Oh, look, another person experiencing random crash to desktop. Help please :)

Yes, I see the double post.

All you can do is run stability tests and see if Battlefield continues to be the only app that crashes. If so then it seems likely the crashing is due to software code errors by the Battlefield game developers.

HCI MemTest is the best RAM stability tester I've ever used. It blows MemTest86 out of the water. HCI MemTest found RAM errors on my system that MemTest86 never detected.

https://hcidesign.com/memtest/

The free version of HCI MemTest isn't user friendly because a bunch of memory testing windows need to be manually launched. Ideally you'd have 12 or more windows open and the CPU usage would be around 90% from all the memory testing going on. The Pro version launches multiple instances of memory tests automatically.

Thanks again for replying. I'll give HCI MemTest a go. 

Incidentally, I have done a number of additional diagnostic tests / changes. I have run a BIOS update. Stupidly, I was a couple of versions behind and one of them specifically mentions 13th and 14th gen Intel CPU fixes however, given that everything else on the system was actually working fine, I work on the premise that if it ain't broke, don't fix it (at least to a degree) so didn't consider a BIOS update (Remiss on my part to be fair). 

The problem here is that now, my user profile in Windows is messed up.   Logging in, I get periods of freezing in general OS usage for up to 15 or so seconds and I'm now getting a GPU Driver time out. None of which occurred before the BIOS update 🤦 (looks up at the sky and exclaims FFS!!!)

However, this purely seems to be just my primary user profile. I'd already created a secondary profile on my PC a few weeks back as I wanted to see if BF2042 would crash in that profile which, at that time it did.

However, when switching to the secondary user profile last night, I didn't get any OS freezes at all so I know that is something specifically to my old one.  Obviously something has become corrupted in there after the BIOS update (a bit strange).

Now, interestingly, I did log into BF2042 in the secondary profile last night and was able to play two rounds back to back with ZERO crashes. This of course doesn't mean that it won't start to crash again but I'm very much hoping the BIOS update and so called fixes for 13th/14th Gen CPU's will do the trick.

IF, I manage to get a couple of weeks stable gaming from the secondary profile, I'll completely ditch the old one (as opposed to formatting and rs-installing Windows; at least for the time being anyway).

I'll get there eventually....  

That's unusual a bios update corrupted Windows. I'm glad to hear you got a couple crash free games in.

One thing I just remembered about HCI Memtest is it will start testing the page file on the SSD drive if the test size exceeds the amount of free RAM available.

I had the page file disabled on my PC so MemTest would tell me "no more RAM available" when I ran out of available free RAM. All this is mentioned in the Memtest manual on the website.

You definitely don't want to test the pagefile because then MemTest turns into a SSD test instead of a RAM test.

Yeah a BIOS update shouldn't technically upset Windows although, a lot of what is configured in the BIOS can influence functionality of specific parts of the OS I guess. Either way, something screwed up in my primary profile (it could just be coincidence, and a corrupt set of files has decided to really throw their toys out of the pram). The good thing is that the secondary profile seems to be very stable. 

Thanks for the heads up on Memtest.  I do have a pagefile so it should be ok if it does dip into it.  I have 64Gb system RAM so hopefully, it'll not need to but either way, I'll give that app a go tomorrow.

yes. same on cbox here

Ok So, post BIOS Update and Post changing to secondary profile.

Day 1 Update: 

I have just played For 2hrs 30 minutes without a single crash to desktop or lockup.  Super smooth game play.

I had one single period where I stuttered briefly and I got the error message "AMD software detected that a driver timeout has occurred" (as mentioned previously above that I'd seen in my primary now corrupted profile). 

Now, having searched this error on Reddit, I came across a reply from someone who advised custom tuning the card and not going with Auto tuning as he believes it auto OC's the card beyond the Max Boost Clock speed (when I checked, it was hitting over 3000Mhz) and causes the driver time out.  I set a max clock speed of 2680Mhz and I didn't see that error again.  I imagine this will be resolved 100% by a full OS reinstall (if not, I have a solution and I'll test how high I can set the Max clock speed that maintains stability).

I even enabled Eyefinity and Virtual Super Resolution and played for a few minutes at a resolution of 7680x2160 across both monitors  (I have 2 x 32" 4K monitors) and maintained a solid 60fps. My monitors are 60hz so yeah... 60fps is my max (I may sell these and get two new ones with higher refresh rates at some point).

Previously when I tried that, it did not like it at all. Now, it's like I'm not even pushing the hardware.  No aiming reticle due to monitor bezels sucked but I'm wouldn't play BF in this config normally anyway. I just wanted to test it.

So, for the first time in a long time, I've had an uninterrupted 99% problem free night.  I will continue to test over 7 - 10 days.

I may not even need to do the MemTest if this remains stable.  Here's hoping 🤞

Just some specs about my GPU..
Stock clock speed 

The retail AMD Radeon RX 7900 XTX has a GPU clock of 1929 MHz and a boost clock of 2498 MHz

Overclocked clock speed  (I have the card mentioned below)

The Sapphire Nitro+ card can reach an average clock speed of 2832 MHz

So, I could probably go as high as 2832 and maintain stability (preventing the auto OC).  I have no need to manually OC this card

I'll test some other games and video editing out over the next 10 days.

