Skyrim complete PC crashes

[gjm777]

Ok,

So I registered here hopefully to help someone but here are the steps I took to re-mediate complete black screen crashes of my pc.

I have an ATI HD6870

I5 2500k

asrock p67 extreme4

4gb ram

win7 x64

 

1. use the latest 4gb fix (might not need this with the latest patch, but I still use it to launch)

2. I also used the atiumdag.dll found in this thread a page or so back

3. I uninstalled the overclock utility that I had previously installed (ASrock xtreme tuner utility).

4. In my BIOS I made sure to turn off any cpu thermal throttling as well as over temperature protection. Disable any CPU C3 or C6 report settings. Finally disable intel speedstep to keep a steady cpu voltage

5. after all of the above was done, I then verified in control panel/power settings that I was in High Performance mode with no power saving settings envoked.

6. uninstall ATI/AMD CCC (Catalyst Control Center) panel/app leaving only the video drivers. Install the 12.1 video drivers if you have not already.

7. use MSI afterburner to keep your vid card cool

8. Turn your shadows to medium

 

This seems to have fixed things for me for now. Before I was hard locking up/rebooting via black screen every 2 minutes, which is odd as on vanilla, i made it to around level 21.

 

 

I want to stress that you have proper cooling for your CPU/Motherboard and that doing the above in regards to thermal protection or throttling could damage your rig, especially if you're using AMD so do that at your own risk!

I'm confidant that my rig is properly cooled.

 

Good luck everyone I hope this helps someone.

Edited December 25, 2011 by gjm777

[pikoso26]

I had complete shutdown problems at first, I just upgraded my PSU and added 2 fans for case ventilation (of which I didnt have any, except for the ones that come wth the PSU, GPU and CPU). Stopped having problems completely. I can run skyrim on high with tons of mods, 58-60 fps most of the time.

 

I know people are saying that their gpus dont overheat with skyrim, as they do with other games like crysis 2 which they can run with no issues, but remember skyrim is a CPU heavy game, CPU overclocking with poor ventilation, or weak CPUs, even with powerful GPU's, could force machines into crashing or just shutting down (the later probably a PSU issue) . Also, most people think they own a 600 watt PSU, not taking into account the quality of PSU's efficiency. If your PSU's efficiency isnt good enough, even if our PSU says its 600 watt, it will only give you like 350 watt average depending on the brand, and this is really common with generic PSU's, or PSU's that come integrated in the PC case when you buy it (generic brands). Im not saying this is an issue for all of you, but I started raging about Skyrim since it came out, and it turns out my rig can run it with no issues, it was just a PSU problem, since I had a crappy 600 watt-with-no-efficiency-whatsoever PSU, I just upgraded to an 80 plus certified 850 watt PSU, and got some fans for ventilation (didnt need them, just crossed my mind while at the shop) and everything runs smoothly, btw these fans lowered the temps of my GPU for about 8 degrees Celsius at full loads (a coolermaster 120 mm and a generic 9mm fan).

 

Also LOTS of tweaking afer gaining a stable Skyrim running, in order to improve my fps up to 58-60. Youve got to get to know your rig, and work with it until you get your desired results imo, not all fixes and mods will do wonders with all PC's. So try everything you can before you give up, and enjoy this great game. (Finished it before on 360, but theres no comparison, PC version ROCKS , even without mods just because of the better graphics)

 

Btw my gpu is a Geforce PNY Gtx 550 Ti (900 mhz fabric OCd) - and my CPU is a Phenom X2 555 Black Edition 3.8 ghz (unlocked to 4 cores and overclocked) PSU is 850 watt Transformer Pixxo. 6 Gb of Ram

Edited December 25, 2011 by pikoso26

[Necroxd]

I think I can trump your crashes. When my skyrim crashes the speakers scream a birrage of static. Skyrim crashes 17 out of the 20 times i try to play it. If it dosent crash within the first 5 minutes then im all set. I have had it crash so hard the my Mother boards on-board speaker was screaming.

 

 

NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Processor

8gigs of RAM

windows 7 64bit

[ph33n1x]

I figured I should mention what has so far solved the crash with monitor losing signal for other people to maybe try. I switched my PSU's PCI-e power connectors on my HIS 6870. As best as I can figure out is that one of the wires i was using to power it had some flaw or had been damaged somehow. Since switching i have played successfully for the last few nights with no problems.

[AJ Rimmer Bsc.Ssc.]

I think I can trump your crashes. When my skyrim crashes the speakers scream a birrage of static. Skyrim crashes 17 out of the 20 times i try to play it. If it dosent crash within the first 5 minutes then im all set. I have had it crash so hard the my Mother boards on-board speaker was screaming.

 

 

NVIDIA GeForce 9500 GT

AMD Phenom II X4 955 Processor

8gigs of RAM

windows 7 64bit

 

sorry,but i win...

 

my pc was so pissed at the game it got semi sentient and decided to stop even trying to start the exe or even reinstall.

 

it blatently refused to boot which again caused me to reinstall OS,at which point genetic memory seems to have known i was trying to install the game

and decided an all out strike was called for.

 

when a games so badly developed that it causes spontaneous sentience,you really have to wonder about skynet and bethesdas mainframe. ;)

[FailsafeOps]

I have forwarded what fixed my issues many times. I believe in adding to the solution instead of adding to the chaos of problems.

