Blue screen & unexpected closure during gameplay [ Edited ]

[sophiapreston]

Hi, please could someone help me? I'm not a newbie to sims but I'm not very technical when it comes to computers. I know enough to get me by and maybe a little bit more. Everytime I play the Sims 4 I get the blue screen with numerous error codes (can't remember what they were) and also unexpectedly kicked out of the game. It happens everytime I play, but I have followed all the trouble shooting, updated everything that needs to be including the BIOS and drivers. Please help!

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@sophiapreston  That sounds like the best plan, to be honest.  With two different kinds of BlueScreens and a laptop that's presumably under warranty, a manufacturer repair is probably in order.

Please make sure to back up all your data before you send off the laptop.  It's entirely possible that the repair tech will format (erase) the hard drive, so you'd lose everything.  Even if you're provided with a backup copy of your existing data, sometimes it can get corrupted during the transfer, or some files won't be transferred at all.

If you do need more help at some point, I'll be around.

[puzzlezaddict]

@sophiapreston  I see the BlueScreens, and they're related to a graphics driver.  Your dxdiag also shows the driver for your integrated graphics chip isn't even working, or at least it wasn't working at the moment when you ran the dxdiag; the associated Radeon software also crashed at least once.  And the Nvidia driver crashed once, and there are a few other errors not directly from Sims 4....  Point is, there's a lot going on.

So the first place to start is with a couple of basic checks on your Windows system files.

• Hit Windows key-X
• Choose either “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator),” whichever option is offered
• Inside the window that appears, copy and paste “DISM.exe /Online /Cleanup-image /Restorehealth” without quotes into the window, and enter
• The system will start validating soon. If it throws an error, please list it here
• After it reaches 100%, hit Windows key-X again
• Again, choose “PowerShell (Administrator)” or “Command prompt (Administrator)”
• Inside the window, copy and paste “sfc /scannow” without quotes into the window, and enter
• Post the message you receive here

If sfc reports it found corrupt files and was unable to repair some of them, please let me know, and stop here.  Otherwise, the next step is to reinstall the newest AMD graphics driver offered by Asus; that driver is packaged with the chipset drivers.  Restart your computer first, then go here:

https://www.asus.com/Laptops/ASUS-TUF-Gaming-FX505DD-DT-DU/HelpDesk_Download/

Select FX505DT, then Windows, 10.  Under Chipset, download the "AMD Graphics, Chipset Driver" dated March 24.  Here are instructions from Asus on installing chipset drivers:

https://www.asus.com/US/support/FAQ/1039816

Since this version is newer than the nonworking graphics driver you already have installed, it should be fine to install the new one on top of it without uninstalling first.  But if Sims 4 still crashes, or you get another BlueScreen, please run another dxdiag, so I can see the status of the new driver.  And while other issues may need to be addressed as well, this should be handled first.

[sophiapreston]

---

Good morning, 

In regards to the instructions you gave me to follow:

• Restorehealth result - The restore operation completed successfully.
• Scannow message - Windows resource protection found corrupt files and successfully repaired them. For online repairs, details are included in the CBS log file located at windir\Logs\CBS\CBS.log.

Restarted computer and downloaded the newest AMD graphics drivers. I will start the game and see how far I can get until it throws me a blue screen or an unexpected closure - if it does it at all.

Thanks for your help. 

[sophiapreston]

Good afternoon,

Encountered another two blue screens under memory management and driver overran stack buffer, just 2 minutes in to starting up the game and creating a sim.

DxDiag below.

Thanks!

[puzzlezaddict]

@sophiapreston  I'd like to see the dump files related to these BlueScreens.  Open a File Explorer window and enter C:\Windows in the address bar.  Look for a MEMORY.dmp file; if you see one, right-click on it and select Copy, then right-click on your desktop and select Paste.  Then open the Minidump folder and do the same for the newest three or four files inside.  Zip the files on your desktop together, upload the .zip to a free filesharing site, and link it here.

Please run MemTest86, which is the most thorough test for memory errors.  Here's where to download it (the free version is fine), and instructions for running it.

https://www.memtest86.com/index.html

https://www.overclockersclub.com/guides/memtest86_memory_guide/

If you see any errors, let me know exactly what they say.

Please also download Malwarebytes (the free version is fine as well) and do a custom scan.  Launch it, select Scan in the left panel, then Custom, then Configure, and scan for everything.  It might take a little while.

https://www.malwarebytes.com/mwb-download/

[sophiapreston]

Hi,

Asus are collecting my laptop in the morning for repair, but I would like to keep this thread incase it happens again.

I really appreciate all your help. I'll keep you updated. Thank you. 

[puzzlezaddict · Accepted solution]

@sophiapreston  That sounds like the best plan, to be honest.  With two different kinds of BlueScreens and a laptop that's presumably under warranty, a manufacturer repair is probably in order.

Please make sure to back up all your data before you send off the laptop.  It's entirely possible that the repair tech will format (erase) the hard drive, so you'd lose everything.  Even if you're provided with a backup copy of your existing data, sometimes it can get corrupted during the transfer, or some files won't be transferred at all.

If you do need more help at some point, I'll be around.

[sophiapreston]

Good morning,

I have managed to grab the malwarebytes report (linked below) before I send off the laptop today, its getting collected at 2:30-3:30pm.

I just figured with the machine having warranty and experiencing a total of around 6 or 7 different blue screens and shutting down during gameplay (without crashing) that sending it off for repair or replacement would be the best option.

Thank you so much for taking your time out to respond to me and help me through the issues I have had, I very much appreciate it.

Have a great day!

[puzzlezaddict]

@sophiapreston  The fact that Malwarebytes didn't find anything just reiterates that you're doing the right thing by sending off the computer to get repaired.  When there are multiple BlueScreens for what appear to be completely different reasons, it's time for a computer tech to examine the system in person.  I had one person in a similar situation who tried to completely reinstall Windows and still got more errors, which should never happen on a new computer.

I hope this process doesn't take too long and that you get back a fully working laptop.  If you do have any other issues, you know where to find us.