Solved Games Stopped Working at Splash Screen

[Deanos63]

Hi all,

I am a bit stressed at the moment with a serious problem I have trying to run some of my games, and joined this forum especially for this reason as a last resort to see if ANYONE can help me with the stupid problem I am having.

This happens to some of my games that I click to open but end up with a "game has stopped working and needs to close" error.

Now at first I thought it was just STEAM games, but as I delved deeper and tried different games, it turns out that it doesn't seem to be the case! Also, it only seems to be happening to graphic intense games, which lead me to believe it was a graphic card/driver problem. However, I have deleted all drivers for my card, used driver sweeper, in safe mode fresh install etc.

Games I am having problemsd with:
Race 07 + Addons GTR Evo etc (steam)
Nascar Racing 2003 Season (Non-Steam)
Burnout Paradise (Non-Steam)
RFactor (Non-Steam)
FSX (Non-Steam)

Doesn't seem to happen with games like Football Manager, Half Life 2.

Anyway, I have tried everything Google can throw at me I have created Mini-Dumps for all the games above and I have been able to open the dump file and analyze it. Which I can post at request.

I can see a few errors with certain files, but I need to know what is normal and what is not.

I think if i can solve the problem for 1 of those games I will find the problem overall, because it seems to much of a coincedence for those games all to have the same error but with different files causing each one.

If I take Nascar Racing 2003 Season as one of those examples, this is the minidump created by the game:


Loading Dump File [E:\dumps\NR2003.DMP]
User Mini Dump File with Full Memory: Only application data is available

Symbol search path is: *** Invalid ***
****************************************************************************
* Symbol loading may be unreliable without a symbol search path. *
* Use .symfix to have the debugger choose a symbol path. *
* After setting your symbol path, use .reload to refresh symbol locations. *
****************************************************************************
Executable search path is:
Windows 7 Version 7601 (Service Pack 1) MP (8 procs) Free x64
Product: WinNt, suite: SingleUserTS Personal
Machine Name:
Debug session time: Sun Sep 4 12:26:36.000 2011 (UTC + 1:00)
System Uptime: 0 days 2:57:24.496
Process Uptime: 0 days 0:00:21.000
...........................................WARNING: samcli overlaps dinput
.............WARNING: winspool overlaps version
...WARNING: SortServer2003Compat overlaps shunimpl
.....
..........
*** ERROR: Symbol file could not be found. Defaulted to export symbols for ntdll.dll -
*** ERROR: Symbol file could not be found. Defaulted to export symbols for wow64cpu.dll -
wow64cpu!TurboDispatchJumpAddressEnd+0x6c0:
00000000`738c2e09 c3 ret

I know how to analyze the files, so if you want any of that info just ask.

But if anyone can help me interpret what I am getting, hopefully I can get to the bottom of it.

I have included my DXDIAG file for my system so that will tell you all the info you need to know.

Just one more thing, i think I have tried all the basic stuff to sort this out.

Thanks in advance

Dean

 

[seth500]

Try a gpu stress test you may have overheating issue's.
FurMark: VGA Stress Test, Graphics Card and GPU Stability Test, Burn-in Test, OpenGL Benchmark and GPU Temperature | oZone3D.Net

Also go ahead and follow this tutorial it will help collect a lot of helpful information. Then upload it..
http://www.sevenforums.com/crashes-debugging/96879-blue-screen-death-bsod-posting-instructions.html

 

[Deanos63]

I'll give anything ago at the moment, I must add that all these games have been working at some point, however I haven't played them for a few months, it was only when I tried to play one the other day lead me to do a bit more scratching of the surface to discover more games were effected, but that have all worked at some point.

Thanks for the quick reply, by the way.

 

[seth500]

No worries your welcome..

 

[Deanos63]

ok i have included the BSOD report.

I had an error trying to generate a system health report,

"An error occured while attempting to generate the report.


The interface is unknown. "

I also can't view event viewer, not sure if they are related?

I will perform a stress test now. and let yo know the results.

Regards

 

[seth500]

After you run the gpu test run a cpu test as well. http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/100352-cpu-stress-test-prime95.html

The reason why is I'm seeing a very serious hardware error thats pointing toward the cpu and a not so serious one to the video card atikmdag.sys.

Just wondering are you overclocking in anyway shape or form?

 

[Deanos63]

yes I have over clocked the I7. Stock is 3.07GHz, I have over clocked to 3.61GHz.

This was done over 9 Months ago and have run the games fine and I seem to have no problems with it. Of coarse at the time I ran a stress test on the CPU to make sure it was stable and passed all burn in tests.

I am guessing your next solution would be to put the CPU back to stock?

 

[Deanos63]

By the way I just ran the GPU test for 20 Minutes with no problems.

 

[seth500]

Well the first 3 dump files were back at the beginning of the year and the latest all point to your ati driver. I would set the cpu back to stock and see if that changes the results the only thing you'll lose really is a lot of heat and make sure the cpu fins are blown out and clean..overclocking just makes the system instability rise, I would tame it and see how it goes..

The last dump file on record is from april of this year. So if we have to we can run driver verifier and make your system blue screen to see if we can get a current minidump..

 

[Deanos63]

yeah back at the beginning of the year, this would make sense. I had the CPU at 3.8GHz, but was experiencing crashes during games, discovered the CPU was overheating due to the over clock, so brought it down to 3.6GHz and never experienced any problems since (until now of coarse).

