[PC] Instruction at 0x%p referenced memory at 0x%p. The memory could not be %s.

Product: Battlefield 2042
Platform: PC
Please specify your platform model. PC
AMD or Nvidia Model Number NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3080 GA102
Enter RAM memory size in GB 32
Are you using any software with an overlay? No
Which part of the game is the issue happening in? Game Menu
In which game menu were you when the bug occurred? First loading into the game
Please select your region Europe
On which server did this happen? All
When did this happen? (dd.mm.yy hh:mm) All the time
Summarize your bug Error Code: (NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005 Error Description: The instruction at 0x%p referenced memory at 0x%p. The memory could not be %s.
How often does the bug occur? Often (50% - 99%)
Steps: How can we find the bug ourselves? Please see the Additional Information for a complete breakdown of issue.
What happens when the bug occurs? Game loads first time after pc reboot. After that, need to restart PC to be able to load in again.
What should be happening instead? Game should load regardless if the game has loaded before, without needing to restart device.

‌

Error message derived from %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Battlefield 2042\CrashDumps using WinDbg: 

Error Code:
(NTSTATUS) 0xc0000005

Error Description:
The instruction at 0x%p referenced memory at 0x%p.
The memory could not be %s.

Screenshot of issue, DXDiag, and crash minidump attached.

Update -  28/01/24

!! Battlefield 2042 is now booting on first try, every time, without generating a minidump file - thread resolved !!

Update -  15/05/24

!! Battlefield continued the issue mid February but I lost interest in seeking a resolution as the staff here clearly don't give a f**k. !!

Description

Background

Crashes started on the 29/08/23. BF2042 has not experienced issues like this and has been playable before then. No other game or software encounters an issue like this.

Listed below are the troubleshooting steps already actioned:

1. Full hardware and cable physical check completed, no defects or damage assessed.
2. Collected and reviewed minidump logs located in %USERPROFILE%\Documents\Battlefield 2042 using WinDbg. (https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/debugger/#small-windbg-logo-install-windb...)
3. Closed unnecessary background applications.
4. OneDrive is not active, syncing My Documents or any folder on the device.
5. Set BF2042.exe to run as Admin:
   • Ran game after reboot. Round played, exited.
   • Set BF2042.exe to run as Admin. Ran Battlefield 2042 from Steam, 
   • Montage loading screen (without loading text, icon) infinite loop until force quitting application.
6. Removed '%USERPROFILE%/Documents/Battlefield 2042' folder and let it rebuild.
7. Repaired and reinstalled the game.
8. Removed, reinstalled and cleared cache in the EA Desktop App.
9. Cleared Steam cache.
10. PC power cycle performed.
11. Installed the game on three different drives (one NVMe, two SSDs).
12. Cleared RAM using WinMemoryCleaner. (https://github.com/IgorMundstein/WinMemoryCleaner)
13. Conducted MEMTEST86 scan - 10 tests, 4x8GB Corsair 2133Mhz sticks, all passed. (https://www.memtest.org/)
14. DDU and fresh install of NVIDIA drivers. (Version 546.01)
15. Updated graphics card firmware.
16. Updated Windows.
17. 'Cleaned' the registry using CCleaner. (https://www.ccleaner.com)
18. Updated BIOS (v5003) - ensured D.O.C.P, XMP and any other overclocking properties are set off/default/auto.
19. Removed temporary files using built-in Windows tools.
20. Ran chkdsk individually on all drives.
    • chkdsk /f C: - Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
    • chkdsk /f D: - Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
    • chkdsk /f E: - Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems.
21. Ran DISM checks:
    • DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /ScanHealth - No component store corruption detected.
    • DISM /Online /Cleanup-Image /RestoreHealth -  The restore operation completed successfully.
22. Ran SFC:
    • sfc /scannow - Windows Resource Protection did not find any integrity violations.
23. Updated AMD Chipset.
24. Performed a 'clean boot' with all non-Microsoft services and start-up apps disabled. (https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/kb/929135)
    
    • Disabled all non-Microsoft services, except the 'EABackgroundService' and 'Steam Client Service'.
    • Restarted device.
    • Opened / played / closed BF2042 in quick succession multiple times to test.
    • Re-enabled services that are needed, restarted and tested again.
      
