"DeviceLost" / "Deadlock Detected" crashes on Intel Arc ... SOLVED

Hi everyone,

Since the release of V0.4, I suffered from constant crashes. Under Vulkan, I got vk:Queue::submit: ErrorDeviceLost and under DX12 deadlock detected. It took me 6 days to find the root cause, and I want to share the solution with you.

IMPORTANT: Read until the end before changing settings, or your system might not boot!

What is happening?

A "Deadlock" or "DeviceLost" means your GPU is being flooded with data but can't process it fast enough, leading to a timeout where the driver loses contact with the card. GGG introduced massive rendering changes in V0.4. Since then, the data flow is so high that Intel Arc cards require Resizable BAR (ReBAR) to handle it. Without it, the card "suffocates."

The Trap: Don't trust your BIOS or Driver!

Even if your BIOS or the Intel Driver says "ReBAR: Enabled", it might be lying to you. If a setting called CSM (Compatibility Support Module) or Legacy Boot is active in your BIOS, ReBAR is often suppressed at the hardware level, even if the toggle says "On".

How to verify

On Windows: Open PowerShell as Administrator and run:

Get-PnpDevice -FriendlyName "Intel(R) Arc(TM) A770 Graphics" | Get-PnpDeviceProperty -KeyName "{030BD383-FF3F-431A-84ED-4D743815D93C} 2"

Look at "Data":
It MUST be 1, 0x1 or True. If it says Empty or false, ReBAR is NOT working.

To find your exact device name (friendlyName if not Arc A770), use:
Get-PnpDevice -Class Display | Select-Object FriendlyName)

On Linux: Open a shell and run:
sudo lspci -v | grep -A 8 "VGA compatible controller" | grep "Memory at"

Check the memory sizes. If you see "256M", ReBAR is NOT active. On an A770, you should see something like "size=16G".

The Fix

Go to your BIOS and:

Disable CSM / Legacy Boot.

Enable Above 4G Decoding.

Enable Re-Size BAR Support.

⚠️ THE BIG WARNING

Before you disable CSM, ensure your OS drive uses the GPT partition style.

Windows users: If your drive is MBR, Windows will NOT BOOT after disabling CSM. You might need to convert your drive to GPT or reinstall Windows.

How to check and fix your Drive (MBR vs GPT)

1. Check your current status:

Press Win + R, type msinfo32 and hit Enter.

Look for "BIOS Mode".

If it says UEFI, you are safe to disable CSM!

If it says Legacy, your drive is MBR and you MUST convert it first.

2. How to convert MBR to GPT (without losing data): Windows has a built-in tool for this in PowerShell.

Open PowerShell (as Administrator).

First, validate if your disk can be converted: mbr2gpt /validate /allowFullOS

If you see "Validation completed successfully", run the actual conversion: mbr2gpt /convert /allowFullOS

Crucial: Once it says "Conversion completed successfully", restart your PC, go into BIOS, and disable CSM immediately.

Linux users: Ensure your bootloader (GRUB) is set up for UEFI. I personally had to reinstall my openSUSE Tumbleweed, but it was worth it.

Result

Since fixing this, PoE 2 runs perfectly on both DX12 and Vulkan. And as a bonus: every other game runs significantly better too!

So don't rely on what your BIOS or drivers are telling you^^ ...check it yourself.. and then you can fix this error

Have fun in Wraeclast!


PS:
Disclaimer: I am sharing this based on my own experience and research. While these steps solved the issue for me, I cannot take any responsibility for potential data loss or system instability. Please ensure you have a backup of your important data before making changes to your BIOS or partition table.

--- kein Backup - KEIN MITLEID! ---

Cheers