I will bring it back down, maybe a dust build up over the months has made it heat up faster, bear in mind I built the system brand new in December 2010.

I'll let you know what happens.

 

[seth500]

OK Dean sounds good..

 

[Deanos63]

I just brought the CPU back down to 3.1GHz and I still am getting the same issues.

I also agree the problem seems to be with the ATi driver but I have done a complete reinstall of the drivers etc. so I can't see why that would be a problem? But everything seems to be pointing towards that?

My head is hurting, I'm going to bed for now will resume this tomorrow afternoon.

One more thing, I did a SFC Scan and found errors it couldn't fix, I have attached the log, maybe that may help shed some light. My analysis of it, after searching for "cannot repair" 4 came up all with the UIautomationcore.dll file. Now this may be normal, it may not, once again my technical knowledge stops there. Maybe you may have some thoughts on this?

Regards

 

[Deanos63]

Ok, So I went for the display driver approach. I completely removed all my current display drivers and software, restarted in safe mode ran driver sweeper and removed all the remaining files.

I downloaded ATi 11.2, which is the driver package used back at the beginning of the year, because this is when I knew my games worked perfectly, so my theory was if they ran with these drivers then they should run now with those drivers.

This has failed, I have the same problem even with well out dated drivers that I knew worked before.

So I don't think it is the display drivers specifically.

When in the menu to select safe mode, I noticed I had a windows memory diagnostic tool, so I have also given that a run and it passed all tests. (not really sure what it was testing).

I have also uninstalled drivers for my gamepad as that has been installed recently, so has my mouse but have decided to leave that alone as I need it at the moment.

In all of my minidumps I have :- ERROR: Symbol file could not be found. Defaulted to export symbols for ntdll.dll, not sure if this is significant?

going to and cry now

 

[seth500]

Hey Dean how many times did you run the sfc /scannow? Sometimes it takes a few times to fix bad errors. When you run a search for the UIAutomationCore.dll does it show up?

 

[Deanos63]

Hi Seth,

Ran it only a couple of times, will give it more.

That file shows up in the log I attatched in the above post. I can find it on my pc, I think I deleted it and it came back after a reboot with a padlock next to it. I can't check for sure at the moment as I am running memtest86+ at the moment to eliminate bad memory sticks.

When that is done I shall give sfc /scan a few more tries.

Thanks Seth, your being a great help.

 

[Deanos63]

UIAutomationCore.dll is in system32 and FSX folder.

I ran Memtest86 and it passed with no errors found.

Is chkdsk different to sfc /scannow? and if it is would it be worth running that? and how?

also if I enter the screen where I can select safemode on boot up, I have options to run windows repair etc? If i run a repair will I lose any data?

 

[seth500]

UIAutomationCore.dll is in system32 and FSX folder.

I ran Memtest86 and it passed with no errors found.

Is chkdsk different to sfc /scannow? and if it is would it be worth running that? and how?

also if I enter the screen where I can select safemode on boot up, I have options to run windows repair etc? If i run a repair will I lose any data?

>You run chkdsk by opening a command prompt and typing either chkdsk /f which is the quick repair most people use or chkdsk /r which is the long repair which checks for bad sectors as well on the disk. It can take a while depending on the size of the disk.

>Running a windows repair from that mode is safe and you will not lose any data. You can do those it most definitely wouldn't hurt.

What I would like to do is replace that UIAutomationCore.dll with the version of windows that you have is it professional, ultimate, ect?

 

[Wishmaster]

Have you tried updating your DirectX as well?


The dll seems to be corrupt and can not be repaired.
If Im not mistaken, this will close a game if it thinks theres a problem, such as memory errors etc.
So if its corrupt, it will likely always cause a issue.

Assuming the CPU/RAM/GPU etc has all tested good, it would be pretty safe to say its not a hardware issue.


You may try booting into safemode and attempt the repairs again.
A repair install wouldn't hurt either.


If the file can not be repaired, it will need to be replaced. Which will require some extra effort. Because they can not be deleted by default.



--Do you happen to have a system image somewhere? Or possibly a system restore point?
A image prior to the problem would be ideal.

 

[Deanos63]

I have Windows 7 Home Premium 64bit.

Just to let you know there is a small padlock next to the UIAutomationCore.dll in system32, not sure if that makes a difference.

@Wishmaster So far all the burn in tests and the memtests have not produced any errors, plus I'm not getting any crashes any other times, so hopefully it isn't a hardware fault.

I have tried to re-install direct x 11, however the installer from the microsoft site will not overwrite the one on my system as it is the most up to date.

I will continue with a chkdsk and and possible try it in safemode, along with another go at sfc /scannow in sfaemode.

I have 3 HDD, the windows operating system is on a 60GB SSD, I'm assuming I just check that disk, see as that has the system files on it?

Cheers for your help

 

[seth500]

Have you tried updating your DirectX as well?


The dll seems to be corrupt and can not be repaired.
If Im not mistaken, this will close a game if it thinks theres a problem, such as memory errors etc.
So if its corrupt, it will likely always cause a issue.

Assuming the CPU/RAM/GPU etc has all tested good, it would be pretty safe to say its not a hardware issue.


You may try booting into safemode and attempt the repairs again.

If it can not be repaired, it will need to be replaced.
Which may possibly mean a repair/re-install.

Wishmaster it could not be replaced then if you took ownership of it renamed it then replaced it with the original from the dvd disk of windows?