      • 24/10/23 - Appeared to work initially. Worked consecutively during repeated quick succession tests. Loaded game > Spawned in-round > Quit round > Exited BF2042 > Repeated five times.
      • 25/10/23 - Loaded game and played one full round played through with success. Round ended, five minutes to load to the next round timer. Exited round timer to home screen and exited BF2042. Ten minutes later attempted to load BF2042. Issue persists with all non-Microsoft and start-up apps disabled.
25. Checked memory against motherboard vendors motherboards RAM compatibility list. 
    • 26/10/23 - As advised by @Rokebo73, collected memory product ID's collected by running the following in an elevated CMD prompt.(Part ID CM4X8GD3600C18K2D was not listed)
      

      wmic /output:C:\mb_mem_bios_info.txt memorychip list full&wmic /append:C:\mb_mem_bios_info.txt baseboard get product, Manufacturer&wmic /append:C:\mb_mem_bios_info.txt bios get smbiosbiosversion

26. CMOS RTC RAM Reset + Disabled Resizable Bar
    • 28/10/23 - No difference. BF2042 crashed after a second run
    • 02/11/23 - Another RTC RAM Reset, then deleted Documents/Battlefield 2042\Cache folder. Issue still persists.
27. Physical RAM check and swap completed, an hour of testing four types of configuration.
    • 28/10/23 - Described error occurred no matter what the RAM configuration.
28. PC Vendor has confirmed that it is 100% not due to incompatible RAM.
    • 29/10/23 - Issues would scope much further than this game if this was the case. Red herring.
29. Offline Windows 11 rebuild completed using official ISO build tools.
    • 31/10/23 - Fresh install of vendor hardware drivers offline, Steam, Battlefield, and EA app. BF2042 crashed after third test.
30. Downloaded & ran both benchmark & stress test, selecting 'Up to 32GB RAM' using RealBench - Increased system page file to Min.16384MB, Max.32768MB in order to run stress test. 
    • 11/11/23 - 15 minute stress test passed.
31. Booted into safe mode and removing DXCACHE.
    • 11/11/23 - Deleted DXCACHE located in C:\Users\{YoureUserName}\AppData\LocalLow\NVIDIA\PerDriverVersion\DXCache
      • No success. BF2042 crashed on third round, then after force quitting (CTRL+ALT+ESC, BF2042.exe, End Task) crash happened on loading game.
32. Ran HDTunePro. (https://www.hdtune.com/)
    • 13/11/23 - Scanned boot disk NVMe and two storage SSDs. No Bad sectors found across the three disks. Screenshots available on this post.
33. Ran CHKDSK /r /scan in Admin CMD .
    • 13/11/23 - Windows has scanned the file system and found no problems. No further action is required. Screenshots available on this post.

Issue Details

Despite these efforts, the problem persists.

• Noted that the game will run first time after a restart or first turning on the device.
• Game play will last a few rounds then crash to a black screen, producing described error 0x%p referenced memory at 0x%p in minidump logs.
• It has been noticed that the RAM Part number(s) included in this build, CM4X8GD3600C18K2D are not present on the motherboard vendors (in this case ASUS's) compatibility list (29/10/23 - Red herring, vendor has confirmed this is a non-issue and should not affect the functionality of the device negatively in any regard).

If a 'first run' of BF2042 is successful, subsequent attempts to run the game result in the scenario detailed below:

1. Launch game through Steam.
2. The BF2042 splash screen displays.
3. Empty (blank/black) game window opens in windowed mode, does not full-screen.
4. Windowed empty game window hangs.
5. After leaving it for roughly 15-20 minutes, empty hanging window loads to empty full-screen.
6. Empty full-screen shortly changes to BF2042 montage loading screen but with no loading detail or proceeding to log in.
7. Montage loading screen repeats endlessly until force quitting application.

Attached are two screenshots combined in one of the hanging behaviour in steps 4 & 5, titled bf2042-hanging-screenshots-combined.jpg.

System Information

Conclusion - 28/01/24 - Please see 'Update' at the top.
Similarities to the reported issue in these recent forum posts:

1. https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/BF2042-exe-memory-corruption-crashes/m-p/11774393/
2. https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/BF2042-Still-crashing/m-p/11479699/
3. https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/Battlefield-2042-crashes-after-anticheat-window/m-p/3092071/
4. https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/The-game-pops-up-a-black-screen-window-after-EAC-verification/m-p/13085055/
5. https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/PC-Game-sometimes-crashes-when-on-the-loading-screen-or-in-game/m-p/13085391/
6. https://answers.ea.com/t5/Technical-Issues/S6-Stuck-on-Black-Screen-during-Pre-or-End-of-Round-gt-Requires/m-p/13190832/

Seeking guidance or a solution to try and get some wind toward a positive resolution.

Screenshot of issue, DXDiag, and crash minidump attached.

Please advise if any additional information is required to assist with this matter and thank you for your attention to this.

!! Battlefield continued the issue mid February but I lost interest in seeking a resolution as the staff here clearly don't give a f**k. !!