C000005 Exception Code crash on all Games

[BobTheSkull]

Hi, I've had this problem for about 2 months now and I've looked in just about every corner of the interwebs for SOME kind of fix... to no avail. I've noticed that this problem has been posted here a few times too, but never really been fully diagnosed. (From the threads I've read through.)

So, before I go any further, I have run various diagnostic tests on my Hardware and found no errors. All my drivers are fully up to date. I've rolled back to older versions of drivers that I *know* work and they don't make any difference. I've swapped out my graphics card for a different one with no difference. I've swept my registry, and drivers before reinstalling. I've changed HDDs.

I'm not getting any BSOD. Every time I run a game, any game, it runs for anywhere from 5 to 30 mins before the program crashes with a general '***.exe has stopped working, do you wish to close it' error. Every single error report contains the same line 'Exception Code: c0000005'. I know this is a memory error, but according to my memtests, there is no problem. The only thing I have not swapped out is my RAM, which I have seen in some places as being a possible cause. It can't be the memory on the Graphic card as the same problem occurred after changing to a brand new card.

This crept up on me. Before the problem began, there were no updates (game or drivers) for weeks. Absolutely no hardware changes. No software changes. No changes in anything whatsoever. Then one day every game I played crashed.

This seems to be a fairly common problem that plagues not only games, but other programs for some people. It's been around for a good long while, and still, it seems, there are no hard and fast fixes. In fact, after how long this problem has been around, there is still no consensus on what, exactly, the problem actually is!

I know this sounds quite harsh, but over the last 2 months of wading through hundreds of forums and sites, (and trying to dodge the despicable number of bogus sites trying to trick people into installing malware/virus' to 'fix the c000005 problem') i'm beginning to think i'm faced with having to buy a completely new computer and starting from scratch.

I have a nVidia GeForce 8800GTS 640Mb, 2Gb RAM, Creative X-Fi GamerPro Soundcard, 1Tb Seagate Baracuda, Windows 7 Ultimate 64.

Here is a list of 4 of the game reports that have occurred;

Fallout 3

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Fallout3.exe
Application Version: 1.7.0.3
Application Timestamp: 4a40f18b
Fault Module Name: Fallout3.exe
Fault Module Version: 1.7.0.3
Fault Module Timestamp: 4a40f18b
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 0040df05
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789




Binding of Isaac

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: Isaac.exe
Application Version: 1.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 4da19492
Fault Module Name: StackHash_de48
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 00000000
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 05c01f44
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: de48
Additional Information 2: de4896b1fd9280ac65995e9a46f9b1cc
Additional Information 3: 485e
Additional Information 4: 485e86cc5a1e0331e8e523c0216536d4




Team Fortress 2

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: APPCRASH
Application Name: hl2.exe
Application Version: 0.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 4f6cfb24
Fault Module Name: client.dll
Fault Module Version: 0.0.0.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 4fab02af
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Offset: 004276e2
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789



Portal 2

Problem signature:
Problem Event Name: BEX
Application Name: portal2.exe
Application Version: 0.0.0.0
Application Timestamp: 4d4c804d
Fault Module Name: DbgHelp.dll
Fault Module Version: 6.7.5.0
Fault Module Timestamp: 460c0089
Exception Offset: 0011485b
Exception Code: c0000005
Exception Data: 00000008
OS Version: 6.1.7601.2.1.0.256.1
Locale ID: 2057
Additional Information 1: 0a9e
Additional Information 2: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789
Additional Information 3: 0a9e
Additional Information 4: 0a9e372d3b4ad19135b953a78882e789

 

[writhziden]

These can be due to registry damage due to using registry cleaners. You say no hardware or software changes were made, but were you using a registry cleaner at the time. I saw that you mentioned sweeping the registry after uninstalling and re-installing games, so that leads me to wonder if your games and Windows software are damaged due to such activity.

• Many of us on the forums actually do not recommend automated optimization tools for Windows 7. Windows 7 does a much better job of handling its own optimization than its predecessors did. We especially do not recommend registry cleaning as an "optimization" step because automated registry cleaning causes more harm to the registry than it actually repairs.
  
  In the future, if you need help optimizing Windows 7, please post a thread in Performance & Maintenance - Windows 7 Forums or follow the tutorial enclosed in that forum to http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorial...ws-7-a.html?filter[2]=Performance Maintenance.

Have you tried a fresh install of Windows to see if the problem remains? http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/219487-clean-reinstall-factory-oem-windows-7-a.html#post1839164

 

[BobTheSkull]

The problems were all existent before the activity mentioned. Also, they were all performed on the advice of various people on a number of forums attempting to help others with the exact same problem. I never go near the registry unless I really really have to! Until a month ago, no 3rd party tools had been used on this system.

And, yes, a clean install on a brand new drive failed to fix the problem. I'm convinced it's either the RAM (although the diags said they were clean) or something on the Motherboard, though quite what that could be, I've no idea...

There were no updates to OS, hardware or games at the time, nor were there any crashes that could have caused a corruption. The system was very stable. And still is, as long as I don't run a game!

This is hands down the most frustrating problem I have ever had in the 20 years i've been using PC's!

 

[writhziden]

First, let's check the RAM compatibility and possible conflicts:

• Download and install CPU-Z and Upload screenshots of the CPU, Mainboard, Memory, and SPD tabs. In the SPD tab, upload an image of each slot.
  
  Also, go into your BIOS and post all Voltages (CPU, RAM, NB, IMC, etc.) and all RAM settings (timings, frequency, etc.)
  
  Thanks to Dave76 for help learning RAM Stability

 

[BobTheSkull]

All settings in my BIOS are set to 'AUTO'

The only actual figures I found in there pertaining to voltage were;
VCore - 1.34
3.3V - 3.37
5V - 4.99
12V - 12.03

All the screens requested are attached in PNG format. I took 2 of the RAM tab as when I took the first screen, the DRAM Frequency jumped to nearly double.

 

[writhziden]

RAM should be stable at those settings. How many passes did you run the memory diagnostics for? What diagnostics did you run? Further reading: Finicky RAM.

Also, please follow the http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html to provide us with your event viewer logs and system info. That includes information about application errors, crashes, and hangs.