Can a heavily modded Skyrim cause a blue screen of death?

JohnD77 · Jun 5, 2014

More specifically, can a heavily modded Skyrim cause a hardware failure BSOD. I've gotten already 10 bluescreens caused by the same thing, each dump file says the same thing and somewhere it says it's a hardware failure and it only happens when I'm playing Skyrim, which I have heavily modded. I can understand the game crashing to desktop but a bluescreen? and even worse a hardware failure bluescreen? I've already ran diagnostics and stress tests on my hardware and I never get any problems except when I play Skyrim, and my system can handle it. I have:
- 8GB of RAM
- i7-4770k 3.5ghz processor
- 750w power supply
- Nvidia GTX 780 graphics card

logang · Jun 5, 2014

What failure codes are you getting? Can you tell us anything more specific? Also, how did you stress test your computer? Does this only occur after the game is running for a while or is the duration the game is running before crash random?

JohnD77 · Jun 5, 2014

This is what I get in bluescreenview:

Dump File:
060414-4578-01.dmp

Bug Check Code:
0x00000124

Parameter 1:
00000000`00000000

Parameter 2:
ffffe001`a61e7028

Parameter 3:
00000000`bf800000

Parameter 4:
00000000`00000124

Caused By Driver:
hal.dll

Caused By Address:
hal.dll+37203

Processor:
x64

Crash Address:
ntoskrnl.exe+153fa0

Processors Count:
8

Major Version:
15

Minor Version:
9600

Dump File Size:
297,696

logang · Jun 5, 2014

Are any of your components overclocked?

Pinhedd · Jun 5, 2014

JohnD77 :

This is a complicated question.

In general, under Windows NT variants (Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1) a program cannot cause a BSoD. The technical reason behind this isn't particularly complicated but it's not important enough to discuss at the moment. However, the system APIs that program uses may have a path to a kernel device driver; DirectX is one such example. If there's a bug somewhere in that path that causes the kernel driver to enter an inconsistent or irrecoverable state then this can cause a BSoD.

A heavily modded installation of Skyrim is unlikely to cause a BSoD unless that installation contains tweaks that are not a part of Bethesda's modding API. For example, installing additional graphics mods may expose latent bugs which can cause a BSoD. However, Microsoft, AMD, and NVidia work very hard to reduce bugs in the kernel and kernel-level device drivers, which should result in fewer BSoDs and more application crashes.

JohnD77 · Jun 5, 2014

logang :

nope

JohnD77 · Jun 5, 2014

And btw a friend of mine who works at geek squad ran a full system stress test thats built into some software they use at the store and it passed everything. And theres no specific time that the bluescreen occurs, it can be a few minutes after opening the game or a few hours.

JohnD77 · Jun 5, 2014

Pinhedd :

JohnD77 :

This is a complicated question.

In general, under Windows NT variants (Windows NT, 2000, XP, Vista, 7, 8, 8.1) a program cannot cause a BSoD. The technical reason behind this isn't particularly complicated but it's not important enough to discuss at the moment. However, the system APIs that program uses may have a path to a kernel device driver; DirectX is one such example. If there's a bug somewhere in that path that causes the kernel driver to enter an inconsistent or irrecoverable state then this can cause a BSoD.

A heavily modded installation of Skyrim is unlikely to cause a BSoD unless that installation contains tweaks that are not a part of Bethesda's modding API. For example, installing additional graphics mods may expose latent bugs which can cause a BSoD. However, Microsoft, AMD, and NVidia work very hard to reduce bugs in the kernel and kernel-level device drivers, which should result in fewer BSoDs and more application crashes.

So basically it's highly unlikely that it's the game?....what can you conclude viewing the bluescreenview results I posted?

Pinhedd · Jun 5, 2014

JohnD77 :

If the BSoD appears to show the exacts same details every single time, and is always caused by the same program then this indicates fairly deterministic behaviour and that the cause is most likely a bug in your heavily modded Skyrim. If you have installed modded or patched dlls then one of them is most likely the cause. It is often possible to override core system libraries (DLL is short for Dynamically Linked Library) by placing other versions of the same library with the same name and metadata earlier on in the search path, and the search path often starts with the directory in which the file was invoked. This is discouraged, as it can cause bugs, but is sometimes needed to enable mods, tweaks, or disabled features.

