invertedpanda Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I just sat down to play Skyrim. I loaded up my save, and the graphics went all sorts of funky. Then, a few seconds later, my entire machine locks up. I reboot, try again. Same issue. Double check to make sure my girlfriend hasn't added/removed any mods - check (she plays on my machine). I try to load again, this time moving a bit. I managed to get moved, but the graphics corruption (tearing, transparent textures, missing menu items) is there still, and after a bit it starts stuttering. I update my graphics card drivers - no fix there. I check my girlfriends' save; She's in Whiterun, and everything is fine except for a few torn textures and a giant needle sticking out of her arm (a texture bug, obviously). No stuttering on hers, though. My character is outside the Dawnstar Sanctuary. I backup my game files, and update to the beta patch. No fix. 242 hours put into this game with little to no problem, now it's become unplayable. Nothing has changed since the last time it was played - no settings, no software installed on my machine even. Here's my DXDiag: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invertedpanda Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 It ends up going wonky on my girlfriend's save, too. Just to verify, I let her save load and sit for a bit. Within 10 seconds it was like this: http://www.classicwfl.com/storage/skyrimgraphics.jpg It was completely locked up. Nothing I could do but do a hard reset. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rennn Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 Wow...How old is your video card?I don't want to alarm you, but it may be dying. Does this happen with other high-stress games now? That's a good test. If you have a game with similar or higher specs than Skyrim and nothing breaks after a while, your video card is fine. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invertedpanda Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 I had considered that, but it just seems so unlikely, as it's still fairly new (1 year old) and I don't typically push it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
invertedpanda Posted January 28, 2012 Author Share Posted January 28, 2012 ... And damn, you were right. Freaking wonderful. With all my damned bills I'm SOL, so no more Skyrim. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jxt Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 (edited) Before you freak out entirely, open up the case and check the GPU for dust. A clogged up GPU fan will cause all sorts of problems because of overheating. If it is caked in dusk, go get some compressed air, take the GPU out of the case (can't stress this enough.), blow out the dust, put the GPU back in, and try again. Edited January 28, 2012 by jxt Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dingenskirchen Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 And if nothing will help, you could try to bake your Gpu. Yes, i said bake. Here's a Link.Sometimes you can reanimate your Gpu with things like this.Good luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
luxwing0go Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 (edited) Before you freak out entirely, open up the case and check the GPU for dust. A clogged up GPU fan will cause all sorts of problems because of overheating. If it is caked in dusk, go get some compressed air, take the GPU out of the case (can't stress this enough.), blow out the dust, put the GPU back in, and try again. Also, check that there is enough of that cooling gel in the GPU fans if it's got them. Overheating can really kill the lifespan on some of those things. The baking thing is actually a good tip if all else fails - worked on an old Nvidia card in my mom's Pavillion a while back. It's not a permanent fix, but it will give you some time to raise money and purchase a new GPU. Some GPUs just die faster than others, especially with prolonged use. (This happens faster on cards that were not necessarily made for gaming but are used for such. Did you overclock yours at all? That cuts the life a bit...) EDIT: got a warranty? Edited January 28, 2012 by luxwing0go Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eltucu Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I think that if it was just temperature, the card would work fine but with terrible performance since GPUs tend to downclock massively when they're in danger of damage cuz overheating, maybe a CTD, "driver stopped responding", reboot or something like that. But an entire PC lockup? On windows 7? Massive hardware failure there IMO. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rennn Posted January 28, 2012 Share Posted January 28, 2012 I've never hated being right so much. :( If you open up your pc, generally also check to see if anything looks gooey or ruptured. It'd be nice if only one specific piece was breaking. GPUs are expensive, but at least they won't generally trash the whole pc if they die. Plus, as a guy said above me, you can bake a GPU and potentially fix it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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