Do you experience frequent BSOD without any errors in Skyrim?

[kamikaze00007]

I made this thread as a way of asking about my problem in Skyrim.

 

Here are my rig's specs:

 

Core2Duo E7500

4GB RAM

2GB HD6950

Win7 Ultimate 32bit

 

Thing is, I've played Skyrim before on this rig when the DLCs like Dawnguard and Hearthfire were still not out. Back then I used NMM and I've never had my game BSOD this much on me while it did on my Bro's rig with a similar spec. I could play it on High and tailored to Ultra without AA before. I never was a fan of ENB even back then so I don't really know. I tried it then too but removed it without repercussions.

 

I found myself coming back to the game so I got the DLCs and had a fresh install, this time moving to MO and having a number of mods like I did before which are mainly singular armor mods and a few stuff like ECE, hairs, CBBE, and some animations and the requirements like FNIS and SKSE which I already used back then and is still part of the basic setup.

 

Then the problem came. Even with a heavily modded game before, it never gave me so much instability unless it was due to mod conflicts/issues. But now, even after just a few mods are included my game randomly BSOD's my pc needing a reset button to start again as the blinking light on the ATX (when the pc is reading?) stops after a number of blinks with the power still on.

 

It happens even with a clean new save. Sometimes when restarting the pc mentions the pc didn't turn off properly, but a lot of times when I start it back up again, WhoCrashed doesn't even find a log made and no critical warnings pop-up whatsoever like a normal boot. My papyrus log pretty much only shows no problems now after trying to single out the problem and fixing stuff like the randomdustdropfx, but still, BSOD randomly when playing for no reason. Mind you I even tried sound fixes like changing the frequency to 48hz or something and updating/fresh drivers. It's really weird nothing fixes it.

 

This is weird. Why'd this game have to mess up now? 

[Deathbydestiny]

If it's causing a BSOD, it can't be the game doing it

 

3 things that would ever cause this in order of easily fixed:

 

1. Bad drivers (Update or reinstall to fix)

2. Overheating hardware (Blow out with compressed air or replace broken fans to fix)

3. Failing hardware (Would require a replacement)

 

The fact this happens only when Skyrim runs (or possibly any other demanding game) helps narrow it down. It will put stress on your hardware and cause it to get hotter. I'd suggest starting from that point with the list I provided

[kamikaze00007]

If it's causing a BSOD, it can't be the game doing it

 

3 things that would ever cause this in order of easily fixed:

 

1. Bad drivers (Update or reinstall to fix)

2. Overheating hardware (Blow out with compressed air or replace broken fans to fix)

3. Failing hardware (Would require a replacement)

 

The fact this happens only when Skyrim runs (or possibly any other demanding game) helps narrow it down. It will put stress on your hardware and cause it to get hotter. I'd suggest starting from that point with the list I provided

 

Sadly, already did the enumerated things. For one, it's ONLY skyrim which causes it. I can play indie games to games like Metal Gear Rising on Ultra and cut up things (you can slice up meshes in the game as tiny as you can and as many times you can) until my computer slows down with tens of thousands of bits on screen but never a BSOD due to overheating. I have encountered overheating before and it does get catched by WhoCrashed with a proper log. This BSOD can happen even in less than 10 mins worth of light gameplay where as other games even online ones like PSO2 at the highest settings don't do such a thing.

 

By the way, I have checked using GPU temperature at one time that the game would BSOD even with temps not higher than 50 degrees. It just randomly varies in the game and sometimes very quick, sometimes takes time regardless of what's happening.

[Deathbydestiny]

Ok, no hardware fault then.

 

Have you been able to read the dumps of these recent ones then? (Assuming it can get to that stage before fail)

[kamikaze00007]

Ok, no hardware fault then.

 

Have you been able to read the dumps of these recent ones then? (Assuming it can get to that stage before fail)

 

Hmm, I've been having the random BSOD's for a lot of times now and it's everyday as long as I play the game there's always one crash per gameplay. Restart, play, random BSOD again. Still, no, I find it weird that I can still get a dump from things like installing a buggy driver version but the BSODs from the game don't have any at all. I don't even get that pop-up on login about "Windows has encountered a critical/fatal error" that you get after restarting from a BSOD. The pc works fine as long as I don't play the game. 