 

My original post can be found here ---> http://www.thenexusforums.com/index.php?/topic/456889-skyrim-complete-pc-crashes/page__st__1070

 

FYI, I am not the poster of the video.

 

What sucks about the issues involving losing signal to monitors is the fact that it could be hardware or software. In my case it was software. For others it may be hardware. I initially thought it was hardware related before I checked my voltage on my PSU. As posted earlier, make sure your PC has proper ventilation and your PSU is up to the task.

 

As for the CTD issues/losing textures after an hour or so of game play, this issue was resolved via the 4gb mod, which I believe was implemented via 1.3 version of Skyrim.

 

I haven't tried pulling the .DLL file from my directory, but why should I at this point. The game runs great for me and there is no need.

 

I find it extremely important to note that I have my overdrive DISABLED via the CCC software that is installed with my ATI drivers. As with most games, having this enabled will cause all sorts of problems. I personally tried to increase my fan speed because I thought that my GPU was overheating and it made the game extremely unstable. I've also had issues with other overclocking proggy's but haven't tested it with Skyrim.

 

To those who are losing signal to their monitors with other games after playing Skyrim, try reinstalling your video drivers. I had no issues with other games but maybe something carried over. It's my best guess. Other than that, you may in fact have hardware issues.

 

Maybe those with less than 8GB's of memory might continue to have texture/CTD issues. It's my best guess.

 

My rig.

 

955x4 AMD OC'ed 3.8 GHZ

M4A87E-T ASUS MOBO

8GB MUSHKIN MEMORY

6950 SAPPHIRE ATI

 

best of luck.

 

failsafe

[Hundsfott]

*PUSH*

 

Still can't play the game (-> Elven Arrows still give me complete crashes).

And when I play in GodMode (can't play without it, otherwise I'm overencumbered because I can't sell my weapons due to the elven arrows..I'm not getting past them) the game freezes randomly and I have to Alt-Tab out and close it :'(

 

f***ing f***ing elven arrows!!

[qwertasdfg24]

I think i'm having some success in Skyrim after initial desktop powering off during intro movie in the cart.

So i'll share my experience here, hopefully it might be handy for others.

 

First, my rig:

Windows XP Pro, 32 bit

Intel Duo 2 E8400

2Gig DDR2 RAM

HD 4850 - 512MB (i installed the latest complete 11.12 with CCC for my OS)

610W Power PC supply.

AVG-free version running while playing

This is a desktop i built back in October 2008, it might seem laughable today, but it's still running strong!

 

My wife bought me the DVD version for my Christmas(she must've lost her marble to buy me a game like this)

Installed it, the game scanned my hardware, set the video quality to HIGH. great, i thought.

Started the game, watching Intro movie, and my desktop powered off by itself. i freaked out a little.

tried it again 5 minutes later, same result, it powered off my desktop.

I looked at System event viewer, there was a red error flag, indicating my graphic card overheat, resulted in powering down of my desktop. so i thought, maybe i can lower the graphic setting of the game to MEDIUM. same result, it powered off my desktop

I lowered it down to LOW, same result, powered off my desktop. At this point, i'm about to cry.

 

So i started googling, and landed on this thread. i went through some 50 pages, and tried some of the tips that was offered in the first 50 pages. I also took consideration that my system event viewer's crash error that my graphic card was overheating, so some cleaning might be in order

 

So, this is what i did:

1. I cleaned the whole interior of the case, used a vaccum cleaner and sucked every bit of dust off. man, i haven't done any cleaning since i built the rig, and it's FILTHY inside. the CPU and GPU heatsink is completely covered in dust-bunnies. It's disgusting to look at. So i took apart every fan and heat-sink and cleaned it all.

 

2. After cleaning, i went into ATI's Control center, and disabled CCC AI. and set everything else to "Use Application" setting.

 

3. This might be the most important factor of all, I understand everybody have different application installed on the PC, save for some of you with fresh OS installed(i really don't know what to can be done for you guys). But what i do before i launch the game, is I used Task Manager, and killed all the running application that is not essential to gameplay. iTunes, Googlehelper, Adobetray, webcam app, EVERYTHING!

 

basically, that's all i did. I've played for 3 hours last night on Low setting, no crash.

Today, gonna go for an 8 hours marathon with HIGH setting. So far, 1 hour in, no problem! and it's running smoooooth with 8x AA!

 

Hope this info can be helpful to someone, good luck!

 

[EDIT]

Added ATi driver information

Edited December 28, 2011 by qwertasdfg24

[choji7]

I know this isn't feasible for some of you, but try the game with other video cards and try the video cards in different pcie slots, if they all don't work, it might be the motherboard. I found out by playing the game with my radeon 4200 integrated graphics after trying everything (barely was able to run, but it worked lol), I was able to play for like 1 hour without a reset, which broke the record on my computer by like 55 minutes (it never reset, I just got a headache playing lol). When I visited family for holidays, my video cards worked in their computers. I found out the pcie controller or something along those lines was the culprit. Just a suggestion to those who are having issues but can't find a damn thing wrong with their computer.

[AJ Rimmer Bsc.Ssc.]

i still say its down to the later cards not being bilingual

 

when my ferengi speaking hd6870 gets an order barked in klingon it black screens.

 

but my cheapo gt520 that understands a bit of klingon can get past the problem.

 

 

nothing to do with the pci-e bus,unless ver 2.0 is different to ver 2.01 pci-e.

 

 

yes..i am watching deep space nine ...lmao