epics game failed due to fatal device hardware error

So, I was just chilling and playing some games on my PC the other day, everything was going great. I decided to download some new stuff from the Epic Games Store because, hey, who doesn’t love new games? I got this cool-looking RPG, and I was all set to dive in. But then, bam! Right in the middle of playing, my screen went nuts, and I got this nasty message saying “failed due to fatal device hardware error.” What the heck, right?

I was like, okay, don’t panic. Maybe it’s just a one-time glitch. I tried to restart the game, but nope, same error popped up. I even tried to open other games from Epic, but they all gave me the same stupid error. Then I thought, maybe it’s just Epic being weird. So, I jumped over to Steam, tried to launch a game, and guess what? It worked perfectly fine. No issues whatsoever. That’s when I realized, “Oh crap, this is an Epic Games problem.”

First thing I did was check if Epic’s servers were down or something. You know, sometimes it’s not your fault at all. I went to their server status page, and everything seemed green. Servers were up and running. Okay, scratch that off the list.

Next, I thought about my hardware. Could it be my hard drive acting up? I remembered reading somewhere that these kinds of errors can happen if your hard drive is about to kick the bucket, or if it has some loose connections. So, I opened up my PC case, and you won’t believe the amount of dust I found in there. I mean, it was like a desert in there. I carefully cleaned everything out, made sure all the cables were snug, and put it all back together.

Booted up my PC, crossed my fingers, and tried to launch the game again. And you know what? It still didn’t work! Same error message staring back at me. I was so frustrated at this point. I did a little digging online, found out that the error code “0x800701e3” might occur when I move files from a PC to an external hard drive. I didn’t do that though. Then someone suggested that I should open device manager, click on populate in volumes tab and check the result. I did what they suggested but still got no luck!

Feeling defeated, I decided to reach out to Epic Games support. It took a while, but I finally got a response. They gave me a bunch of troubleshooting steps, like updating my drivers, verifying the game files, and even reinstalling the Epic Games Launcher. I went through all of them, one by one, hoping that something would work. It took a few hours, but I was determined to get to the bottom of this.

Finally, after what felt like an eternity, I tried launching the game one last time. And guess what? It worked! I almost jumped out of my chair. I have no idea which one of those steps did the trick, but I was just happy to be able to play my game again.

Here is a list of things I tried to resolve the issue:

• Checked Epic Games server status: Made sure the problem wasn’t on their end.
• Cleaned my PC: Removed dust and ensured all connections were secure.
• Updated drivers: Got the latest drivers for my hardware.
• Verified game files: Checked for any corrupted or missing files.
• Reinstalled Epic Games Launcher: A fresh install to rule out any launcher issues.
• Open device manager, and click on populate: Nothing changed.

So yeah, that was my little adventure with the “fatal device hardware error.” It was a pain in the butt, but I learned a lot about troubleshooting PC issues. If you ever run into this problem, don’t give up! Try these steps, and hopefully, you’ll be back to gaming in no time. And remember, sometimes the solution is just a matter of a little patience and a lot of trial and error. Stay persistent, folks!