Skyrim complete PC crashes

[njemopogi]

I tried the 70% processor and it worked for me.

[BarderothReturns]

The problem seems to be Windows 7 related, it worked in Ubuntu 11.10 (Wine Emulation) with no crash. It could even be DirectX related, since XP is DirectX 9, and the game is "compatible" with DX9 and DX10, and Ubuntu runs on OpenGL. I don't have XP, so I cannot confirm this theory, but compatibility mode set to Windows XP in Windows 7 didn't work, so I might be wrong. I guess I'll try reverting DX11 to DX9 and see if that resolves the issue. Through that, I'll find out if it is Windows 7 related or not.

 

I also tested another Windows ported game, Saint's Row The Third, no crash or problems, so at least that theory can be put to rest.

 

Edit: Sorry, thelarsen, I forgot, but you did mention Windows XP crash already.

Edited November 18, 2011 by BarderothReturns

[thelarsen]

I mentioned early I tried it with a clean Windows XP install and it crashed after about 30seconds..

[JaceTiger]

What bothers me most about this is Bethesda's silence on progress. If they would just say "Hey guys, we think we may have found a possible solution, but it requires more testing" or "We thought we found a solution, but it's only a stop-gap solution, more details later." I'd be happy.

 

Instead all we get it is "We're working. Come back later." and "We're gonna fix Xbox textures! We gonna fix PS3 lag!" and simply IGNORING all of us. Don't get me wrong, I'm DELIGHTED they're working on the issues (allegedly) but come on, telling us they're working on the PS3 lag and Xbox texture issues (which do in fact work AND play!). But with no info on why the PC versions are broken and how they're planning to fix it (or even as I stated earlier their progress) is frustrating. So many blogs and articles go on and on about how the CONSOLES are getting screwed but only a few (almost all PC exclusive) tell us about how PC users can't even PLAY!

[Zolexus]

The 70% percent processor usage worked for me for some hours, but now I had my first crash with it. Same thing, black screen blahblah.

 

This doesn't fix it.

[Quin1]

I've read in a few places there was a bad batch of components on some early 6000 series cards. I suspected it because I've had hard crashes in some of the more demanding games, like BF3 and now Skyrim. The Skyrim crashes were identical to all of you guys. Other games worked fine over the card's life (about 12 months), but it's possible they weren't pushing it as hard as more recent games, or at least not in the areas that relate to the fault.

 

Note: My card wasnt crashing during benchmarking, only during BF3 and Skyrim, and initially when I bought it before I underclocked (should've RMA'd then but yeah, you live and learn). It also wasn't running hot, at most 70 - 75 degrees, certainly not crash levels. In fact I could push it to 90 degrees in Furmark without a crash.

 

End result?

 

I managed to replace my MSI R6850 Storm II OC (factory OC to 820Mhz) with an ASUS EAU6850 Direct CU (factory OC to 790Mhz).. end of hard crash problems. No more crashes, and I get a lot better performance out of my card, largely as I was having to underclock it to maintain stability on recent games. But also because I can overclock it to 6870 reference levels, and Skyrim still runs a dream.

 

While we're quick to say 'it's not hardware, all my other games are working fine' .. well yes, but I would suggest that not all cards are faulty in the same way. I've heard alternating reports that it was faulty memory, voltage resistors, etc.. I'm no tech, but I can imagine each card will be screwed to a greater or lesser extent by these components. And let's be honest, Skyrim isn't tuned too well. It's a graphics hog, when it really shouldn't be.

 

But a working card can, and does, handle it.

 

Look it may not be the answer for everyone, but the proof is in the pudding for me.

Edited November 18, 2011 by Quin1

[Zolexus]

I've read in a few places there was a bad batch of components on some early 6000 series cards. I suspected it because I've had hard crashes in some of the more demanding games, like BF3 and now Skyrim. The Skyrim crashes were identical to all of you guys. Other games worked fine over the card's life (about 12 months), but it's possible they weren't pushing it as hard as more recent games, or at least not in the areas that relate to the fault.

 

End result?

 

I managed to replace my MSI R6850 Storm II OC (factory OC to 820Mhz) with an ASUS EAU6850 Direct CU (factory OC to 790Mhz).. end of hard crash problems. No more crashes, and I get a lot better performance out of my card, largely as I was having to underclock it to maintain stability on recent games. But also because I can overclock it to 6870 reference levels, and Skyrim still runs a dream.

 

While we're quick to say 'it's not hardware, all my other games are working fine' .. well yes, but I would suggest that not all cards are faulty in the same way. I've heard alternating reports that it was faulty memory, voltage resistors, etc.. I'm no tech, but I can imagine each card will be screwed to a greater or lesser extent by these components. And let's be honest, Skyrim isn't tuned too well. It's a graphics hog, when it really shouldn't be.