[D_ManXX2]

BSOD is never a good thing. but are we really talking about BSOD or pc hangs ?? if it just hangs does ctrl ALT delete not working ??

BSOD will simply give a blue screen then restarts your pc completely if you are forced to hit reset then it can be something else.

[Deathbydestiny]

Somethings not adding up here

 

This smells like a hardware failure all over, but only happens in Skyrim and not any other game? Hard to say without being at the computer in person, not easy over a forum

[kamikaze00007]

BSOD is never a good thing. but are we really talking about BSOD or pc hangs ?? if it just hangs does ctrl ALT delete not working ??

BSOD will simply give a blue screen then restarts your pc completely if you are forced to hit reset then it can be something else.

 

I call it a BSOD since I've seen it one or two times bring up a blue screen before the display goes out. The many recent crashes seem to happen without it now though. No, it doesn't work and the monitor says no display. I certainly have to press the reset button so I don't really know. Changing GPUs didn't change anything (I have a spare 5770). Skyrim just hates me? I doubt it's the PSU as I just had my pc checked and no problems were found even after paying for the diagnosis and tests which I also did myself. Sigh...

[Killing Joke]

 

BSOD is never a good thing. but are we really talking about BSOD or pc hangs ?? if it just hangs does ctrl ALT delete not working ??

BSOD will simply give a blue screen then restarts your pc completely if you are forced to hit reset then it can be something else.

 

I call it a BSOD since I've seen it one or two times bring up a blue screen before the display goes out. The many recent crashes seem to happen without it now though. No, it doesn't work and the monitor says no display. I certainly have to press the reset button so I don't really know. Changing GPUs didn't change anything (I have a spare 5770). Skyrim just hates me? I doubt it's the PSU as I just had my pc checked and no problems were found even after paying for the diagnosis and tests which I also did myself. Sigh...

 

 

Did you check your cpu temperatures? There's a security when the CPU is overheating it starts to throttle down, if it's not enough it just turns itself off.

[D_ManXX2]

in that case it does sound like some corrupted driver/ or failing videocard if it says no signal check the cable from the videocard to your monitor is actually fully connected and not partially.

[Heromaster]

When the BSOD appears does it tell you something about atikmpaq.sys? If so, you should try to update your Catalyst driver to the newest beta version. Unfortunately the ATI driver has some problems with crashing for unknown reasons and you are probably one of the few unlucky ppl who does encounter this bug.

 

They promised that the newest beta driver should have finally fixed that problem. And one advise: Carefully read how to uninstall your driver first and then install the beta driver.

[kamikaze00007]

I already am in the beta latest drivers as the previous 14.9 has the CCC crash bug and is fixed with that said beta. From what I can tell the CPU temp is also around the same normal usage temps as the GPU. I can even see the usage meters and it doesn't even reach 90% including the ram usage meter. As I said, the game itself randomly BSOD's even when there's nothing going on or in an interior cell with only the character as the actor in it. No, there are no issues with my atikmpaq.sys. I know that error and I don't get it or any dx or ntkernel related errors. The cables are fine and well-placed. I actually maintain the cables properly and I keep them rust-free. It was actually the first thing I checked when the BSOD came seeing as I thought it was just the cable being disconnected much to my surprise that it wasn't.

 

This is really weird as an IT graduate like myself, I've already searched nook and cranny for the issues you all want me to check (funny we think alike probably through experience in troubleshooting) but I don't find anything particularly wrong with the system itself unless skyrim was running. If anything else, maybe I'll have to buy a new rig which I can't right now. 

 

Note: I came from 14.4 stable drivers and the BSODs were happening even then. I actually only updated in the midst of eliminating which could be the source of the random BSODs.

[eifrag]

black screen of death?

I have a similar problem before, my GPU cries for more +50 watts 

it calmed down after I upgraded my PSU 

[kamikaze00007]

black screen of death?

I have a similar problem before, my GPU cries for more +50 watts 

it calmed down after I upgraded my PSU 

 

Now that's weird as my PSU was bought exactly for my GPU (just came from the store a week ago and had it checked just in case.). I even asked the guys at PCX if the PSU could handle the power requirements and they said there should be enough and more to spare. I forgot the model though as I'm not really into memorizing the stuff if a pro already says it should work properly. I'll try looking into it.

[Heromaster]

I doubt it is a PSU problem. Myself used a 450W PSU with a 7950 and never experienced a BSOD.

