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Nickynac69's avatar
Nickynac69
Seasoned Newcomer
23 days ago

[April 16 Patch] Total Monitor Signal Loss / Black Screen - Brand New PC

Since the April 16th update, my game is causing a total hardware-level crash that forces my monitor to lose its HDMI signal ("No Signal"). This isn't just a game crash; it's locking my entire display system multiple times.

​Some system Specs:

PC is only a few months old.

OS: Windows 11.

​Issue: Signal Dropout (Monitor goes black/loses handshake with GPU).

​Troubleshooting Already Attempted (Persistent Failure):

​The Vanilla Test: Renamed "The Sims 4" folder to "The Sims 4 OLD" to force a clean generation. Issue persists.

​Launch Options: Used -dx9, -w, and -r:1280x720 in EA App properties. Still crashes to a black screen upon entering a lot.

​Cache Clearing: Deleted localthumbcache.package and the cache folders.

​Physical Resets: Have had to unplug monitor and HDMI from the wall and PC over 10 times today to force the "handshake" back after the game kills the signal.

​Recovery Menu: Had to use the "X4 Power Off" trick just to get the desktop back because the graphics driver is locking up so hard many many times aftee thinking I had it sorted. Only to find with a complete virgin game, it still crashes. 

​Summary: The game was working perfectly on this new hardware, even at first after the the v1.123 update, then yesterday this started. Now, moving a Sim into a house causes an immediate "No Signal" blackout. I am currently unable to use my computer for anything else until I perform a lengthy physical reset of the monitor. This is a critical hardware conflict with the new update. And after doing this numerous times today, Ive had to just leave the pc in a state on unuse until I can get the pc & monitor talking again. The game is rendered unusable for now even with a complete clean state fresh start. 

crashing
graphics
updates

5 Replies

  • crinrict's avatar
    crinrict
    Hero+
    23 days ago

    HI Nickynac69​ 

    Could you post your Computer's DxDiag?

    • Press Windows-Key + R
    • Type: DxDiag
    • Click on Save all Information.
    • Attach the Text File to your post
  • Nickynac69's avatar
    Nickynac69
    Seasoned Newcomer
    23 days ago

    Hi Crinrict,
    Thank you for your reply.
    Here is my DxDiag. ​I have a brand-new PC (i5-12400F) and an MSI monitor. Since the April 16th update, the game has been causing, a total monitor signal loss (black screen). It was stuck in a 'No Signal' loop so badly that I had to go into the BIOS just to get my desktop back today and yesterday. I have already deleted my Options.ini and cleared my cache, but the signal drop keeps happening. All mods and saves had been removed, but it still happens on a vanilla game. 
    Thanks.

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    23 days ago

    Nickynac69​  Please look for an update to your BIOS.  I can't tell what motherboard you have from your dxdiag, but the BIOS version (8.70) looks a bit old, given how MSI generally names versions, considering this class of board has been out for several years now.  You should be able to find the exact model in whatever documentation you received from the seller, or printed on the board itself.

    Your dxdiag also doesn't list any Sims 4 errors, or any errors that would definitively explain the problem.  It could be the case that these errors have been crowded out by newer ones, so please look for related errors in the Reliability Monitor.  Click Windows key-R and enter "perfmon /rel" without quotes, and you'll see a chart of errors and updates with a column for each day.  Today is on the right.

    Look for an error that happened at exactly the time of your most recent system crash that Sims 4 triggered.  If you find one, double-click it to see more details, then copy that info and paste it into a reply here.  If you don't see a new error, check back in an hour or so—the Reliability Monitor doesn't always update right away.

    One thing the dxdiag makes clear is that OneDrive is crashing.  If you don't have any use for it, I'd suggest getting rid of it in one of the ways covered in this guide:

    📓[GUIDE] [PC] Managing OneDrive | EA Forums - 12636625

  • Nickynac69's avatar
    Nickynac69
    Seasoned Newcomer
    22 days ago

    Hi Puzzlezaddict,

    Thank you for your reply.

    I found the errors. I have two 'APPCRASH' events for The Sims 4 with Exception Code c0000005. I also noticed a failed Windows Update from today. My screen just flickered black again while I was looking at these, so I'm worried the failed update is making the monitor signal even more unstable. I've attached the technical details for both Sims crashes."

    23.4.26 

    Description

    Faulting Application Path: C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 4\Game\Bin\TS4_x64.exe

     

    Problem signature

    Problem Event Name: APPCRASH

    Application Name: TS4_x64.exe

    Application Version: 1.123.66.1030

    Application Timestamp: 69cf3c2e

    Fault Module Name: TS4_x64.exe

    Fault Module Version: 1.123.66.1030

    Fault Module Timestamp: 69cf3c2e

    Exception Code: c0000005

    Exception Offset: 00000000019dbca1

    OS Version: 10.0.26200.2.0.0.768.101

    Locale ID: 5129

    Additional Information 1: 2fd7

    Additional Information 2: 2fd7a55e5877bd3575b13fb43b4fd884

    Additional Information 3: 1804

    Additional Information 4: 1804b1d4810be8f625c1542de31380ed

     

    Extra information about the problem

    Bucket ID: ff00581adf73dda179c1cb69a405e3e4 (1855988176037209060)

    24.4.26

    Description

    Faulting Application Path: C:\Program Files\EA Games\The Sims 4\Game\Bin\TS4_x64.exe

     

    Problem signature

    Problem Event Name: APPCRASH

    Application Name: TS4_x64.exe

    Application Version: 1.123.66.1030

    Application Timestamp: 69cf3c2e

    Fault Module Name: TS4_x64.exe

    Fault Module Version: 1.123.66.1030

    Fault Module Timestamp: 69cf3c2e

    Exception Code: c0000005

    Exception Offset: 0000000001363518

    OS Version: 10.0.26200.2.0.0.768.101

    Locale ID: 5129

    Additional Information 1: c230

    Additional Information 2: c230ebf539487beeeab67d7ed4aaaa06

    Additional Information 3: 94f3

    Additional Information 4: 94f33c95febec6a636d29643927645fb

     

    Extra information about the problem

    Bucket ID: 4177ebf660635f9521b2c722be6d04ef (1275300596536902895)

     

  • puzzlezaddict's avatar
    puzzlezaddict
    Hero+
    21 days ago

    Nickynac69​  The error code 0xc0000005 refers to an access violation, which is a type of crash that's too generic to be any help on its own.  Access violations can be caused by anything from a bad mod or a game bug to a hardware issue.  But they shouldn't cause the system issues you're describing, and the game of course wouldn't cause any problems when it wasn't running.

    I still think the next step is to update your BIOS.  If that doesn't help, do a clean uninstall and reinstall of the graphics driver, as described here:

    https://crinrict.com/blog/2019/02/clean-re-install-of-graphics-drivers-with-display-driver-uninstaller-ddu.html

    If that doesn't help either, try plugging your monitor into the other HDMI port on your GPU.  It looks like the card has two (as well as one DisplayPort connector), and it's possible there's something physically wrong with the one you've been using.  You can also try the DP port instead if you have a compatible cable.

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