ones to?

 

My suspicion is the optical drive thats causing the problem, i read somewhere the dvd drive can only transfer 4mb's?

Sounds like exactly the same issue i had, could play the game up to 20% and now i cant even load the game.

 

 

 

[Rouncer]

Ok i have some awesome news for some of us. ive actually got my gta 5 to work again!

 

I read up yesterday that the optical drive on the 360 has a 4mps read speed. which is very slow, now, to get around this problem, people suggest to use a usb flash drive 2.0. so i dug out my flash drive,which is a 16gb lexar usb flash drive 2.0

 

here's what i did and i'm siked its actually worked lol. (btw i didn't uninstall anything from my HDD either)

 

1/ format/setup the usb flash drive in the storage settings on your xbox.

2/ clear cache on hdd, clear cache on usb.

3/ install disc 2 (play) to usb drive.

4/ restart the xbox once this is done and load up gta.

 

you have to have the play disc in the dvd drive, but i have actually managed to do a decent sized mission around 50 minutes playtime - with no freezing, lag or anything. (compared to 5 minutes of play, then totally frozen).

Also i have a frame rate counter, and before i did this i was seeing 30ish fps on 42inch 1080p hd tv - now i'm seeing 45-55 fps.

 

This, for me, has proven that the optical drive has to be at fault. i dare say the hdd drives on older models don't help the situation either, but the dvd drive, in my opinion - is to blame.

 

Tomorrow im going to open up my 360 again, as i want to add a smaller high rpm fan as my 360 is getting abit warmer than usual,(even with my 12v larger fan mod) so ill see what optical drive i have, and if someone with an older style xbox, who has the same drive and the same problem can post up there drives make, we can see if its "certain" optical drives which are the culprit.

 

Ill do some more testing tomorrow, and ill play gta for a few hours(hopefully) ive been playing for around 50 minutes now, with no issues. we can crack this guys! ill report back tomorrow! good luck.

[misfits138]

Going to open my xbox and set an old window mounted fan (the kind made to cool off a room lol) up to the open side of the xbox... are you guys sucking air away from the GPU or blowing air onto it?

Edited September 27, 2013 by misfits138

[Rouncer]

Going to open my xbox and set an old window mounted fan (the kind made to cool off a room lol) up to the open side of the xbox... are you guys sucking air away from the GPU or blowing air onto it?

 

blowing air onto it. if you can, ideally you should try to get your xbox on the window sill, or as close as you can, so the fan is sucking the cold air from the outside of your window, and blowing it onto the xbox circuit boards/heat sinks.

 

ideally tho, you really want a biggish pc case fan, running in 12v mode directly on top of the heatsink. as this is the best cheap way to improve Microsoft's appalling cooling system.

 

2 fixes are working for some of us. 1/ cooling improvements. and 2/ the usb flash drive option. (which worked for me)

Edited September 27, 2013 by Rouncer

[misfits138]

For now I don't have an extra PC fan to use. Not enough room for the Xbox on the window sill and I would be too afraid of the thing falling over. Wouldn't a PC case fan require soldering in order to run from the 360's power source?

 

Kind of hope this doesn't work... I can't leave my 360 like this all of the time.

Edited September 27, 2013 by misfits138

[Rouncer]

For now I don't have an extra PC fan to use. Not enough room for the Xbox on the window sill and I would be too afraid of the thing falling over. Wouldn't a PC case fan require soldering in order to run from the 360's power source?

 

 

Nope, if you have a search on the web, there are detailed guides how to fit a pc case fan into a 360. you take the power from the fan connector. no need to solder. well thats what i did on my slim 360.

 

if you have an older xbox you can make your double fans at the back of the xbox, run in 12v mode. which means alot more air, and alot more cooling. they are just very loud when running in this way. if your a tad skilled with a soldering iron, you can fit a potentiometer to control the voltage of the fans, thus increasing, and decreasing rpm speed to suit what your doing. ie watching a movie, or playing games.

 

have a search on the web for cheap ways to improve 360 cooling. some genius ideas.

[purplebunny]

"snip"

Any idea what the read speed is of the DG16-D4S in the slim?

 

I could only find this for comparison:

 

2x Blu-ray Drive (72Mbps(9MB/s))

Single Layer (2x CLV) - Constant Linear Velocity (Same speed across entire disk)

Double Layer - Couldn't find any data but no games have been released on a double layer yet.

 

Entire Blu-ray Disk is read at 9MB/s.

 

12x DVD-Rom Drive SL (9.25MB/S-15.85MB/s(AVG ~8x(10.57MB/s) DL (4.36MB/s-10.57MB/s(AVG ~6x(7.93MB/s)

SL(DVD-5) 12x Max (5-12x Full CAV) - Constant Angular Velocity (Speed Varies from edge to edge)

DL(DVD-9) 8x Max (3.3-8x Full CAV) - Constant Angular Velocity (Speed Varies from edge to edge)

 

Both slower than 15mb/s USB 2.0

 

But then there's this:

 

 

None of which helps explain the various freezing issues on both consoles. It's all very odd.

