Rendering Device Lost - FIX

Technical Support
1

Hello everybody,

Now before you all get excited. This may not be a fix for everyone. It was for me and I hope it is for you as I understand how frustrating it can be.

My hardware is:

Alienware 17 Laptop
Nvidia GTX 1060
Intel i7 7700HQ @ 2.80GHz
16GB RAM
Windows 10 64-bit

I started getting the error roughly 6 weeks ago during the start, middle and even the end of a game. It didnt matter.
I tried everything that all the kind people here on the forum gave, the advice Blizzard Tech Support gave via Web Ticket and Chat Live - nothing seemed to work. Below is a list of everything I tried that didnt work. (The reason I am supplying this is the fact it may actually solve your issue).

  • Uninstalled ALL not necessary Alienware applications
  • Uninstalled Discord
  • Uninstalled Steam
  • Uninstalled Nvidia Geforce Experience
  • Uninstalled ALL overlays
  • Enabled and Disabled SysMain (Superfetch)
  • Checked the GPU is seated correctly (It was)
  • Uninstalled McAfee
  • Run HWMonitor for overheating (results were perfectly normal)
  • Provided MSInfo32
  • Provided DxDiag
  • Tried a different Overwatch account
  • Did a full disc de-fragmentation
  • Did a full anti-virus scan (Nothing found)
  • Updated GPU drivers (Up-to-date)
  • Updated ALL drivers (CPU, Sound etc.)
  • Backdated to an older GPU driver ( tried 2 old and 1 current versions )
  • Disc cleanup
  • Uninstall and Reinstall Blizzard
  • Physically cleaned the components of dust via air duster ( it was like new )
  • Updated Windows (I have the current version)
  • Changed in-game graphic settings to LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/ULTRA
  • Changed the resolution to a few different settings
  • Disabled and Enabled VSYNC
  • Changed Nvidia 3D settings
  • In CMD as Admin, did SFC SCAN NOW.
  • Closed all background applications
  • GPU is not overclocked and has never been
  • System File Checker for any corrupt windows files (None found)

Now I know that is a lot but I would recommend carrying the above steps out first before trying the next step.

Once I did all of the above, I did a complete factory reset of my computer. I didnt back-up any files, software and or history. I understand if you guys have pictures or something you may want to keep, then go ahead and back them up onto a harddrive however, the aim of the game is wipe everything clean.
It may or may not be important to carry out the above list first before doing this (some more knowledgable tech guys will probably tell you it doesnt matter) however… This worked for me.

The important thing to note is that its not Blizzards fault, its software or hardware not working together correctly with the game. I wouldnt recommend doing a hard restart and then downloading all of your old programs and software again as you may be in the same situation you are now.

Once I was up and running on a stock computer, I reinstalled Blizzard and Overwatch, I kept all my Alienware programs and made sure all drivers were up to date before carrying out anything else. Tested the game, and it worked. Started to change all the graphic and sound settings within the game, still works.

I hope this helps you all, I know it sounds like a simple easy fix but, maybe if you do it the way I did… it might work? There are some weird and wonderful things out there, maybe this is one of them.

Good luck.

  • Kook
1 Like
2

Thank you very much for making this detailed post and indicating your computer specs as well, Kook. The factory reset is a fairly drastic step and it goes beyond the scope of support we can offer, but I’m glad it did work for you!
I kinda wonder if in your case the culprit was a system setting…:thinking:

@Any readers

Guys, if you decide trying this, please be careful, and if you are unsure, ask a tech-savvy friend or a professional to help you. I still recommend trying other troubleshooting steps first, like Kook himself did.


Feedback? Click here! Blizzard EU - Customer Service Forum Representatives Surveys - Vyraneer

2 Likes
3

Vyraneer,
You’re welcome. I took the step due to the fact I was frustrated with the game not working. I would have tried anything and luckily not the type of person to keep sentimental things on my computer, I decided to wipe the lot and start again. She’s like new again.

Anyway, hope it helps somebody.

  • Kook
4

I’ve done this on my own Alienware 17 R5 and a custom build from scratch and it hasn’t solved the problem in any way. I don’t want to dump on this post and am glad that it worked for you but I reset the Alienware without any other programs (only drivers), same for the custom build.

In case it makes things easier as a checklist compared to the above:

  • Did a full disc de-fragmentation - I didn’t as I’m running SSDs
  • Did a full anti-virus scan (Nothing found) - I did on the Alienware before resetting.
  • Updated GPU drivers (Up-to-date) - Did this on all, haven’t tried backdating drivers but mine happened as soon as the Hammond patch hit.
  • Updated ALL drivers (CPU, Sound etc.) - I updated everything on the Alienware and custom build afterwards but in between only the GPU driver was installed but no effect.
  • Changed in-game graphic settings to LOW/MEDIUM/HIGH/ULTRA - Also done and with varying render settings.
  • Changed Nvidia 3D settings - Which settings in particular did you change? I fiddled but nothing drastic.
  • In CMD as Admin, did SFC SCAN NOW. - DSid not run this.
5

Deuteronomy,

As mentioned above, the error is a generic error for multiple causes. Mine was probably down to a system setting. Others is overheating. Others is GPU drivers.
Unfortunately, there is no way to find out specifically which error you are getting, other than to work through every step of rectification till you find the issue.

Maybe provide your MSInfo here?

  • Kook
6

Myself and another person on my Twitter have both fixed this issue, so try this:

Reduce the polling rate of your mouse or see if you have the same problem with a more generic/basic mouse.

That guy wrote: “I actually has this issue a few months ago and it took maybe 6 months to figure out. Turned out the was the polling refresh rate on my mouse. It was set to the highest (1000 I think) and I reduced it down by one (so 500 I think) and bam!”

I tried out a different mouse and the issue is gone for me as well.

A brief Google search told me that mouse settings can cause frame drops in multiple different video games. Try it out and post back if it fixes your issue.

2 Likes
7

I didn’t know where to put it but I’ll leave my solution here as I think it is somewhat connected with GPU temps, mouse and stuff. Maybe it will work for more people. It’s a weird solution but no jokes it helped me.

Anyway for few past weeks I had problem with rendering device being lost. My game crashed every couple of minutes (oh, the SR I lost because of it and I imagine I was reported by many for leaving match during that time). I think it started after adding queue activities patch - I guess it was too much for my potato laptop with integrated Intel graphic card to handle. Tweaking game and system settings didn’t do much and I noticed my pc started overheating on the left side.

I’m no technical person so at some point I thought I’ll try to keep it cool, literally. I put some cold, metal objects by or on the left side of my laptop to prevent or slow down the overheating. I noticed it got a little better but all these heat-absorbents got warm eventually and game kept crashing. I decided to additionally make this area more ventilated so I removed unnecessary things from there like cup, cables and stuff. Then a hunch struck me. My mouse was plugged in there - on the left side of my laptop. Right where it got overheated.

I plugged my mouse to some other usb port and it helped. It’s been for few days now and my game didn’t crash since. My laptop stopped overheating. True, I’m still using low in-game settings, try to turn off as many not used processes that I can before gaming sessions - which by the way usually don’t last for too long anyway - but it’s much more better now.

Maybe it’s somewhat connected with the polling refresh rate or other mouse-related thing but for me simply changing the usb port helped. I have no idea why it was overheating but new port doesn’t do that.

If it starts crashing again I’ll let you guys know. Sorry for the long post. Cheers :wink: