Sims 3 Technical Problems

[jazzie_1718]

Hello,
So I decided that I would play Sims 3 again since I did spend money on it. However, every time I try to play 2-6 minutes in the game it crashes and a blue screen (BSOD) comes up with error: DPC Watchdog Violation. I have recently factory reset my computer (basically wiped entire hard disk) because I had updated to windows 10 and the update messed up my computer. Anyways here are my specs...

GPU: GeForce 840M
CPU: Intel (R) Core(TM) i5-4210U CPU @ 1.70GHz with Turbo Boost
Memory: 8.00 GB RAM (7.93 GB usable)
Current resolution: 1366 x 768, 60Hz
Driver Version: 364.72
OS: Microsoft Windows 10 Home

I've already updated my drivers for my SSD and graphics card and tried scanned and repaired my hard disk. I'm confused and do not what the problem is. I also have ran the game in compatibility mode for Windows 8 and I conversed with an EA technician via chat and he told me to repair the game and I did . The game ran for a little while like 15-20 minutes but the game BOSD again, this time with the error video.tdr.failure. So I looked up the wrror and the results I read said that it may have something to do with the video card so I updated my grahics and NVIDIA display drives and relaunched the game it played for 30-24 minutes and the it BOSD again this time with the DPC Watchdog violation error again. This only happens when I launch Sims 3 no other program or game causes this error and Sims 3 does not recognize my graphics card I know because I looked in the DeviceConfig file. I attached the DeviceConfig and the DxDiag text documents. Please help?

DeviceConfig file in my Sims 3 folder

GPU: 5 GPU Memory: 1 CPU: 3 RAM: 4 CPU Speed: 2394 Threading: 3
Adjusted CPU: 2792 RAM: 8115 Adjusted RAM: 7603 Cores: 2
=== Machine info ===
OS version: Windows 8 6.2.9200 (it doesn't seem to recognize that my computer OS is Windows 10!!!)
OS prod type: 0
OS major ver: 6
OS minor ver: 2
OS SP major ver: 0
OS SP minor ver: 0
OS is 64Bit: 1
CPU: GenuineIntel
Brand: Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-4210U CPU @ 1.70GHz
Family: 6
Model: 5
Cores: 2
HT: 1
x64: 0
Memory: 8115MB
Free memory: 5765MB
User: jswee
Computer: DESKTOP-D25PK3E
=== Graphics device info ===
Number: 0
Name (driver): NVIDIA GeForce 840M
Name (database): NVIDIA GeForce 840M [Found: 0, Matched: 0] (Doesn't recognize my graphics card. Tried editing the .sgr files but It doesn't have my graphics card or the family of graphics card listed it GT, G, GTX. It does have GeForce 200/300 family listed but I do not if that family is equivalent or not.)
Vendor: NVIDIA
Chipset: Vendor: 10de, Device: 1341, Board: 08671025, Chipset: 00a2
Driver: nvd3dum.dll, Version: 10.18.13.6472, GUID: D7B71E3E-5001-11CF-DD6A-6A281FC2C735
Driver version: 6472
Monitor: \\.\DISPLAY1
Texture memory: 32MB <<OVERRIDE>>
Vertex program: 3.0
Pixel program: 3.0
Hardware TnL: 1

DeviceConfig.log

[EA_David]

@jazzie_1718 Thanks for the post. I don't think this is specifically SIms related, but the game is triggering an existing problem. 

If you check your Control Panel > Device Manager does your 840m show up there?

You mention updating your drivers, but can you perform a full uninstall and clean reinstall and check again? I had an issue quite similar to yours a few years ago, and it was down a corrupted driver that wasn't getting overwritten when I updated. 

Thanks again, hopefully we can steer things in the right direction. 

[jazzie_1718]

NVIDIA 840m shows up under Display Adapters. How can my drivers be corrupt if I just did a clean install like a couple of weeks ago? It doesn't show up under system devices though. I wonder why sims 3 is the only program that triggers it though. Thank you for your help so far. I attached some pictures of my device manager.

[jazzie_1718]

@EA_David I just did a clean install and reinstalled my graphics drivers and display drivers and even the hard disk drivers. I will let you know if that is the solution. 

[EA_David]

@jazzie_1718Hey, sorry for not getting back sooner. I hope that the lack of response indicates that the issue is solved, how did you get on?

Just to address "How can my drivers be corrupt if I just did a clean install like a couple of weeks ago?", time often isn't a factor here. Obviously with an increase in time there's more chances for things to go wrong, but sometimes things can go wrong over a very short timeframe. 

[jazzie_1718]

 @EA_David Well. I went back to windows 8 and I am still having problems with the DPC watchdog violation. I feel like giving up because Sims 4 and 2 works perfectly fine without any trouble. And as I said before sims 3 is the only program, in which, I have problems.

Update: I went back to Windows 10 since I still had problems running the game with Windows 8.1. I am wondering if EA does remote assistance because at this point I feel as though I have exhausted all outcomes. I've tried running SFC/SCANNOW (and DISM) and scanning and repairing hard disk. I am doing SFC/SCANNOW again since I reverted back to Windows 10. After, I reverted back it crashes as soon as I get into the game. It is fine while I am in cas. And this time, when the game crashed it gave the error Video Scheduler Internal Error. I am going to reinstall my graphics drivers for Intel and Nvidia. From what I am seeing, online the issue stems from the Nvidia graphics card and Windows 10. I am also running my antivirus software to see if I have any viruses or unwanted programs. Any advice would be beneficial. 

Update 2: I finished running SFC/SCANNOW and it did not find any corrupted files and my antivirus scan finished and there was nothing found there either. I am going to contact EA support via chat to see if they can help.

Update 3: I did not contact EA yet but I went to the NVIDIA website and put in my system specs and I did a clean install of the graphics driver. I now don't have the BOSD. I can play for almost an hour and after that time passed I  got an error message that stated, "Sims 3 stopped working".  So where should I go from here?

Update 4: I just restarted the game and it froze as soon as I began playing.