Hi ZeniMax and other forum users,
I'm hoping you can help me with an issue that has only plagued me
since installing ESO, and
only whilst playing ESO. I'm hoping to find a solution that isn't
"don't play ESO." I have taken this problem to majorgeeks.com which has assisted me in the past, but I think I've got people stumped.
My rig, in a nutshell: I've attached a 64-bit DxDiag, but in a nutshell I run Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium (legit version), on an Intel i5-3570k processor, with 8GB DDR3 Corsair Vengeance RAM, Sapphire ATI HD7870 2GB GDDR5 graphics card. I built this in August 2012 and other than some faulty ram I replaced under warranty in December 2013, it has given me no issues gaming whatsoever.
The problem:- My ESO client regularly 'stops working' and prompts me with the standard Crash Reporter. I've lost track of how many of these I've reported. This happens when I'm AFK, walking down the street, in combat, crafting, standing still - you name it, there seems to be no pattern. These have happened during beta, during early access, and still exist today in the live game. Sometimes I can go for 4 hours without a single issue, but at other times, there can be 4-5 in a 15 minute period. This prompted me to think my GPU drivers were outdated for a brand new game, and so I un-installed them, restarted my PC, downloaded the latest drivers, and reinstalled them:
Catalyst Control Centre: 13-12_win7_win8_64_dd_ccc_whql
GPU: AMD_Catalyst_14.3_Beta_V1.0_Windows_B22_March12
This has not solved the issue; and in fact the game threw up this Crash Reporter error message whilst alt-tabbed to making this post.
After taking this action, issue #2 started happening, which is much more worrying:
- My PC will BSOD every other day whilst playing ESO, and using Bluescreenview to view the minidump files (which are also attached), the same file name is cropping up: ntoskrnl.exe (7), as well as occasionally atikmdag.sys (2), hal.dll (1), and em008_64.dat (1). 3 of these occurred within a 1hr40 min period on the same night. The dates are all in April 2014: 1st, 1st, 1st, 4th, 11th, 12th, 13th, 14th. The blank period between the 4th and 11th will have been when I was working and didn't have much time to play (6 days on, 4 days off).
As mentioned above, ESO is the only game I have experienced these BSODs with; my minidumps start on 1st April 2014.
Lastly, issue #3:
- Though minor, in comparison to issue #1 and #2, my client has once or twice just frozen up. The sound and music still plays and loops but the visuals just lock. I can alt-tab but the only way to stop the game is ALT+CTRL+DEL and stop the eso.exe process. This hasn't happened all too often, but last night it was pretty prolific; certainly at the boss in Enduum (Glenumbra public dungeon). where it happened 4-5 times in a 15 minute period.
So those are the issues. What can we rule out?
Attempted Solutions & Outcomes:Close the Launcher: I saw it suggested in beta that the Launcher can randomly cause CTDs. As a result I've played without the Launcher open, once the game client has loaded, since the early release. Clearly, this hasn't helped. I've also ran the game as an Administrator.
Reinstall: I have tried a fresh reinstall of ESO, but this has not helped.
Virus: I use ESET Smart Security 6, which is superb at turning malicious software away at the door. I have fun a full computer scan across all drives and sectors, and found no threats of any kind, whatsoever.
MemTest: The only other BSODs I've had with this PC were in December 2013 whilst playing WoW (anything in fact, but that's all I played at the time). The error messages were nothing similar to Issue #2 above, and it turned out to be
faulty RAM. This was diagnosed and confirmed through MemTest, and Corsair promptly replaced my entire RAM like-for-like, free of charge, under their unlimited warranty, which was nice of them!
To rule out another memory issue due to this being BSOD-related again, I ran a full test and it confirmed 0 errors (whereas in January it would run into the 5 zero's range).
Reinstall Drivers: I have reinstalled both my motherboard chipset drivers, and my GPU's drivers numerous times in the optimal fashion, and this has not solved anything. Also, the beta drivers listed above are the only drivers officially available through ATI at the moment.
I've googled some threads about ntoskrnl.exe and a lot of people seem to say "reinstall windows", but another lot of people say "it's never the kernal; it's telling you it's something else, like drivers."
I'm not enormously outraged about this, but I would like to fix it. It's obviously very annoying as I'm sure you can imagine, and I've actively taken what steps I'm aware of to try and fix the issue. I'm hoping that someone at ZeniMax, or a technical wizard reading this thread will either post here, or contact me directly, and try to help me address this issue. I love this game and would like to play without having to restart my client or PC 4/5 times in a 3 hour play period.
Please see what you can do for me?
Thanks very much!
- Heskey