The only thing that I can tell from the crash dump that you posted is that your CPU freaked out with a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION and indicated a fatal error that required the machine to halt.

JohnD77 · Jun 5, 2014

Pinhedd :

JohnD77 :

If the BSoD appears to show the exacts same details every single time, and is always caused by the same program then this indicates fairly deterministic behaviour and that the cause is most likely a bug in your heavily modded Skyrim. If you have installed modded or patched dlls then one of them is most likely the cause. It is often possible to override core system libraries (DLL is short for Dynamically Linked Library) by placing other versions of the same library with the same name and metadata earlier on in the search path, and the search path often starts with the directory in which the file was invoked. This is discouraged, as it can cause bugs, but is sometimes needed to enable mods, tweaks, or disabled features.

The only thing that I can tell from the crash dump that you posted is that your CPU freaked out with a MACHINE_CHECK_EXCEPTION and indicated a fatal error that required the machine to halt.

Thanks man you've been very informative, I appreciate it. Anyway I'm a bit embarrased to say that I never checked my CPU temps while playing, and I did just now (something I should have done long ago). My CPU is reaching 90 degrees celsuis. I did spawn quite a few NPCs to check but I'm gonna play a normal game this time for a few mins and check. If I still reach 90 I guess it's time I get another cooling unit, I never upgraded it and left the stock cooler on, thinking my CPU could handle any game thrown at it (a bit ignorant of me). I'll take it from here, thanks to all who replied.

Pinhedd · Jun 5, 2014

JohnD77 :

Pinhedd :

Thanks man you've been very informative, I appreciate it. Anyway I'm a bit embarrased to say that I never checked my CPU temps while playing, and I did just now (something I should have done long ago). My CPU is reaching 90 degrees celsuis. I did spawn quite a few NPCs to check but I'm gonna play a normal game this time for a few mins and check. If I still reach 90 I guess it's time I get another cooling unit, I never upgraded it and left the stock cooler on, thinking my CPU could handle any game thrown at it (a bit ignorant of me). I'll take it from here, thanks to all who replied.

90 degrees centigrade is extreme, especially for a stock configuration. It is not necessarily going to cause a BSoD though. Intel CPUs will begin to throttle back when they hit 90 degrees, and if thermals do not come under control (possibly indicating a cooling failure) it will shut off without warning; the kernel has no warning of this and will not be able to notify you of the failure until it is powered back up. If the temperatures do result in instability, the result is usually not deterministic; crashes and freezes may happen spontaneously and in different fashions. The BSoD may be related, but it is not necessarily related.

JohnD77 · Jun 5, 2014

Pinhedd :

JohnD77 :

90 degrees centigrade is extreme, especially for a stock configuration. It is not necessarily going to cause a BSoD though. Intel CPUs will begin to throttle back when they hit 90 degrees, and if thermals do not come under control (possibly indicating a cooling failure) it will shut off without warning; the kernel has no warning of this and will not be able to notify you of the failure until it is powered back up. If the temperatures do result in instability, the result is usually not deterministic; crashes and freezes may happen spontaneously and in different fashions. The BSoD may be related, but it is not necessarily related.

That makes me a bit uneasy again lol. I had enhanced intel speedstep technology enabled in my BIOS and now I disabled it to play with that disabled and see if the problem goes away. I remember reading another post where someone had issues playing with that feature enabled and the issues stopped once he disabled it. Can't really say it has anything to do with my issue but I won't find out until I play for a few days with it disabled.

skyhelper · Jun 7, 2014

You are using a video card that requires nvidia drivers and can be overclocked. Check to seer if your video card nhas been overclocked, by using free overclocking software, such as EVGA PRECISION X, and then resetting your card back to the default clock speeds (uninstall and reinstall your video drivers). otherwise, if you have the wrong video drivers installed, or beta drivers installed, it is possible to have problems also, especially when using a lot of mods, so you should find and install these drivers for that video card: nvidia 337.88 (for whatever Windows version you use)

Then I HIGHLY, HIGHLY recommend you read The Skyrim Repair Manual: http://www.scribd.com/doc/226935923/JJ-s-Skyrim-Repair-Manual

He also has powerful ENB files you can use after you follow his guide.

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