 

But a working card can, and does, handle it.

 

Look it may not be the answer for everyone, but the proof is in the pudding for me.

 

Note: My card wasnt crashing during benchmarking, only during BF3 and Skyrim, and initially when I bought it before I underclocked (should've RMA'd then but yeah, you live and learn).

 

Let's be clear on this - it is the game. It's not hardware, I am 100% positive it is the game.

 

I have crossfired 6870, believe me my cards could run BF3 4 times simultaniously and still not lag or crash. I've never experienced anything like this hard crash before in any game at all, it also pops up randomly, even at times the GPU or CPU shouldn't be stressed at all. It definitely has nothing to do with "pushing it too hard".

 

Be it the communication between game and hardware that causes malfunctions, it still is the game clearly not being tuned to some combinations of hardware. Most likely because lately games are made for consoles as well and those are giving people a LOT more issues. As a hardcore PC gamer, I'm starting to loathe consoles and the way designers are making games that were for PC first, for console now and actually thinking about PC compatibility last. GTA IV is a very painful example of that.

Edited November 18, 2011 by Zolexus

[Deleted3136240User]

I've read in a few places there was a bad batch of components on some early 6000 series cards. I suspected it because I've had hard crashes in some of the more demanding games, like BF3 and now Skyrim. The Skyrim crashes were identical to all of you guys. Other games worked fine over the card's life (about 12 months), but it's possible they weren't pushing it as hard as more recent games, or at least not in the areas that relate to the fault.

 

End result?

 

I managed to replace my MSI R6850 Storm II OC (factory OC to 820Mhz) with an ASUS EAU6850 Direct CU (factory OC to 790Mhz).. end of hard crash problems. No more crashes, and I get a lot better performance out of my card, largely as I was having to underclock it to maintain stability on recent games. But also because I can overclock it to 6870 reference levels, and Skyrim still runs a dream.

 

While we're quick to say 'it's not hardware, all my other games are working fine' .. well yes, but I would suggest that not all cards are faulty in the same way. I've heard alternating reports that it was faulty memory, voltage resistors, etc.. I'm no tech, but I can imagine each card will be screwed to a greater or lesser extent by these components. And let's be honest, Skyrim isn't tuned too well. It's a graphics hog, when it really shouldn't be.

 

But a working card can, and does, handle it.

 

Look it may not be the answer for everyone, but the proof is in the pudding for me.

 

Note: My card wasnt crashing during benchmarking, only during BF3 and Skyrim, and initially when I bought it before I underclocked (should've RMA'd then but yeah, you live and learn).

 

Seems a bit unlikely. While Skyrim is certainly not too well optimized and thus forces more load on your graphics card,

there is no way, that it needs more resources then playing Metro 2033 or Battlefield 3 on full settings with all the DX11 features enabled.

Besides these crashes seem to be very much reproducible, at least to some extent (eg. opening the map, riding a horse, getting close to whiterun etc.),

which makes it sound more like the issue is on the games side.

[brotha1]

so lets be clear its been a full 7 days where .... MANY of us cant even play the game.

 

this has nothing to do with our cards the game crashes at lowest and highest resolution at the exact same rate. its not heat related. those people who have heat problems are not most of us. i put a window fan against my pc to test this out. on a full stress test of my pc the video card does not go above 82 degrees which is perfectly fine. and my cpu doesnt go above 63.

 

rightnow i am jumping up and down that i refunded this game because if i still couldnt play it a week later after paying $60 i would be Seriously pissed off.

 

but now i downloaded a copy and am waiting till they release this patch...

 

in USA it may seem $60 isnt so much but.. currently im living in China and dont have a full time job as of yet. (from usa) and i can eat 3 times a day here for 1.5-2 weeks with no problem on these $60. so spending 1.5-2 weeks of food money on a POS product that doesnt even work; is just.... its just a joke.

 

and to hear Xbox360 gets some patch first due to some agreement.. and ps3 and then pc? i dont know if this is true but.. i hope Bethesda releases a free expansion pack for everyone who "actually paid" for this as a gift for this absolute crap.

 

im sorry if im pissed, but i knew it would be a week, and nothing would happen. and here it is.

Edited November 18, 2011 by brotha1

[DkFox]

Has anyone experiencing total graphic shutdown/pc reboot tried underclocking the graphics card?

I only say this because this was one of the few things that solved my issue in BF3 (underclocking my SLI 560 Ti's from 900 to 822MHz gave a somewhat more stable, though not entirely bug free experience)