 

EDIT: All of which R* would be more aware of than any of us, and should have tested before release. I'll add any working fixes to the thread in my sig, bar gutting out the system as that shouldn't need to be done. Keep sending tickets to R* people - http://support.rockstargames.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

Edited September 27, 2013 by purplebunny

[Lelouch The Zero]

Seems like every case is getting worse and worse. I honestly don't know If i'm going to get the game or not, I don't want to mess up my Xbox since I have no problems with it and every game seems to work great f or almost 4 years. Like I said in my last post, I'm getting the game next Saturday on October 5th (maybe) but I want to know if I should wait. Or is there a solution out for the fix yet? If there is I will go ahead and buy it, if not then you tell me what I should do, this is really driving me crazy. I don't want to waste 60 bucks because of just one game that won't work, and all the other ones do work. I don't know if this has something to do with the topic, but the last graphical game I played was the Tomb Raider game that came out this year, had no problems with that game whatsoever. Also played Saints Row IV, no problems with that either. It has to be something to do with all the data being read at once, causing it to freeze up at random points. Honestly, I don't see how it is freezing up like this, there are a lot of games out there on 360 that have better graphics than V. GTA V just has a huge map, which could be the problem loading all of that at once. Remember, R* said that a lot of things are going on at once and that everyone lives their daily life, and also the fact that the protags go about doing their own thing while you're not playing them. It's probably too much for it to handle for the older systems. I realize I probably have an old console too. Jasper model. But still, if I do happen to come across this issue, i'm sure there will be a workaround eventually, so I don't think we should worry too much about it. Now, I've also heard that the power brick has to have air for the Xbox to function properly, is this true? Because the powerbrick has vent on each of the ends, does it need air for the Xbox to work right? This could also be a factor, but I'm not sure as of yet. Will have to look into it more.

Edited September 27, 2013 by VoiceoftheVoiceless

[purplebunny]

"snip"

There's no reason why it should not work as advertised. The majority don't seem to have any issues on any model (or notice any issues as the case may be). Keep your receipt and take it back if it doesn't work?

[Radom]

Hey guys!

 

Signed up just to post this;

 

So I bought GTA V last week but haven't been able to play for longer than about 20 mins with the same freezing issues that have been described in this thread but, after reading some success with opening the case and placing a fan very close, I decided to give it a try (the xbox is from 2006ish with 20gb hard drive). Took me a while to get into the case (Ive never had to in the past!!) but Ive been playing for 2 hours now with NO FREEZING!!!!!! The fan is a large office type fan (about 9inch diameter) and is on full about 4 inches away from the exposed inards of the Xbox.

 

I will let you know if the freezing returns but things are looking good.....so far.........

[misfits138]

People should tweet Xbox support with pics of their jerry-rigged Xbox saying #gtabug FIXED IT!

[MAKA427]

Im guessing maybe rockstar have overclocked the xbox when the game loads, making too much heat, causing it to freeze?

[purplebunny]

Im guessing maybe rockstar have overclocked the xbox when the game loads, making too much heat, causing it to freeze?

How does that explain posts like these?

 

gamingsuperaddict, on 17 Sept 2013

 

I've had it freeze 3 times already. Once in the first mission, once driving around, and now while in another mission *spoiler alert*....rescuing michael's kid, and trying to drive into another area. I know my system is ok, because every other game I have runs just fine. And my playstation is a slim model, and is in good condition. I really hope they patch it soon. This is a nightmare

 

 

peety14, on 17 Sept 2013

 

My ps3 keeps freezing. anyone else having this problem? hat should i do?

 

 

LexLuger34, on 24 Sept 2013

 

Have not been able to play GTA V at all since I purchased it last week. Have done all the troubleshooting measures and nothing works, have even done a PS3 system restore.

 

I wanted to know if there is anyone on this forum who owns the 60GB fat PS3 who has been able to successfully play GTA V?

_______________

 

It's all very odd. I want to steal one of those pics to tweet @Xboxsupport

 

Keep sending tickets! http://support.rockstargames.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

[MeatButcher]

People should tweet Xbox support with pics of their jerry-rigged Xbox saying #gtabug FIXED IT!

 

I've tweeted @lukearmali and @owengood. They both wrote articles on IGN and Kotaku respectively about this issue. Both of them specifically linked to this forum in their articles.

 

See their original articles at:

http://www.ign.com/articles/2013/09/23/grand-theft-auto-v-reportedly-crashing-old-xbox-360s

http://kotaku.com/users-of-older-xbox-360s-say-grand-theft-auto-v-crashes-1366187910

 

I'm not saying we all should spam them with tweets, just saying that it's important that this story continues to get attention as it unfolds.

Edited September 27, 2013 by MeatButcher

[MAKA427]

 

Im guessing maybe rockstar have overclocked the xbox when the game loads, making too much heat, causing it to freeze?

How does that explain posts like these?

 

gamingsuperaddict, on 17 Sept 2013

 

I've had it freeze 3 times already. Once in the first mission, once driving around, and now while in another mission *spoiler alert*....rescuing michael's kid, and trying to drive into another area. I know my system is ok, because every other game I have runs just fine. And my playstation is a slim model, and is in good condition. I really hope they patch it soon. This is a nightmare

 

 

peety14, on 17 Sept 2013

 

My ps3 keeps freezing. anyone else having this problem? hat should i do?

 

 

LexLuger34, on 24 Sept 2013

 

Have not been able to play GTA V at all since I purchased it last week. Have done all the troubleshooting measures and nothing works, have even done a PS3 system restore.

 

I wanted to know if there is anyone on this forum who owns the 60GB fat PS3 who has been able to successfully play GTA V?

_______________

 

It's all very odd. I want to steal one of those pics to tweet @Xboxsupport

 

Keep sending tickets! http://support.rockstargames.com/hc/en-us/requests/new

 

Im not extremely familiar with ps3 hardware, but it maybe a heat issue, but on a ps3. My xbox cpu is around 15 degrees Celsius (think thats around 59 degrees Fahrenheit, for you americans) hotter playing gta v than most other games I have (Forza horizon, Far cry 3, Halo 4)