This from Microsoft, December 27, 2024. Not entirely related to your issue, your problem is only with Battlefield. However, some over lapping points from previous posts may help you.

Hi

Welcome to Microsoft community.  

The error messages you're encountering, "The instruction at 0x%p referenced memory at 0x%p. The memory could not be %s" along with "EXCEPTION_ACCESS_VIOLATION," indicate memory access violations, which can be due to either software or hardware issues. Here's a breakdown of potential causes and steps to further diagnose and possibly resolve the problem:

• Exception Code c0000005: This is typically an access violation, meaning the program tried to access memory it's not allowed to access or memory that does not exist.
• Memory Access Issues in Multiple Games: The fact that you're seeing similar errors in both Valorant and Dead by Daylight suggests a common underlying problem, possibly not related to the games themselves but rather to your system.

You've done a commendable amount of troubleshooting. Further Diagnostic Steps:

1. Stress Testing:
   • CPU and GPU Stress Tests: Use tools to check if either is unstable under load, which might not show in your previous tests.
2. Memory Testing:
   • Although you've tested RAM separately, consider using a more thorough tool for an extended period (overnight if possible) to catch any intermittent issues.
3. Power Supply Check:
   • An unstable or insufficient power supply can lead to crashes. If possible, test with another known good PSU or monitor your PSU's performance under load.
4. Driver Conflicts:
   • Even with updated drivers, conflicts can occur. Try rolling back to previous driver versions or using a tool like DDU (Display Driver Uninstaller) for a clean driver install.
5. System Overclocks:
   • If any component is overclocked, try setting everything back to default speeds to see if stability improves.
6. Check for Overheating:
   • Use software to check if components are overheating, which can cause crashes.
7. Compatibility Issues:
   • Ensure all hardware components are compatible with each other and with your version of Windows.
8. Professional Diagnosis:
   • If you're still at a loss, consider taking your PC to a professional for hardware diagnostics, especially focusing on the motherboard and CPU.

Given the extensive troubleshooting you've already done, if these additional steps don't reveal a clear issue, it might be a rare hardware fault like a failing motherboard or CPU that might not show up in typical tests.

The fact that you're the only one reporting this specific issue on these game forums does suggest it could be isolated to your PC configuration or environment. If all else fails, consider a clean install of Windows if the issue persists after checking hardware integrity.

I'm glad to hear things are going well. I definitely recommend getting a high refresh rate monitor with FreeSync if you plan on playing a lot of video games.

OLED monitors are the best because they have the fastest pixel response time and no input lag penalty when HDR is enabled. LCD monitors with local dimming add a lot of input lag when HDR is enabled due to local dimming processing time.

Monitors Unboxed channel on YouTube has great monitor reviews.

Cool, once again, I really appreciate all of the recommendations you have made.   It's really refreshing to ask for help, post ridiculously long posts of my own and actually get extremely helpful and non-judgemental replies.  Especially in a day and age where so many people on the net don't need  much of an opportunity to be unpleasant to others.

After all of the various diags, I am certainly leaning towards your suggestion that the 13th/14th gen CPU had issues, and this (🤞) has been rectified by the BIOS update. 

I am however, still absolutely baffled as to why this would affect one single title but I'm done trying to understand that now and will just accept it as being what it is 😂

I'll post back after the weekend with just a progress update on stability and with a bit of luck, mark the conversation as resolved by the end of next week.

Thought I'd just drop back in with another update. 

So, it's been almost a month and I've not had one single crash to desktop in BF2042. This is pretty much the most stable it has ever been. 

So, in summary, I do believe that the BIOS update to rectify faults with "defective" 14th Gen i9 CPU's has been the saviour.

After updating the BIOS, it did seem to royally screw over my installation of Windows 11 within my primary profile. I would literally get entire lockups of the system for perhaps 15 -20 seconds. Intensive Memory and M.2 Sector scans revealed absolutely NO faults there.  Strange that a BIOS update would do this however, there are QUITE a lot of BIOS settings that directly hook into the OS so clearly the OS didn't like the changes made.

A secondary profile created was significantly more stable and experienced almost no locking up. Prior to the BIOS update, the computer would have no lockups at all but BF was a mess (just BF, no other title or app).

Anyway, I finally got round to running a full disk partition deletion, re-creation and brand new installation of Windows 11. 

Since doing that, everything has been running absolutely sweet. No system, lockups,  extremely fast and responsive and and ZERO crashes of any form in BF2042. I can even flick to a browser window again mid-game which was something I was unable to do for some time either.

• So, in Summary if you are experiencing crashes in BF2042 and you've done everything you can to get to the bottom of it.
• Make a backup of your current BIOS and any important files you may have on the PC. 
• Update your Motherboards BIOS, reset to optimised defaults and re-configure as necessary
• Re-install your entire OS

This hopefully, will resolve any issues you're having.

Thanks again to those who offered assistance and of course OskooI_007 for mentioning the defective Intel CPUs.

Hopefully my experience and final resulting success will help others.

And just for fun, here is the offending PITA machine 😁

This was taken at the default preset but I soon changed it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lYRfMZVuMCI

This is the current colour set up (BF colours 😉- Yes I do like RGB stuff haha )