 

Have you tested your RAM with memtest or similar tools? Very unlikely, since you said it only happens in Skyrim and nowhere else.

 

Have you checked your hard drive for errors? Could be a faulty sector which leads to this behavior every time Skyrim tries to read from a file which lies there.

 

Is it possible for you that monitor the VRAM usage with tools like GPU-Z while running Skyrim? Maybe your VRAM exceeds the limit and leads to your BSOD. Unlikely, but wouldn't surprise me given that the Skyrim engine has alot of bugs and strange behavior.

 

 

[kamikaze00007]

The widget/tool I use to monitor CPU temps also includes cpu and ram load and usage monitors. I forgot the name but I know it's something related to GPU-Z that I've used before. Still, I haven't seen it go past 95% on the RAM usage (I run Skyrim in borderless window so I can see and also to reduce the crashes not BSODs I get before). As I'm running only Chrome now, CPU is at 47%~38% usage and RAM is at 39%. Ram tests at home and at the shop didn't turn out anything bad so I'm going to try a disk check.

[D_ManXX2]

maybe try this. disable all mods. run a clean skyrim not even using skse just a plain skyrim setup and see if the BSOD still happens. If it does no mods or tools are causing it.Then we need to further trouble shoot the cause for BSOD could be anything in the background interfering like virus scanner etc.

 

 

[kamikaze00007]

Disk checks found no errors. Tried vanilla playtest. What happened?

 

Okay, tried removing one extra fan from my ATX to reduce power consumption. Tried playing game with no mods and only original launcher on ultra except FXAA on and AA at x2, I don't really care about slight jagged lines anyways, no CCC AF and AA for the game. Started a new game with a fem breton destruction build and blazed through the game up to the point I exit Bleak Falls Barrow and return to Riverwood.

 

So far no crashes all the way but upon sprinting the same road you first take to get to Riverwood on my way back to return the Dragon Claw I suddenly get a crash (not a CTD but a crash with an error sound and the game not responding/stopping). Note: I sprinted earlier in the game before that point and no crash. Just that time I was running back to town.

 

Strangely enough it was a ScriptDragon Critical Error. I forgot to remove it because I use a ledge climb parkour mod that uses the sprint key to get up ledges like a normal person should which Skyrim doesn't feature. I believe the TKdodge I use also uses ScriptDragon. This is probably the safest run of the game I've had without a BSOD with magic spam battles and fire trap explosions within the dungeon (plus looting everything I find lootable).

 

I removed TKdodge, Parkour, and ScriptDragon. I will be testing this time with mods to see if I will crash. Strangely enough, said mods didn't give errors and functioned properly despite the game BSOD-ing on me with all my mods on before. The error was probably because I forgot to remove it and the game functioned without the files required that MO puts there automatically. However, I did a little nexus search and found a mod saying scriptdragon didn't support patches later than the version something.93.0 of the game so I will have to investigate because I use the latest patch.

 

This case may be progressing well but I have a lot to do so I'll update some time after further testing.

 

UPDATE:

Okay, so after cleaning my entire rig and replacing thermal paste, checking cables, reseats, testing stuff (again and again), here's a little conclusion.

 

PC can crash even with GPU and CPU temps at below 60 above 50 degrees Celsius. RAM and VRAM load doesn't seem to be an issue as it's only around 1k+ mb most of the time I experienced BSODs.

 

Removing one extra 120mm atx fan solidified the BSOD so I can now catch it with WhoCrashed and Windows error report. Crash is the dreaded WHEA error referring to ntoskrnl and thermal issue.

 

Fact: BSOD was really random at CPU loads 80% or even lower than 50%. Same for GPU but GPU doesn't really reach too much stress and BSOD can happen in small interior cells.

 

Conclusion:

I seem to be able to play for short times now while being really cautious about gameplay load. I can't really call it playing as the thermal issue is weird for a rig that doesn't go above 60 degrees on a battle with 4~6 enemies on-screen with my character and a Flame Atronach present. I may have to have this rig replaced in the nearest future. This is the same conclusion the tech at the shop came to after checking even my OS. It might be something about processor compatibility with the way the program works he says. PSU tested fine and no problems with power load.

 

I will just turn this pc into a VN, media player station. Gotta find that new job and save up for a new rig sigh.