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Solved crashing to BSOD

Ulfson
Ulfson
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Here is what I learned over the last 6 months of crashing and how I stopped the BSOD crashes on my computer.
I run an older AMD Phenom II 945 3.0GHz Win10Pro with ATI5770 GPU and 8GB ram. This has been a stable computer for many years.
I was getting 1-3 BSOD per hour of game play and had run hours (overnight) testing on the hardware which always passed.
In desperation I decided to slow down whatever clock speed I could to see if this was a timing issue.

In BIOS I reduced my memory clock from x8.00 (1600MHz) to x5.33 (1066 MHz) and have not had a single BSOD in almost two months.

Support sent me many suggestions on changes to make in an attempt to solve my crashes but none worked. I had run memtest for dozens of hours and the memory always passed but there is something quirky about the way the memory controllers and memory are working. The ONLY crashes I had were in ESO. Other games played fine and I run 6-10 apps simultaneously while working on video and photo editing but never had a crash while doing that. I don't care about the speed reduction and don't really notice the FPS reduction. The process monitor shows that ESO never fills my memory or saturates the CPU/GPU but it must involve a process that stresses the memory in a unique manner. My crashes almost always came in login/logout screens or going through doors. From previous problems with a latptop I know that ESO stresses the CPU/GPU the most in these load situations. The AMD northbridges from 5-6 years ago have a reputation in the forums on overclocking for getting too hot and doing "wonky" things. I doubt that AMD is the only producer of memory controllers that can make device that becomes slightly unreliable at the design speed.
I hope this will help someone else.
  • Wily_Wizard
    Wily_Wizard
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    Thanks for posting this, you could be on to something with memory here. I have done the same memtests overnight with zero errors, but I never did try to reduce my RAM speed.

    BTW, just because this game crashes in your RAM, doesn't mean its your RAM/memory controller that has issues. It could also mean that ZOS has un-optimized code that doesn't conform closely to standards.

    I'm definitely going to try this, and I'll post back my results. The thing is, its only using about 8% of my CPU and 12% of my ram, so the game in no way even comes close to stressing my system. Now you also got me wondering if its the way my system handles Virtual Memory, since that's usually an extension of RAM for systems with less RAM...but since I have 16GB of RAM my Samsung SSD software disables my VM to save wear and tear on the SSD. It's possible that some small part of ESO's code needs VR to load itself, even if plenty of RAM is available. So I will 1st try to re-enable my VR and post back if that makes a difference.

    @ZOS_GinaBruno - maybe you have a way to find out if ESO requires to have VR enabled, even with large amounts of RAM available?
  • Fissh
    Fissh
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    I have a FX9590 AMD. I get frequent crashes in ESO as well. I don't know if this is a thing but...:
    32bit games are the only thing to crash on my system. 64bit OS.
    Allllll 64bit games run like a dream on my system. The few 32bit games I play crash it. ESO and Rocket League.
    I, too, have run what test I can. Memtest86, HDMonitor, etc. All is well. I have a monitor open while I play, as my crashes are freezes. Thereby I can see the frozen readings left on screen. All temps, usage and voltages are completely normal.
    Intermediate problems are a bear as is, add in a poorly coded game and gaming life gets frustrating.
    Why mostly play Fallout 4 these days......
    <X-Raided>
  • Wily_Wizard
    Wily_Wizard
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    OK, nevermind about enabling VM. It didn't last 10 minutes before the 1st crash. Will try your solution next.
  • Wily_Wizard
    Wily_Wizard
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    Tried your solution, underclocked my RAM and crashed almost immediately. *sighs*



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