BSOD troubles

[Kaidonni]

This is extremely frustrating - I've logged ~128 hours on Skyrim since 25/12/12, and have suffered only the occasional CTD. Okay, not all of it was actually playing (I do alt-tab), but I'd hazard a fair 110-120 hours were actual play. Installed Dawnguard on Saturday, played for about 40 minutes in the afternoon. Came back in the evening, about 5 hours later, and now I can't go 5 minutes without a guaranteed BSOD.

 

Computer info:

Windows 7 64-bit

AMD Athlon II X4 Processor (4 CPUs), ~3.0GHz

4096MB RAM

DirectX 11

NVIDIA GeForce GT 240

Driver version: 8.17.12.7061

 

Now, Windows Event Viewer highlights a serious issue upon start-up, shutdown, and during BSOD events - that is, harddrive\dr0 has a bad block. It seems to happen all of the time now from a few months ago. Tested with SeaTools for Windows (Samsung harddrives), and one of the harddrives comes back as failing all but the SMART test (the other drive passes all - Short DST, Short Generic, Long Generic, SMART). I have run chkdsk /r on all drives to no avail (before the SeaTools diagnostic). However, I'm not entirely certain the harddrive is to blame - I tested both Stalker and Empire Total War, and they lasted longer than Skyrim now does (complete without any BSOD). I do understand not passing those tests means the harddrive has issues, but still...

 

The BSOD doesn't always happen in-game. It has happened on Saturday *outside* of the game (shortly after a BSOD). I had logged back in, and started surfing the internet for info on the issue - bam, it strikes. Yesterday, after a BSOD in Skyrim, it happened when I got back to the login screen - typed in password, and bam, it strikes again. BSOD on Friday when nobody was in the house, and Skyrim certainly wasn't running. BSOD on Thursday after the Creation Kit hung on closing - click for Windows to find a solution (not really, I want to close the darn thing, but it always tries to find a solution anyway), and bam. Last time before that was Christmas Day, when I'd installed Skyrim (about 5 hours after, and I recall it wasn't loaded up, everyone was downstairs watching Dr Who). The earliest dump file was the 19/12/12, in the morning (before Skyrim), and the only other dump file is from waaaay back in May 2012.

 

PFN_LIST_CORRUPT (0x00000004e) appears 5 times in the 11 dump files, along with MEMORY_MANAGEMENT (0x00000001a) twice, IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (0x0000000a) and DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (0x0000000d1) and BAD_POOL_HEADER ((0x000000019) each once. One error has no Bug String Check, but Parameter 1 is 0x0000010e.

 

The BAD POOL HEADER would have been when on the internet, so game not loaded. The IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL when no one was in the house. One of the PFN_LIST_CORRUPT errors was with the Creation Kit, and the final one on the login screen after another BSOD in-game. All errors point to ntoskrnl.exe as Caused By Driver, save for the one without a Bug String Check (watchdog.sys) and DRIVER_IRQL_NOT_LESS_OR_EQUAL (dxgmms1.sys). All errors list ntoskrnl.exe as the Crash Address, though.

 

Only 'mods' are the Unofficial Skyrim Patch, Unofficial Dawnguard Patch, Skyrim Speeds, and When Vampires Attack. All loaded in the correct order.

 

Reading Event Viewer, it appears the harddrive\dr0 has a bad block error started back on 22/9/12, after these...

 

*Error - The file system structure on the disk is corrupt and unusable. Please run the chkdsk utility on the volume \Device\HarddiskVolume2.

Warning - The file system structure on volume C: has now been repaired.

 

*Another one of these directly references volume C:

 

Now, one final thing - earlier last week, on Monday, I had an error pop-up stating 'Display driver NVIDIA Windows Kernel Mode Driver, Version 270.61 stopped responding and has successfully recovered'. The screen flashed black for a moment before this, and I haven't seen it appear since. Event Viewer states: Display driver nvlddmkm stopped responding and has successfully recovered.

 

I also installed Maya late last year (volume C), and one day when I came to run it, it stated that one of the .dll files was missing and it could not start the program (I never touched the darn thing, and neither did anyone else - it seems to have deleted itself).

 

A new harddrive is on the way, and fortunately the only volumes on the supposed failing harddrive are C, E, and X (X being backup, with the other harddrive having volume Y as an identical backup disk). E has also been fully backed-up.

Edited February 6, 2013 by Kaidonni

[MotoSxorpio]

Are you Overclocking your CPU?

[Kaidonni]

I've never done anything to do with Overclocking. I haven't messed with any hardware or system components. Edited February 6, 2013 by Kaidonni

[Kaidonni]

Well, tested Stalker - with multiple reloads - on full dynamic lighting and mods installed, no issues. Played for 20 minutes, no BSOD. May aswell get the new drive in and dump Skyrim, even though I was fully invested in my playthrough. Wasted that money on Dawnguard for a game I can't even play for some random reason. While the harddrive is an issue, I just don't think it's responsible. The drivers surely cannot be, or they'd croak on Stalker. Memory too...

[Kaidonni]

*bump* No one?

[bben46]

BSOD is not a game problem. It is more often a hardware or Operating System problem. Have you looked into overheating? Have you replaced the stock Video card with a better one?

 

Often the stock power supply on a standard off the shelf PC from one of the well known makers is underpowered - It can barely run the stock components. Adding a more powerful video card, or multiple hard drives, can easily overtax a cheap power supply.

[Kaidonni]

None of the computer is stock - my brother built it before he moved out. This current set-up has been running since June/July 2011. A new harddrive is on the way, and I'm hoping to deal with any potential driver issues this evening (I personally don't want to mess with things like that without my brother around). Maybe it's multiple issues, and Dawnguard installed/mucked about with the drivers in addition to their being a dying harddrive.

 

Maybe it's an OS issue, as per the problem with Maya - I never touched the file that went missing, and neither did anyone else.

Edited February 7, 2013 by Kaidonni

[Kaidonni]

SeaTools for DOS confirms 3 bad sectors on the main harddrive - and it couldn't repair them. Looks like that drive is going to cyber-heaven.

 

I wondered why, however, Stalker did not have the same issue that Skyrim did, and my brother suggested that it was because Skyrim probably reads and writes to memory more often - what with being in a larger worldspace as opposed to smaller levels, it's more likely to access the bad sectors. Anyone able to lend any confirmation to that idea?

 

I hope my saves are okay...managed to back them up to an external harddrive. Hope they aren't corrupted or something (57 hours in, really invested in my character, and I don't fancy restarting!).

Edited February 7, 2013 by Kaidonni

[hangarspace]

Good luck with saving your game, you might also want to try and backup your mods which will be saved to your save game. If you can't save them or don't get them all, once you get up and running again come back and ask on the forum how to find out what mods are missing.

 

Chris

[Kaidonni]

The only mods I have at the moment are the unofficial patches for Skyrim and Dawnguard, Skyrim Speeds, and When Vampires Attack, so they'll be easy to locate. It's essentially my vanilla playthrough, but I'm very attached to the character.