More Awesome Than You!

I am getting, as the name suggests, a complete system crash. I have a dual core processor - 3GHz, onboard sound, an NVIDIA GeForce GTS 450 and am running Windows7. My drivers are up to date. The crash is repeating but not repeatable and it does not generate any error reports.

I currently have in my game a collection of un-updated textures and meshes, CMARs ear sliders, updated mods from BlueGenJitsu, Twoftmama, Twallen, velocitygrass and, of course, Pescado - but I do not think that this is CC related.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to what would make Sims, and only Sims, crash my entire computer?


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Something somebody said made me think and I deleted every piece of EA content I had. Now the game seems to be running smoothly. It'll take time to see if this 'fix' holds, especially as I add back in some specific store content, but it may just have been the sheer weight of EA crap killing my machine.

Find the setting to make the BSoD show if you haven't already, and google the shit out of the error code. Otherwise I think  your guess is as good as ours.

After last crash system refused to boot on first try - it made mechanical start up noises (ie first rev of power supply) but never made it to quieter 'working' stage nor (of course) POST beep.

As far as Googling error code, first I'll have to Google how to turn on BSoD.

You might want to check internal temperatures; I bluescreened a lot before I got a laptop cooler.

Madame Mim, the fact that it didn't start up suggests it may be an issue with your Motherboard. I had an issue a few years back that sounds incredibly similar to this problem. It was throwing up error messages that identified every other part of the system, then eventually the Mobo died.

In case it isn't though, make sure you back your data up.

Jesus' suggestion about internal temperatures may also be really helpful. When I was having an issue with heat on an older computer a few years ago, someone gave me an internal temperature sensor, the programs exist on the net that show you the internal temperature of your pc. If that turns out to be the issue, you could even take the side off your PC to help keep it cool. Also, check for dust inside your machine, and make sure to clean it out regularly, that can contribute to heat issues.

I would recommend HWMonitor, which gives detailed information on multiple parts of the computer.

Might be your video card.  It might be worth opening the case and checking the card's capacitors.  When my last card died, it damaged the motherboard which in turn caused POST errors.

I presume Windoze 7 has an event viewer, I'm pretty sure I found one on a student's laptop. Try right clicking Computer/Manage/Event Viewer, or google where is is on your system. Often the logs there will record error codes you can google.

Even after enabling the ability to see the BSoD it was not displayed - either I missed a step or it isn't relevant to this crash.

Temperatures within normal parameters.

Error lists:-
Critical: Kernel Power: The system has rebooted without cleanly shutting down first. This error could be caused if the system stopped responding, crashed, or lost power unexpectedly. - Effect not Affect report.
Error: Kernel Event Tracing: Session "Circular Kernel Context Logger" failed to start with the following error: 0xC0000035 - normal and not relevant according to web
Error: Event Log: The previous system shutdown at 11:50:18 AM on ‎23/‎10/‎2011 was unexpected. - see item 1.
Warning: Wininit: Custom dynamic link libraries are being loaded for every application. The system administrator should review the list of libraries to ensure they are related to trusted applications. - I have no idea, researching now.
and a bunch of informational messages I'm assuming are more about reboot than anything.

The motherboard thought is interesting. I have been getting complaints about intelliTouch, intelliClick and one of my sound card files on boot up occassionally even though the programs have all been working perfectally.

Does this only happen during or after the sims has been played or does this happen at any time? I'm willing to bet with it NOT wanting to start up, you've got either a bad power supply, or a bad connection between the power switch and the pinouts on the motherboard grounding themselves out to your case (highly unlikely). Or, like everyone else is saying, your motherboard is going to die. And soon. Make sure you're getting adequate cooling, but if the damage has been done there's really nothing you can do to reverse it.