Since around 11.2.5 I have issues with even launching wow. I am not sure whether these issues started exactly with the patch, but since around that time, most days, I cannot even launch wow. When I click play around 90% of the time my screen either freezes or I get a black screen. I can hear the music from the game and if I am in a discord call I can still talk with people, but I cannot close the game or do anything other than hard-reset my laptop.
Interestingly, sometimes the game will launch, but every 5 seconds I will get a black-screen freeze before it goes back to normal for another 5 seconds. Since then, I have managed to properly launch the game and play with no issue around 4/5 times. I do not know what causes the game to break or what causes it to launch normally. Every other programme and game runs without issue. I can play the newest Battlefield 6 with no issue on ultra graphics settings. I can also play other games on battlenet like StarCraft 2, but wow classic also experiences the same issue.
Here is the list of possible solutions I have tried:
Removed all the add-ons and deleted the cache files
Did the repair function from battle.net menu
Reset in-game options
Reinstalled the game
Ran the game with additional command line arguments to force different DirectX or window mode (-d3d11; -d3d12; -windowmode fullscreen etc.)
During one of the times the game was working, but I was getting the black-screen every 5 seconds I changed every single graphics option: window mode, fullscreen, changed the DirectX in the settings, changed the graphics card that is being used in the settings, disabled fullscreen optimisation, turned on vertical sync and every other option that is in the settings (I don’t remember them all now)
I updated all graphics drivers for both NVidia and Intel and then I installed the older versions, in case the newer ones were the problem
I lowered graphics settings to minimum and checked different monitor refresh rates
I tried both turning on and off optimization for games in a window
Disabled all apps working in the background (even those that don’t use any overlays)
I do not know what the issue is, as I am not getting any error messages. My laptop just freezes. When I check the Event Viewer and the Windows Logs for application errors I get:
“ESIF(1.0.11903.2253) TYPE: ERROR MODULE: IPF TIME 2129710 ms
The Intel(R) Dynamic Tuning Technology (DTT) driver cannot load because the installed version of Intel(R) Innovation Platform Framework (IPF) that it depends on is too old. IPF version installed is 1.0.11903. The minimum IPF version required is 1.0.11904.”
I tried updating the IPF but Intel has not yet released a new IPF version for my model. I also get this error when I play other games and they launch without issue. Below I am including my specs, although I doubt they are the problem:
use your internet web browser and search for “how to disable GameBarPresenceWriter.exe” & “how to disable MPO” , you can add Win10 or Win11 at the end of the search box
the safest guide is when you need to go regedit and add some registry with disable=1/enable=0
some safe website: reddit.com forums.anandtech.com learn.microsoft.com forums.guru3d.com tenforums.com elevenforum.com superuser.com
disable and never use sleep/hibernation (you can not fully disable sleep)
copy paste the text below and make a .bat file, which will turn off 90% of sleep/hibernation and restart your PC (this line shutdown -r -t 03 -f is command for restart)
or you can copy paste those commands(except the first and last line) one by one into Powershell/cmd as admin
DDU nvidia drivers, and try to use like +1year old drivers (before geforce RTX 5000), you should internet search which nvidia drivers tend to be more stable/without bugs
it is pretty common to use older drivers, who were more stable.
I tried an older NVIDIA driver (it was not over 1 year old, but I chose one from before the 11.2.5 patch to make it older than my problem). I also ran all the commands with windows powershell to try them as a one-time thing and I still have the problem.
update BIOS, and then try disable nVidia, and try only Intel iGPU, and swap(disable intel iGPU, and only nVidia)
in Windows disable everything “gaming” related, but put Windwos settings=>display=>Graphic setting=> WoW to “high performance”
delete all xbox apps in powershell as admin with this command: get-appxpackage *xbox* | remove-appxpackage
from this guide do the Deleting cache/setting for Battle.net app/program part, there is huge difference in the Battle-net app which have old cache vs new, when you do “Scan and repair”
then in every 2D software disable “hardware/graphic acceleration”, like internet browsers, battle-net app, discord, teams
Uninstall all windows bloatware, like onedrive, teams, edge, cortana, copilot
how much free space is on your SSD ? you need to have 10% minimum, 20% is safe
Important note I would like to add here. I gave my laptop to some tech savy friends from IT. I did it 3 times hoping they would help me solve the problem. All 3 times they took the laptopt, turned on wow and it worked with no issues. When they return it, it works for around 2/3 days and stops again. The only difference is the internet I’m using, and the additional things I have plugged in like the mouse or headphones. Can that be the problem? Can wow have an issue with something I have plugged in?
ehm, did you try it without anything USB plugged it ? in power settings disable “USB selective suspend setting”
this command in powershell as admin should disable it in charging mode powercfg /SETACVALUEINDEX SCHEME_CURRENT 2a737441-1930-4402-8d77-b2bebba308a3 48e6b7a6-50f5-4782-a5d4-53bb8f07e226 0
buy UPS(Uninterruptible power supply), so you have no “Brownout (electricity)” or other interference
the UPS should have higher rating of W than you currently using (does your notebook have 300W power supply ? buy 500W UPS, etc) UPS are mostly in VA so: 900VA/540W , 1700VA/1040W , 700VA/420W
and try new power supply for you notebook
use ethernet/RJ45 instead of WiFi, you can buy powerline if you can’t use long cable, just to be sure buy it with 14days return, it is 50/50 if it works in your place(like it work perfectly or drop all the time, nothing between)
Alright, I tested every possible option and apparently, It’s about the charger cable being conected. If the laptopt is charging wow does not work. If it isn’t I can have all the other things can be conected and it starts. After the game starts, I can conect the charger and everything works normaly.
There is this “newish” thing in notebooks, that is like it give power/watts depending on the workload, so if the software need more CPU, it give it more to CPU, same with GPU
so it can say in marketing that your CPU can get 130W, and GPU 150W, but if your power supply is like only 200W(example), it can do only one or the other to max wattage
WoW is mainly CPU heavy, and GPU is not that much needed, so maaaybe it allocate all wattage to CPU, and GPU doesn’t have enough wattage to work properly
internet search for Dell Alienware notebook power managment/delivery issues to GPU/CPU, and somewhere there should be the solution
But why would it only affect the game launching? Why would it work without issue later? I just unplug the charger, launch the game and 10 seconds later plug the charger in.
You have misconfigured setting in the software, mostly updates should fix stuff like that, or in many cases, turn off the auto stuff, and set up everything to “high performance”
I don’t have any new dell notebook, so it is up to you find and test it
look up everything related to “power management” in windows + dell software , and manually change settings, like if there is option auto/on/off, try only on/off setting
EDIT1:and check difference in every setting which have battery/plugged-in option, you know, when you are on battery mostly settings are in battery saving mode, and in plugged-in it mostly is max performance
EDIT2: at this moment it come to my mind, there can be something which will not start when you are on battery
example : GameBarPresenceWriter.exe only starts when you open a game; so in similar way there can be something with only starts when you open a game, BUT it doesn’t start when you are on battery and start a game